Panoy Bistro

This place is the best Lao food you can get in Nevada county. The waiter is very friendly and helpful, and the food is out of this world. Definitely a place to stop if your in the area.

Seriously, I don’t get it. They claim Lao and Thai food and it seriously reminds me of fast food cheap LA thai food, which for $ 15-​$ 20 a dish is highly overpriced. Small portions, not authentic taste. I hate to be the girl who says this but they owner/​chef should know, I lived in Thailand and have traveled extensively through Lao and SEAsia and this is not even a close representation of the food. I know ingredients are hard to come by, but to claim Lao food and serve the papaya salad on iceberg lettuce without fish sauce, chills, with maybe a sprinkle of raw papaya is just wrong. In addition my sticky rice was the texture of mashed oatmeal, not even edible. If you can’t get the ingredients no problem, just don’t serve it. And while we talk about service, the server is the worst I have probably ever seen in my life which is funny since I believe the restaurant is named after her. People in this area are foodies and would totally embrace the real recipes, no need to dumb them down, its just an injustice to the real food and I am sure the chef can make some amazing real Lao food if he or she believed people would like it.

The food was very good, but the portions were super tiny! My friend and I left hungry after ordering two entrees and an appetizer. The waitress had told as at the beginning portion sizes were good and it even came with a soup. We didn’t end up ordering the appetizer till after we ate our entrees. I’ve never seen chicken satay come with only one ¼ inch 4×3 inch piece of chicken per skewer (there were only 4 skewers). It was also raining and the lifts kept going on and off. I think they need to have their electrical looked at.

5 stars for the food even though the service was not speedy.
Best asian food that I’ve had in the area. Laotian, not Thai, but similar. Most interesting flavors. Lots of options for choosing your preferred level of spiciness.
Not speedy; we ordered for pick up and even though I ordered at 4:50 (they opened at 5), they said it would be ready at 5:30 and they weren’t busy, it wasn’t ready until 5:45.
Still give it 5 stars for the quality of food and value. Cost to feed 5 people with 4 entrees, 2 appetizers and soup was just under $ 100 with tax.

I’m going to get to the point! The service was pretty underwhelming. The food had nothing up on the service, kinda bland, considering I was expecting more flavorful than Thai food from the reviews I read! I gave this restaurant three stars because of it’s cozy atmosphere and décor! One more thing! They have a wine and beer bar that is attached to the restaurant, but not a part of it, so don’t expect your server to bring you your beer and/​or wine. You may go there purchase and bring your own to the table. Well!!!

Recently revisited Panoy after a 6 year stretch, holy cow have things changed! The décor was modern and well thought. Customer service was fantastic, and prompt. Food is full of flavor, everything I was hoping for. my daughter had the p. s. I love you, a mellow rice noodle with veggies and peanut sauce. I had pad som, similar to a chilli infused pad Thai and a friend shrimp appetizer. The cucumber salad was not only sweet and tasty but a good sized portion. I know from the outside it can look like a hole in the wall, but inside its like a secret garden. I’m so glad I need to take 174 home because we will be back! And to the new owner/​management– you’ve done a BEAUTIFUL job. Thank you!

The food is delicious with a lot more flavor than many other Asian restaurants in the area. The prices are reasonable and take out is available and fast. As a vegetarian, I often have concern about fish sauce and animal ingredients in Asian food, but Panoy reassured us that she too is vegetarian and would be serving us vegetarian food (though meat options are, of course, available). I will definitely return!

As another reviewer stated, the prices are on the high side. I would recommend coming for lunch to try and keep the cost down. The menu has quite the variety, with food you probably won’t find anywhere else. Portions are decent sized and service was friendly and average speed. The outside of the place looks horrible and I was quite hesitant to try it because of this. Inside though is a very clean and pleasant atmosphere. We have stopped here often wanting to try it because it was just about the only restaurant around that we hadn’t eaten at, but it has always been closed when we stopped by. Finally I did stop by for lunch one day and it happened to be open. I was not disappointed. Had the dragon curry and prince of noodles both were very good.

The food here is really really good.
Prices might be a lil high for the area but it’s truly worth it.
Also be prepared to have a long dinner as there are few employees, family run.

Very impressed with this place! Very good soup and spring rolls. Friendly staff and nice atmosphere. I will be coming back for sure!!!

