Viet Tastes — Restaurant in Lowell

There are a lot of Southeast Asian restaurants in Lowell, but I always like to try a new place. Viet Tastes is where the old Pho Dalat used to be. The revamped decor is nice and sleek. However, the food and service leaves much to be desired.

I got the tofu pho (my usual is chicken, but I wanted to change it up). The broth was darker than the usual pho, tasted like instant ramen quality. It was slightly sweet and old, you know, when you been having the same big pot of soup sit on the stove for days? At least the noodles were fresh, not the dry, shelf-stable ones that take some time to rehydrate. The kicker here was the one meatball they threw in with the tofu. Now, I'm not vegan or vegetarian, but that's pretty bad for any other vegans or vegs customers. Again, I felt like trying something else. The meatball was good, but they should not put stuff that does not go with each other.

Took a while for my friend and I to get our Viet Coffee. It was the last item we got after our food came. The waitress asked if we wanted creamer or condensed milk. Kinda weird, I've been to most Cambodian, Vietnamese, Thai, and Laos places where condensed milk is a given. It's a signature of Southeast Asian coffee.

The service overall was ok, but not great. The waitress and I think the owner kept checking in with us, but mostly when my friend and I were chatting more than eating. We were taking our time, but I felt like they were trying to rush us. Another post mentioned this as well. Yea, it was 5 or 6 pm and they were probably getting ready to close, but they were kinda pushy. Also, it could just be me, but I also felt like they catered more towards my friend than I. They serviced her first every time we got something. Just an observation.

There are better places around Lowell. Viet Tastes is ok for first-timers, but they are more expensive than other places. Not worth it. I know they are a new business, and they probably would thrive catering to Americans who never had pho. Growing up eating all kinds of Asian foods in Lowell, this place is...

This place was a first and last for me!! If I can rate it with no stars I definitely will!! Rude customer service, food was cold and I ordered the special beef pho and appetizer combo. Forgot our order and didn't even bother asking if we needed anything at all. The waitress just forgot we existed until it was time to pay! And that was the worst part, waitress just came to the table and read out loud our total which is so unprofessional. Normally in other restaurants they gives you the bill to overlook it yourself but she just read it out loud and waited for us to give her money until I had to say can we get a receipt and look over the bill? Then she proceeded to ask us for the tip when we still didn't get the chance to look at our bill yet! Then she got the bill and threw it on the table not even handing it to us. We were a group of 3 and she was just rude and out of pocket, no respect and such unprofessional customer service I have ever seen. If she doesn't like her job and does not want to work there then don't work. She kept asking for the tip over and over until we just told her no tip sorry your really rude. And then she starts saying something in her language and walks off with an attitude!! Worst first...

TLDR: it's alright

I used to come to the pho dalat that was here previously every now and then. Seeing that the place was gone one day and became Viet tastes, I wanted to eventually give it a try to see whats up. There isn't much to write about because it's just another Vietnamese restaurant in Lowell. Pho dalat equipped a new skin if you want to put it that way lol. If you never had viet food I'd say give it a try. Prices were mostly reasonable as most Vietnamese restaurants are. However, I got the pad thai and every restaurant serves that in either a small portion or a man vs food portion. This place was the smaller portion but it was $17 💀. It was good so it made up for it but damn almost $20 for pad thai is a lot. The pho was good but nothing really note worthy, it's pho. The service was kinda awkward as well. Almost felt like my party and I were being rushed. I know the people working that day didn't intend for that but just wanted to mention it. Other than that though, yeah give it a try if you're curious but don't expect much if you've eaten at the other viet...