Spotted Friends Cafe when I was getting a car wash across the street at Rice Street Car Wash, and decided to stop. SO glad I did!
I ordered the chicken fried rice (#36) and Thai style basil (#30) and spring rolls. The fried rice was flavorful and almost buttery. The Thai basil was fresh and flavorful - a little sweet. I ordered the Thai basil medium and it was QUITE spicy (coming from a sriracha/Tabasco/Cholula hot sauce lover).
The place was really busy at 2:00 pm on a Saturday afternoon.
Since I’m in the area a lot, I will be back!

Great local spot for quick tasty food. Fermented tea leaf salad and grilled beef nam Tok were delicious! Fish cakes and wings were tasty too

Ordered the boat noodles and pickled tea leaf salad. The food was delicious and service was great. Felt super welcomed and comfortable. First time coming here and would recommend others to come try their food. Would definitely come back.

Came here almost every week to eat boat noodles as it’s the best in the cities, in my opinion. But came in this week to prices of the boat noodles being $3 dollars more and the portion size way smaller! This is to say that the portion size was already small previously. $16.99 for a regular bowl that takes only 5-6 bites to consume. So disappointing.

Excellent food, helpful service. A sweet neighborhood restaurant that is definitely worth the trip for fantastic food! Superb tom yum soup, pad Thai, and shrimp and eggplant curry!

The food was delicious and had a good balance of flavors.
We ordered medium, but everything was pretty spicy, but deliciously spicy 🔥.

We were greeted upon arrival and seat right away with the menu. The waiter came over and didn’t even say hi and ask to take our order or if we were ready, he walked over and just stood there looking at his order pad.

The boat noodles was okay, didn’t have a lot of flavor and very small portion size. The only gave me 3 pieces of pork rind. The red curry was surprisingly flavorful and the vegetables were very crunchy and not soggy which was great.

Great food. Staff were super friendly. The only negative I gotta say is the menu, it's not updated. I got the pork noodle soup, and the broth by itself was so flavorful! The spring rolls isn't anything special, but still delicious. You just got to ask for more than 1 of the dipping sauce for the spring rolls.

Came here almost every week to eat boat noodles as it’s the best in the cities, in my opinion. But came in this week to prices of the boat noodles being $3 dollars more and the portion size way smaller! This is to say that the portion size was already small previously. $16.99 for a regular bowl that takes only 5-6 bites to consume. So disappointing.

Their boat noodles is the best.

The chicken dishes we had were great!

Spotted Friends Cafe when I was getting a car wash across the street at Rice Street Car Wash, and decided to stop. SO glad I did!
I ordered the chicken fried rice (#36) and Thai style basil (#30) and spring rolls. The fried rice was flavorful and almost buttery. The Thai basil was fresh and flavorful - a little sweet. I ordered the Thai basil medium and it was QUITE spicy (coming from a sriracha/Tabasco/Cholula hot sauce lover).
The place was really busy at 2:00 pm on a Saturday afternoon.
Since I’m in the area a lot, I will be back!

Excellent food, helpful service. A sweet neighborhood restaurant that is definitely worth the trip for fantastic food! Superb tom yum soup, pad Thai, and shrimp and eggplant curry!

Rude service,. wrong food. They would not make it right. I do not recommend “Friends Cafe” . Unfortunately there is not a ZERO star review.

As we were enjoying our lunch a cockroach began crawling on the wall and almost onto our table making it difficult for us to continue eating our RECENTLY served food. We were not able to finish our food due to the cockroach we told management about it and she proceeded to ring us up full price for food that was not even done due to their pests.

Great boat noodles and spicy dishes! Recommend the boat noodles and pork belly pad kra pao as well as their fried rice

Great local spot for quick tasty food. Fermented tea leaf salad and grilled beef nam Tok were delicious! Fish cakes and wings were tasty too

The food was delicious and had a good balance of flavors.
We ordered medium, but everything was pretty spicy, but deliciously spicy 🔥.

I love their boat noodle but becareful for what they charge because I got overcharge for 15% tip that I wasn't given that much.

One of my favorite places for boat noodles

Best boat noodles and nom tok. Highly recommend.

I’m a Burmese native, have travelled and tried more than half of the Burmese restaurants in the entire US. This one ranks really low imo and so much so that I’d not recommend and will not try again during the next visit. The food is really bland and if you’d like to try Burmese food, try somewhere else.

