SEN Vietnamese Dining — Restaurant in City of Edinburgh

I've been meaning to try Sen for a long time as i really enjoy Vietnamese food and have tried many Vietnamese restaurants in Berlin, Paris and various cities around the UK, however the main reason i haven't tried Sen sooner was because of their prices which are very steep for a student area where there are tons of alternative places to eat nearby.

Even if Sen was located in the most affluent area of Edinburgh, it would still be considered expensive compared to every other Vietnamese restaurant i've been to.

For some reason, Every Vietnamese restaurant in Edinburgh is overpriced to every other city i've been to and i'm baffled as to why that is!. Is it because they really believe their food is worth the price they charge or is it because us Edinburghers don't know any better and like to be ripped off for Vietnamese food?

So onto the dining experience itself!. Service was fantastic as the waitress was friendly, tentative and explained everything on the menu. Nothing was too much trouble and her English was excellent too.

Onto the food itself, My partner and I had Summer rolls (£8) , Beef Jerky Salad (£9) and Hanoi Summer Rolls (£8). All of them were very tasty and freshly made. We couldn't fault the quality of any of them to be honest.

They were about as good as everywhere we've tried on our travels but if i was to recommend just one of the starters, i'd choose the Hanoi Summer Rolls as they are crispy, very moreish and not oily at all.

The portion sizes for all three starters were ok but were not that great value to be honest considering they were all almost £10 each!

For mains, We had Pho (£15) and the vermicelli salad bowl with grilled pork and spring rolls (£15).

Both were good but to be honest, for the price we paid, the Pho wasn't that tasty and lacked flavour. The beef was very thinly sliced and there were hardly any noodles. The noodles used were the type you can easily buy freeze dried from a packet at almost any oriental supermarket. If they had been freshly made then it would have tasted far better and been better value for money too.

The vermicelli salad bowl with grilled pork and spring rolls tasted pretty good but wasn't a very big portion and i don't see how any establishment can justify charging £15 + £1.50 service charge for a bowl noodles, 4 small spring rolls, like 6 small slices of pork and some salad - especially in a student area!.

To give you an idea, the mains we had are almost double the price that we paid compared to every Vietnamese restaurant in Berlin and Paris that we went to and all of the mains were also better quality and tasted better.

Taking into consideration that the prices for all the food are already more expensive compared to every other Vietnamese restaurant i've been to, the biggest let down is they also charged us 10% service charge ON TOP of their menu prices and this was not optional.

The ACTUAL PRICES we paid and you'll pay if you dine are as follows :

Starters:

Summer Rolls (4 pieces) - £8 + 0.80 = £8.80 Hanoi Summer Rolls ( 3 Pieces) - £8 + 0.80 = £8.80 Beef Jerky Salad £9 + 0.90 = £9.90

Main Courses:

Pho - £15 + £1.50 = £16.50 Vermicelli salad with grilled pork & spring rolls - £15 + £1.50 = £16.50

Vietnamese Coffee - £3.90 + 0.39 = £4.29 Vietnamese Tea - £3.20 + 0.32 = £3.52

the bill was close to £70 for two of us which is a rip off and on that basis i'm not sure if i'd recommend anyone to go there unless they were feeling rich!.

To summarise, great starters, average mains, good service but absolutely terrible value for money and on that basis i'd only give it 3 stars.

If the prices were more reasonable and if there was no service charge, i'd...

We are probably Sen’s number 1 customers. We order from them very frequently. The chay bowl is well balanced and fresh. But a few things have left a bad taste in my mouth:

Most recently, we ordered via deliveroo and were served fish sauce with our chay bowls instead of the vegan sauce. It was too late — I’d tried it — and having never eaten meat in my life honestly I can say it was traumatic. I felt sick, day/week ruined. Also very dangerous if someone has allergies. Anyway I called and deliveroo refunded — Sen said they were very sorry but nothing much they could do. I said can you at least send something extra — so I reordered one portion — they sent a little bag of spring rolls which was exactly the same as what came with the meal. I feel in this situation you should get a refund and exceptional compensation not just a bag of spring rolls. Especially as a long term customer but regardless.

A few months ago I called and asked if I could have some more rice noodles with my order for my baby daughter. They made a really weird big deal out of it and said they would as an exception as we are a regular customer. They cost what? 20 p? And we’ve spent hundreds at Sen! The mains cost around £18. Just felt really stingy and left a bad taste in our mouths.

It’s a shame as the food is really good. But wish they were better at customer service and recognising how to treat loyal customers. In other places we go/order from, they occasionally happily let us/our daughter try new things. Yes a food business is transactional, but it goes a long way to make these little gestures — and to compensate properly when things go so...

I’ve visited this place twice, and the service has generally been great, especially from the Vietnamese lady who’s always been friendly, explaining the menu and checking in on us. However, today’s experience was disappointing.

I took a friend with me, and we were served by an Indian lady. She was clearly busy, but there was only her working at the time, so we waited quite a while for her to take our order. Despite us trying to make eye contact, she just stood at the front, and it wasn’t until the four Chinese ladies at the table next to us spoke to her that she came over. Fine, we thought – fair enough, she was busy.

Then, when the neighbouring table paid their bill, they asked the lady whether students could have the service charge waived. The lady said yes if they mentioned it beforehand. After they left, the lady seemed visibly annoyed (don’t know why as the neighbouring table had paid the service fee), even dragging a chair loudly.

When it came to paying, I mentioned that we were students and had overheard the neighbouring table’s conversation. The lady gave us a very rude look and asked, “So you don’t want to pay it?” I said no, and she snatched our cash and walked off. The bill for two Pho and fried squid was £44, and we gave £60. We didn’t check the change immediately, but when we got home, we realised she had given us only £14 back. That means we were overcharged by £2. I’m now left wondering if that £2 was other additional charge or if the waitress pocketed it herself.

Very disappointing, and I’m not sure if I’ll be returning again. It’s a shame because I’ve had better experiences...