Le Colonial Restaurant and Bar — Restaurant in Winnipeg

Arg! I'm SO disappointed. I was hoping to have great things to say about the new Le Colonial Vietnamese restaurant on Marion, but unfortunately, I've got very little to say that's positive. We went in for lunch today. My wife had a grilled chicken vermicelli bowl, I had their lemongrass beef bourbuignon, and we split some spring rolls. The spring rolls were some of the best I've had.....they were tasty and super crispy, but a bit confusing. They were served with a big spring of basil, and a pile of pickled veggies, on top of one lettuce leaf. It was almost like they wanted you to combine them together. Impossible with chopsticks, but if they'd given us a few lettuce leaves, it would have been a hit. At $12 per order, a few leaves wouldn't have broken the bank.

The noodle bowl was a basic noodle bowl, but it came with a single one-ounce cup of chili lime sauce, which tasted of neither, and was too small to have made a difference anyway. The two chicken thighs that came with it were dry, overcooked and greasy all at once.....definitely not cooked to order, and likely several days old.

My lemongrass beef was odd....it comes in a large soup bowl full of sauce, which tasted like Pho beef, not lemongrass, with very little meat, but they give you ten times more sauce than you need, with only a little bread to soak some of it up. The beef itself though was the cheapest beef you could get off of a cow. Tough, stringy, and every cube of beef was half beef, and half fat.....big juicy chunks of non-rendered fat. Plus, the two biggest pieces in my bowl weren't even meat....just big chunks of grisel, skin, and fat. A complete waste of $20.

Service was 50/50.....our server was great, but the hostess was not. When we walked in, we didn't get a "Hello" or "Welcome".....we got "Do you have a reservation?", and when we said "No", she made a huge sucking-lemons face, and made a big production out of "Well, MAYBE I can fit you in.......", when the restaurant was only a third full, and remained that way throughout. When seated she asked if we had any questions about the menu, and when I asked her what they had that no other Vietnamese place in town has, she froze, unable to answer, and just sort of walked away.

Needless to say, we...

I'll preface this review by saying that I had just spent a week in Toronto where I had some pretty great meals - but this meal (which I ate messily with my hands during the long drive home) was the best meal I've eaten all week, hands down. I ordered the Le colonial wrap with peanut sauce to start, which was a total fresh & crispy delight. But when I opened the box containing my Vietnamese crepe, I knew I was in for a real treat. First, I unwrapped a generous bundle of fresh lettuce and basil. Despite having been sitting in a box for at least 20 minutes, the crepe was CRISPY, filled with sprouts and shrimp. The fish sauce it comes with was the perfect condiment. I DEVOURED this meal with joy, like it was a craving I didn't even know I had. I can't wait to go back and order it again, though I think I'll dine in next time. The ambience of the restaurant was lovely, very thoughtful & cute and the staff were exceedingly friendly. I can't recommend this place enough!! Especially the crepe. Wow. I'd give more than 5...

Very comfortable chairs..I was sitting on a loveseat.

Food was served hot and fresh We did the delicacies, lemon grass bourguignon and the frog legs. The beef gets a 4 star. I didn't really detect that much lemongrass but it was a good bourguignon. I give the frog legs a 5 star Lightly bothered, slightly crispy, nicely. Spiced. Not hot, spicy but with flavors of spice.

I was very happy to be able to get a Vietnamese coffee that was actually decaf. Very few places offer that. That's probably what pushed this to a five star. The Vietnamese coffee, however is not cheap but pricing right generally higher so that's is to be expected. I thought this was a hole in the wall, but it's actually a very nice setting. The price was reflect that.

Service was friendly and polite. Not overly talkative, but we were conversing a lot so maybe she didn't have a chance to introduce more to us.

Parking is available in a shared parking lot. It can get a little cramped. There is also some street...