Chopstix Vietnamese Restaurant — Restaurant in Seaside

We popped in for a couple of bowls of roast beef Pho after a long day.

The dining room is casual, spacious and inviting.

We ordered from a pleasant person and our food arrived within the expected time. Unfortunately, while the other ingredients were fresh and well executed, the broth was weak and watery with none of the beef flavor we’d hoped for, and the modest slices of beef were overdone, tough, and chewy. The dish truly didn’t hit the mark even as average.

There were only 4 customers (including the 2 of us) during our 6-7 pm visit and we observed 2 employees in addition to unseen kitchen staff but no one checked to see if we were okay and the two floor employees disappeared so there no one to share our concerns with or get a remake.

We were very hungry so added condiments from the selection on the table to add some flavor. Despite being very hungry, we didn’t finish and left half on the table because it wasn’t worth bringing home, and also the check was just dropped on the table without asking if we wanted to take the rest, clear our dishes, or ask for feedback.

It was almost $40 for the two bowls of soup, a couple of plain iced teas, and uncaring service, but they were very quick to collect the funds.

I honestly don’t enjoy leaving a review like this but there are other choices offering far better Pho in the area, and we...

I liked Taste of Vietnam and was sad to see it go. But I was curious what Chopstix did with the space after they finally moved over from down the street. We never came before because the food was consistently mediocre, and there are too many Vietnamese options nearby to tolerate anything like that. For those not in the know, Chopstix is a local chain, with locations in Monterey and PG as well. I've never been to either of the other two. So the craft drafts that Taste had are gone. They do sell some very good bottles of beer for $4. Think Flying Dog, Racer 5 and Anchor's newer IPA. They kept the bar and it was actually quite busy that night. Minor renovations past that. The food was cheap, was good for what we got, and the service was good. I got a lemongrass chicken and DW got the beef glass noodles. We also split an order of egg rolls, which can be pork, shrimp, combo of pork and shrimp, or vegetarian. All good stuff. The pho sucked before, but I would try it here now. It seems like they've benefitted from the move and the larger kitchen, so I wouldn't necessarily trust any comments on food, and certainly not on atmosphere, prior to February 2017, roughly the...

I've never given a 1-star review, but I regret coming here.

The only positives were fair pricing for the area and decent dry noodles. Unfortunately, everything else fell short. The specialty drinks were overpriced for their quality, costing as much as good boba but tasting below average. The men's restroom urinal was filthy. We specifically asked for no cilantro in any dish, yet all three meals contained some.

The food quality was inconsistent. The dry noodles were fine, but the soup dishes missed the mark. I ordered chow mein, wonton soup with glass noodles, and udon soup. I found a fly in the udon. The restaurant only offered $5 off instead of removing the dish from the bill, which was an inadequate response to such a serious issue.

Service was polite when we were served, but no one checked on us afterward. The wait for just three cooked dishes and three specialty drinks was also unreasonably long.

Even with fair prices, the hygiene issues, ignored requests, and poor problem-handling make this a place I cannot recommend. Will neither...