Andrew G.
Yelp
Overall fantastic. I've been a fan of Viet's establishments since Viet Soy was at the Silver Lake Farmer's Market, onto the restaurant on Hyperion, and today with Viet Noodle Bar.
The space is stunning. It smells of temple incense, the art is great, and small touches speak to Vietnamese culture in a creative and intentional way. You feel the maker's hand in everything and it truly adds to the experience.
It was also empty on a Wednesday evening.
I won't go deep into the food, but it was delicious. One thing that Viet does well is bringing traditional Vietnamese flavors to new dishes while remaining authentic. He was far ahead of the curve of second and third generation restaurants in So Cal, doing things like transmuting Chả Cá Lã Vọng into Turmeric Fish Noodle and tofu pudding with ginger syrup into Organic Soy Curd.
And that happens here: Bánh hỏi shows up differently than I'd experienced it before, and there was an alt take on Bánh bèo, too.
But it was all DELICIOUS, authentic down to the shapes of each cut of vegetable and the care with which it was presented. Elevated, homemade, and unavailable anywhere else.
This is what I think was unacceptable: my DC ordered hot water. And the server let us know that it was going to be $3. Hmmm. Hmmmmmmm. Really?
Also, I ordered a rice lager. I was excited because most rice lagers use Jasmine rice but claim to be Japanese. And clearly Jasmine rice is Southeast Asian, which would be an interesting counterpoint to our food.
The beer came out as flat as from a day old keg that had been sitting in the sun. I let our server know and he did nothing about it. I don't even know if he grasped what I was saying. But how much do you have to know to understand
In fact, come to think of it, the same lack of training that would lead someone to pull a flat beer would probably lead someone to not realize that the solution here wasn't to mumble out an excuse and disregard what I had mentioned.
Unless this was a down low bia hoi (fresh beer, a Vietnamese thing) experience. And I don't think it was intentional.
At eleven dollars. The single most I've ever paid for a beer.
Also, I thought that they were being progressive by not having a tip option in the POS device but it turns out they add some sort of tip. I thought that went out a long time ago.
So delicious food in beautiful environs. I may be back, I may not.