Phở VAN's Vietnamese Restaurant — Restaurant in Town of Rotterdam

Have been a fan of Van's for a very long time since I came to Albany. The Central Ave restaurant has been a goto place and rivals some of the Pho I have eaten in NJ and NYC. But even though the food is good but when they get busy you can't order take out, and parking is rough downtown. So haven't been able to enjoy it as much...and here comes Van's in ROTTERDAM! I was so excited, it looks great and there's plenty of parking. Well had to try the staples...so we had pork springrolls..they were fantastic! So crispy and delicious and their pickled carrots and daikon was good..a little dry. Well then had to go for the Pho! That's where they lost the star...the soup was very light on the flavor...almost liked they watered it down. So the noodles were great, the meat portions were perfect, but the soup - it needed to be richer and more flavorful. But definitely worth trying again...I have hope that maybe it's because the soup didn't have a chance to cook enough to get the real flavor from it. I hope Van's you keep up the tradition of good Vietnamese food - because good Asian food is hard to...

P.S. I'm leaving up my original review but I need to say my diabetic friend's blood sugar went from 85 to 180 and stayed there for three days. All he had was lamb and broccoli, no rice, but a pool of nuoc chan on the plate. I gained 5 lbs from evening to next day: I didn't clean my plate, my usual guess would be msg causing water retention. If you like Vietnamese food, it's worth a try, but you might want to ask some questions before ordering.

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I love this place the food is among the best in the Capital district. However they have a tendency to drown a lot of the food in nuoc chan which is a mix of vinegar and sugar. The recipes I've seen on the internet are 25% sugar by volume. So if you are diabetic you have to be careful not to use this sauce which is an almost clear liquid and doesn't taste as sweet as it really is. Surprisingly attractive interior. This restaurant is highly recommended but watch out for the sugar sauce. Good place to take a friend or even for a first date with someone who wants to try something new. They add a credit card surcharge if you...

Food was good and the atmosphere was nice, but one male server with a beard and black glasses had a really bad attitude. We ordered the spring rolls, and after finishing them, we found what looked like a small cockroach under the garnish. It had a body, antennae, and legs—it was clearly a bug.

I asked the server if it was a bug or a roach. He said he didn’t think so, took the plate to the kitchen, then came back saying someone thought it was a “magazine piece or a leaf.” Then he smirked and said, “Honestly, don’t worry about it.” No apology, no explanation—just walked away.

Later he took the spring rolls and a pho off the bill and said, “Apologize for this.” But we paid full price anyway—I wasn’t interested in that kind of apology. I’m not here for a free meal—I can afford to pay. If you’re only sorry because you saw me writing a review, it’s too late.

Bugs in kitchens happen. What matters is how you handle it—and this was handled...