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| - Ugh, I can't even begin to describe how disgusted I feel about having been tricked into eating at this restaurant. I have a strict policy to avoid any restaurant that touts serving a combination of cuisines (e.g., Italian and Mexican, Vietnamese and Chinese) since it's obvious that specializing in one is challenging enough. But it wasn't blatantly apparent from the outside that Pho Vietnam (Vietnamese) and Capital Seafood (Chinese) were one and the same entity.
Craving pho, my boyfriend led us to the door in front of the Pho Vietnam signage even though it clearly read, "Please use other door." (We were suffering from denial at that point in time.) After confirming that the Pho Vietnam doors didn't open, we resorted to opening the Capital Seafood doors. I was beginning to fear what was to come. My fight-or-flight instincts started kicking in after I saw "Vietnamese restaurant" written in Chinese on the front of Pho Vietnam's menu. By the time our waitress carelessly tossed the Capital Seafood menu in front of us, I was ready to bolt for the door.
Resigned to eating here, my boyfriend ordered the pork & shrimp spring rolls and a bowl of pho (total = $12). The spring rolls were fresh and seemed okay, but the lukewarm pho just wasn't right. It was missing cilantro and lacked the level of green onion I would expect, the beef was tougher than I was used to, and the broth seemed like it originated from a chicken rather than a cow. Blech.
The verdict: This amalgamation of two restaurants validates my phobia of establishments that serve two or more cuisines. But at least it wasn't an expensive lesson. I just never want to end up in one of these places ever again.
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