FOOD: Boat noodles were best in town. I go there just to get my boat noodle fix. Appetisers are good. Only complaints are dont expect them early and samosa are filled with nothing but potatoes. ATMOSPHERE: They can get pretty busy on weekends and have only a dozen tables. They open 11am so get their before and you get a table, noon and you'll wait. Worned eating utensiles, chop sticks, cups. Bathrooms could be cleaner. SERVICE: The children staff don't come around and check up on you, refill water etc. They prefer to be on their phone. But ask and they are very quick. NOTE WORTHY: Twice I've been harrased by the homeless guarding the door outside. If bringing family and kiddos, beware because they get angry if you don't donate. Common duo is the asian guy with a tattoo on his face and his buddy who pretends to be handicapped. Be smart just give em a couple of dollars, and you'll be left to dine without the worry your tire will be slashed. Side note, pictures block all windows preventing any view of your car. So in case you gave guards the finger. CONCLUSION: All in all, hole in the wall with great food.

We ordered boat noodles, fried rice, spring rolls and chicken wings. All the appetizers came out last. The portions were good and the food was good. We really liked the fried rice and boat noodles. The boat noodles didn't have much meat but the broth was great. The service wasn't too bad only problem was that we asked for a small bowl to share with my child but they thought we wanted an extra bowl of boat noodles. So I had to finish 2 bowl by myself.

Burmese beef stew is great.
The boat noodles... don't skip out on that.
There is a tempura fried gourd. Get that. The Sauce is sweet, spice and tangy.

There’s to many homeless standing outside, waiting for you to give them money. Which if you don’t give them money, they become aggressive.
Overall the foods are great there!

Best boat noodle, fried rice, and pad Thai, totally love their variety of drinks.... food's great, drink's great and perfect little location with plenty of parking, little Asian store next door too

Ordered the boat noodles and pickled tea leaf salad. The food was delicious and service was great. Felt super welcomed and comfortable. First time coming here and would recommend others to come try their food. Would definitely come back.

Be patient with the service. They are good with food. So-so with people. My appetizer came out after my lunch order.

The food is worth the disjointed service experience and more. I’m coming back and bringing my open-minded friends.

Decent food for a cafe. Big draft

I had their authentic food and it tasted so wonderful. Very fresh and flavor was Very Balanced as well. Love it and thank you!

Want to make more friends or tell your friends how much they mean to you? Have them eat here… sooo good. 😊

Was recommended by friends and the restuarant did not disappoint! Boat noodle was really good. Overall the food were on the sweeter and salter side but very satisfying. The nam tok was good.

The food wasn’t all that good as siad in the reviews. The spring roll was very disappointing, just lots of veggies with plain Hoisen sauce topped with plain peanuts. Very expensive, not worth the price. First and last for me.

Delicious food! Especially the boat noodle. Fried rice and pad see ew noodle are also bomb.

Food was below average. Service was ok.

FYI. gratuity will be included in your bill.

However they have started automatically adding gratuity without informing you. There's no sign information customers that gratuity is automatically added. And they ask for a tip on top of it.

I was not impressed. I ordered beef pho and Pad Thai. Each dish was $14. The portions are small, and the dishes are salty. I had to add water to the beef pho to eat it, and even then, I was still hungry cause the portion was small. Next time I rather drive further out to go to Saigon or Tay Ho.

I love their crispy pork prokaproa it’s so good I ate the whole plate clean

Best boat noodle and Thai style basil is the best taste just like in Thailand

The pad Thai wasn’t edible. So disappointed!

Good foods and nice atmosphere.

Great food and service. Price just little bit high but the food is great so it work

Very yummy, very informal. I highly recommend it.

The food is too expensive.

Very good,I will come regularly for that boat noodle.

Boat noodle is better than any pho around

I've had good Thai food. I've had great Thai food. This is the very first time I've ever had BAD Thai food. My advice; don't go. The spices were off, the soup was grainy and thin, the rice was undercooked, there was about a full bush's worth of galangal to hide the taste, and there was hair in the soup. For a price between 5 and 10 dollars, I could justify this, but my meal, sans drink, was $13.95.

Best food ever! Great waitress!

