K B.
Yelp
Been coming here since they opened, and was able to visit on a recent Wednesday for dinner. It wasn't good but we really tried to enjoy it anyway.
The dining room had plenty of tables around 530 and was packed by 630. A large swell of noisy activity is always present near the door, consisting of take-out delivery services (which appear to be the main source of revenue). The staff pay almost all attention to take out.
We had the Champa sampler, tom kha soup with shrimp, rice, and tea. We asked if they had coconut rice and due to what seemed like a misunderstanding, received a bowl of rice and a coconut with a straw to our table. The service was a major issue all night.
Sampler platter was ok, but not amazing. Rice was old and clustered grains were too gelatinous and hard to eat. The small portion of noodles on the platter were also not prepared correctly-- they came out extremely gelled together so unfortunately we couldn't use them to make lettuce wraps. It came with mint but no cilantro or basil as advertised. It used to be a favorite but it needs more attention to detail to make it edible.
Tom kha soup was sadly just fine but not well balanced, so it just tasted like a big bowl of sweet warm coconut milk. It lacked the balance of lime and fish oil, so it had really one note of sweet, so honestly it tasted pretty bad. I make this soup at home, and always order it when out. We barely finished one cup and the rest just sat there.
Bevs: one hot tea, jasmine, and another item says red or green tea with no description. After asking the server, she said it was red or green tea. I like green tea so I got the green one, but it was actually like an ultra ultra sugary sweet bright green melon candy with a layer of condensed milk. The server did say it was tea but I really doubt it-- it seemed more like a kids drink. I bet a child would love it, but I had to leave it bc, diabetes.
Which brings the main summary-- in house dining is very under staffed. We didn't have a dedicated server, and it showed. We had to go find people to help us place an order, get some rice, get a to-go box (we asked three different people over about 40 min). The questions we had were largely unanswered and we felt pretty forgotten the whole time, so when we needed things we just could have them. Definitely poor service.
I would not recommend the sampler or the tom kha soup-- would not recommend eating here-- and felt disappointed with our experience.