Before you even enter the building you can tell from looking into the windows that it's not an authentic Vietnamese restaurant. No hoisin sauce or siracha on the tables. Looking at the menu in the window offers a clue too: the signature Vietnamese dish, pho, isn't listed in its own category and only a handful of varieties are offered.
Once you order it gets worse. The spring rolls (cha gio) are tasty, but don't resemble Vietnamese spring rolls at all. The skin is too thick and the variety of ingredients in the roll doesn't much resemble a traditional Vietnamese spring roll. The dipping sauce (nuoc cham) is too sweet and doesn't taste right either.
The pho is even more disappointing. The broth is devoid of flavor. It's easy to tell that the soup was not cooked with beef bones for hours, and none of the proper spices such as star anise were used. It's served with lettuce instead of the plate of bean sprouts, basil, cilantro and mint leaves that usually accompany the dish. As mentioned earlier, the traditional condiments were not available on the table so I had to ask for them. No soup spoon was provided, and let me tell you, eating soup with a shallow tablespoon doesn't work too well.
It's unfortunate that this is the only ""Vietnamese"" restaurant in the city. I hope nobody mistakens this for authentic Vietnamese because this is NOT a faithful representation of the culinary culture at all.
Pros: Inexpensive
Cons: Not authentic in any way
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