Bánh Mì and Bottles — Restaurant in Philadelphia

Food was bad, service failed, and the wait was HORRIBLE.

We arrived at our reservation time on the dot and it took 15 minutes to be seated, due to the previous table being taken. This would have been fine, if I didn’t come 10 minutes before our reservation to confirm.

The dessert selection, which had 3 options, had been reduced to just ice cream, and we found out upon ordering that half of the entree options were out of stock.

There was no notice given, in the 30 minutes we were there past our reservation, and we frankly would have gone to a different restaurant if we had known.

My friends stuck with the restaurant week menu and got an appetizer, the duck, and ice cream . I decided to get the Bahn Mi Burger, because everything I was interested in was apparently unavailable.

It took a HOUR for me to get my burger.

Moving on to my co-diners. The Appetizers were mediocre. The Entrees were a nightmare. Unevenly sauced wings, way over cooked Bao Buns, and missing sides. The duck leg didn’t even include the thigh. Nobody was full when we left.

When I got my Burger, it was a several lumps of ground pork and the tiniest bit of pickles and cilantro leaves stuffed into a baguette. I had 5 Quarter sized pieces of lotus root fries on the side.

Maybe it was due to the end of restaurant week, but it was a complete mess.

Positives:

The interior design is nice and the Coconut Ice Cream was good. They apologized for the wait with a bottle of citrus alcohol. The classic Bahn Mi and Bone marrow was enjoyed by those who had it.

Overall, this killed 1 and a half hours of our night, cost me 270 bucks, and we all left hungry and unsatisfied. I had to get a 7/11 hotdog after. It was better...

Today I learn something new😄both Thailand restaurant and Vietnamese restaurant will serve papaya salad but they are a lot different, traditional Thailand papaya salad will have way stronger taste because they use crab paste; the owner here is a Vietnamese, a very very nice guy, we had a lot culture exchange from talking about the languages differences and similarities, which the way to say thank you is actually exactly the same in Vietnam and Taiwan; but the way to say how are you are totally different, to talk about the food differences, such as the cold noodle with sesame peanut paste that every Taiwanese have as breakfast is actually from Vietnamese style culture cuisine. In Taiwan they call it 涼麵， or there’s another hot types call 米苔目. The brown sauce in their summer roll is so different than the other Vietnamese spot I’ve ever been to, it’s like every store they have their own secret recipes, the brown sauce here has garlic chops and a sweet taste I’m not sure if it’s tamarind or where that sweetness from but taste amazing, and the light sauce is super refreshing, love it that it’s not too sweet but super refreshing, I guess there’s lemon or lime or vinegar in the light sauce I’m not sure but it’s very very different than any other Vietnamese I’ve ever tried. Truly thankful for the amazing experiences with your meal😄

Cảm ơn

Btw, on the right hand side of the menu, every dishes with the tiny V next to it they can make vegan...

My girlfriend and I just happened to stumble across this place after a morning checking out all the Christmas Villages in Philly. It was a cold afternoon so we we're definitely looking for something to warm us up.

The decor is simple and clean. We grabbed two seats at the bar and we're warmly welcomed by the bartender. We ordered two shots of whiskey off the bat to help take the edge off and then we're informed that they didn't have a bottle/can beer list, you had to go to the fridges adjacent to the bar and help yourself. Honestly, I really like the informality of this set up.

We had dinner plans later on so ordered light. A Lemongrass Chicken Bahn Mi with Fried Egg and a small Beef Pho with Oxtail to share.

Unfortunately, they were out of oxtail but the depth of flavor in the beef pho was perfect without it. It was absolutely perfect! The broth, the noodles and all of the accoutrements worked in perfect harmony.

The bahn mi I was also excellent except they forgot our friend egg. But the chicken was flavorful, cooked properly and sandwiched on the flakiest and softest bread!

It was a great experience and the food was fantastic. We will definitely return next time we...