Food was disappointing our server didn’t even refill our water. The the dish we order was sweet I didn’t not like the food at all. The sticky rice we order was so hard. My kids was complaining about how hard the rice texture is, the Pho was super small portions and the broth wasn’t so plain didn’t taste anything. I won’t be going back since the service was bad and food was very disappointing.

family run and authentic, perfect soup for cold Minnesota winters.

Really good place,staff are really fun and the food was delicious

My friend and I went before it was almost closed, staff there was really nice and the food was really good we met the cook that cooked our noodle soup he was very nice and overall the life of the party. I recommend this place 👍

I went to Friends Cafe for the first time on 01/24/2023. I ordered Nam Tok, Boat Noodle, Thai Rice Mango Dessert, and Pad Thai. Everything was good on the table. There was nothing wrong with the food. From my first time, customer service is good. I am in love with the BOAT NOODLE because its FLAVORABLE. It's not plain broth where I have to put other stuff to make it good. I didn't put anything in it because it was sooo delicious. I love the Nam Tok. I wish it was a bigger portion!! I would recommend this little cafe!

If I can give this place all the stars in the world I would. These other restaurants ain't got nun on friends cafe. Hands down. Friends cafe supporter for life!!!!!

All the food here is amazing and never fails me

Best boat noodles in the hood

This is a must every time I'm in town. The Thai boat and the papaya is an always.

There were 4 of us total dining in. I paid for 2 regular size boat noodles. And there was a gratuity of 15% charged. I always tip but seriously a gratuity charge for 4 people is kinda lame

Foods are ok.

Yummy Thai boat noodles 🍜 everything is delicious 😋 a must try!!! I will recommend to friends and friends.

I have a Thai style basil pad kra pad with egg.
That is my favorite. Before today, I usually ordered for takeout. This size of dish is different between dining in and takeout. Dining in is much larger than take out.
Still love it!

Boat noodle was good, flavorful broth. The noodles and meats were good also. The red curry was good but wished there were more protein instead of veggies.

Boat noodles were good. A little sweet, but would eat again.

The food was great, cha was very helpful . If you want thai boat noodles this is the spot to get it!

Food was great! No complaints here if you're looking for a good bowl of boat noodles.

Friendly service. Went here with my family of 13 and we enjoyed their delicious meals. Definitely recommend getting their boat noodle, pineapple fried rice, and pad thai! Beautiful artwork and pieces in the restaurant as well. Will visit again in the near future.

Shrimp and Eggplant plate was great, attentive service for my group towards closing time.

Best boat noodles in town!

First before I even start with the food, we were not greeted at the door. Wasn’t sure if we seat ourselves or needed to wait for someone to seat us. Dinner was small however it wasn’t as busy. I ordered the beef nam tac (I believe that’s how you spell it) as the others ordered the boat noodle. Waiter placed our water on our table and had to request for new ones as there were other stuff in the cup. Boat noodle was so good. Beef nam tac was a bit plain but it tasted similar to Hmong laab. (A bit more seasoning would do the trick). Egg rolls were a bit burnt however the flavors were there. Cream cheese puff was perfect and it wasn’t worth its price as the serving sizes were small and grand total price was a bit high for small portions all together. Dinning area wasn’t as neat but owner will learn to improve and impress in the future. So far the best boat noodle I ever had. Will come back again next time when I’m in town.

I really wanted to like this place based on the reviews. Sadly, I just didn't. Pretty poor food quality for a really top shelf price. I'll probably go somewhere else the next time I'm in the area.

You won’t regret go here!!!

This place isn’t like before. They’re not treating the customers fair. If you’re the same race as them, they won’t serve you like they supposed to. But if you’re other races, they treat you nice! Also, After checking out, automatic gratuity shouldn’t be that expensive. It should be up to the customers whether they want to leave the tips or not. This restaurant isn’t recommended!

Best boat noodle and Thai style basil is the best.

Boat noodle was good

Food tasted great! Had lunch here with my mom and brother. Before any pics could be taken, food was halfway done! Papaya 4/5 asked for medium but came out a little spicier, shrimp Tomyum 4/5, spicy beef nam tok 5/5, and my favorite was the shrimp glass noodles 5/5. Would definitely come back here when I'm in the area.

