We have been meaning to try this place for quite some time as both of us are fans of Vietnamese food. My husband and I had some time to stop for lunch recently after having run several nearby errands.
We arrived at about 1:30pm and found ourselves in a nearly empty restaurant; only one other table was occupied.
We had noted that the parking lot was virtually empty and I wondered aloud whether we should just pick another place to eat. We opted to stay.
We gave the restaurant the benefit of the doubt, hoping that maybe we missed other people who had come earlier for lunch.
Upon entering however we saw that there was just one other occupied table of two. A couple of other people came in to pick up take-out but otherwise throughout our time there it was a ghost town.
Years ago, in this same spot there was another restaurant serving Greek and American food and we enjoyed going there. The restaurant looks much the same as it did back then. It sits in a small strip mall.
The building is fairly nondescript on the outside, prettier on the inside. There is a bar area (with full bar menu) with stool seating and then two larger dining spaces open to each other.
There is ample parking both in the front and back although it makes sense to park in the back as that is where the entrance is.
There are some tables for outdoor dining but the area looked closed down although the weather is certainly still excellent for eating outside. This may have to do with lack of help or lack of adequate business to support additional dining.
To cut right to the chase: we did not care for anything about our experience here.
Our server, and it looked like he was the only one in the place, was nice enough but not particularly attentive. He seemed quite young...perhaps the owner's son? He was not well trained on service or table setting.
Once we were seated out came mason jars of ice water which was appreciated but upon taking our first sips we noted that something was off-tasting. Eek!
I think perhaps the problem stemmed from using ice cubes that were old and stale and hence gave an off putting taste to the water. I don't what else it could be since our water in this area tastes just fine. With that issue, we each ordered a bottle of Saigon beer.
My husband suggested we not say anything to the waiter about the water not wanting to get off on the wrong foot. In hindsight I disagree with him. If you can't get the water right....
The waiter quickly brought out the Saigon beer but did not bring glasses. I had to flag him down to ask for them. I am not adverse if on a picnic for example or in some *extremely* casual situation to drink beer out of a bottle but I don't prefer to do that and certainly don't want to do that in a restaurant. Similarly, the table was "set" with only napkins and no utensils of any kind.
We started with an order of shrimp spring rolls which came with peanut sauce. The peanut sauce had some kind of thickener added to it as the consistency was a bit gelatinous (even that word is off-putting but it is apt) and it was mediocre at best. I am betting it is not made in-house. The spring rolls themselves were flavorless and rubbery. There was very little shrimp.
A spoon was needed to dole out the peanut sauce but we weren't given one. We each poured a bit of the sauce onto our plates which of course then left drips along the side of the ramekin which fell onto the table.
We each ordered a pork banh mi. These were only marginally better than the spring rolls. The roll was crusty, warm and tasty, but we were underwhelmed. Usually banh mi are an explosion of fresh flavors and these once again were bland, uninspired and underspiced. There was something oddly sweet in the dressing on the banh mi. I couldn't place what it was exactly but I didn't like it. I left my banh mi mostly unfinished.
We got out of there pretty quickly and left hungry. It was not a pleasing experience on any level.
There are many Yelp reviews from customers who clearly like this place. Maybe this was an off day, maybe the quality of food and service is affected by the ongoing pandemic and lack of adequate help. I don't know and it doesn't matter. Train your staff in good service including how to set a proper table. If you open your doors to customers, make sure what you are serving and how you are serving it is up to snuff even if that means cutting the menu back.
My instinct was to leave once we saw how empty it was inside. Having ignored that instinct, I thought to leave after that first sip of water but ignored that red flag too. Note to self (and this is a note I have given myself countless times!)...listen to your inner voice!
Just because you have already been seated in a restaurant, doesn't mean you can't get up and leave. It's a shame because we like supporting local businesses but this won't be one of them. read more