Food. Seemed fresh. Cooked properly. Poorly seasoned - lacked flavour on every dish eater except the won ton soup. Service. Casual and young servers. Limited English and French. Knowledgeable on their product selection. Atmosphere. Casual cosy. Beautiful ambient music was the highlight of this restaurant. The music made this place feel relaxing and calming. Big credit to management to select this style of music. Seating is table and banquets and menus are plasticized table mats. I was eager to try this place as I’ve passed by here dozens of times at all hours and days and nights where they are typically busy. So I bright a group of foodies and some asians to delight in what I hoped would be authentic and a flavourful experience. First off, this is not a traditional Vietnamese restaurant. This is somewhat of a fusion as well as (the waiter called it) a North American reinterpretation of Vietnamese cuisine. The pricing is reasonable as well as the portions for the most part, with the exception of small appetizer wonton soup at $7.00. Overall the food was exceptionally bland. When I say exceptionally and bland, I am not overstating this I am actually trying to heavily emphasize these this point as it was a serious bone of contention. The food is cooked without any passion, it’s all mechanical like a processing line and when I peaked in the kitchen to observe how they function it too looked as if it was just a processing of dished being pushed out. Basic cooking 101 is the chef must taste the food before serving to a customer. I can’t imagine a Vietnamese person enjoying the food let alone recognize that this was a Vietnamese recipe as there was essentially no flavour - and don’t get me started on the lack of an appetizing aroma. This was only a meal for two senses - your eyes and texture. In addition to this point, the chicken with the noodles dish lacked sufficient sauce to blend the fried noodles and as such had to order additional sauce to moderately cover the noodles to soften then to an eatable status. Moreover, the portion of chicken was beyond small, when compared to the grilled chicken dish it was less than a third of the portion of chicken. It was also poorly cooked or the chicken was off because its texture was a bit stringy and a bit rubbery. I sadly have to declare that this is not a proper Vietnamese restaurant as it’s (lack of) seasoning and reinterpretation of dishes as well as adding dishes that are not Vietnamese (pad Thai as one example, wonton soup as another) do not fit the bill. Even in terms of the wonton soup, it’s seasoning (the only dish that had some flavour), was nothing like a wonton nor were the wontons and as such, should not be named wonton soup. It was a bit of a letdown as I was expecting wonton soup. One can state that their dishes and recipes are reinvented or jacked up - sure, but if you’re not communicating this on the menu and instead offering a dish with a recognized name and therefore taste profile, then a customer can be misguided and thus let down as I was. So, I will not return nor recommend this place as I don’t see its value proposition, its food satisfying, its expertise worth while having again. There are too many competitors on and off the island of Montreal and I would prefer to risk trying a new place and hope to find a goodie than come back again and be let down terribly. The thought of even eating the food again makes me somewhat nausea. I do not see how the rating of this place is above a 4 star as it does not posses the qualities of 4 star restaurants and struggles to achieve a 3 star rating. I get this place is trying to make its mark in a somewhat unique manner, but idea and execution are two different things. As to explaining why this place seems so busy I expect it has to do with its location and lack of competition nearby. And the other likely due to people not knowing the food or having low expectations. I humbly suggest.
