Friendship Vietnamese Kitchen NW Thurman — Restaurant in Portland

The restaurant has recently changed over, and is in its reopening phase from Alouette to Friendship Kitchen. I expected there would be a learning curve as they get going, and want to support the small businesses in my neighborhood and was excited to have a well rated place to get pho near my house.

My first waiter was nice enough, but couldn’t answer questions about the menu… that’s okay, and the kind of thing you excuse at an opening. Food took forever though there were only 3 other people there. Also can live with that. Not in a hurry.

But when the food runner brought my dish they plopped it down across the table from me without a word. I asked them a question about one of the dishes, and they were condescending and rude to the point that the table next to me commented when they walked away. I was honestly pretty shocked. They also brought no utensils or napkins when they served my food and just walked away. I had to go inside and ask for them, and the employee sitting at the bar, rather than helping or even a quick “sorry about that” replied snarkily “no, you can’t have those”… definitely kidding, but it was an odd choice. I noticed that the table next to me was also served with no utensils or napkins after me and also had to go inside.

The beef pho was unremarkable. Every pho place has their own take, and I didn’t care for their amount of sweetness and anise and cloves in this one, but food alone was probably 4.4 stars.

Decor and menus are still a mix of Alouette and the new, but also could excuse that for a place in transition. I would consider trying it again with another dish later if the service wasn’t subpar. There are just too many options at their price point in the neighborhood and more convenient to justify going back to a place that has no hospitality and...

I ate at this restaurant on 10/21, a Saturday night. My party included 4 adults and 2 kids under 4. We arrived at 6:15 and did not even get our first food until 7:30, and only after we asked how long it would be. The server made a vague claim about the kitchen being backed up, but when our food did arrive it was cold and soggy as if it had been sitting out in the kitchen for a long time. The server said he would check on the order and I watched as he instead delivered drinks and took orders at other tables instead of a quick trip to the kitchen. I do not expect a restaurant to cater to our children and we were keeping them entertained, but even the kids were starting to ask where the food was and getting restless; when their food did come they were ravenous. Items were forgotten (the side of rice we ordered for the kids) and the waiter claimed we never even ordered one of the dishes we remarked was missing - a far cry from a typical server with a more political response of an apology and offer to make it right. The satay was dry, and they were completely out of chicken rice by 6:30pm on a Saturday - that’s a pretty staple dish to be out of on a busy day. On a Saturday night, you’d think there’d be more than 2 unenthusiastic servers working the floor, and this definitely contributed to the experience. We saw diners leave after cocktails because the wait for food was too long, and saw diners wait for attention at the door for a table only to walk away when no one came to help. This was the worst dining experience I’ve had in a long time, which is so disappointing because I truly love the NE location so much and find the food excellent. I may be willing to give it a chance after a few months of growing pains, but last night was a...

I don’t know if we ordered the wrong thing or if it was an off night, but this did not live up to the hype and reviews. It was really disappointing. We were there for my fiancé’s birthday dinner and we’re excited for the experience. We ordered what was recommended to us by the staff and it was some of the most bland food I’ve ever had at a restaurant. Plus it gave both my fiancé and I atrocious stomach pains and nausea through the night. Something was terribly off. The staff, while nice, were loudly talking at the bar the whole night, celebrating that it was a “slow night” and that people weren’t showing up for their reservations. We were excited for the dumpling special as they were one of the restaurants featured for dumpling week. What we got was a ball of meat wrapped in a fried wonton wrapper. Maybe I had a different vision of dumpling in my head, but that was not what I was expecting from a place featured for dumpling week. Overall, I am really sad that this was how my fiancé celebrated his birthday. Bland food, nearly a $100 bill, and up all night with...