Restaurant in Washington DC, United States
Serious Lao cooking at an accessible price.
Laos in Town is the strongest case for eating in Northeast DC, with Chef Ben Tiatasin delivering regionally specific Lao cooking at a $$ price point that few restaurants in the city match. A 4.8 Google rating across 3,187 reviews confirms consistent execution. The dedicated vegan section and serious cocktail list make it a practical choice across group types and multiple visits.
Laos in Town is one of Washington, D.C.'s most compelling reasons to eat in Northeast. At a $$ price point, Chef Ben Tiatasin's Lao cooking offers a level of ingredient specificity and regional authenticity that is genuinely hard to find in this city. A Google rating of 4.8 across 3,187 reviews is not noise — that kind of consensus signals consistent execution. If you have one dinner to spend in the Northeast DC corridor and want something outside the predictable modern American rotation, book here.
Laos in Town sits at 250 K St NE, in a part of the city that rewards the trip rather than demanding it. The dining room is compact and direct in its layout — this is a neighborhood restaurant, not a stage-set experience. Expect close tables, a room that fills up on weekends, and a pace that feels genuinely hospitable rather than transactional. First-timers should arrive knowing that the menu reads as a survey of Lao cooking, not a fusion approximation: the kitchen works with fermented fish sauces, phet-heat markers, and ingredients that most Southeast Asian menus in the United States quietly omit.
For a first visit, the path through the menu is fairly well-marked by the kitchen's own signposting. The papaya salad is the chef's signature and the right place to start , it arrives with green beans, Lao pork loaf, and a fermented fish sauce base that is notably less sweet and more complex than Thai versions you may have tried elsewhere. The sausage dish, served with crunchy green papaya, peanuts, and green chili, covers the spice and texture range well. The orm , a chicken-and-dill curry with Asian eggplant, cabbage, and scallions , is the dish most first-timers underorder and most returning guests consider the reason to come back.
Visit one should cover the foundational dishes: the papaya salad, the sausage plate, and the orm. These three together map the kitchen's range , cured and fermented flavors, raw-crunchy textures, and slow-cooked herb-forward warmth. Order from the phet-marked section if your heat tolerance allows; the kitchen is not bluffing on spice level.
Visit two is where the vegan section earns serious attention. Laos in Town dedicates a full section of the menu to plant-based dishes, which is unusual for this style of cooking and signals genuine commitment rather than afterthought. If you skipped it on visit one, this is the time to work through it. The ingredients in that section , less common in comparable restaurants , are worth the deliberate detour.
Visit three shifts to the cocktail list, which is extensive enough to merit its own consideration. On earlier visits, drinks are likely secondary to the food. By a third visit, spending time with the cocktail program before ordering gives the full picture of what Laos in Town is doing beyond the kitchen. The bar component is not decorative , it's substantive.
The cumulative argument for multiple visits is that the menu's range does not compress well into a single sitting. Trying to cover Lao sausage, papaya salad, orm, vegan dishes, and the cocktail list in one meal produces a table full of food and a blurred impression. Spreading across visits lets each section of the menu read clearly.
Laos in Town works well for first-timers to Lao cuisine who want an accessible entry point without a dumbed-down version of the food. It also works for diners who already know the cuisine and are frustrated by the menu compressions common at Southeast Asian restaurants in the United States. The dedicated vegan section makes it a practical choice for mixed groups. Solo diners will find the room manageable. For a special occasion at this price tier, it over-delivers.
Address: 250 K St NE, Washington, DC 20002. Cuisine: Lao / South East Asian. Chef: Ben Tiatasin. Price range: $$ (accessible; one of the stronger value propositions in the DC dining scene at this tier). Reservations: Booking difficulty is rated Easy , you should still book ahead for weekend evenings, but this is not a venue requiring weeks of advance planning. Dress: No published dress code; smart casual is appropriate and consistent with the neighborhood feel. Rating: 4.8 on Google across 3,187 reviews.
If Lao cooking has your attention, Chuan Kitchen in Pak Kret and Farang in Stockholm represent how the broader Southeast Asian canon plays at different price tiers and contexts. For a sense of where ambitious American restaurant cooking sits in relation to Laos in Town's more grounded approach, Le Bernardin in New York City, Alinea in Chicago, and The French Laundry in Napa anchor the other end of the spectrum. Also worth considering in the DC dining set: Jônt and minibar for tasting-menu ambitions, and Oyster Oyster if plant-based cooking is your priority at a higher price point.
Smart casual is the right call. Laos in Town is a neighborhood restaurant at a $$ price point , there is no published dress code, and the atmosphere is informal without being a dive. Think clean and comfortable rather than dressed up. You will not be underdressed in jeans; you will not be overdressed in a blazer.
Yes. The compact room and neighborhood pace make solo dining comfortable here. At $$, you can work through two or three dishes without significant spend, and the menu's range means a solo visit does not feel like a compromised experience. Solo diners in DC looking for serious cooking at this price tier have few better options in the Northeast corridor.
The dedicated vegan section on the menu is a genuine differentiator , it is not a token addition. For plant-based diners, Laos in Town is a better choice than most Southeast Asian restaurants in DC at this price range. For other dietary needs, contact the restaurant directly; specific allergy or restriction policies are not confirmed in available data.
