At Bites — Restaurant in San Luis Obispo

I am blown away! My family and I finally tried @bites this evening and were completely blown away by how delicious everything was. We started with egg rolls. Then had Shaking beef, sriracha honey shrimp, a cheeseburger, fries, garlic egg noodles, garlic rice and a smoothie...such a random sampling, and yet everything was five stars!

The egg rolls were fresh, yummy, perfectly crisped. The Shaking beef was tender and cooked to absolute perfection. The shrimp were among the best I've ever had...fresh, large, and the sauce was delightfully spicy and delicious. Both the beef and shrimp were wonderfully presented with charred, beautiful vegetables (purple carrots, mini squash, grape tomatoes, green beans, etc). The noodles were awesome with tons of roasted garlic cloves mixed in. The cheeseburger was large, tender and fresh with really delicious meat, fresh tomatoes, homemade pickles and what seemed to be a homemade bun. The French fries were lightly battered...scrumptious crunch with a soft, yummy inside. Last but not least, we ordered a strawberry banana smoothie that my 5 and 2.5 year olds split...it was huge and they managed to suck the entire thing down. All of this for around $60...and that was with two orders of fries and two orders of noodles because for the cost I expected the portions to be smaller. Fed all five of us and we have plenty of leftovers for tomorrow.

We are very happy customers and look forward to becoming regulars! Even just for smoothies on the weekend...@bites will be taking the place of our usual Jamba Juice run. Thanks so much, @bites. You guys have...

One of my Vietnamese family members who tagged along with us to eat at @Bites said she could tell this place was authentic. If this is authentic, I don’t think I like authentic.

I ordered a beef pho. It was in the typical price range, about $16-$17, which was good, so I thought. It came out hot, with some sauce and vegetables on the side. I’ll start off with things I enjoyed: the soup was up to my standards. That’s kind of it. The noodles were small, the meat was too cooked for my tastes, I didn’t like the vegetables, and the sriracha was offbrand and didn’t taste good nor was it as spicy as I’d hoped. I’m used to Vietnamese restaurants having those bottles of branded sriracha at every table, so having to ask the front for more sriracha packets at the front was unsual. I couldn’t finish my pho. I usually bring my leftover pho with me, but I no longer had an appetite for it.

The atmosphere confused me a bit. It felt more like a fast food spot, with the soda machine and the generic theming and the cheap disposable utensils and sauces. If you have the appearance and quality of a fast food joint, then why are you charging actual restaurant prices?

Overall, there was little to enjoy at @Bites. At least the employees...

Conveniently located next to Cal Poly, I can see why this place is still standing due to high traffics of easy going college kids that just want a quick bite before getting back to school and homework. However, please know that this is NOT authentic Vietnamese food. I have been back quite a few times in the past 3 years but quality was never improved. The baguette used on bánh mì is wrong. Baguette is supposed to have crunchy crust with a hollow and soft texture inside. No such thing as Shrimp Pho. Why is a cheeseburger option doing on the menu? Pho broth is aggressively sweet and bland. No condiments available on dining tables. So many other things and so on. I get it, some people just want to have a meal and call it done. But I’m sorry to see how Viet food is absurdly being misrepresented by its own people. Especially if this is catering to a town that is primarily whites, wouldn’t it be nice to intrduce them to Viet food in a more authentic and honest way? I hope there will be more Viet restaurants...