LUA Asian Fusion Eatery — Restaurant in Dana Point

I felt like venturing a little further out to try something new and came across this place.

This restaurant is fairly new and currently has a soft opening menu.

You’ll notice when you walk in how clean and modern the interior is. To your immediate right is where the host would be. To your left you’ll see a handful of tables.

Their soft opening menu, which we were given when we were seated, had a good selection of items (including vegan items) which all sounded good. We ended up ordering the following: Crispy Egg Rolls, Smoked Pho, and the Original Pho. I also ordered a Lychee Hibiscus to try as well.

How did it all taste?

Crispy Egg Rolls: 4 moderate sized egg rolls. These were good, crispy and flavorful. The sauce that was included was icing on the cake, a little bit of spice goes a long way.

Smoked Pho: Smoked short rib with a bone rests on top of this bowl of pho. The short rib was good, tender, and had some flavor. The broth (which we were told to enjoy without sriracha/hoisin sauce) was a little bland. It was rich, and I could tell there was some flavor, but I feel like it was a little watered down. Sure, I could’ve mentioned something when asked how it was, but I kind of felt bad if I did.

Original Pho: Like the Smoked Pho, the meat was good. Huge pieces of brisket (we opted for brisket only), which were tender and had some flavor. The broth tasted similar to the Smoked Pho, but slightly more watered down.

Lychee Hibiscus: The drink was pretty, and tasted good. It wasn’t too sweet. It came out with a straw that was skinny so it was someone difficult to drink with the lychee jelly. I requested a larger straw but they didn’t have any, so they provided me with 2 small spoons.

Service was a little awkward from the two people that helped us. But, they were friendly. It took 15-20 minutes to receive our bill after our table was cleared and were asked if we wanted anything else. There were only 3 parties of 2 people in the restaurant at the time.

Parking isn’t a problem here. There are plenty of spots though I’m not sure it is during the day when most people are at Gelson’s and other neighboring businesses are open.

I’m sure they’re still working on kinks here and there being so new, so I’ll have to come back and give them...

The soft opening was a delight for my family and me! Parking was a breeze, and stepping inside felt like entering a tranquil oasis. Lush green walls adorned with a nature mural created a serene atmosphere. The service was prompt and friendly, guiding us to our seats. But the real star was the food – a delicious explosion of unique fusion flavors that truly impressed. 🎉

Appetizer

CRISPY EGG ROLLS - Lots of pork meat. Hot & crispy. Would order again.

Main

CRISPY LECHON BÁNH MÌ - Yummy pork belly, egg mayonnaise, and special sauce. Older kid ate this up quickly!

SIZZLING BÒ KHO - Braised beef w/house made potatoes and topped with cheese curls. The braised beef was fork-tender and downright delicious with the sauce and cheese.

SMOKED PHỞ - 12 hour bone in smoked short rib Pho & noodles. That meat was melt-in-your-mouth delicious, and the soup hit the spot with its savory taste. Amazing presentation. Would order again!

CHICKEN PHỞ - Free range organic chicken w/chicken bone broth & noodles. This was a hit with everyone, even the pickiest eater in the house!

Dessert

Banana Fritter w/vanilla ice cream - Filipino styled banana rolls, shredded coconut, scoop of vanilla ice cream. It comes with peanuts on top, but we asked to put it in a separate dish. The banana rolls were warm, crispy, and just delicious. The vanilla ice cream on the side was the perfect finishing touch.

Drinks

Coffee - Cà phê sữa đá - Brown coffee foam, black dripped coffee with condensed milk. I’m still thinking about it a couple hours later. Very good and I will order this again.

Thai tea with sea salt cream - It was super creamy and velvety.

Mocktail - We had Lychee Hibiscus, Dragonfruit Mojito, Butterfly Passion fruit tea. All mocktails were presented with such thought and creativity. All beautiful colors and delicious. Out of all of them, would order the Lychee Hibiscus again!

We’ll definitely be back to try the rest...

I wish I can give this place 0 stars. Food is actually not bad, but the customer service is just not there. We ordered a soup that does not say it’s spicy (on the menu they have spicy little icons). When we got the soup, it was extremely spicy, we told the waiter, listen it’s spicy, it said it was not spicy, can we get another one. He said let me talk to the manager, ok fine. He comes back 1 min later and said, sure we can make one not spicy, “you pay full price this soup and not spicy I give you 50% off”. We said hold up, you want us to pay for your mistake, he basically said he has no power that’s what manager said. I said, let me talk to manager, well manager not available, not answering phone, but you can email manager. So you want me to pay for your f up and email the manager about it? He said yeah. After 10min of arguing and telling him we ain’t paying for anything and that I will blast them on Yelp, Google and all other apps, he said ok let me try manager again and finally agreed to make us new soup. I have never heard him talk to the manager, i think it was all bs, you cant make a call that fast.

I have traveled the world to many places, EU, Asia, LATAM and I have never experienced service like that. If we messed up and ordered something wrong, I will take full responsibility, but when their menu is jacked and they want me to pay more, it’s f ing crazy. By the way, this place is not worth the price they charge, just because they are on PCH next to Gelsons.

I hope I will get a response to this review from an actual manager, who might want to apologize for this service.

P.S. as we were leaving the waiter says, remember next time to tell us not spicy…do you really think we will ever come back...