SEA Restaurant — Restaurant in City of Rochester

I used to frequent this spot all the time, multiple times a week, I have raved about this place any time someone has spoken with me about Pho or fried squid. Coming to eat here is normally the highlight of my visits to Rochester besides seeing old friends.

Today's visit though really bothered me. Instead of telling me their out of limes when I ask for extra lime with my pho they bring me lemons. Okay no big deal not the end of the world. They offer to let me try Tumeric after I asked about the limes, super cool powder but didn't have the same bite as the lime would have. Again not the end of the world.

Then though my pho comes out and instead of the bottles of siracha and hoisin sauce I get these tiny paper cups. I have to get up and ask for refills of my paper cups and for my water. Again these are not the end of the world but why these changes? I used to brag that coming here and experiencing their food and atmosphere could change your life.

I mean is that a little much to say about a restaurant? Yeah, maybe. But I also really believe in the power of a great meal and atmosphere. I find it hard to praise the atmosphere when I get little paper things of sauce that legitimately are the diameter of a penny. I am flavoring a bowl that literally holds over 300 times this amount easily.

Still giving 4 stars because maybe I just caught them on a bad day and honestly one not so great experience stacked up against literally hundreds of others that were awesome isn't the end of the world. Plus, I can be honest I am very biased here. I loved this place it felt like going home and eating grandma's cooking. So the lack of the fifth star is purely based on my high expectations and the nostalgia of how...

As a Vietnamese-American, I can say their pho is not good. When it comes to pho, broth is KEY. The broth here had a weird, unclean taste. It just wasn’t good. I think it might be because of the meat. The meat wasn’t 100% clean, and by that I mean - after it cooked in the water, there was still remnants of dirty foam (if that makes any sense lol) still floating in the broth. It’s to be expected and normal when you’re cooking meat like that, but it then needs to be scooped out of the broth to be clear and “clean” tasting. I cook pho at home often and have to do that a lot. I’d give the pho a 2.5/5. Saigon Pho on Lyell is better.

The garnish dish is very disappointing compared to your typical Vietnamese restaurant serving pho. One stem of basil leaves? It was hardly anything. Basil is a very important garnish with pho, and they cheaped out. Also, one tiny lime isn’t enough, and there was one minuscule cup for the dipping sauces (hoisin and sriracha). Also, where are the jalapeños?

The restaurant has Vietnamese items on the menu, which is great and I love that, but the sandwich is not correctly spelled. A for effort and including that item, but please spell it correctly. It’s “banh mi”, not “bahn”

I like the service and vibe here; the ladies were attentive and incredibly friendly. The place is decent, I just wish the pho was better. I couldn’t even eat half of the bowl. I was craving pho today, too, but after several bites of the mediocre broth, I had to throw in the towel. The price of the pho was...

I had high hopes and really wanted to love this place after reading the reviews, but the pho was really disappointing. We ordered the papaya salad which was great - they got the heat right. It was generous and choke full of flavor. We also had the pork fresh spring rolls (forgot to take a photo of those). The pork could have used more flavor. Thankfully, the peanut sauce which comes with them was delicious. For some reason, they brought the spring rolls without a sauce and we needed to ask for some. Very strange as it's listed on the menu... We found the beef special pho lacking in flavor. Right from the base, it felt like the noodles needed more flavor so they could add depth to the dish. It wasn't salted properly and there was no heat either. We tried adding a bit of Sriracha to "build" the flavor profile but even that couldn't save it. Service initially came off quick because the restaurant wasn't busy, but then we realized that it was a little disorganized. 3 different people came to take our order, not once to refill our water, or see if we wanted to share the massive soup with a spare spoon. But they did manage to bring the bill while I was still eating my entree... At 6 PM.....