EastWind Vietnamese Restaurant and Noodle House — Restaurant in Fairfax

My husband and I went last Sunday to try the 'East Wind Vietnamese Restaurant.' Since we moved to VA, occasionally we drive by the same street as this restaurant when going to downtown Fairfax. First the restaurant looks cute from the outside. But when you start to look closely around inside the place isn't pleasant.

The cashier register area is disorganized, with glass water jars open, on top of the a desk, combined with folding wooden trays that is used to bring the food.

A rolled up rug standing in the corner of the entrance area.

Our waiter was overwhelmed answering the phone, placing custom orders, managing to-go orders and taking care of seated customers.

Husband ordered Pho with Round Steak - I ordered Spicy Hue Soup (number 28) described as spicy beef broth with slices of beef shank, tendon and thick rice noodles.

We also ordered Thai Iced tea. Meanwhile I started taking photos inside the restaurant.

Our food arrived and husband started eating his Pho. He was happy. Mine had a terrible smell of bad fish, so I called the waiter who explained that that's normal.

Then the chef came asking what was wrong? I asked why the soup smells so bad and what else is in there and why is it super salty?

He said they added shrimp paste to the soup. I never heard of such a thing: beef broth and shrimp paste, really?! Another thing I didn't appreciate was the cook rolling his eyes when I could not find these extra ingredients in the menu! In my case it turned into stinky soup, in someone else's case it can turn into a serious allergic reaction.

I don't care about his secret ingredients or recipe, but when I eat out I expect full disclosure about what I am ingesting and paying for.

In the end, I didn't eat that soup but ordered some garden rolls and called a night. This was not the pleasant and enjoyable dinner we were planning on having.

In my opinion it's NOT a true Vietnamese restaurant, they don't know what they are doing.

Never going back again.

By the way on the website photos look nice but in real life the dishes are definitely NOT like that!

The menu photos are poorly done with faded images, not appealing at all.

Conclusion my husband said his Pho was okay but could have been better esp since he had experience eating around the world.

The waiter did his best and we were not charged for the garden rolls. That's about the only good I can say about our experience eating there.

PS: My husband went to the men's bathroom and...

I chose this restaurant based upon the reviews here and was very disappointed. Although there were only a few occupied tables, I waited a full 10 minutes for the server to take my order.

For the first time at a Vietnamese restaurant, I always order the same thing: summer rolls & grilled pork vermicelli. Both were a disappointment at EastWind. The summer rolls were bland and gummy. They were stuck together, which made me wonder how long they had been sitting around. The peanut sauce was equally uninspired, and the skimpy portion left half of one roll un-sauced. Half the pleasure of a well-prepared summer roll is the peanut sauce - not here!

The grilled pork was fatty and flavorless, and the portion was smaller than I expected. I was reminded of that Woody Allen quip "The food here is terrible, and the portions are so small."

The server who had ignored me while I was waiting to order then dumped the bill at the table while I was still eating, before I had even thought of asking for it.

As another reviewer noted, the restroom was quite dirty. The floor was grimy (as it was throughout the restaurant) and both soap and paper towels were lacking. Had I seen this before eating, I would have walked out.

Skip this place and go to one of the excellent establishments at...

A western looking saloon outside, cozy modern yet airy VNmese style inside, I was surprised to find this restaurant. Perhaps it is a new place. I was looking for the VNmese sandwiches place, Natalie's banh mi, and stumbled upon this. Tried the seafood noodle soup, but I ordered it dry (soup on the side). The dry version is not on the menu, but since it is a common dish the waiter said he will ask the kitchen to prepare it so. I kept my fingers crossed since most places make the dish bland, for they only prepared it as soup dish or didn't make the proper sauce to eat with it. Eastwind did it right! I was please. The taste is still not full flavor as some places, but it is also fresh and well balanced. They brought out fried cake (bánh phồng tôm) as appetizer for free! This is akin to breads in steakhouse. Pleasant surprise there. 4 stars because I don't know how the other menu items tasted, but if this dish is any indication, they most likely as good and authentic. I'm keep the last star for final judgement. Oh also the staff is a bit aloof. I guessed they were trained not to interrupt your meals as other...