The Good Bowl — Restaurant in Traverse City

We decided to try The Good Bowl, and I have to say I was disappointed--I really wanted to like this place.

Regarding the person who was seated and not served--I wonder if they went to the same place? You order at the counter, THEN you sit. Wait staff will come around to serve your food, and later will check on you. I found the wait staff to be friendly and observant.

As an appetizer we had the two Fresh Summer Rolls with shrimp and served with a peanut sauce. The sauce was delicious, but the spring rolls were rather bland, with the long stems of cilantro making them difficult for me to eat. The rolls were larger than I expected.

We had the CƠM with lemongrass bbq pork, and it was a disappointment. First of all, about half of the bowl was taken up with what appeared to be a mixed green salad the type of which one sees at the grocery store. I wasn't expecting salad greens in a hot dish.

The 3 or 4 smallish strips of pork didn't have any flavor of lemon grass that I could taste, and were tough; I had literally one bite that I could readily identify as having been grilled. The Daikon/Carrot "pickle" didn't taste at all pickled that I could tell. There was no vinegar taste that I could detect. There was about 1/3 to 1/2 cup of some kind of thin broth to pour over the entire dish--the broth (I believe it's the Nước chấm) was barely enough to mix with the rice much less the greens. The broth had a hint of some kind of flavoring but nothing stood out enough for me to figure out what it could possibly be. The egg was good mixed with the rice, but that was about it. I ended up dipping my meat into the peanut sauce from the appetizer.

We decided not to try their desserts, so I can't comment on that.

The drinks were $3. each for an iced tea and soda. Our meal of one appetizer and two rice bowls, with drinks, including tip, was just over $50 for two.

I think the entire meal could be summed up as being bland, which I wasn't expecting; I've never eaten at a Vietnamese restaurant before, but that description wasn't part of any observation I've ever read or seen about Vietnamese food.

Location is good, parking is nearby, and the facilities are neat, clean and very well decorated. They will ask you which charity you'd like a portion of your bill donated to, and they give you three choices. I believe these selections will change up on a rotating basis if I'm not mistaken.

I am sure that others will enjoy the freshness of the food, and the fact that it's locally sourced. I sincerely wish the owners luck in their...

Update: I didn't feel forced to leave a tip I just didn't like to be put in the position of pre-tipping. Most everyone will understand.

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Was okay. They garnish your pho for you which I really didn't like. I'm very particular with my sprouts, so I didn't like the surprise. Plus, isn't that part of the fun; rooting through the usual complements and making it your own, right? Customers sort of expect it with pho.

Bone or vegie broth and one type of noodle. Those are your choices.

I thought the veggie pho was weak. Was mostly noodles and sprouts with only shavings of green pepper, scallions, jalapeno (just look at my pictures), and the rest of whatever other meek garnishments you couldn't taste there were; with none of the usual veggies I tend to get everywhere else. No pea pods, bok choy, little baby corns, red or green pepper (no, those shavings don't count), or broccoli, or carrots, or whatever all else. And I thought the broth, the bone broth, was lacking in depth of flavor. Was very clean tasting.

Other strange house rules include counter service with pre tip; which is really sort of an odd thing to me given all they really do is bring out your food. You get yourself water refills and hop back in line if you choose to order something else later. I hate being put on the spot like that too; with the tip.

I did like the space. Was fun and fresh. And those fried Imperial Rolls leveraged them up from a two. Those were Awesome. I also liked they donated a dollar of my check to any one of three charities I chose. I went with The Children's Defense Fund; so I won't complain about them also being the most expensive pho I've had in awhile. Was about $10 more for my...

Underwhelming food at overwhelming prices.

We started with the Vietnamese Dumplings, which were plump and flavorful. The sauce had a nice spicy heat, and the cook graciously omitted all hint of cilantro per our request. Had I just ordered this again for dinner, I wouldn't be writing this review.

Tepid. Bland. Tasteless. My daughter and I ordered Banh Mi, pork for me and tofu for her. The "baguette" was a white-bread grinder roll slit down the top and filled with little shreds of pork, and then overwhelmed by a slaw of carrots, daikon, and cucumber. The pork was quite good, but completely done in by all the bread: If there was lemongrass in that thing, I was unable to detect it. My wife said her Com was "good" in that way that family members have when they really mean "not worth the cost." My daughter's Banh Mi was so tasteless, she sent it back and asked for more dumplings as a replacement (smart move). Her new boyfriend, who we were just meeting for the first time, said his Pho was good, but I doubt he would have said anything else in that situation. He did not finish his Pho.

My wife asked for a glass of red wine, for which I paid $10. She was given a short, clear plastic cup with a 3-4 ounce pour. The boyfriend and I drank bottled beer, and my daughter had a kind of mule, which she said was OK. Total tab for all four: $125 + gratuity that I had to pay before getting any service at all!! On top of everything, we were embarrassed to have welcomed this young man--who has traveled extensively in Asia-- to our wonderful Traverse City "foodie" scene with such...