Jasmine Garden — Restaurant in San Francisco

Jasmine Garden is definitely one of the best Vietnamese restaurants in SF, just as long as you're NOT eating pho.

The Pho here has way too much cinnamon. It was like an apple cider broth. The beef slices were tough and the broth just isn't hot enough. Everything about this pho was lackluster and not even worth serving at what is otherwise an amazing Vietnamese restaurant.

FOOD:

Catfish Sweet & Sour Soup = Incredible. A perfect blend of sweet and sour that goes extremely well with white rice.

Banh Xeo = Crispy and flavorful, I loved this Banh Xeo.

Raw Beef Slices = Delicious. The mixture of the cilantro, peanuts, and fish sauce made these tender raw beef slices amazing.

Chicken & Shrimp Salad = This was okay. There wasn't much flavor in this dish -- had to drench it in fish sauce.

Shaking Beef = The Shaking Beef here was tender, but the flavor was a bit off. It was still good, just a bit sour from the vinegar in the sauce.

Deep-Fried Shrimp w/ Garlic Noodles = Shrimp should have been a bit more deep-fried, but the garlic noodles were EXCELLENT here.

Sea Bass over Glass Noodle = This dish was just okay. The sea bass was a bit TOO flaky and the glass noodles were too garlicky. It went pretty well with white rice (since there was so much pungency from the garlic), though.

Roasted Quail = Excellent quail. It came out bursting with flames (from the Bacardi 151 that it was doused in) and had tons of flavor.

Jasmine Garden is one of the more authentic Vietnamese restaurants I've been to in SF. With the serious exception of their horrible pho, Jasmine Garden is an amazing Vietnamese restaurant that will guarantee a...

Six months ago we moved in just a few steps away from the restaurant and finally decided to try it today. We've read the reviews, saw the high grade and our expectations were high.

Not sure what happened.

The first thing that hit us is the unpleasant smell. It's not our first Vietnamese restaurant, and you expect the smell of spices and flavors that you are less familiar with, but in this case, it was acidic and unpleasant. Even though the place was only half full, the waiters were really impatient with us with a great sense of urgency that was very unclear. For an appetizer, we chose the imperial rolls. Pretty good, but clearly heated in a microwave and not very fresh. The Garlic noodles were very mediocre and uninspiring. Jasmine garden noodle soup was ok-ish but .. I don't know. I've seen the reviews on this website, and on few others. The average grade is ~4.5 or so. I really wish I felt it deserved even a 3 star. The service is unfriendly, the food is not fresh (some it at least) and I'm not coming back. Maybe it's just me,...

I LOVE this place. I'm a total regular. Here is why.

BEST vegetarian pho in the city, hands down!

I get the vegetarian pho with a side of the spicy lemongrass sauce to put in it. It is the tastiest veggie pho I've ever had and it's packed with veggies like mushrooms, bok choy, carrots, broccoli, fresh cilantro, and tofu. They also have a delicious lemon grass tofu over vermicelli (over rice on the menu). It comes with crushed peanuts and a salad on the bottom. The ingredients are fresh, always, and the service is great. I love the people who work there, especially the woman server (i think she may be one of the owners?) who always remembers me and is really warm and speedy. It's also cheap! I always walk out with a full belly and feel surprised at how little money it is. I highly recommend this spot- they also deliver!

Negatives: not organic, if someone knows of an organic pho spot-please let me know!

Was...