There is no confirmed tasting menu format in the available data for Laos in Town , the venue operates as an a la carte restaurant. The multi-visit strategy (papaya salad and sausage on visit one; vegan section on visit two; cocktail focus on visit three) effectively builds a tasting-menu-style experience across meals without the fixed format. At $$ pricing, ordering four dishes across the table covers the kitchen's range well.
For Southeast Asian cooking at a comparable or adjacent price tier in DC, Laos in Town occupies a fairly specific position , Lao cuisine with this level of specificity is not common. If you want to spend more and move into modern American or Middle Eastern territory, Albi ($$$$ Middle Eastern) and Oyster Oyster ($$$, plant-forward New American) are the two DC venues most worth considering alongside it. For Peruvian at a higher price point, Causa ($$$$) is the current reference. None of these replicate what Laos in Town does , they are different-format alternatives for when you want something adjacent in ambition.
At $$, Laos in Town is one of the stronger value arguments in DC dining. A 4.8 Google rating across 3,187 reviews at this price tier is a reliable signal that the kitchen delivers consistently. You are not paying for a designed room or a celebrity chef profile , you are paying for cooking that uses ingredients and techniques most DC restaurants at this price point do not attempt. That trade is worth making.
It depends on what kind of special occasion. For a birthday dinner or celebration where the food is the point and the spend is secondary to experience, yes , Laos in Town over-delivers at $$. For a formal anniversary or a setting where room atmosphere and service theatrics matter as much as the plate, you would be better served at Bresca or Gravitas, where the $$$$-tier pricing includes more of the occasion framing. Laos in Town is a special occasion restaurant on the strength of its food, not its production.
| Venue | Cuisine | Awards | Booking Difficulty | Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Laos in Town | South East Asian | The flavors and heat of Southeast Asian are on full display at this Northeast DC eatery. Though the menu spans much of the country, Laos’ menu—sporting a section devoted entirely to vegans—still manages to be original, offering ingredients that are rarely found in similar restaurants. It also promises—and delivers on—dishes marked “phet" (or spicy).Generous slices of sausage with savory herbs are served with crunchy green papaya, peanuts and fiery green chili; while the chef’s signature papaya salad arrives with bright green beans, Laos pork loaf and a mellow fermented fish sauce. Don’t miss the unique orm, a tender chicken-and-dill curry, imbued with Asian eggplant, cabbage, scallions and more green beans. An extensive cocktail list is an added bonus.; The flavors and heat of Southeast Asian are on full display at this Northeast DC eatery. Though the menu spans much of the country, Laos’ menu—sporting a section devoted entirely to vegans—still manages to be original, offering ingredients that are rarely found in similar restaurants. It also promises—and delivers on—dishes marked “phet" (or spicy).Generous slices of sausage with savory herbs are served with crunchy green papaya, peanuts and fiery green chili; while the chef’s signature papaya salad arrives with bright green beans, Laos pork loaf and a mellow fermented fish sauce. Don’t miss the unique orm, a tender chicken-and-dill curry, imbued with Asian eggplant, cabbage, scallions and more green beans. An extensive cocktail list is an added bonus. | Easy | — |
| Albi | United States, Middle Eastern | Michelin 1 Star | Unknown | — |
| Causa | Peruvian | Michelin 1 Star | Unknown | — |
| Oyster Oyster | New American, Vegetarian, Vegetarian (Sustainable) | Michelin 1 Star | Unknown | — |
| Bresca | Modern French, Contemporary | Michelin 1 Star | Unknown | — |
| Gravitas | New American, Contemporary | Michelin 1 Star | Unknown | — |
Comparing your options in Washington, D.C. for this tier.
Casual is the right call here. At a $$ price point in Northeast DC, Laos in Town is a neighborhood-style dining room, not a dress-up occasion. Come as you would to a good local dinner with friends — neat but relaxed.
Yes, and arguably one of the better solo options in this part of DC. The compact dining room and approachable menu mean you can work through the foundational dishes — the papaya salad, sausage plate, and orm — without needing a group to cover range. The cocktail list gives you something to pace the meal with.
Better than most in its category. The menu includes a dedicated vegan section, which is genuinely uncommon for a Lao restaurant at this price point. If you eat meat, the full menu applies; if you don't, there are real options rather than afterthoughts.
Laos in Town does not operate a tasting menu format — the kitchen runs à la carte. Order the papaya salad, sausage plate, and orm as a trio and you'll cover the core of what Chef Ben Tiatasin does well without overspending at the $$ price range.
For a different angle on thoughtful, ingredient-driven cooking in DC, Oyster Oyster (plant-forward, comparable price range) and Bresca (more ambitious, higher price point) are worth considering. If you want to stay in the Southeast Asian lane, Laos in Town has few direct Lao-specific competitors in the city, which is part of why it's worth the trip to Northeast.
At $$, yes — straightforwardly. The kitchen uses ingredients that rarely appear at this price point in DC, the spice levels are genuine rather than adjusted for a generic audience, and the vegan section adds range most comparable spots lack. For the Northeast DC location and the specificity of the cooking, it represents solid value.
It works for a low-key celebration or a meaningful dinner with someone you want to impress with a considered choice — but it's not a white-tablecloth venue. The food is the reason to go, not the setting. If the occasion calls for a formal room, Bresca or Gravitas fit that brief better; if it calls for a genuinely interesting meal, Laos in Town earns its place.
Keep this venue in your Pearl passport, rate it after you visit, and track it alongside every other place you collect.
