Ryan N.
Yelp
I visited on the Sunday of their soft opening weekend (3/19/23). I really wanted to love this place because of all the hype that surrounded it, but sadly I was a bit disappointed. Although I have many negatives, I'll start with the positives first. To start off, the outside and inside looked so neat and old school! It reminded me of a 1950s diner, but with a modernized twist. There were also good amounts of available parking, which I am grateful for especially in an area like old Gretna. Lastly, their baguettes ($3 each) were so fresh! Apparently, they make fresh batches of them daily, and I can believe it after tasting them! Now, unfortunately, on with the negatives...
I bought a "Nguyener" Special Banh Mi ($14), which is a Vietnamese- style sandwich with cold cuts and veggies, and the quality did not match the price at all. They didn't have a lot of cold cuts and veggies in the Banh Mi and barely added butter and pate to the sandwich; to sum it up, they were stingy with the ingredients. As for the taste, it was just okay to me. It tasted good, but nothing special. Also, I thought the sizing would be big for $14, but I was wrong. It was the average size of a $6 Banh Mi. Look, I don't mind paying $14, but I believe that the quality has to match the price, and this sandwich didn't do that for me.
I also got three of their coffee drinks with all large sizes: the Ube Cold Foam Iced Viet Coffee ($7.95), the Black Sesame Iced Latte ($6.95), and the Iced Vietnamese Egg Coffee ($8.50). To be honest, I felt like their Ube Cold Foam coffee and their Egg coffee tasted the same. I didn't taste any Ube or Egg in either of those coffees. Yes, the coffee was still strongly good since it was still Viet coffee, but what's the point in paying more for one than the other if they both taste the exact same? I feel like the reason was probably that the Ube & Egg foams were too thick, so maybe that's why the flavors didn't sink into the coffee. Hopefully, they can fix this in the future. As for their Black Sesame latte, I did taste the black sesame flavor, but only at a minimal rate; it felt watered down. All three coffees tasted good, but again, the quality did not match any of the prices in my opinion.
Lastly, and most importantly, I need to mention the service. Now, the young employees were nice. They were patient with me when I ordered. I also gave them the benefit of the doubt because it was only their soft opening and it was also packed at the time; HOWEVER, I cannot let an employee at a higher level ignoring a simple question from a customer slide! The person who went with me asked the lady with a white sweater and glasses at the counter (I'm assuming that she's the manager or someone at a higher level) a question in Vietnamese, "How much is that bag of bread loaf?" The person who went with me asked politely in Vietnamese because she's limited in English and was just simply curious about the price. The lady simply ignored her, pretending not to speak Viet. This saddens me because we came to Dough Nguyener's Bakery to support their small business as part of the Vietnamese community, yet we felt so unwelcomed by someone from our own ethnicity. It was like she was embarrassed to have a Vietnamese customer.
I didn't go lower than 3 stars because they didn't officially open yet; it was just their soft opening. Dough Nguyener's Bakery has time to improve. I will still give them one more chance, but only if they fix their problems. I still wish them the best.