Green Champa Garden

Rounding slightly up because of the kind service and charm of this place.
Great food and service! All of our dishes tasted better than average. This place has such a unique charm to it that has to be checked out by anyone in the Bay Area. I’m so glad we were recommended the restaurant.
Drunken noodles was my favorite dish of the night with tons of fresh basil and delicious piping hot fresh noodles. Yumm.
Mango was out of season so we tried the fried ice cream — however it was a big miss with a really thick inedible awkward coating and too little mostly melted ice cream but the service made up for it. I would definitely come back!

In the little plaza, so there is some parking.
Not very noticeable outside, but when you walk in, it’s very nice and spacious; decorative.
Service was really good.
Everything my friends and I ordered to eat, was very yummy.
I would definitely consider coming back here when in the area.

This is my Thai fix!
I live close by and walk over on days I don’t want to cook. The owner is absolutely funny and very accommodating. My meals here entail the crispy rice ball salad, beef larb, crispy fish with some type of heavenly sauce, tom yum gai soup (more on the sour side), angel wings, pad see ew, drunken noodles, and curry.

Quaint little spot and had a nice homely vibe. Once you step in your greeted right away and very accommodating, made me feel at home and got reassurance that me and the Wifey would be seated at a booth. Once seated our waiter came by and walked us through the menu and even altered some dishes to our liking. Started the meal with Kau poont soup and the beef and papaya salad. The soup was seasoned perfectly and was able to ask for more veggies, the broth was smooth and serving was perfect for two. The papaya salad was not too spicy and full of flavor, my beef salad was a little too spicy so that took away from the taste. It had a bit of an after taste, that I can’t really explain. My best advice is to use the chopped lettuce to off set the taste. Also tried the red curry with pumpkin, nice smooth texture and a great mix of veggies topped with fried tofu as a substitute. They had so much to choose from I almost feel like I short changed myself but gives me a real good excuse to come back. Small sample size and great experience can’t wait to come back and explore more.

Found this place on Unilocal because I wanted to try a good restaurant in Fremont.
First item that came to the table was Kaow Poont. This was so absolutely amazing, it almost ruined the rest of the meal because I wanted Nothing else.
Spring rolls and stuffed angel wings were good.
Stuffed Tofu was a bit over cooked.
Panang Curry was delicious.
I will definitely come back here.

This place is super cute & tucked away even though it’s by the road.
We drove right past it without realizing it. lol.
The parking lot is super small so parking could be an issue if it is busy.
LUCKILY, we found parking right up front, no problem!
Walking in, we were seated right away.
It’s such a cute, little restaurant.
They seated us by the window, right underneath the A/​C.
They had a good variety on their menu.
Lots of options for your vegetarian people :) MY PEEPS! lol.
What we ordered?
— Thai Iced Tea: Always the business dude! Cannot go wrong with it!
— Pineapple Fried Rice: Not the best I’ve had but I’ve had a crapload of Pineapple Fried Rice in my day so that isn’t knocking it at all. It was still good, just not THE BEST I’VE HAD.
— Fried Tofu: My best friend didn’t like it at all. I personally like it. lol. It’s crunchy on the outside, it is fried after all. But the inside is still spongy like tofu would be. I liked it. Just dip the crap out of it in the sauce that they provide. lol.
— Money Bags: Obvi, I didn’t try it but I just have to say how cute it is! They legit look like money bags. lol. So cute.
They brought us our bill & you can just give the card or pay up front. It’s your choice.
I will say that my only meh moment was that since we were at the table under the A/​C there was constantly dust in the air. Just sayin’
Other than that. The first Laos place I’ve been to & I recommend it :)

I ordered the Nao Kao (fried rice with lime) for appetizer and the Tod Pla (fried fish).
The Nao Kao arrived quickly. It has a very unique taste, but it’s very good! I didn’t realize there was so much of it. It might be too much to order this with an entry for only one person. I was kind of lost on how to eat this dish with the lettuce, but I ended up wrapping it with the lettuce leaves and eating with my hand.
The Tod Pla came as a whole fried fish. I’m not used to eat whole fish, even less having the entire whole fish for one person! It was super good though. It came with a bowl of white rice and a sweet sauce. The sauce had a very interesting flavor, but too strong for me.
I was really stuffed after eating both dishes. Overall the food here is great. I was looking forward to trying different Southeast Asian food and had a good experience in this place.

