Cyclo is known as the local Vietnamese spot around LIC and truthfully, me and bf have only visited twice. The first time left us rather unsatisfied so we decided to give them a second chance. We get Vietnamese food every other week because I absolutely love the cuisine and bf is actually Vietnamese himself, at this point we would consider ourselves Viet-food-connoisseurs.
Unfortunately, even after our second visit to Cyclo, they still under-delivered so it's time for a yelp review. We ordered the crispy spring rolls (cha gio), beef pho with the additional 3 meatballs for $4, bo luc lac, and a thai bubble tea. Service was okay, we had our waters refilled multiple times and the waitstaff seemed very nice. Until we started ordering.
We started with thai bubble tea and crispy spring rolls (cha gio), of which the drink was fine, but one of the spring rolls were raw on the inside. We brought it to our waitress' attention and she quickly brought them back to the kitchen to get us a new order. Our entrees came soon after and they were very disappointing. See below for the food reviews. Near the end of our meal, a waitress propped opened the front door and I asked our waitress if she could close it (it was 55 degrees out and the door was less than 6ft away from our table). She told us that we would need to wait 10 minutes before she closed the door, which I found to be a bit distasteful. Especially when they had a backdoor that was not being used, the backdoor was also not in close proximity to any customers dining. Me and bf had decided that maybe she was being a bit harsh because of the raw spring roll fiasco.
Ultimately, I would recommend that you go to other Vietnamese restaurants around Queens/Brooklyn/Manhattan if you're looking for good quality food and service.
Food reviews:
Thai bubble tea - 7/10: very sweet and the tapioca was rather small(?) they had a good texture though and the tea had a good flavor.
Spring rolls - 1/10: the first order we got was raw (pink, cold pork inside) and they were kind enough to make us a new order. The next order was cooked, but the meat was sour and pasty. Definitely would not recommend
Bo luc lac - 4/10: the beef was tender and soft, but way too salty and was swimming in a pool of sauce. Even after wiping the sauce off, the meat was still exceptionally salty. We didn't finish our order
Beef pho - 3/10: the broth was exceptionally lacking. There was bok choy in it for some reason(??) I paid $4 for 3 meatballs which is honestly mindblowing after the fact. We get pho twice a month and this is by far the most disappointing bowl of pho I've ever had. read more