Yueh Qi C.

This review is for my takeout experience only - I think the food was pretty decent. I got the pad see ew and moo ping. The moo ping /pork belly was nice and tender. However, the pad see ew serving size was extremely small. You definitely need a second entree to be full, unfortunately.

David K.

Excellent food, appearance and taste. Spotty service: 1. Would not substitute mushrooms for peppers and eggplant 2. One set of chopsticks for two 3. Brought our main course sushi as an appetizer 4. Took :15 minutes to bring a side order of rice. Comfortable space, will try again.

Joy G.

3 for the Wellesley location, the other two locations may very well be mind-glowingly good. But the food/service here was not up to par, especially for the prices. Of the dishes we ordered, only two or three were vaguely memorable. Yelp, you led me wrong with this one. *shakes fist at the sky* Food: The menu is split between Thai and Japanese. We ordered the shrimp shumai as an appetizer, which was one of the better things we ordered: thin wrapper, flavorful filling. The Thai entrees were where things fell apart. I got the hot ginger dish with tofu, with a medley of veggies. Taste was all right and the tofu amount was generous but nothing stood out to me with this dish. It certainly didn't contain anything that justified the $17 price tag (not counting the side of rice, which you have to order separately, see rant below). Also tried the unagi nigiri and the fatty salmon belly, both were not bad. Everything else, including the royal broccoli, was similarly mid and had the same "brown sauce" flavor. Portions were criminally small for the price. I had to eat a snack at home afterwards (and I don't have the largest appetite in the world). Indulge me with a mini-rant. Laughing Monk charges extra for a side of rice for all the entrees that normally come with rice. Ask any self-respecting Asian person if they will eat a stir fry or anything sauce-y without rice. I don't like it when restaurants do this sort of nickel and diming. Just make the entree more expensive to build in the cost of rice. Don't even get me started on the $2 side of wasabi and pickled ginger. Their online menu, which featured a number of sushi options that made us want to go (a chirashi bowl, an Uni don) is takeout only, with no mention of it being such. We didn't find that out until we got to the restaurant. Prices on the online menu aren't updated. All in all - pretty misleading. Service: Not particularly warm or friendly. We came on a busy Saturday night, which probably explains it. Parking: I have a soft spot for downtown Wellesley because parking is super easy and abundant. They even put little green hoods over the parking meters reading "Compliments of Wellesley." How nice is that? We found a spot right behind the restaurant. Overall, I don't think I'll be back. Eating out right now is too expensive to justify mediocre food/service.

Tulsa H.

The Tom Yum Koong (spicy shrimp soup) was very good. Great proportion of coconut milk. We got attracted by the Boston location and came to this location instead when near the area. There aren't that many items in the menu compared to the Boston location. However, the food is still very good and worth a visit. Both the Thai dishes and the Japanese dishes are good. Would recommend this place. Service is fine.

Aliké S.

Completely unexpected visit! You must try the mushroom roll. AND The Silver Roll even if it's just for the visual - it's a pretty presentation. One of those that draws eyes & comments from other patrons! It wasn't necessarily the best roll I've ever tasted, but it was a good experience none-the-less. Per usual, my 4 year old son loved the edamame. We also ordered him a broccoli and tofu dish he enjoyed. Im not a drinker, but from the looks of things (I saw the mixologist in action), they serve those types of cocktails that are like eye-candy. Logistically, it's a very tight spot. A few table-tops and bout 3 or 4 bar seats. However, they were able to accommodate our 2adult, 1child party as walkins with a 15min wait. Not bad at all. But I would suggest making resi's (reservations). Prices aren't cheap. Specialty rolls run about $25. This might be the best sushi for our neck of the woods!

Pam R.

Wellesley has many choices for Thai food. Laughing Monk is a small restaurant. About 10 tables. There are also 5 or so stools at the sushi bar. We have been many times and the food is consistently good. The curries are delicious. One of our faves is the simple egg fried rice. Simple decor, kind staff, great food! Recommend their take out too!

Howie B.