My wife and I had dinner here last night and thoroughly enjoyed it. The food was very tasty and fresh. The dishes are of high quality but it can be a bit pricey.
Good–
Rice puff appetizer with tamarind sauce. Could eat several plates of just this.
Lao Crispy Rolls w/​chicken.
Phun w/​chicken. Fun hands on experience and tasty lime sauce.
Drunken Noodles w/​beef. Great flavors and presentation. We had medium heat and there are 5 levels (or more) above that. Could get dangerous!
OK-​Tom Kah. I liked the soup but the wife and I both found it a little on the bland side. Tom Yum or Kao Poon next time.
Odd– They don’t serve beer on the restaurant side but you can get it in the bar side. They don’t take cards which is fine but then they have a very limited beer selection with no BeerLao or even Singha.
I would highly recommend.

EAT HERE!!! This place is great! I would have given it 5 stars, but the exterior could use a little help. I lived in Southeast Asia for many years, first I was pleasantly surprised to see this place wasn’t Thai, but actually Laotian, these flavors are distinctly different and Panoy nails it! The food is fresh and well prepared, the small family staff is friendly, one reviewer found the staff to be slow, please remember in their culture, food is very important and takes time to prepare and eat! This place reminded me of living in Cambodia! And while they don’t have a bar, I was thrilled to find that I could bring in my own bottle of wine for a modest ($ 4!) corkage fee I was given 4 glasses! I love this! Not pretentious! The parking lot was full when we left! Please support this new place God knows we need all the good food we can get in this town!!!

Excellent! Food was great tasting and fresh. Lots of menu choices (maybe too much). Spring roll were a tint but too heavy on the dough side. Wonderful ambiance!

My son came up from Davis and I raved about this place (previously Panoy Thai) being a hole in the wall but with the best prices and Thai food –WRONG!
Since I hadn’t been for a while, I didn’t know they had redecorated or that the sweet lil’ old man’s daughter had taken it over and raised the prices. Still expecting quality food, we ordered.
Although our waiter was very attentive, filling our water glasses many times, it took FOREVER — longer than the lil’ ol’ man did working by himself. The Tom Kar came and while we were eating it, my son thought he found a bug — which I dismissed as seasoning. When he found another, he squished the weavel-​type bug, and showed our waiter, asking for the check.
The waiter promptly said, «No charge» and we headed over for the Thai restaurant (Sopa Thai) in Nevada City where it’s consistently wonderful but I thought pricier. I was mistaken because the prices were better on most things.
Panoy Bistro has to step up their game to compete…

The food here is AMAZING! Everything is so good. It’s small, family run and friendly… service can be slow sometimes only because there is two to three staff running the whole show. Always pleasant and extremely attentive.
I have honestly never had a bad dish. Queen of Paradise, and Pa Nang are two off my favorites. Soup, appetizer or entrée, you can’t go wrong!

Pros
The Emerald Curry was really good, as was the barbecued pork with vermicelli w/​peanut sauce. Spring rolls were hot, fresh and good
Cons
1. When we arrived, the waitress was talking to a couple of guys and told them to stall, because «chef» was not there yet.
2. The waitress said two words to us the entire evening and acted as if we were a bother. She asked «protein?» twice. That was it. Not even an acknowledgement or «thank you» when we left.
3. Another review said the entrance and «bar» looked like a store room. Yep.
4. Spring rolls, 2 dishes, small side of rice — small portions (and, we’re not the big portion type) — no drinks or dessert. $ 40
Won’t go back and it’s a shame, because the food was very good.

Food is amazing. Fresh herbs, many options for each dish include; shrimp, chicken tofu, beef, pork, shitaki mushrooms so if you are vegetarian (which I am not) you can customize what dish you order to your specific tastes.
Service can be slow as it is just a 2 person operation but if you know this going into it and just relax it is a nice dining experience. Highly recommended. One of the best restaurants in Nevada County at this price point.

