You can smell the deliciousness from outside the door. A fluorescent green hole in the wall on a long street full of restaurants, Green Tea House serves yummy Vietnamese noodles and a host of other south Asian foods.
I wouldn't say the experience as a whole was enjoyable. As one reviewer said, it's a logistical nightmare just getting your food. You stand in line to order, a line that stretches from the counter to the door, to the right of which there are drinks to buy, plus cutlery and accompaniments like spices and sauces. On the left are the tables. Few and squished together, it's hard to get a seat. Fortunately, most people in line are there to take their dishes to go. Unfortunately, takeaway or not, you have to shimmy through them to get your sauces and such! Really poorly organized.
I ordered fried veggie spring rolls to split with my coworker, and then the wonton soup. Then I squeezed through the queue to collect napkins and chopsticks, glasses and four sauces: spicy chili oil, pickled jalapenos, plum sauce, and sweet vinegary cucumber. It was hard not to spill them on customers' coats on my way back to the table that my colleague had managed to stake out.
In retrospect, I should have ordered a Vietnamese specialty and not a Chinese one--the wontons were likely frozen, the thin egg noodles clumped together, and the broth in need of much more flavor (the latter of which was quickly fixed, thanks to my arsenal of side sauces). The spring rolls were okay, but I expected them to just be okay, since they were retrieved from under the counter and then warmed up in the microwave.
Next time I'll order something different. read more