Vietnam Bistro — Restaurant in Chico

Called in a pretty straightforward 2x pho and appetizer order on a Tuesday evening and was given a 25 minute pickup time. Showed up at around the 20 minute mark and had to wait close to another half hour after paying for our order. I'm not sure exactly what the issue was, but about 5-6 people were waiting on their orders with a partially full dining room.

One gentleman said he had been waiting nearly an hour without an explanation and asked for a refund before leaving.

I think the most frustrating part was that the staff didn't even acknowledge the excessive wait time, much less offer an apology or explanation. Maybe they ran out of stock and needed to make more? Or maybe they just had a lot of orders and were backed up? Either way, it would have been nice to at least have it acknowledged. It's pretty reasonable to expect a heads up from a business if an order or service is going to take longer than originally quoted, regardless of industry.

Also, I'd recommend waiting to pay for your pick up order until they present your food to you, that way they can't pull the same thing. The hassle of asking for a refund... They're counting on it being less awkward for you to just wait it out.

Honestly, they should just tell you right away if they can't fill your order when you show up at the time they told you: "we're a little backed up/understaffed, it's going to take a bit to get your order, I'll keep you updated".

Most people are pretty reasonable and would be pretty understanding about waiting for fresh food, which this very much is (the pho was pretty tasty), rather than have to sit there waiting for who knows how long because the staff certainly aren't saying. Just disappointed with the service and lack of professionalism during this instance.

I hope they do better...

To me the food is 5 out of 5 stars because the food here is super good and staff is very great I’ve been coming here for a while and their Vietnamese food is one of the best in town the reason why I put 4 out of 5 stars tho is because the to go portion size is very small not compared to if you sit in and I’ve sat in a lot but most of the time I get to go orders and I feel like I always get ripped off on the size portion because the way they pack to go orders but when you get it to go you don’t really get much food due to their style packaging and also they need to update their prices now because it used to be the best spot for great food for cheaper price but now their prices went up drastically from like 8$ to 13$ and they have such small to go portions so that’s my only big complaint! I didn’t care much when it was 8$ or wen it raised to 10$ dollars because it was really good and still better then a lot of places but now that its 13$ plus tax so the portion part needs to be stepped up and they just need to take everyone’s opinions into consideration so that’s my honest review and...

I've been here several times. The food is pretty good, smaller portions than most other viet restaurants but same price so you're over paying.

Service is where this place is absolutely wild. I'll preface this by saying I comprehend that the US has an odd cultural norm of being overly friendly, but the people who work here make you feel like you're bothering them by giving them your business.

The restaurant itself has new fixtures and is clean.

I will say now that this will be the final time I'm coming here. I wanted to curry noodle soup..

Me: chicken curry noodle Waiter: ... Me: points to the menu Waiter: points at something completely different on the menu Me: are you out of curry? Him: stares in confused Me: ok I'll have a combo pho (B27) Him: *keeps pointing at other item Me: No. I want a B27, I don't want whatever that is He walks away

It wasn't a polite suggestion it was just him not communicating at all. Language barriers exist and I've overcome them, this is him just not giving a carp....