I’m tempted to go lower on my 4 stars because of service issues, but the food was so yummy I just can’t do it.
Bottom line: if you want to have a glass of wine with your meal, you’ll have to buy it Utah-​style in the wine bar — and bring cash, ’cause he doesn’t take plastic (even though the restaurant does). It took awhile to get the server to come and get our orders, but it also looked like they were WAY short-​staffed. And the booth was horribly uncomfortable — no lumbar support whatsoever.
However –Tom Yum soup was delicious, the curry we ordered, stir-​fry style, was awesome (sorry, can’t remember the name of it), and the noodle dish was fantastic (again, can’t remember the name of it). Maybe it’s not as useful to write a review without the names of the dishes, but I guess the point I’m trying to make is that it appears that pretty much everything is really good, so go for it, LOL.
This restaurant has been operating in this area for many years under different ownership/​management, and it was one of several Thai restaurants in the community. When its leadership changed, it also changed focus toward Laotian food instead. Based on our experience last night, I’d say it was a welcome course change. We will definitely return — probably for take-​out.

First off, let me say that I find it mildly suspicious that there are only 4 reviews of this place and they are all 5 star reviews. How anyone could give this place 5 stars is beyond me.
I’ve eaten here twice. If I ever ate here again (highly unlikely) it would only be takeout, as the service is so overwhelmingly bad that I left wondering if someone is trying to pull some kind of ponzi scheme where they get paid more money by causing the place to go under. Seriously, what’s the deal?
Both times I’ve eaten here the place was not busy. Both times I had to specifically ask for napkins and silverware, and the second time I had a 3 year old with me. I mean, generally the first thing that happens is you get some tableware and put in your drink order, but in this establishment, instead you sit there wondering if anyone cares that your there while they make small talk amongst themselves and try their best to scurry away from your table like mice without asking if everything is alright or if you need anything. Seriously, we had to actually go up to the counter for tableware and then set the table ourselves, because when the waiter ran off without a word we didn’t know if they were coming back or not.
Every other Thai restaurant I’ve ever been to has blown me away with there speedy service. It’s almost uncanny. Not here. After waiting over 20 minutes for apps, I finally told them that spring rolls should not take that long to fry. Come on.
So finally they came out. No spoon in the dipping sauce, or anywhere on the table for that matter. Which is just fine if you don’t mind double dipping and sharing your germs with a 3 year old child with a developing immune system. I mean hell, who wouldn’t?
After a while, we got our soup as well. They bring out a fondu fountain looking thing which is unusual, but pretty cool. Then they leave the bowls stacked at the edge of the table with the spoons inside them, and the serving ladle tucked quietly away as well. We almost asked for another ladle, it was hidden so well. Now serve yo self foo!
While eating the soup, one of the four entrees was served. Then no one visited our table again for 5 minutes. So much for etiquette. When the next two entrees came out the server was left with one in his hand asking, «what is this one?» Well gee numbnutz, I’m not quite sure. But I’m so freaking hungry from the hour wait that I’ll take it.
The food admittedly is delicious, but it’s rare that I’m ever so compelled to tip poorly, and this was one of those places that I felt obligated to, just as a method of teaching them that they suck. The most effort that our waitress put in at our table was at the end of the meal when she went into an unprompted conversation about how she almost hit a deer on the highway. This, while other tables were getting their entrees and asking where their apps were. (The waiter actually walked away with their entrees! They had to call him back to say they want them while they’re still hot!!!). Even one of our to go boxes had a rather large hole in it, but we got it anyway. A proper close to the evening.
Simply unacceptable. If you want good food, order takeout and you’ll be pleased. Don’t come for dinner unless you’ve got 2+ hours to waste on feeling unwanted. 3 stars for takeout only. 1 star for dining service.

Since rediscovering this place two weeks ago, my wife and I have been here four times. We have tried different dishes every time and everything is excellent. We have tried all the other Thai restaurants in Nevada City and Grass Valley and none are remotely in the same league as this place. Granted, you won’t see a lot of typical dishes you see at most Thai restaurants because this is Laos cuisine. It really fills the niche for something exotic which is not the strong suit in this area.
All of the dishes come out looking beautiful and are clearly made with very fresh vegetables and other ingredients. The combinations of spices are wonderful. The dishes have fun names which make them even more enticing. The Drunken Noodles are especially awesome. The soups are amazing and will come in handy to keep us warm on these cold autumn and winter days. We love that shitake mushrooms are an option to include in any dish instead of meat or other veggies.
The knock on this place by some is the service but we have had nothing short of perfect attention every time we’ve been here. The owner Panoy has an engaging, upbeat attitude which we really appreciate. We find ourselves craving this food on such a regular basis and feel really good about giving this place our business.