La Petite Camille — Restaurant in Millbrae

Once I entered the restaurant, I stood by the counter and waited. I met the gaze of at least three workers, who offered no greeting. I met the gaze of another employee who smiled at me. I was pleased that at lest someone there seemed pleasant. I asked her if I should just seat myself. She smiled again, lowered her gaze and softly said “Nooo”.

Eventually, a woman appeared behind me and seemed very inconvenienced that I was there. She said gruffly “Where do you want to sit? There or there.” I said, “I’ll sit over there”, a table by the window. She then said, “you want water, tea?” I chose the tea. I walked over, struggled to get the chair pulled out from under the table, where it was perched on the round table base, and I sat down. The woman appeared again, slid a menu onto the wet table in front of me and said, “you know what you want?” I quickly scanned the menu and chose the shrimp spring rolls. I met her gruffness with my own, stating, “That’s all that I know I want so far.”

As I sat there, I noticed other customers were warmly greeted as they entered. I clearly did not fit in or meet their description of someone who should also be treated with the same warmth and respect. I decided I would not spend anymore money here, and I would definitely not return.

The spring rolls were ok - more mint would have been nice to add some flavor. The sauce was nice and appeared to be homemade. BTW, once I ordered and ate most of the spring rolls, I sat for a time. The owner, perhaps(?), eventually came to ask if I wanted anything else. I said. No, thank you, she threw her hands up and said “ok”??? Was I being confrontational? Um, no.

I would have ordered an entire meal, but I felt that uncomfortable. Therefore. I can only comment on the service and...

La Petite Camille is a casual Vietnamese restaurant just west of the Millbrae BART station, a short drive on the other side of the 101 Freeway from the Burlingame airport hotel where were staying.

Our family of 6 thought that this was the best Vietnamese dinner that we've had, including three cities we've visited in Vietnam, as well as our home town of Toronto (which has a sizeable Vietnamese population).

We ordered chicken rice paper rolls, pho, bun, pork chop, lemon grass beef, clams and fried noodles. The rice came in a communal bowl for everyone. The dishes were served relatively quickly, and gradually filled up the table. Each course was carefully prepared, and were obviously handmade with care.

The waiter was efficient and friendly. We mostly drank water, and our water pitcher was quickly refilled. The prices are moderate (mostly $9-$13), low for the quality we enjoyed.

There's a parking lot outside, shared with the Chinese restaurant to the south.

I'm remember this restaurant for the next time we're near SFO San...

First of all the picture that you see with the tables and the inside of the restaurant is not at all accurate. It wasn’t bad inside, but it wasn’t bright and clean the way that that picture represents. I had beef pho, and it was OK. The broth was actually very good, But the portion of Thai basil and sprouts they give you is extremely small. More importantly, there’s no way that that steak was rare within any recent time of being served to me. It wasn’t the best quality of meat either as it was starting to curl up and had some gristle. The service might’ve been the worst part: the host guy was on the phone sitting down when I came in, which is fine, but he almost seemed more annoyed at me being there than pleased. Overall, it wasn’t a bad experience, but I probably...