Tuyen's Asian Bistro — Restaurant in Memphis

I have had lemongrass tofu at almost every Vietnamese restaurant in the area, and these people tried to gaslight me into thinking what they served me was lemongrass tofu.

I came in as a new customer looking for my next lemongrass tofu place after my favorite Pho Binh closed for a transfer of ownership. When I came in, the waiter acted like he'd rather be doing anything else than be at that restaurant. I ordered the egg rolls, lemon grass chicken, and lemon grass tofu. When the dishes came out, it was clear the lemongrass tofu had a different sauce than the lemongrass chicken. I asked why and the waitress said it was because it was vegetarian. Okay... But how does lemon grass tofu being veggitarian equal no lemon grass taste? The waiter reassured me he put in the order for lemongrass tofu. The waitress proudly stated this was the original recipe from Saigon Lee. Their lemongrass tofu tasted like it was drench in the cheapest spiciest bbq that was half black pepper. They didn't offer to correct the order after I ate 1 piece and refused to eat anymore. When I asked them if they would exchange the order, they acted super defensive and gave me attitude so I paid for the food and left. If they had just put the same sauce on the lemongrass tofu as they did on the lemongrass chicken then this would be a positive review.

News flash: I have eaten lemongrass tofu at Saigon before it burned down and whatever they served me wasn't it. Pho Binh is the one who had the closest recipe. Hopefully, the new owners will keep that recipe the same. Yes, I put this in here because I know this restaurant owners feel a certain way about Pho Binh, and I am pissed off and a little petty.

In short, I paid $50 to be gaslit by rude staff members, and got subpar food ($15 of which I refused to eat). I will not be coming back to this restaurant.

Disclaimer: The above review is my opinion based on my experience at Tuyen's Asian Bistro and not...

Unreasonable and rude service.

We tried to get in a couple of weeks ago as a family, my wife, our two year old son and my parents. My dad was super excited since he was a fan when they were at their original location that burnt down.

We walked in around 6ish and they were packed. A bearded white guy sort of briskly told us (a tad rudely) they couldn’t seat anymore walk-ins even though there was at least one table available in the back. We were told we needed reservations. We were a little disappointed, but went somewhere else. A little weird that they’d stop serving after 6, but oh well.

Flash forward to yesterday afternoon. My wife and I had a busy day at work and decided to try to again. We called ahead around 5pm to make reservations for 6:30pm. A guy answered the phone and said okay.

When we got there, they were packed again. We saw the same bearded white guy from before who said they were full last time. We informed him we had reservations. He went to the back and the owner came out. She was very rude and said “Well, I’m the owner and I am telling you we don’t take reservations. We’re a small restaurant.”

Which is it?! Walk-in or reservations? The issue isn’t that it is small. It’s not our fault you’re not consistent with your own rules.

I tried to point out that two weeks ago the same guy turned us away because we didn’t have reservations, but they didn’t listen. I was still arguing when my wife just said to just leave.

They didn’t even try to resolve the problem and say, “We're so sorry, please just wait 5-10 minutes.”

We won’t be back as the second generation customers. No food is worth that. There are other Vietnamese restaurants in Memphis with...

Just passing by and wanted to try this highly-rated Vietnamese restaurant. However, the experience was quite disappointing. It's not because the food didn't taste good, but because I was treated like a fool. The service was really so-so. The waitress wasn't very professional and gave quite a bit of attitude. I understand it may have been a long day for her, so it's understandable. It definitely wasn't because of her that I rated the service category low. It was because of how I was treated after I ordered lemongrass chicken.

I know what lemongrass tastes like and what the texture is. I couldn't see or taste any lemongrass in the dish. Another waitress came out and looked at me like I don't know what I ordered, picked up the spoon, stirred around the dish, and said, 'Look, that's lemongrass chopped really fine, and that's why you don't see it.' I've had that dish many, many times and made it myself at home before. If you use fresh lemongrass, there's no way that you can chop it so fine that you can't taste the texture, even if you puree it in a super fine blender. As a restaurant, if you can't serve the food on the menu, then don't put it on the menu. And don't treat your customers like a fool and tell them a clear lie.

I'm sure if someone who's never had lemongrass chicken would have been fine with their lie. I guarantee you that they did not use even a gram of lemongrass in that dish. I still give the food category a 3-star because despite that they clearly weren't serving what they said they were serving, I think the overall taste of the dishes is ok. Or maybe it was because I was super...