Came here to eat for the first time when we drove by and saw a Thai restaurant. Little did we realize that it wa not just Thai, they also serve Laotian food. My husband ordered a famous Laotian dish with meat that was wrapped up in lettuce called the Nam Kao. I ordered the Pad Thai with chicken that was just delicious. The décor inside feels like home to me. It has a cozy touch and the staff was so nice. They made sure to not add peanuts in anything because my husband has a peanut allergy. They were also really kind and instructed us how to eat the Nam Kao. Had a good experience here and loved my Pai Thai. Will be back for more!!!

This place isn’t horrible — I’ve just experienced a lot better. My friend had the pad thai with beef and I had the pad kee mao with fried tofu. The noodles were over done, and just clumped together. The flavor was pretty weak too, and the vegetables seemed undercooked. I didn’t eat much of my dish.
Though it is worth mentioning that the service here was fast and friendly. I just wish the food was up to par. Sala Thai delivers much better on the quality side.

I know jack shit about Laotian food. But if it tastes like the food cooked by the Laotian chef at Green Champa Garden then I love it.
The only other time that I had ever had Laotian food was at a college roommate’s house where I remember eating sticky rice out of a basket with my hands and rolling them into balls before putting the said rice balls in my mouth. Sticky… balls… mouth…
On a serious note, I remember the food as being more Chinese than Thai food akin to Issan style Thai. So when my wife found this place on her Unilocal app I was like BAM!!! we’re there! In fact, we ended up going to Green Champa Garden twice in one week.
Based on all the reviews and tips, we ordered the nam kao dish ($ 6.95). And you know what? It lives up to the hype. Nam kao is a crispy fried rice ball salad consisting of marinated rice balls, fermented pork sausage pieces, nuts, scallions, and spicy peppers that is served with fresh mint, cilantro, and lettuce. Basically, it’s Laotian-​style lettuce wraps.
Additionally, when you eat all the lettuce, you can ask for more. However be prepared to tell the servers how many pieces of lettuce you want because they will ask you for an «exact» number LOL. I would recommend asking for four to five more pieces.
The kao soy ($ 7.50) was fantastic. It is a fermented bean soup consisting of chicken and flat rice noodles that looked like pad see ew. Also, the kao poont ($ 7.95), a red curry and coconut milk soup consisting of chicken and vermicelli noodles that reminded me of spaghetti noodles, was good but it needed a little more kick. Add some table side hot sauce though and it’s all good.
Two of the dishes that we tried were a little too rich for our liking. The Laotian-​style papaya salad ($ 6.95) was way too fishy and the moke-​pa ($ 7.50) catfish nugget wrapped in banana leaf was a little funky.
However, the food that we enjoyed far outweighed the dishes that we did not like.
Moreover, the fact that the food is «superstar» cheap unlike most ethnic Bay Area restaurants loved by bourgeoisie Unilocalers was an added bonus.
* BTW, if the server that looks like Eddie Huang from Fresh Off the Boat is working, your service experience will be much better. I found that the server that looked like an Asian Luigi was a little too shy, and the lady reminded me of a goomba hehehe. But come on people, never go to an Asian restaurant expecting fantastic service.
* The one negative about the restaurant is the lack of parking. If there is no parking in the lot, you can find street parking on Blacow Road.

Tiny mom-​and-​pop run Thai place located in a somewhat sketchy little complex. But they serve consistently high quality food, so it’s definitely worth the trip.
The food is very vegetarian-​friendly, and they even go out of their way to ask if you’d prefer your food without fish sauce added. Bonus points.
Possibly the best chicken satay that I’ve had at a thai restaurant, and their drunken noodles (aka pad kee mao) has uniquely subtle yet delicious flavor.
Warning: spicy means spicy so don’t mess around, because they’re not.

