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| - It bothers me to bump a 1.5 star review up to a two, for various reasons. All kidding aside, we all want good restaurants to eat at in the hood, and we want them all to do well; it's what creates great neighbourhoods. In their defense we experienced a snow squall late afternoon that ended before dinner time, so perhaps the chef wasn't in that evening.
We went on a Thursday night in December and the restaurant was cold inside; the floors were cold and you could feel cold air coming from the back. Someone at our table asked to turn the heat up, and we were told they were having heating issues. The server said she had to reset it, then went and turned up the thermostat. When I went to the bathroom, situated at the very back of the restaurant, I discovered howling winds whipping in through the back door, turning the entire back bathroom area into a walk-in fridge. No wonder the place was freezing.
There were two other tables and one more came in while we were there, and there was only one server running the show, and I think I saw one person in the kitchen.
They offer four beers, a couple of wines, and a small selection of mixed drinks. The decor is basic, and lack-luster. It's not on-trend or authentic by any means, with a poor use of space, layout and lighting. The back area is dark, separated from the rest of the place, and seems more a place for staff to eat, than anything else. The wood bench seating where we sat was not comfortable, but the acoustics were good for conversation.
Our food arrived rather quickly, and this made me suspicious. One of us ordered the tiger shrimp main dish, another, the sate chicken with vermicelli noodles, and they both liked their dishes. Two of us ordered grilled Lemongrass chicken with vermicelli noodles. Sounds delicious but it wasn't. The dish was dry and tasted pre-cooked. The fish sauce that came on the side, tasted awful, and I'd wished I hadn't dumped it in the bowl, in an attempt to add flavour. I ate quickly, focusing on the noodles, and the conversation. Also there were no little side goodies like you get at some Vietnamese places. It did come with a small spring roll but it was a disservice to the meal as it tasted like it came out of a box; no spring in this roll.
The server was very pleasant and accommodating, and if anything, made the experience less horrible than it was, so we chowed down like good little troupers and tried to pretend it wasn't happening. Overall, this place isn't authentic feeling or tasting, seems to operate on an as per amount of business basis, opening up the back areas, turning on lights and heating as required. I'm appalled to see the number of fake reviews; thank goodness Yelp has the sense to remove 9 of them.
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