Lotus Vietnamese Cuisine — Restaurant in Vancouver

I went to try the new Lotus with two of my kiddos. The renovations look great. The atmosphere is inviting. I really like the black and gold and veined stone marble looking table tops. We ordered the strawberry boba tea, seafood egg rolls, chicken bahn mi and spicy beef pho. We didn't really think the tea boba would be tea lol. We were expecting it be more like a shake, so our bad there. It was definately a tea boba. It was alright but we aren't tea people. The seafood eggrolls are good if you like seafood. I enjoyed them. They are a bit rich to have on your own. My son didn't love the texture so we will try pork next time (if they have it, I hadn't checked, my son was being adventurous by trying something new). The bahn mi was a good size I am used to a smaller baguette this is more like toasted french bread. I prefer more of the pickled toppings but it is good. Now for the best part. My spicy beef pho was great! It was the most tender beef pho I have ever had. The tendons were also tender and delicious. The flavor of the broth was great, very tasty and spicy. I am used to spicing it myself and like it when there is chili for me to add if needed but I didn't need to. It was just right. The noodles were thicker than I am used to, very filling. We have a peanut allergy in our family so we normally avoid places with peanuts as a topping but really wanted to try this nee place. They checked with the chef and there are peanuts in the spicy beef soup so that was the only thing we couldn't share. We left early bc my 14 month was starting to get loud. From the time we walked in until we left the customer service was exellent. We will be back. I really want to try their...

My SIL and I wanted to try something different for our weekly lunch. We decided on Vietnamese which we know nothing about. We chose Lotus in Hazel Dell. Upon entering the decor was welcoming and kind of calming. We informed the owner? that we were unfamiliar with this type of food. She was friendly. The menu was huge but good descriptions and sometimes pictures of the food. I can honestly say there were many dishes that looked good. I decided on House Combination Fried Rice with shrimp, chinese sausage, and chicken with various veggies. This dish had far more flavor than fried rice I have had before. It was a very large portion. I absolutely loved it. The only complaint I would have is the egg was overcooked. My sil ordered Beef Pineapple. Again a large portion. She loved it. A true test for us is if we would order the same thing again. The answer is absolutely yes but there are so many other dishes to chose from and we want to try others. We also tried the fried mushroom sticks. They were good but might not order again. A suggestion I would have is to have a specialized lunch menu. We definitely will be back. Lotus Vietnamese...

The plate was hot, the food was not!!

Service and atmosphere were great! Again, I say the service was great, maybe the best. But the food? What happened? It didn't match the reviews at all. Regular cook on vacation, maybe?

The description on the menu was "sizzling." By some miracle, the food arrived within 5 minutes. Is it even possible to cook and deliver to the table two fresh meals in 5 minutes? Both were stir-fried grill type meals, not soup. The vegetables were limp, soggy, shriveled, some overly hot, and some cool. Chicken was mostly room temp, if that. And dry. The only explanation is that the food was possibly reheated/microwaved?? 🤔 It looked and tasted just like leftovers from a meal the day before. Salad was discolored and brown around edges, wilted, like old lettuce you discarded from your refrigerator after returning from a two week vacation. Okay, maybe 1 week.

With all the Vietnamese restaurant choices in town, and this one being the worst experience (taste) of all I've been to, I couldn't possibly recommend this...