Little Miss Ha — Restaurant in Saint Augustine

With so many new and wonderful restaurants opening, we naturally had to try both French Pantry and Littlê Miss Hà, located in the historic Corazon Theater building (1880). We dined at both, only several days apart. Unfortunately, sometimes it's a swing and a miss, or at least mostly. 3 couples, so 6 of us. Ordered 3 appetizers to share: Shrimp Spring Rolls, Bao Buns (Banh Bao) and Scallop Crudo. Spring rolls - delicious! Says they come with peanut sauce, but actually it is more like a hoisin sauce with a tiny bit of diced peanuts on top. Odd, but delicious overall. Bao Buns - I don't eat meat, so can't comment. Scallops - most expensive app ($22) and well worth it. Genuinely delicious. Though slightly salty, perfectly presented and an amazing quantity to share. Bravo. Dinners: 2 Earl Grey Duck Confit, 2 Coconut Cognac Bavette, 2 Rice Noodle Stir Fry (Pho Xao) with Shrimp. The other guys had the duck and appeared to genuinely enjoy it. My wife and I had the Stir Fry. Almost inedible due to high salt content. My wife loves salt, really does, and she only got through a small portion of the meal. Looks like it could be good if they could control the over seasoning with salt. Bavettes - ordered medium by the two other women. Both had to send it back as it was between rare and raw. You'd think it would be a priority to quickly add some heat and get the meals back, but after 20 minutes they arrived; one was eaten, the other only partially as there were clearly some ultra rare portions still there. Not even close to medium. And so, despite an amazingly upbeat and wonderful waitress (you can't miss her green hair), the dinners fell short in most cases. Hopefully, the feedback they received during the meal will be helpful, but all too often it is not. On a related note, pre-dinner we all had a drink. Our two martinis were $18 (Kettle One) and $19 (Belvedere). At that price, you'd expect a pretty heathy pour, but we received the smallest martinis either of us have ever experienced. Oh well, not a...

Was excited to find a Vietnamese restaurant nearby while staying in DT St. Augustine. I read that it was fairly new but still wanted to check it out. It is attached to a large building that is essentially apart of another restaurant called “French pantry.” I sat at the bar and was offered both menus but from my understanding that option is only offered at the bar and one small section or else you would get sat specifically at one or the other. There were a handful of items I wanted to try but finally settled on a few. Fried spring rolls 5/5 - this style of egg rolls are made with rice paper which is a regional distinction which I personally enjoy more than the traditional wrapper. Crispy, with a chewy texture and nice sauce. I loved that I got a small portion of vermicelli noodles and lettuce to wrap them in. Fresh summer rolls 5/5 - I wish they had a pork and shrimp combo offered but the shrimp only was still good. I enjoy eating them with both fish sauce (nuoc Cham) and peanut sauce. Shaking beef 4/5 - was recommended to me by the owner and a popular choice it seemed. I’ve had this dish many times and is hard to find at most viet restaurants because it’s a regional dish. The beef was tender but a bit on the dryer side and not caramelized. I’ve had it where it’s a touch saucier and served over the bed of watercress so the juices seem through and saturate the greens and gives it a nice flavor that’s more cohesive. There was just too much watercress so I basically took most of it off. It can be overwhelming with how bitter it is and have nothing on it. It was tender and I would’ve preferred the pieces being cut smaller because there were several very big chunks. Still enjoyed it for the most part. And of course a Vietnamese meal is not complete without a Vietnamese...

We went today, (Monday around 5:30-6PM). We ordered bao buns, nuoc cham wings, beef pho, and bun cha with noodles. We didn't have a reservation, but there was hardly anyone in the restaurant. We were seated next to a protruding wall almost jutting out into open space.

Bao Buns - Bao was dry and not much inside of them.. just flavorless. There were a lot of different components to the bao bun, just not enough of any of the toppings. And it was lacking a sauce. Nuoc Cham Wings - Looked burnt, not much flavor. Did not taste like nuoc cham at all. Beef Pho - Bland, didn't have any umami flavors like pho normally does even after adding the little bit of hoisin they gave, and broth was dark (also not typical for pho broth). Bun cha with noodles - Not many veggies, hardly any noodles (which btw they forgot to give me initially), and 4 small patties of meat.

All in all, our bill (not including tip) was $67 and some change. Not worth almost $70 for subpar food.

What we assume is the owner/manager of the restaurant stopped by to ask how everything was. I didn't have the words to explain what was lacking, as everything we ordered was. He asked for constructive critism, but all I could say was everything was just okay.. He asked if he could do anything or offer us anything else, but to be honest after having 4 things from the menu be lack-luster it was hard to believe the 5th wouldn't be. Not sure if I would come back. Wasn't authentic, and expensive for small portions.

*Only got photos of the bao...