Luc Lac Vietnamese Kitchen — Restaurant in Portland

Luc Lac is the kind of restaurant that offers grab-n-go food but has an ambiance that makes you wonder why you would ever use it. When you walk into this restaurant, you are immediately greeted by a giant, looming, neon menu and cheery staff who all look cooler than you.

The neon theme continues throughout the bar and restaurant and the walls all boast beautiful and colorful murals. The front portion of their space is committed to their walk-up service where you can take your food to go. Because of this, there aren't many window seats. But I promise you'll have enough to look at that you won't mind.

Like Grassa, this restaurant has a sit-down energy with an order-at-the-counter system. You order first and sit down second. I played my usual game of menu roulette and asked the person taking my order what they preferred. I was directed to the Lemongrass Stir-Fry with Tofu and Shrimp. After recommending this dish to me they asked me to let them know how I liked it. In this regard... I failed. So if you work at Luc Lac and wear a cute hairband, know this: you were right! This dish rocks!

The stir-fry was amazing and though the rice was a bit tough at the end this was probably because I was eating slowly while participating in some rockin' conversation. The dish also comes with a simple salad on the side, which makes you feel better about eating such a whopping serving!

Here's hoping you skipped lunch before you got here because the plates are large! I persevered and finished my food and I'm glad I did. But if you didn't skip lunch (or you aren't as brave as me) don't worry. The restaurant has a stack of take-out containers for you to use at your leisure.

The dishes are rated on a Spicy Scale™ of 1-4 and I got a 3. Now there's a chance they noticed how white my skin was and reeled me in for my safety, but if not I can assure you that 3 is pretty manageable here. Just don't go quoting me on that!

My food arrived and my friend Sam immediately started WAFTING MY FOOD'S AROMA. On the one hand, how dare you? That's my aroma! On the other hand, I think it's proof that the food doesn't just look and taste good, it smells good too!

Speaking of wafting, my friend Alayna says that her dish (the Steak and Brisket Phở) is "definitely worth wafting" too. In her words the broth is amazing, the noodles have a perfect texture, and you get more than enough. Additionally, she said that the meat was tender and the veggies were very fresh. Aside from Sam's wafting, this was the only review I got out of my friends. Here's hoping 2.5 opinions are enough for you!

The service at Luc Lac was simple but effective. By design, the staff are stationed at the bar and the counter but there are always people walking around so you're bound to get help if you need it. Once you've ordered there are stations for you to get water, utensils, and other para-phở-nalia. The staff are all really nice and, as I mentioned earlier, they all look really cool. I'm not sure what the staffing process is here but I'm sure it involves finding up-and-coming indie musicians and tugboat operators (the coolest kind of boat).

All in all, this is a great stop for anyone looking to eat in downtown Portland. And with their take-out option, it's a great spot for people looking to eat...

We have been ordering out from this place for years -- and we drive quite a ways for it -- and in the past they have been great. But word started getting out about them a few years ago and Luc Lac got very popular very quickly. Naturally, this restaurant capitalized on the increased business by increasing prices. Unfortunately, however, like so many other restaurants that enjoy a rapid increase in popularity and thus in business, this restaurant is now further capitalizing on its popularity via substantial decrease in quality. It's been going downhill since 2022, but we were unable to eat our last order at all and had to throw it all out because of the rotten rancid basil that was put into it. It was clear that whoever made our dishes (both of which included basil) knew the basil was bad and moldy and rancid because there is normally plenty of basil but this time only a small sprig with a few rotted moldy leaves were on it but it was just so rancid and so gross and stunk so bad and totally got all over the other food that we just couldn't eat any of it (except the rice in a separate container). We called immediately after we got home and discovered how gross our order was of course and we left a message about our experience with management but that was a couple weeks ago and we've never heard back. It will probably take a while for for the poor quality and higher prices to catch up and dissipate the popularity fad this restaurant still enjoys, but hopefully this review will help. There are a lot of great Vietnamese places in Portland, but you shouldn't bother with this one. Although Luc Lac was a great restaurant in the past, you're too late to enjoy that now. Luc Lac...

I am here to write a review about how irresponsible Luc Lac is. I am sure their food, service and atmospheres are good, but the level of irresponsibility is beyond comprehension.

I parked my rental car overnight and found out that one of their employees hit and dented my rental car with a trash dumpster. I confronted their manager James. He checked his camera and found proof that it was in fact, one of their employees that committed the so "hit and run". I asked for insurance information and James kept running around in loops with excuses.

Due to me having to catch a flight that very same day, we kept it simple and was assured that he will take responsibility. When I returned the rental car to Enterprise, the rep there even spoke to James, collected his info.

Fast forward a few months, I found out the James completely ghosted. He has been ignoring calls, letters and emails from the claim department.

How do you hit a park car? I am baffled. To say that you will take responsibility and then completely disregard it, tells you a lot about being a person and being a business. I am not from the west coast and nor do I intend on flying back to Portland anytime soon to confront them. This is simply not right and unjust.

All of the evidences are probably gone by now. James probably deleted the videos. I am at fault for not asking for a copy or filing a police report that very same day. If it wasn't for a flight that was departing in an hour, things would have turned out a little different.

Luc Lac, you may be a decent restaurant, but the people are indecent. I am not saying everyone is, but the people in charge are. If I have to take this to social media and implode the situation,...