Lang Van

Review! Charlotte, North Carolina // Vietnamese restaurant // endearing

it used to be a laundromat 😮

so much love from the community!

the ELEVATOR PITCH

Sometimes trying a new restaurant can be daunting for me. Will the staff be friendly and not mind all of my questions? Will the food be worth the price? Will the dining experience be a positive one? With my mind slightly preoccupied with these uncertainties, you could imagine my surprise when we were so enthusiastically greeted by the hostess Lam, a non-stop smiley, bright personality, right when we walked through the door. It’s the type of greeting that you’d give a close friend you haven’t seen in a while or your favorite family member at a holiday gathering. It was a greeting I didn’t know I needed to scatter all of my glass-half-empty thoughts like a light to cockroaches.

Then you taste their delicious food (wow, the flavor bomb! I absolutely loved my beef lemongrass curry), and that, combined with their endearing staff (we had a hostess who would refill our waters even if we had sipped a millimeter), it’s no wonder that Lang Van is so loved by the community (evidenced also by the massive number of holiday cards that covers one of the walls like wallpaper).

the spread

Breakdown of the table spread:

• #2 GOI CUON: Vietnamese summer rolls with boiled shrimp, mint, bean sprouts, lettuce, rice noodles, all wrapped in rice paper

• #27: PHO TAI: rare cooked beef with rice noodles

• #44: CARY GA: curry with chicken

• #50: BUN BO XAO: cold vermicelli with salad & stir-fried beef (not too much protein given though)

• #122: COM TAY CAM: house special clay pot with shrimp, beef, chicken (rice included on bottom)

• #136: BEEF LEMONGRASS CURRY: (medium spicy) comes with rice, lettuce, and bean sprouts

Lang Van is a hole-in-the-wall and one of the only Vietnamese restaurants in Charlotte that offer more than just pho or banh mi. I highly recommend a visit if you’re looking to broaden your horizons on what Viet food can look like, because it certainly broadened mine!

the RÉSUMÉ

address // 3019 Shamrock Dr, Charlotte, NC 28215

operations // every day, 11:00 AM - 11:00 PM

logistics // call to place reservations, but walking in is also perfectly acceptable!

• the turn into the restaurant from Shamrock Dr. can get a little awkward depending on which direction you’re coming from, so stay alert!!

vibes // very “mom & pop shop” feel, down-to-earth and warm. You don’t need to dress up to come dine here, come as you are.

• very attentive service: the host/bus boy refilled our waters every 2 minutes it feels like! Lam, the hostess, was very friendly & smiley, and was very intentional in wanting to remember our names 😊

menu //

• appetizers/starters (< $10.00): skewers, Vietnamese spring rolls, crispy quail, fried tofu, etc.

• entrées ($12.00 - $20.00): curry, pho, cold vermicelli noodles, claypots, etc.

recs // the beef lemongrass curry is 10/10! The physical heat from the beef softened the rawness of the lettuce and bean sprouts and I found it lovely to all eat together.

site // Lang Van 

~ cath!!