Great foods. Great place to dine in with family and friends

good delicious food

Food is mediocre at best and expensive and they have 4 dollar auto tip? Mind you I didn’t tip them they have auto 4 dollar even when I press no tip on tab I don’t tip them because there is little to no service

Been here twice now both time excellent had soup with noodles first time, don't usually get soup afraid it won't fill me up! It DID. Stir fry the next time it also was excellent. Cook recommend #81 and 82, maybe 80 that will be mine next trip. Very good staff

The beef stew is something else. You should have been there.

Amazing food.

What a great find. The place is small, cold in winter and a little scruffy. But pay no attention to that. This is a true family-run business, with home-cooked Thai and Burmese food that's fresh, wholesome and really outrageously good. Our party of 3 had papaya salad, samosa, beef soup and egg curry. We loved it all. At one point we asked a question about the spice in the curry and the cook came out to show us the herb he'd used. We'll be going back - often.

Food was good. Service was ok.

I’m a foodie. I’ll admit it! Love cooking and seeking out food that will be remembered. I just ate one of the best appetizers I’ve ever come across. OMG what a delight! This rates way up there with what you expect from an expensive fine dine. The home made Burmese tamarind sauce was so delicious I asked if they sell it. They don’t, but they certainly could. I’d pay a premium price for it. This was my first time here. I can’t wait to come back and try some of their special dishes. Decor is nothing special but doesn’t need to be because it’s a warm friendly atmosphere. Completely lives up to the name Friends!

Amazing phat kaphrao! Best ever had in states. Recommended to try boat noodles and kaphrao of crispy pork. Definitely will!

Excellent attention, and very good quality foods. Good prices.

Food was very good. Very casual atmosphere.

Omg the food is the best. Everyone should really try there egg noodle dish

Lots of interesting choices. I enjoyed the 3 appetizers I tried as lunch.

My second time. Very good food. Good service too

Excellent food, wonderful staff. Try the Boat Noodles!

We were greeted upon arrival and seat right away with the menu. The waiter came over and didn’t even say hi and ask to take our order or if we were ready, he walked over and just stood there looking at his order pad.

The boat noodles was okay, didn’t have a lot of flavor and very small portion size. The only gave me 3 pieces of pork rind. The red curry was surprisingly flavorful and the vegetables were very crunchy and not soggy which was great.

Their meat is kind of tough, but if you ask for raw meat on the side, they're willing to improvise. Friendly service and amazing boat noodles.

Best Boat Noodle I've found in the Twin Cities area. This item isn't on the menu. You just order it. I only did 4 stars because they forgot all about our papaya salad. But the delicious boat noodle made up for that mistake.
Overall, it was great. I'm definitely going back.

Don’t know what the hype about this place, but it’s not even good.

Should be 2.5 stars. Got boat noodles and lao papaya. Boat noodles were just ok, have had much better. Had to add sriracha n fish sauce, usually only do so in pho. Lao papaya was good but asked for "extra" spicy and was prob 6/10 spice scale, disappointed. May return if in area, not in rush though. Also surprised by prices, def higher for portion size u get but i guess they have loyal suckers who dont know better.

Best pho. Best pai thai. Reasonable price
Will be back as soon as I can

boat noodle, fried rice, pad Thai, and Thai style basil is the best and the best.

First time eating here and the Beef noodle (pho) was delicious. The fried rice, eggrolls and chicken wing was also good that my kids ate everything.

We are SO GLAD we found this place!! Unique, incredible food and a very friendly, helpful staff. You MUST try it! We are obsessed!

The best chef

Excellent Thai and Burmese food! I tried the pickled green tea salad and it was amazing and healthy! The red curry and samosa are excellent as well! Will be back!

Ordered pad thai n chicken wings today. No flavor n dried.

Great selection of authentic dishes! The staff were understanding when we came a bit later than our reservation time. I got the Friends Cafe Boat Noodle and it was delicious! Only one thing, I asked for medium spicy but there was not a chili to be seen 😞 I’m quite sensitive to spice so I would have been able to taste it if there was any heat in there.

Best pad thai I’ve ever had!

They have real thai food the taste is right....

Their Stir-fried vegetables in sauce, and their eggrolls are delicious. Eating the rest today and it still tastes like homemade meal. That was my first visit and I'm definitely going back!

First time customer. Very good and spices were amazing. I'll be back.

Love their boat noodle.

Very good! Understated, but food has hooked me.