At great personal dining peril, I post this review (meaning: I'm hoping this review will not add to our difficulty getting a table as the food here is no "laughing" matter. ;-) Headline: One of the best Thai meals -- and meals PERIOD -- that we've had. Ever! This was our second time dining at the Wellesley location and it is small, intimate, cozy and comfortable. (additional detail in prior review.) We ordered the dishes below, and I highly recommend all! Vegetable Gyoza: these were hot, fresh, tasty, and satisfying. Nothing unusual, but very solid. Now the great stuff... Caterpillar Roll: WOW! Just outstanding. One of the single best sushi rolls/apps we can recall. This was an explosion of flavors; rich, creamy, salty, sweet, crunchy. FANTASTIC! Before we'd finished, we wanted another one. Chicken Panang Curry: Tender chicken, crispy veggies, and the sauce should be sold immediately in 50 gallon drums for filling one's bathtub. It was seriously delicious and we ordered extra rice to sop up every drop. (My wife threatened to lick her plate!) An amazing dish! Shrimp Pad Thai: we've had a lot of Pad Thai over the years. This is simply the best version that we've had (and it surpassed the prior visit's version.) It hit all the right notes -- rich taste, properly cooked shrimp, tender noodles, crunchiness from the peanuts and bean sprouts. It had an almost creamy texture. It was fresh and delicious! One small fly in the ointment. We ordered rice with the curry dish and it was a TINY serving. We asked for another as we ate (to soak up the sauce) and ultimately found we were charged $5.00 for the second bowl (the charge was $3.00 for the rice that we ordered with our dish.) I have to say two things here (note to Management.) One, the price is crazy for the tiny amount of rice that you receive and, 2) Really? You're going to charge us a different price if ordering with an entree/dish vs. ordering later in the meal without an entree/dish?? Very nickle-and-dimey, and it marred an otherwise tremendous meal. The above "Rice-gate" aside, this was truly some of the best tasting, most flavorful food that we've ever had. The chefs here are -- clearly -- not Monk-eying around. ;-)

Luke F.

Best Thai in the area, not even close! I tried Laughing Monk for the first time last week, and went back again tonight. So far I've had the Mango Curry and Hot Ginger stir fry for my entrees, and both were excellent. I also tried some of their sushi, which was terrific as well. And for an appetizer, don't miss out on their delicious dumplings-- the vegetable and chicken gyoza are both great, as were the shumai. The service is very friendly, and the restaurant is well-decorated but small. Be aware that it tends to fill up and they don't take reservations except for omakase, so get there early or expect a wait! But the food is well worth it. I can't wait to go back and sample more of their menu!

Joan L.

Stopped for lunch at the Wellesley location. It's a small place. All of the tables were full but we we're happy to sit at the bar. We ordered a variety of items including sushi, hot dishes and even dessert. The sushi was super fresh and the dishes were delicious. Would not hesitate to return and get an omakase here or wt the Boston location.

Winter B.

Laughing Monk is definitely more of an upscale Thai place. We did takeout but the inside was very nice and more formal. The portion sizes we got were small for the price we paid but everything was good. I'm used to pad see ew being just broccoli, noodles, and meat but there were some other additional things in this one like carrots and egg. They also have an omakase bar and a sushi menu. Would be interested in trying that out another time.

rebecca k.

Cute place for sure but I had some real problems with it. Portions are laughably small. A roti starter for $10 looks like they forgot to put the other half in. The $20 pad thai (extra $4 for beef instead of chicken) was enough for two people tops. The container is small and they didn't even fill it. It tasted good but it's hard to recommend a place that is so stingy with noodles. My deep fried madness sushi was incredibly fishy tasting so it didn't get eaten at all. Edamame criminally overcooked. A huge thing for me too is the packaging. It looks like microwave packaging- complete with packets of the sauce. That $10 tiny roti came with the tiny sauce packet of peanut sauce. Those packets just scream CHEAP and packaged to me...not something I expect from an expensive restaurant... this felt like fast food packaging. See the pictures. I ordered 4 sushi rolls, 2 orders of gyoza, chicken satay, roti, Edamame, pad thai and pineapple fried rice. Total came out to $150. Last thing .. I ordered online and the estimated time for pickup said 45 minutes. I arrived 40 minutes later and my food was waiting for me. Yay! But it quickly became clear that my food had been ready for probably 20 minutes just sitting there. Sushi was hot, food was cold. Not great.