Hen Vietnamese Kitchen and Bar — Restaurant in Neptune Township

I stopped in to try their spring rolls and maybe a bowl of pho or banh mi. Coming from SF and having travelled to Vietnam, I am kind of particular about my Vietnamese cuisine. I ordered the spring rolls and they weren’t bad. I wish they had added mint, cilantro, cucumbers and jalapeños or even just cilantro in them, but I understand some restaurants like to have them plain in case of an allergies. I then asked the waitress if i could try the broth of the pho to see if I wanted that or a banh mi. I thought the broth was too salty and not as light as I usually prefer my broth, so I went with the filet mignon banh mi. In the description it states that the banh mi includes, “Wok toss filet mignon with toasted French bread, cucumber, pickled veggies, cilantro, aioli, jalapeno.” I waited 30 minutes to get a baguette with filet mignon, lettuce and tomatoes. I was so disappointed because this isn’t what I expected or what a banh mi usually consists of. I took a bite anyway, hoping I would get a taste of, at the very least, cilantro. I asked the waiter if I could have some cilantro and mint and he brought me some in a bowl. I realized I really wanted cucumber and jalapeños in it as well so asked if i could have some of that and he made a stink about it. As I was fixing up the banh mi to look and taste like an actual banh mi I realized this wasn’t worth the $20 they were charging for it. I looked up the menu online and saw that the ingredients of the banh mi served at the restaurant included wok toss filet mignon with toasted French bread, cucumber, pickled veggies, cilantro, aioli, jalapeno, so I asked one of the waitresses if she can just please remove this item from my bill because it wasn’t what i ordered and I didn’t want to sit for another 30 minutes to wait for them to make me another sandwich. She sent my waitress over and I explained to her that this isn’t what I ordered and I would like it to be removed from my bill. She proceeded to tell me that’s how the sandwich was made so I showed her the ingredients on the menu online. She argued it was an old menu and I told her to give me the new one and showed her that it clearly said the same thing. She continued to argue that this sandwich was made differently and this is how a banh mi was made. If an item on the menu is being described one way it should be served that way. She began with refusing to take the order off of my bill and wanted to give me a discount on the sandwich, but I did not feel comfortable paying $20 for what I imagined would be an authentic display for a banh mi, but instead came out to be a steak sandwich with lettuce, tomatoes and onions. I understand this is meant to be a “higher end” Vietnamese restaurant, but serving food that isn’t at all what you claim it to be for outrageous prices is...

I don’t want to be Uber Critical, however when one is paying for food, service and ambiance you tend to get very discriminatory since your money does not go as far anymore. That said lets begin: Photos are clearly dated and taken when the location was new. Dated interior with many broken amenities. I mean the Men’s room was closed and we had to share the woman’s and wait for anyone to be clear. The staff said it will be finished tomorrow. Guess what I went back (Tomorrow) and still broken and closed Dirty, cobwebs and spiders living openly. This does not happen over night. And no one seems to engage in any side work to clean. Staff not very skilled on Menu and ingredients I was expect a full Vietnamese menu but this had Asian Infused which is fine, but not sure why Thai food included so prominently Seems like the location is failing and there is a lock box on the front door which generally means for Sale. Trash Pilled up on the Side of the building does not give a great appearance. Emergency Exit door had Clear Packing Tape to hold the mechanism in place.

Now the really Kicker, they place is falling apart inside, food had zero flavor, and I love Vietnamese food for the Flavor and all the Culinary influences that have been sprinkled on Vietnam through out history. But the Owner rolls up in a $150,000 custom Porsche 911 custom shade of light lime green, and a Hugh Racing FIN on the back with his restaurant name on the side window. I understand the Tax deduction as that clearly as intended as the “Business” car. But fix the place first before you indulge in your ego. And to top it off as you are leaving the Owner and a friend outside the front door smoking and did not have the courtesy to thank you for dinning, but did take the time to stare my family up and down as they left and I was walking behind paying the bill. Oh yes, I had to wait for a staff member to find me a pen to sign the...

I had to laugh at some of the hyperventilating negative reviews. We are experienced none of what they moaned about. We liked it and we will be back.

Disclosure: I’ve been to Vietnam: Hanoi, Da Nang, Hoi An, Hue, Can Tao, Saigon, the typical tourist destinations.

We went on a busy Saturday night. The place was packed but the only service slip -up was two entrees arriving a few minutes after the first two. I attribute that to a new restaurant working out the kinks. I’ve had much worse service at long established restaurant. Otherwise, the service was great.

The vibe is totally Saigon with music playing (but not annoyingly loud). It had a nightclub atmosphere.

Like I said, it was crowded so our reservations were definitely necessary. But we were seated and attended to promptly.

The food was good but I was disappointed there were no spring rolls, ubiquitous in Vietnam. I ordered coconut shrimp & pork dish ($23) and was disappointed AT FIRST at the portion size but even though I was starving, i couldn’t finish it. I ran out of room. The pho (pronounced “phuh”) was good, too.

)Pho99 in Eatontown has quality food, too, but has the atmosphere of a laundromat. )

If the owners wanted to make Hen more authentic, have a section where we can sit, massed together, on little plastic stacking chairs. Maybe park 10,000 scooters outside. Sell 50,000 VND ($2) pho. Or sell only bottled water because there no way you can trust Vietnam’s water!

JUST KIDDING! You need to fly for 20 hours and experience Vietnam for all of that!

In conclusion, yes, we will be back. It was definitely a good time for us with a big selection of interesting and CLEAN food choices. I wish the owners good luck with...