April L.
Yelp
Not sure why some people are saying the food is authentic. As a Vietnamese person with experience in traditional American based Viet restaurants, traditional Viet based Viet restaurants, and fusion/"modern" Viet restaurants, this is the worst Vietnamese food I've had in all interpretations. And I've had instant phở.
Warning: you might like this place, especially as someone with little experience in Vietnamese cuisine, and that's a valid opinion. However this place is not even good by fusion food standards. It doesn't bring new flavors or modernize Vietnamese food; it simply borrows the name and uses cheap alternatives with a much, much higher price.
Three examples-- the $14 "Pork Bún" (bún thịt nướng) and $13 "Shrimp Goi" (gỏi tôm).
Poor tasting Chinese style vegetable egg rolls were used in the bún, and the dish's grilled pork (typically a combo of at least shallots, garlic, lemongrass, honey, fish sauce, and sesame oil) here tastes like soy sauce. On the plus the serving size was large. It could even be close to worth $14 considering it's fresh and actually decent if it wasn't imitating something that tastes much, much better.
The "goi" tasted like wet coleslaw, nothing more to be said.
The 7pc chilli butter wings (not pictured) were $12 and dry, lacking in flavor, spice, or literally anything that would be worth a double digit price tag.
Now I'll touch on the service. Food came out quick, waiters were nice, and semi professional in that one used "pardon my reach" appropriately (though it was strange hearing that in a very laid back restaurant where you order with the cashier). It's very clean and pretty inside and our party had a nice time chilling. However something small yet strange: none of the staff seem to know much about the food they're serving. Didn't even try to pronounce anything correctly; the cashier repeated "goi" to a member of my party after they called it "gỏi" appropriately (which is reflective of the management's lack of care for authenticity, rather than any staff's fault!) One server also gave one dish a description as they dropped it off, calling the "goi" as "a cabbage dish" (after we ordered it, unprompted, which seems more appropriate for a formal restaurant with a tasting menu, and was not repeated for the rest of our Vietnamese dishes). Also I'll mention how some Viet words are written correctly on the menu yet some aren't (bún vs goi?) for some reason. Not a big deal, but...
Though these things didn't irritate us and probably don't seem important, Singhs' lack of attention to detail combined with the high pricing and at best vaguely Vietnamese flavor packaged into a restaurant sanitized for non Viet folk's comfort is reflective of white-washing and the cuisine version of gentrification. Ignore the beautiful wall art, pretty decor, and viby music and please go find a "new wave/modern"asian fusion restaurant with actual soul. It's good people seem to enjoy this restaurant but personally I'd never take a biryani recipe, dilute 90% of the flavor, and sell it as chicken crispy rice in an area with few Indians...And call it that in front of an Indian person because nobody told me any better.