Perilla — Restaurant in San Francisco

Perilla's owner has implemented the two pronged attack on inflation like some San Francisco restaurants, with unintended results. Each prong targets his customers in a different way. The first is direct, the second more subtle. The prices have increased 30% over the past 18 months while management indulges in the practice of replacing higher priced protein items with relatively inexpensive carbohydrates on the plate or in the plastic take out container. For example, the six piece, #16 Grilled Pork Rolls are advertised with grilled pork, lettuce, mint, and vermicelli noodles. For $11 this appetizer comes with lots and lots of vermicelli (we all die for vermicelli, don't we?) and a miserly portion of meat in each and every roll. Or order the #24 "Charbroiled Beef Garlic Noodle" for $15.55. You get a copious helping (at least half the plate) of starchy garlic noodle (below, another reviewer described the noodle as "hard and dry") with a modest sampling of lemongrass and garlic infused dried beef drenched with a secret sauce we just could not identify beyond its insanely salty sourness. The same proportion design is applied to the Five Spice Chicken Vermicelli. So, Perilla's signature serving style is vermicelli and noodles piled high enough to crowd out a portion of the meat (so disappointing) and eliminate the vegetable altogether (no broccoli for you!).

Every dish is robustly seasoned by the generous use of salt instead of flavor enhancing, healthy spices. Reviewer's recommendation: skip this experience entirely and investigate any of the Vietnamese restaurants on Clement or elsewhere on Irving Street such as Saigon BBQ Noodle House ($$) offering ample meat with their meat dishes that won't make you feel foolish or worse when you open the meat-impoverished plastic containers at home. With the 30% price increase at Perilla you get additional starch, carbs, and sodium to complement an increasingly vegan friendly lunch/dinner. Fresh vegetables are extra while you dig around for the meat because the inexpensive, abundant helping of carbohydrates dominates the plate or container and compromises the room available for the protein (😱) while leaving little if any space for the lowly broccoli (😢). Be sure to admire the spiffy awning at the front...

Walked in and ordered to-go and got the garlic noodles with the five-spice chicken and imperial rolls. The overall portion is great but what's the point if the food isn't good.

SERVICE I love garlic and asked for extra garlic in my noodles but the guy firmly said they don't do extra garlic because it's already infused into the noodles. Okay so it's not freshly made to order? Guess it's also really hard to add in more garlic. When I came back to pick up my order the guy thought I was a new customer and was really "nice" - fake customer service voice and all haha. He asked what he could help me with and I told him I just ordered and am back to pick up my order. He just handed me my order without saying anything else. One other thing I noticed is the sales tax is also applied to the $0.25 to-go bag which I don't think they're supposed to do.

FOOD Garlic Noodles: The worst garlic noodles I've ever tasted. Suuuuper bland and I can't even taste the garlic. The garlic is supposed to be "infused" into the noodles too. Five-Spice Chicken: It's cooked nicely buuuut there's no flavor to it. Either the marinade didn't penetrate through the meat or they just brushed the top with sauce while cooking it. But doesn't matter because the portion was small and it tasted like nothing. Imperial Rolls: Finally, something that tasted decent! The rolls weren't crispy but at least they weren't flavorless and there was a dipping sauce.

Maybe they had a bad day but both the service and food was lacking so I won't be returning. If you wanna try flavorful garlic noodles and yummy bbq meats, check out Saigon BBQ Noodle House by...

Food/Taste/Flavor: 4/5 - ordered different dishes so some differences in opinion. 5/5 - Garlic noodles (21) five-spice chicken and (22) charbroiled pork were amazing. The noodles were very garlicky and buttery and the proteins were nicely cooked. The pork was marinated in a sweeter sauce but the slight grill char complimented the noodles well. The chicken was juicy and flavored nicely

2/5 - Pho (1) perilla beef combo and (8) five-spice chicken pho. So this may have been part of the order issue but I understood it as we they had given us two beef combo and no chicken which we were okay with. They actually gave us two chicken and no beef so there was some disappointment to start with. The broth was clear with nice flavoring. Unfortunately, the chicken was a bit dry and chewy especially when compared to the ones from the garlic noodle. The flavor also wasn't as strong so it seemed bland when eaten with the pho

Ambience: N/A - ordered food to go but it seemed cozy inside

Service: 4/5 - we ordered online and it was a bit annoying that we had to create an account to do so. Also, do note that the order is in the name of the credit card rather than the account. The food was ready for pick up by the promised time. My phone was on silent so I didn't notice the calls until I returned home but they had given us the wrong order (wrong food but correct ticket). They were apologetic about it and since it was a fairly similar order, we were just missing a charbroiled pork garlic noodle so we went back to pick it up.

Value for price: 5/5 - fair pricing and good food. Will just check our order before leaving...