Had mixed reviews about this place. Had dinner here last night.
The first thing we noticed was how empty the place was. Unfortunately the location isn’t that great, and is easy to miss if you are coming from auto mall side.
The staff was courteous. We got the menu and water immediately. We ordered and asked for everything as spicy.
The Penang curry was medium spicy at best. But I liked the flavors
The crispy fish with garlic sauce lived up to its name-​extremely crispy and wow. I didn’t like the sauce much as it was too salty.
The pad ke Mao (drunken noodles) had good flavors.
The pineapple fried rice was bad– like white rice with pineapples bad. Please skip.
A bit underwhelmed by the food. Quantity is on the smaller side. I prefer sala Thai (and with 2 on either side of this place, I think I am going to stixk being the patron of sala)

This was my first time at this restaurant and I have been craving Laos food for awhile now so I wanted to give this place a try.
It looks janky on the outside but the inside is cute and it’s located at the corner of a plaza next to a liquor store, there isn’t many parking spots. As I walked in, I was greeted right away and the host pointed us to a table in the corner. My friends and I walked up to our table and there was spilled water on it. We were kinda confused but the host told us he would wipe it for us. He came to our table and started wiping it down. He also asked us what we would like to drink and offered some drink items from the menu. Good job on that!
Service was okay. The lady that took our order didn’t seem so happy. The food was okay as well. Not what I expected it to be. I ordered kasoy and papaya salad and it tasted very bland compared to what I’ve had in the past.
Overall, I give this place 3 stars. I don’t think I will be coming back.

A down-​home, larger-​than-​average hole in the wall with nicely-​done fried dishes and average other stuff. MSG kitchen. Plenty o’ parking. I’m a bit harsh on this place, but that’s because I’m comparing it to Oakland’s similarly named ‘Champa Garden’.
2 Stars:
* FRIED CHICKEN FRIED RICE — GOOD
Crispy-​crispy fried chicken cutlets and fried rice with a big hint of ketchup flavoring that I was into. My wife thought the ketchup was too strong, but this is my review.
* NAM KAO — GOOD
The super-​crispy crispy rice salad was purrty gurrd. Eaten with lettuce leaves.
— MSG & THAI PAPAYA SALAD — NOT SO GOOD
My wife and I definitely had some of the MSG symptoms right after the meal. If there had been no MSG I’d have rated 3 stars. Also, the Thai Papaya salad was wilty and drowning, with muddled flavor.
— CUSTOMER SERVICE:
The waitress had the personality of a bridge-​toll worker. To be fair, the rest of the staff gave it undertones of family-​run charm but they were mostly in the kitchen.
— AMBIANCE:
It was a dark, and stuffy sight. Sit at the table near the venting door for some light and fresh air.

I’ve been here a few times now, mostly for dinner and once for lunch.
So far I’ve tried both their yellow curry and green curry — both curries are delicious. The yellow one is creamier, and has potatoes in it. The green one is a bit more watery, but has it’s own unique flavor. Like all other reviewers said, get the Nam Kao! I never had it before and decided to try it based on the reviews. It’s basically pieces of pork mixed into crunchy fried rice, that you eat with the lettuce wraps. There’s mint, cilantro, and lime you can garnish with — delicious! I also tried the crispy fish. That dish was a bit salty for my taste, but the flavor was still great.

