Bamboo on 2nd — Restaurant in Birmingham

My wife and I went to bamboo on 2nd for the first time today, but I can say (with a full belly) that it won't be the last time.

Just a few minutes away from the BJCC, and all of that jazz in North Birmingham lies an unsuspecting jewel, nestled comfortably on Second Ave N. The gigantic orange front door leads you into simple place full of awe, wonder and amazing food.

We started things off with an order of pork momos, a Nepalese dumpling, which were devine; I could have easily made a meal out of a whole stack of those bad boys. We both opted for the Ramen bowl as well. My wife added chicken to hers, and I went with the pork belly. The presentation of the ramen was what you might expect (two soft boiled egg halves, and meat nested on the top). The carrots, scallions and cilantro were scattered on top of the amazing broth and wheat noodles. The serving size of the ramen seemed close to a half-gallon so you're really getting your money's worth if you go that route. The soup was amazing, the noodles were perfect and the pork belly in my dish was delectable.

We also ordered a couple of rolls; the "Crunchy California" and "Wham B'Ham." The Crunchy California was a bit of a twist on a typical California roll, but may be the best one I've ever had. There's nothing out of the ordinary about it, other than the crab and cream cheese were mixed together and the outside was speckled with bits of tempura batter. It was amazing though. The Wham B'ham was similar, but instead of crab, there was a fried shrimp tucked into the roll and a piece of seared salmon on top, drizzled with eel sauce and a spot of Wasabi. It was also delicious.

Our server was nice, and kept us well-stocked on drinks, sauces and everything you'd expect. A well-groomed, mustachioed gentlemen visited my wife and I on more than one occasion and served as a kind of sherpa on our Asian-infused journey up their food mountain; offering some advice for the next time we visited.

All-in-all, this trip was more than I expected it to be, and the experience was far better than some others I've had at other Birmingham restaurants. You should...

In response to your reply…. We are always aware of if there are empty tables or a wait. Last night we ate our dinner and drinks within an hour and 10 minutes And as to your we are not allowed to come back, no worries, we were not coming back anyway. You were rude sir! RUDE!

Last night we went to Bamboo. There was a 45 minute wait. We went to a nearby restaurant and had a drink and played cards. We got a call our table was ready and we went back to bamboo. We were seated and we ordered drinks and appetizers. We then preceded to finish our card game. ( we always play some sort of game to interact whether it is farkle or cards. We did this even when our kids were little). The hostess came over and said, “this is not a game room.” We thought he was joking but he wasn’t. He said, “ we were disturbing the other patrons of the restaurant,”. We were like what! The music in here is so loud you couldn’t hear what we were doing or saying. Come to find out it was not the hostess but the owner. I look around the restaurant and many are just in their phones not communicating with their date or friend. This why we play a game…..we interact when we go out. We are not in our phones. I guess the owner must be one of the people we see in their phones. Needless to say we did not stop playing cards. He has no right to tell us we can’t. And a little piece of advice if you want people to feel welcome in your restaurant then don’t do what you did to us. Your food is amazing and your waitstaff is great too. Maybe you should take a...

Poor experience from a service perspective. I understand that some restaurants have a policy that they won’t let patrons sit at the table until all parties are there. But sometimes that policy can be used to go overboard. My wife and daughter went in side while I was parking the car. The gentleman that seats the patrons said he couldn’t let them sit until I came in. My wife informed him that I was parking the car and pointed me out doing so (my car was visible to this gentleman). But still wouldn’t let them sit down. We were limited on time so I asked my wife to sit down and order for me while I was parking. There were a number of open tables so there was no rush of people at that time. The table he was “holding for us held 3 people and he would have sat them down if it was a party of two or three. I just don’t see the harm of letting them sit so they could get the order placed while I was parking. On top of this, the gentleman told me with a poor time of voice that I can open a restaurant and run it how I see fit. Was this really necessary? They have a good business and they are not starving for patrons. But that shouldn’t preempt being courteous and using common sense. One would expect a fiber restaurant to employ a higher standard of service because it comes with a the territory of being a finer restaurant. I think their view is we have plenty of patrons so we aren’t forced to be professional or courteous. So food was good. But service is very poor. At least my experience was. No place...