La V - Vietnamese Fusion — Restaurant in Saint Petersburg

La V - Vietnamese Fusion I call this "AWESOMENESS IN A BOWL". LaV’s New Spicy "Hue" Style Noodle Soup is super delicious! It will be on the new menu that comes out in a couple of weeks, but you can get it right now by special request - just ask for it. It’s a foodie’s delight! For me, this has the perfect amount of spiciness; measured by taste / heat in the mouth, and by how much I sweat. If I sweat on the top of my head, (which I did), it is perfect. If I profusely sweat from every pore in my body, then it is too spicy. This Spicy "Hue" Style Noodle Soup has the perfect amount of spice. However, if this scares you, the good news is that you can request it less spicy. (One of my pet peeves when I go to an ethnic restaurant and request spicy or extra spicy and then get the food as mild as can be probably because they assume the white boy doesn't know what he is talking about - that’s as annoying as being cut off while driving.) LaV, thankfully delivers perfectly on fiery. Just be careful with some of optional hot sauces. Besides the nice red-hot sting, this soup is so wonderful because you get several different flavors and textures. Flavors - vegetal, meaty, salty, tart, tangy, piquant, and savory. Textures - hard, soft, chewy, meaty, crunchy, gummy, crispy. The ingredients that deliver this scrumptious party-in-your-mouth are: cylindrical rice noodles (they are hollow and fill up with the tasty broth), beef flank, pork surimi, and pork knuckles. The knuckles are on the bone, but fall right off. They are served in a red pepper and lemongrass beef broth topped with white & green onions, and accompanied with a fresh veggie plate which is similar to what you get with the other pho dishes. The veg plate leaves out the Jalapeño since the soup is pretty darn spicy to begin with, and adds a type of cabbage / slaw mixture in lieu of bean sprouts. You also get the lime wedge and Thai basil that normally comes with the pho accompaniment. As I said in my last review regarding the fresh veggies and herbs; You are supposed to add them a little at a time as you go, but first tasting the broth by itself. Here's some real interesting info I found out while talking to Jason Saal, the GM - LaV is now open until 3am on weekends, and they are now serving brunch on the weekends too. I saw the brunch menu, and I wanted to try everything! So, remember to request the new Spicy Noodle Soup, and add LaV to your brunch and late-night / early-morning drunk...

I would have given this restaurant 5 stars because the food was AMAZING, but SOME of the service is what brought the perfect score down. I was in on Sunday, and it was my and my friend's first time there. We were so excited because the reviews were amazing. The gentleman that seated us was so sweet and kind. He chatted with us before our meal and after. Him and the food were the saving grace! The slightly older gentleman (I don't know his name because he didn't say it) that took our order is the reason for my complaint. Never in my life have I had someone who seemed annoyed because we asked 2 questions about the menu! He didn't ask us how we were doing, if it was our first time at the restaurant, and when he came to refill our water glasses and I said "thank you" I was met with a "mmhm" and then he walked off. He seemed to only be rude to our table, as I viewed him chatting it up with the other guest...even smiling (gasp!). At the end of our meal, the amazing young man that seated us kindly brought the check over, asked how we liked everything and then took our payment. Mr. Rude on the other hand, came slapped the check on the table and walked off. I had to quickly tell him that we already paid. He didn't say "my apologies", rather he picked it back up and walked off. There was no thank you for dining here, or even a have a good day. With all of the situations going on in our country, I couldn't help but take his actions as a personal attack against who I am. To view him chatting and smiling with other guests, and being pleasant to everyone but us...he ruined my time. Will I come back to La V? YES! The food was amazing!!! But If I get that same rude, man, I will directly request to have someone else. Luckily for La V they have amazing food and at least one person working there (well a couple, because the young man who brought our appetizers was really nice and funny) who knows how to treat customers in the correct way: ...

I am writing this review because I should have not given this place a second chance. I’ve had two horrible experiences with this place in a row and I will not be returning.

I will save you the details of the first horrible encounter I had with this place. However, to make it short and sweet, we had ordered a take-out meal at this place, walked inside and paid for it, and then proceeded to sit there for twenty minutes as our food was getting cold. With our order right in front of us. We were completely oblivious to the fact that this is our food, because how would we know it was our food. The people working there were just careless and completely unaware of three customers standing there, waiting for a big bag of food. I had to walk up to the counter and ask what was taking so long with our food before they could finally put two and two together and give us our food. They also told me that they would give me a full refund for the order, but I had to call several times for that promise to go through. Overall, the food was good, but our experience sucked.

To give them credit, their food was good, which is why I gave them a second chance. But this last time made me feel like my money is better spent elsewhere. I ordered the fusion fried rice, which comes with shrimp, surimi, sausage, peas, etc. I had asked for it without the pork patty/surimi and extra shrimp. I got five shrimp. No Chinese sausage, really just awful. The service just seems to be lacking. I know everyone is trying their best, but please at-least just care about your customers spending money at your restaurant.

Sorry for the terribly long review. TLDR; they have a lack of customer service and their food isn’t good enough to...