Green Champa Garden offers both Thai and Laotian dishes, which is a seemingly convenient combination. I came here with a few friends and ordered a variety of both, but unfortunately each fell a little short of respective dishes I’ve had at specifically Thai or Laotian restaurants. I did think that the service was extremely friendly and helpful throughout the entire meal.
Thai iced tea:
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This version tasted a little watered down to me, but it wasn’t bad. I could have used a little more of both the tea as well as the condensed milk and a little less of the ice.
Papaya salad, Laotian style:
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Our server warned us that this dish was rather pungent, but I actually really enjoyed the strong smell and taste of the ingredients. There is a sort of fermented fish or shrimp paste sort of scent that was initially very strong, but it lightened substantially once the actual tasting began. The salad was pretty spicy though, and we only ordered it at a medium spicy level; if I were to order it again, I’d probably go with the mild or extra mild.
Crispy rice lettuce wraps:
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Apparently this was a favorite of customers, but I wasn’t a fan. The crispy rice tasted overfried and not super fresh to me, even with the addition of basil and lime. I would probably not order this particular dish again.
Roti with yellow curry:
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As sort of a glorified green onion pancake without green onion, this roti was extremely oily. That was to be expected, and while it was fried well with a nice pairing of yellow curry sauce, it just became too heavy after the first piece.
Fried angel wings, unstuffed:
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Because our party didn’t think that the stuffed angel wings were worth the asking price, we opted for the unstuffed variety. which were essentially just fried chicken wings. These were fine, but the oil may have been a bit too hot while frying because some of the meat stuck to the bone in dry strings, characteristic of an initially too hot temperature.
Kao soy:
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I liked this noodle dish and thought the flavors melded well, but I didn’t get too much of the fermented taste that I was looking for. It’s another dish where the flavors take some getting used to, but this is a rather tame variety to begin with. I’ve had an alternative version that was just a bit more flavorful in Oakland, so this bowl fell a little short of my expectations.
Pineapple fried rice:
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I’m honestly always wary of pineapple fried rice because every restaurant has their own version. This version came with limp pineapple and somewhat stale cashews, which I wasn’t a fan of. The rice itself was also a little bland, but I didn’t mind that as it could be eaten as a base dish.
Curry noodle soup, mild:
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This curry noodle soup was very, very thick. I thought the flavor of the curry was nice, but it’s definitely not a drinkable soup base. The noodles were flavorful because of the curry, and this would be a satisfying dish to slurp on a cold night.
Pad See Ew with beef:
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The noodles were very obviously overcooked in this dish, although the flavoring was palatable. The beef was also a bit tough, as it may not have been coated with starch or tenderized beforehand. Compared to the version at Red Chili in Hayward, this rendition fell short.
Mango sticky rice with a scoop of coconut ice cream:
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The sticky rice here was delicious and well-​made, as it was soft and warm. The mango was ripe and fresh, but I wasn’t a fan of the coconut ice cream. It had quite a bit of ice crystals in it, was an extra charge, and tasted a bit artificial to me. I would order the dessert without the ice cream if I were to return.
Green Champa Garden is by no means a bad choice in the area, but I can’t help wondering if maybe the marrying of two cuisines causes a less than stellar performance in either. I can see the attraction in friendly service and comfortable ambiance, and I wouldn’t mind returning for future visits.

When I find myself craving kaopoon, I’ll end up at Green Champa Garden. It’s located just off the main area of Fremont, so it’s never as busy or crowded as it should be. Parking’s also kind of a nightmare here… so good luck! I enjoy coming here strictly for the Laotion food as there are not many places near where I am that offers it, especially kaopoon! The food is very similar to Thai dishes so the menu incorporates things like Pad Thai, Pad Kee Mow/​Pad See Ew, etc. I’d highly recommend getting the angel wings, kaopoon, kaosoy or nam kao dishes.
I ordered the Papaya Salad, Laos style and asked for it spicy. She gave me the option of 5 chilies or 10, obviously went with 10 and it was SO SPICY. If you enjoy spicy food, I’d suggest this. It’ll keep your mouth burning and you can see the chili all throughout the dish.
Portions are slightly on the smaller side, but it definitely keeps me full, especially after all the rice and rice noodles. Price is decent for the food though portions should definitely be larger.
It’s a great place to try if you’re ever in the area.

I loveeee this place. All of their food is delicious and very fairly priced. It has just the right amount of spice and flavors in all of their food.
My mom is super picky with Thai/​Laos food and she loves this place. We always start off with the crispy rice appetizer. Then we get a Laos style papaya salad with noodles which is so good!
We switch off on our main entrees every time we come but I love their green curry and Tom yum!

Savory foods, good portions, great prices — yes yes yes!
I fell in love with Champa Garden in East Oakland nearly 6+ years ago and when I found out there is one similar with my favorite Kao Paik, I had to try this place out!
While service was a bit slow given that we came right at prime lunch hour on Sunday, food was overall delicious and came in a timely manner.
We ordered
— Thai style papaya salad with 2 Chilis (because we’re babies and can’t handle spice so well): this was great, no complaints
— piping hot Kao Paik, my favorite! Warm and hits the spot. All it was missing was a bit of fried onions on top
— pad see ew, my brothers choice, this was good but I was more into the Kao Paik
We also got one Thai iced tea and total came out to be less than $ 30. I’m a total happy camper when I can get a full meal and a great price. Only if this was close to Hayward! For now, this will do.
Check this place out for some good ol’ Lao and Thai food!

7÷19÷15 Update: still love this place. Still always get Nam Kao.
Drunken Noodles (4 stars, sweet I like!)
Basil fried rice (3.5 stars, yummy)
Steamed fish with banana leaf (3 stars, weird kinda spicy)