A Dong Restaurant — Restaurant in Des Moines

Terrible and overrated.

We showed up and stood alone (nobody else in line ahead of us) by the "wait to be seated" sign for about 5 minutes. Fast forward to getting our food. I ordered a hot and sour soup appetizer. This was very overpriced at $5, for a small bowl. Being it was advertised as an appetizer I thought it would come out in a larger bowl with some smaller bowls to serve as an appetizer to multiple people at a table, but it came out in one small bowl like a small side dish. It also was not hot (spicy) at all, and was barely sour--it was, however, very sweet. It was loaded with many fresh veggies but the soup was definitely not hot and sour soup. We even double checked and thought maybe the menu said "sweet and sour" but I had misread it as "hot and sour". That would have made sense, but after double checking it was indeed "hot and sour". The broth also had a very off-putting gray color, but the flavor was very sweet, and definitely the worst "hot and sour" soup I've ever had in my four decades on Earth. For my main, I ordered a noodle stir-fry, which was okay. The fresh veggies were nice but again the sauce it sat in was unnecessarily sweet and not a lot of food for the $13 price. This was the most edible dish we were served as is. My wife got pho (#3). I've never seen such a gray (again) colored broth, and the flavor was super bland. If not for the sauces on the table, it was nearly inedible. However, those made it just okay. We were hungry and had just realized this was as good as it was going to get, so we did finish most of it. After we finished the food, we sat there for a solid 10 minutes, utensils down, plates pushed in, and our waitress walked by multiple times, never checking on us. Eventually, we flagged her down and let her know we were ready for the check. She acknowledged and started clearing the table. Trying to be patient, we waited another solid 15 minutes, but still no check. A different waiter we had seen bringing out food was standing by the front register, so we just walked up to him and asked to pay, and we paid there.

This place is way overhyped, and we will never go back. There are so many better places for quality authentic food, with better service...

New review below.. great food and people. 120 item menu and its all good. most dishes are less than $10.

Edit 9/1/2024 I want preface this a little...I have been coming to Adong for the better part of 25 years. I first visited the restaurant when it was in the orginal location in a building on Cottage Grove that was marginal at best. I came back when the location changed to where it is located presently. I came back after a fire almost destroyed everything in the restaurant. It was a place where I knew the food was great and the prices wouldn't break the bank. So here I go.

I came in after a fairly long (6months) time period. As I came in the door it felt a little different. Wasn't sure what it was. Sunday at dinnertime and only 5 tables with people? Strange as normally the room would be packed. Got seated and was given a menu. It was not the menu that I have been ordering from dor years, but new is ok. Opened it up and was shocked. The prices were 40-60% higher. In particular is the #60. Last time I was here the price was $11.50...now $16.00. The #86 two eggrolls was $3.75, now $5.50. The Pho was $11.50, now $15.00. The whole menu was like this. There is not an entree on the menu for less than $15.00. One of the more shocking was the "firepot" for 2" was $35.00 now $46.00. I did notice a subtle change in the room. The decorations and such were different. All of the personal items that the owner had around the restaurant were gone. I think the restaurant has been sold or transferred to a different person/family. The food did not really suffer..just little things. I don't think the rice is jasmine rice and a few other ingredients have been changed. Not a real big issue and it appears the recipes were kept with the (?new?) management, it just appears that the prices took a huge jump. That would also explain why the parking lot was mostly empty. Overall the food is still some of the best in Des Moines...it's just one of the highest priced Vietnamese food too. The big deal here was Good food at Reasonable prices and I know everything costs more now but the amount it went up in 1 jump is shocking. The food is still great, the prices...

The most honest review of this place from an Asian perspective. I will review this restaurant in 4 different categories.

Location: 4/5 Good location near just off the busy downtown area. Very conveniently located. Only drawback is the lack of parking for a restaurant expecting to seat 40-50 people.

Cleanliness: 4/5 Very clean restaurant with simple decors. Could add some lightings, but no big deal.

Food: 2/5 The food was super bland. We got a few orders of pho and some rice platters. The pho broth was overly water-downed, you can't even taste anything. The seasoned meat on the rice platters had minimal seasoning on them and just tasted....well, like plain unseasoned meat.

Customer Service: 2/5 I could be mean and rate this place 1/5 but I will be respectful as I understand running a restaurant can be very difficult. First of all, I am Asian and was just passing through Des Moines with my family looking for a Vietnamese restaurant to dine at. I happened to find this place on Google conveniently located with decent reviews. When we first walked in the door, the gentleman up front never greeted us. He just pointed us to a table. He gave us literally 2 mins to order. We asked him to come back in a few minutes. A minute later he comes back to take our orders. After 15 minutes, we got our food which was not terrible on the wait time. As stated above, food was more bland than dry grass. The whole time we were munching away on tasteless food, no one came to check on us. The waiter did refill our water as we were finishing up without saying anything as if he didn't like us. However, he was very nice and friendly to table across from us asking how everything was etc. (maybe because they were white). We paid our bill and left quietly.

Overall, this restaurant is very forgettable. If this is your only option for Vietnamese food, give it a shot. It's good to support small local businesses. If you have other options, I would go there without any hesistation. Best of luck...