SouthEats Asian Cuisine — Restaurant in North St. Paul

I'm not sure if it was an off night but we did not have a good experience here. We did get seated right away and chose our own table booth. The table looked clean but a closer look, it was dirty and sticky, but we still sat because there were others getting into their tables. It took about 2-3 minutes to get the menu. About another 5 minutes later, we had our order taken. Yes, 5 minutes. We have not gotten any water or utensils or napkins. After about 10 minutes, we got our food, but as the waiter left, we didn't get utensils. We could hear some fussing between a customer or worker. We politely waved to the employee to help and they did. We got our plates and utensils. We never got our water refilled as the workers were not around to ask them.

Food: It was underwhelming. We got the pad kra pao, steam rolls, and the fried pork belly laab. The Pad Kra Pao was okay. Ground pork drenched in a sauce that didn't spark the taste buds but just barely hit satisfaction when paired with the rice and egg. The steam rolls were okay but not balanced properly with a meat to steam rice roll ratio; there was a lot more of the rice roll. So much, I used the extra unfilled rice roll with the Fried Pork Belly Laab. The Fried Pork Belly Rice wasn't given too much effort.  If you've tried fried pork belly, you know how juicey the pork meat is when combined with the crunching fried pork skin...it was not this. It was given low effort and then drenched in pepper and laab seasoning. Overall, underwhelming and not satisfying, especially for the price. The price should reflect the quality of the food and quality was not there tonight.

Constantly waiting and needing to ask for basic amenities like a plate, utensils, water and napkins lowered our experience. Service should have been better; having water, plates and utensils being served almost immediately as this is normal for any restaurant. It felt as we were being missed and disregarded.

After our meal, we waited for another 5 minutes but we also noticed none of the workers were around. We went to the front desk and waited for another 3 minutes and paid. The employee did apologize but it was already too late.

Would we recommend this place? No. Food quality and customer service was disappointing. For the price you pay, you would expect much better food quality and customer experience. If you've had food from Hmong Village or Hmong Como Town, this food quality is...

Stopped here around 4:15pm and was seated promptly because we were the only other table. The menu consisted of your usual Asian appetizers with a section for entrees and soups. A rather small menu so it should be easy to maintain quality of food. Ordered Large Pho with Meatballs, Large Combo Pho, Mild Beef Laab with a side of Sticky Rice, Spicy Tuna Roll, and the Lion King Roll. All the food came out rather quickly, because we were the only table being served. Let's start with the Pho and the fact the noodles are literally hiding the meat that you paid for me. It's a good tactic to make the customer think there's meat in the bowl, you just have to look for it through the sea of over-cooked noodles that break apart as you try to slowly split apart the clump of noodles. As you desperately try to scoop and scarf down the broken small noodles in an effort to find the meat you paid for, you will be painfully disappointed at yourself for not saving the tiny portions that they hid in the bowl. Onto the Mild Beef Laab, it was more like a Level 2 spice. It actually ruined my meal because it was excessively spicy for a Mild. One bite, that's all I took. As for the Sushi rolls, it was a fail. I'm not too picky about my Sushi, but if you can't make a decent Spicy Tuna Roll I usually won't order another, but the Lion King Roll mentioned Eel and I wanted to try it. All I can say is stay away from the Sushi here because it didn't feel like Sushi in my mouth, something was terribly wrong about it.

In conclusion, I don't recommend this place unless you're willing to take a chance. We pretty much left the table 1/4 finished because we didn't finish the Pho either. The only thing I packed home was the Sticky Rice. Unfortunately I did leave a comment with an employee whom I assumed to be a manager and she did offer a small discount which I politely refused. I'm all for helping our community and our small businesses but do a better job and don't overcharge me for mediocre food. And yes, they never offered to refill our...

I can't recommend this place enough. They just opened last November so it's quite new. There's construction going on but don't get deterred by that.

For apps, I ordered chichen satay and my girlfriend order the fried chicken feet. I usually don't eat chicken feet but these were actually really tasty esp. the batter. The chicken satay was also yummy even without the sauce. It's made with chicken breast but it was cooked perfectly, tender and juicy.

Then I ordered the cooked beef laab and my friend got the raw salmon laab. She ordered hers with level 3 spice while mine is level 5. Warning! Their spice level is the "real" spice level and not what I call "Minnesota" spice level. Both our food was really good but beware of the spice level. They're serious about their chili peppers... they are hot 🔥🌶 so if you like spicy food, you've come to the right place.

But the best thing about this place is the owner. She goes around and talked to people. She came back to our table asking how the food is and I mentioned about the spicy laab, which I wasn't complaining. I just mentioned that I would order this level from several restaurants before but they're never this spicy so she asked their chef to make us another batch for each with no spice in it and just add it to what we already have ...for free! She really went above and beyond. And not only that, she gave us their homemade coconut ice cream which was delicious for no charge. What a great service!

Even if their food didn't taste good, I would still give this place a 5 star, just for the service. Luckily, the food did not disappoint. Will...