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| - I really didn't want to write this review. I really wanted to like you, Bach Yen. Truly. Especially since it was on Têt that we dined (thanks for opening that evening, by the way), and you seemed so friendly on the phone, and I like reviews where other diners describe the friendly pop of the mom-and-pop business. But your hair really did you in. Just a single strand. Please, invest in a hairnet.
Yes, I had read that other review noting the hair in the food, but I thought, "Hey, it can happen. It does to me, from time to time in my own kitchen." I knew the reviews here on Yelp were mixed, so I really wanted to go and try the "best pho place" to see if you truly were an undiscovered little gem as the "best Vietnamese place in Chinatown East." Alas.
First, the food: the pho indeed had a remarkable taste. We really could taste the anise and spice mix. Thumbs up. The coconut chicken soup was wonderful as well. The chicken satay and wonton soup were average. I had to try the turmeric seafood stir-fry (never seen that on a Viet menu before), and I have to admit that I was disappointed: waaay too much of the turmeric as to be overpowering.
Now, on to the crab meat-avocado spring roll. First, the taste was just okay. I mean, I've never heard of another Viet restaurant doing this traditional goi cuon with avocado and crab sticks (which everyone knows is imitation crab, so I just wish restaurants would start listing it as such on the menu). But we didn't have any issue with it until . . . my son bit into his second roll and whispered to me almost embarrassingly, "There's a hair in my roll." Oh dear. You know how those soft rice papers are translucent? Yeah. Last thing you want to see staring through there is a nice long black hair. Because my son had bitten into the roll, the hair was also in the other half. Ewww.
I called our friendly server and spoke quietly to him (we were the only customers in the place at the time, but still, decorum). "Excuse me, so sorry, but there's a hair in the roll." He genuinely seemed embarrassed and quickly took it away. I heard him say to the woman in the kitchen (whom we had seen previously, walking out into the dining area, sans hairnet), "There's a hair in the roll!" Then he came back and asked if we'd like another roll. At this point, my son's appetite for that was gone, so he said no thanks, and ate his soup. Here's the kicker: at the end of the meal, the server offered to charge us "only" for half the dish, since my son had eaten the other (supposedly unblemished) roll. Gee, how kind. On a $3.50 item, you couldn't just have foregone that other $1.75 to please a customer who had just bitten into a hair?!? Guess you didn't care about them coming back.
On another note, too bad the "blender was broken" on a night when you had planned to close early to get home for Têt, so we couldn't have a milkshake. Other than that, your service was friendly.
Overall, the food wasn't half-bad, but that whole hair incident and then not even just making a $3.50 plate complimentary . . . shaking my head in disbelief. My husband gave you a hefty tip, and told me, "Consider that my gift to for their Têt". I wouldn't have. I guess by his offering an undeserved large tip, our family knew already that . . .
we won't be back. Sorry.
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