Apparently yelp has a text limit for their reviews. My review was too long so I had to edit out a lot of content. If you wanted to read the full review. See below:

LA’ TASTE

located at 847B Union St, Brooklyn, NY 11215

I came to this place for a late lunch yesterday with my bro after my ER visit. Long story with the ER, but long story short, I wasn’t feeling well so got myself admitted in the ER to see what was the problem. They ruled out all serious scenarios and sent me home with pain meds then told me to follow up with out patient visits/tests/procedures.

Anyways back to the food. On our way towards the train station we saw this restaurant that my bestie also saw on his way to the train station. So we went in after looking over the prices and the sign that said authentic Vietnamese food. So being so hungry as I didn’t eat anything all day prior to being admitted to the ER. I wanted good food with substance. Well I didn’t get that here. I am actually surprised this place got a total of 4.5 star reviews. Their food is not authentic Vietnamese at all. I love Vietnamese food, grew up on it and know real Viet food. This ain’t it. Sorry but not even close. Maybe “Americanized Vietnamese” food. There were three workers working at this establishment. So I assume it’s a family run business. Two males and one female. The way this place is ran reminds me of some of the places I been to in Shanghai China countryside. Needless to say, not very well organized, same like those in Shanghai.

The two male workers probably the owners spoke Cantonese Chinese. They understood what my bro and I said. We came in looked at the menu and debated what to order while two more people (a couple) came in and order before us. Then we finally ordered and then one male came in and another male came in. So making it four tables of customers. The kitchen worked very slow same like my experience in countryside Shanghai. We waited a while before getting any of our food. So I mumbled to my bro in Cantonese, what the hell what is taking so long? The male worker heard me and came over and said did you want your main entree with your appetizer? We were thinking to bring your appetizer first. Mean while, we didn’t even get our appetizer either. So I told him, yes we want all the food out at once. We just want food. By the way, I ordered pho noodle beef soup. Usually in any Vietnamese restaurant this comes out within 10 mins as all has been made and they just need to put together in a bowl. I guess in this establishment that is not the case or they just don’t know how to make it. I think it’s the latter. When I finally got my pho. Oh boy, was I surprised, I ordered the big pho bowl ( in Chinese call the train head “火车头Four che Tao” which is suppose to be a huge bowl with two types of beef - thin slice, raw beef, beef balls, beef triple, onions and tendons. Well I didn’t get that at all. I was so DISAPPOINTED. Who were they trying to fool? Americans? Cause that is not authentic Vietnamese food. Sorry but no. Plus my bowl only had four very tiny pieces of beef in it. What the heck is that? And the noodles was the amount for a regular bowl. So I wonder what they put in the regular bowl. Half noodle portions? OMG. This is not how it is done even if you trying to be cheap and cost-effective. But I am gonna give them credit for the soup base of the pho, it was flavorful. That’s why they got two stars for that.

Next, their own special Viet spring rolls. It does not contain meat at all. It’s starchy and taste like potatoes or taro inside. It’s a vegetarian spring roll I guess. We were expecting our traditional meat filled spring rolls. We were surprised of what we got and it only came with two on a plate. Usually it’s served in four to a plate. But their version was slightly fatter/bigger in size. It did taste good. Different but good. So they got two stars for that. Next comes my bro dish. He got the Viet sweet and sour soup. It contains chicken and mixed vegetables like tomatoes inside. OMG, what a disgrace. What the hell was that? Tasted weird to say the least. Chicken had a weird taste to it. Like as if it was old chicken with fridge taste. The soup itself was unappetizing. I am surprised my bro was able to stomach it all down. I wouldn’t but I guess he was hungry like me and we did pay for it. Wasn’t cheap. Our whole meal with tips came out to be $28. We didn’t have changed so we gave $40 and expecting singles mixed with fives/tens back but we only got all fives, which we were annoyed since we didn’t want to give $5 tips. We only wanted to give 15% which is basically under $4. So my bro asked the worker to break the five to singles, which he did.

Overall for the food I only give this place two stars. If they can’t get the simple main Vietnamese dishes right, I can’t expect much from this place. So I won’t be going back.

But why then did they get a three star rating. Well cause their customer service was very good and friendly. The male worker was very Friendly. He came from time to time to fill our glasses with tea when we had empty glasses. Also he came up to me and apologized for having us wait for our food. In his own words in Chinese he said, “sorry for the slow service, we had too many order”. Come on there was only four table of people there. So about five to six orders at the time. If they can’t handle that volume, I don’t think this establishment will make the cut in this industry. Not to be mean but just speaking from experience. My dad used to own a restaurant, my previous bf is a chef, my dad is a chef, I am a Dietitian/Nutritionist/Chef. It just don’t make the cut. This industry is rough and if they can’t handle low volume they will sink under pressure with high volume. But I doubt this place will have high volume. Just saying.

Anyways, the service was good and attentive. In addition the sever also asked my bro if he liked his soup. My bro was being very nice by saying it was “different” because in truth soup was horrible. So yes extra star for customer service. But I really think server was being nice and friendly because he knew I was gonna write a review since he saw me taking photos of my food and checking into my yelp. Either case, I do not get influence by others, I write base on my own truth and dining experience; so my rating stands. I really hope this place hires a “real” Vietnamese chef because I do want to see them make it in this industry especially since they label themselves as authentic and they are situated in a location that don’t have much Vietnamese restaurants. Good luck to the bosses and business.

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