Destiny Cafe 2 — Restaurant in Saint Paul

After what happened this week, I am disgusted. I placed a to go order, 3 different entrees. They put the curry I ordered in a foam type bowl. Because the curry was so hot, the foam bowl melted and fell apart. They bagged the curry in a small bag so the curry exploded inside that bag. The particles of the foam bowl was all over the curry. I was not even a block away when I noticed the foam bowl exploded. I brought the curry back and told them what happened. I asked them to make a new one. I waited about 10 minutes, they brought out my curry in an new foam bowl. I was paranoid they didn’t cooked me a new one from scratch so before I left the parking lot, I opened the bowl to look at the curry. I used a spoon in my car to stir the curry. There they were, chunks of foam chips in the curry. The foam turn orange because of the red curry so I bet they didn't realize it was foam. At this point, I was mad. I brought the curry back inside the restaurant and asked why they didn't make a new one and how they think that was sanitary and safe. I was told the cook is not Hmong and there must have been a misunderstanding. The cook probably just thought I wanted the curry poured in a new foam bowl. Ok, I understand that maybe there was a misunderstanding but why did it take 10 minutes just to pour the curry into a new foam bowl? I think they made me wait to make me think they were cooking me a new one. I waited another 10-15 minutes to get a new bowl of curry. Got in my car, drove two blocks and realized the foam bowl exploded again. I drove back and asked for a refund. I'm not mad because foam bowl broke. I'm mad because they made me think they were cooking me a new curry when they didn't. Then I got home only to find out that my bbq spring rolls were a mess. The rice paper was split open on both rolls and some noodles and lettuce came out on the side. Plus, they gave me no dipping sauce with my spring rolls. The entire experience was unbelievable! I have never been happy with the service at this place in the past but they do have one dish, not the curry, that I really like and that is the only reason I still go back there. Now I can't trust that their food is...

It has been years since my wife and I have dined in at DC2. The hype after its first opening seems to have died down. Usually when asked about DC2's food, folks seem to have mixed reviews. So because we were around in the area yesterday, we decided to give it a try to see what has changed.

The menu seems about the same, with a few less items. The biggest change is the prices, which definitely is dollars more than it use to. Understanding with economy/inflation, pricing up is eventually going to happen. But is it worth really spending about $5-$10 on dishes where you can go a few blocks over to Hmong Village for cheaper?

We ordered the combination pad thai (big noodles), papaya salad (Thai med spicy), and hli xiab (fried pork with tamarind sauce). I was always a big fan of the pad thai sauce from DC2, which seems to be the same as I remember it. However, the noodles are a bit thicker, like chow fun noodles. It was soft, feels homemade, and paired very well with the sauce & meats. The papaya salad was not overly sauced, and tasted very fresh. It had just the right amount of spiciness, sweetness, and sourness for both my wife and I. The hli xiab was a dish we have not tried before, and did very much enjoy. You pick a choice of meat which is stir fried with a sweet tamarind sauce accompanied with bell peppers and onions. There is an option to add spiciness, which we did do. We chose pork which was first fried, then cooked with the sauce and veggies. If you love sweet like in orange chicken, then this is the dish for you!

The service was great, much better then I remember it. We were seated immediately, and the waiter was attentive. They also have a call system button now which you can click to ask for something or add things too.

Overall, I was very impressed with DC2 and will come again. To go back on my question, I would rather spend few more dollars here then go to...

Destiny Cafe is that restaurant that you really want to succeed but because of the absolute apathy of the owners/operators they will never really get it right. Some of the food items are absolutely delicious (try the Beef Brisket!) but items such as the Pho or Pork Bellies are severely lacking.

On my first visit, which was a special occasion for my father, we were neglected for about 15 minutes until we were asked "What We Wanted" then finally being seated despite the lack of customers. After reviewing the menu and making our selections we were finally able to get the attention of a server after many more minutes to let them know we were ready to order. After we received our food and started eating we noticed that none of us had received anything to drink. I had to walk over to the counter to ask for someone to bring us some drinks. Throughout the whole meal we never received any refills despite the group of waitresses hanging out by the front counter on their cellphones with nothing to do. After our meal I had to shuffle through the crowd of waitresses to pay the cashier who was talking on her phone and couldn't be bothered to address me with anything except her hand to accept my payment method.

I now only order their Beef Brisket every once in awhile and only to go. They've even recently stopped taking phone orders so now I have to go in to deal with their abhorrent customer service more than I comfortably want to.

I really want to appeal to the owner/operator of this place and plead for you to please clean this place up and get people who have a decent work ethic to serve...