Doson Noodle House — Restaurant in New Orleans

My experience at this restaurant was pretty bad. When we walked in, my first impression of the place was that it was not very clean and the floor was sticky, but we were kind of in a hurry, and a lot of other places were too crowded to get a table, so we stayed. After ordering our food, I went to the bathroom. There was zero toilet paper left, the soap was almost empty (but I managed to get a little bit out), and there was a sign by the toilet telling people not to flush any toilet paper. When I went to throw away the paper towel I used to dry my hands, I opened the trash can to discover a bunch of disgusting, used toilet paper in there. GROSS. Surely this must be a health code violation. The bathroom was also just generally filthy. Filthy restaurant bathrooms always make me worry about how nasty the kitchen must be. I notified the waitress of the nearly empty soap bottle and lack of toilet paper, but I never saw her go in to replace them. We were the only people in the restaurant the whole time until just before we finished our meal, so they certainly weren't too busy to step into the bathroom and refill the toilet paper and soap. I asked her just before leaving if she had replenished the toilet paper and soap because my daughter needed to use the bathroom, but she said she "didn't know." (I took that as a no).

All this nastiness, and the food was very mediocre. We had vermicelli plates, which were bland and kind of greasy. Many Vietnamese restaurants will include pickled carrots and/or pickled daikon to add a little brightness to a vermicelli plate, but this had none and sorely needed it.

With all the incredible Vietnamese food available in New Orleans, I am not sure how this place...

We have our go-to Vietnamese places but wanted to try something new. Menu was simple with a good selection, and there were brunch and dinner sizes for times of day. Jasmine tea is the best I've had in the city, not watery which was awesome. Loved the coffee, it seems a lot of the Vietnamese places are finding different ways to do their iced coffee since it's probably in such high demand. The food was traditional and flavorful- I had the lemongrass beef. Also noticed they have whole steamed/crispy fish on the menu. Didn't have the appetite for that but I plan on coming back another day with friends. Our waitress was sweet and attentive without being overbearing. The building was pretty simply, but clean and not cramped.

All in all, great little restaurant, will...

Chicken pho had zero flavor. Boiled white chicken meat with salty water. Probably the worst pho I’ve had in 15 years in New Orleans. I meant to take a photo because it looked like it tasted, but I needed my friend to take it out of my house because it was so bad.

I’m ill and was really looking for something that I could eat. Pho is a go-to for me when I’m sick. I couldn’t eat more than my first bite. I’m probably complaining extra because of not feeling well and then being soooooooooooo disappointed. Maybe this will save someone else the same...