Not a single customer(8) was wearing a mask., even though there was a sign on the door. I'm very unhappy about that and I waited outside for my food even though there was an excessive heat advisory.
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Ordered for Carry out because of this.

Portions are small. Soup isn't packaged well and spilled all over in bag.
I'll return after we've eaten. 😉
Server recommended I not order Boat Noodle Soup after ask8ng if I've had it before. Then suggested I order Pad Thai instead. They are not even similar.
I still wish I would have tasted the Boat Noodle Soup.
The Pad Thai was tasty, Holy Basil was good but for the price, I will not order it again, and the Golden egg Soup was scrumptious👍.

A hidden gem

Best pad Thai we’ve had in this area of town, and there are a lot of places to choose from ! Came hot from Door Dash too

This is an unassuming family restaurant with really great food and reasonable prices. I really enjoyed everything I ordered and would love to go back with a group to try more dishes. It’s a big menu with a lot of options. Clean and comfortable interior, but nothing fancy.

Food was good service was very good

Great! Try the boat noodles that aren't listed on the menu yet.

Stopped in for lunch we ordered 4 different dishes. All amazing!

I have to say that the staff are very friend and They have the best phó here. Best Ice coffee too. Can’t really ask for more. I always go here for best phó. In fact, I will go tomorrow for some phó and ice cofee. True to the taste here.

Good place for a quick bite. I love their curries. I also love their green mango papaya salad but they never really have the green mangos. :( Staff is friendly and food comes out fairly quick. A must try if you’re wanting to try Thai/Burmese food.

Not very friendly

Food is okay but they're the only thai restaurant that I've been to that holds the hoisin sauce hostage. Had to request limes for my pho. Service could be better. I won't be returning.

Very good! Highly recommend

One of my favorite places!!
Beef laab and papaya salad are always on point.

Good Burmese food. Tasty curry dishes

I've been here several years ago, and again this year. I'm confident in saying as of late 2019, I am glad to see positive changes within this restaurant, the food is a lot better than it used to be.

Cozy, no frills eatery with delicious food. I ordered the Burmese shrimp and eggplant curry that was deeply flavored, but was not as rich as a Thai curry with coconut milk. The pickles green tea leaf and crispy peas salad had a great blend of flavor and crunch.

My friends enjoyed their seafood Tom yun and stir-fried tofu, but I can't directly comment on those. The portions and prices were okay, but I expected either a little more food or slightly lower prices. I was also a bit bummed that they were out of all their Burmese soups, but I am more than happy to come back to try more of their delicious food.

Good food.

The food is good

Delicious, fresh food. The spring roll with shrimp was so fresh, as if there they have fresh plants in the back.

The food is always fresh and tastes great (and I am pretty picky). The people who work there are so kind. Best Thai food on the East Side (In my humble opinion).

Gotta have the Boat Noodle here!

My goodness this place is magical. Try the curry beef stew. You won't be sorry.

Best fresh spring rolls, excellent service!

Excellent Thai and Burmese goodness. The best buthi kyaw anywhere!

The Best boat noodle (with small noodle)
Will come back again to try for more foods

Friendly and relaxed atmosphere, staff are warm and attentive. I've tried the spring rolls and they are so fresh and big. The currys are also delicious.

Love this little north end gem! It’s nothing like the other Asian restaurants in the area. Everything has good, rich flavors that leave me thinking about them days later!! It is owned by a family who obviously care about the food they serve their customers! My favorite is the chicken coconut curry soup ☺️

Just so so. Will fill your belly but not feed your soul.

I would give you 5 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟any day. 👍

Delicious food!

Great food. Staff were super friendly. The only negative I gotta say is the menu, it's not updated. I got the pork noodle soup, and the broth by itself was so flavorful! The spring rolls isn't anything special, but still delicious. You just got to ask for more than 1 of the dipping sauce for the spring rolls.

Absolutely love their curry and it's really reasonably priced. Absolutely recommend checking this place out.

We ordered their spicy thai eggplant curry with shrimp and there was only like 5 large shrimp and probably 6 slices of purple eggplant. It cost about 11 bucks or so. It wasnt bad but too pricey in my opinion. We also ordered pad thai..was ok. I wouldnt go back. Its overpriced and dishes are small.

Mo

Clean and cozy with great food. Takes a little while to get served, but worth the wait.