Luga’s Pho-Shizzle

Luga’s is all over the place – he’s gone from Mexican to Thai and Vietnamese.

I was not impressed with Luga’s Villa Mexican restaurant the few times I’ve been there, but I tried Luga’s Pho-Pho for the first time this weekend and had a great experience!

After disappointing experiences at Va Va Voom on multiple occassions, I ventured out to find good pho. Who would have known Luga’s Pho-Pho had the magic recipe to fantastic pho this whole time? 

Recently moved to the main Luga’s location down the way from Tongli Studio above the main Luga’s Villa, the venue is all tiki’d out with a straw hut section in the middle of the room.  Decor was a bit lame, but this aside and more importantly, their fresh spring rolls were fantastic and so was their pho.

This is my new Pho destination in Beijing.

Review of Luga’s Pho-Pho: 3F of Luga’s Villa, Sanlitun North Street, 三里屯北里7号楼, 3层;  Tel: 6413-2786

Best Part:

• Great Pho and other Vietnamese dishes at a decent price
• Jun Trinh is Luga Pho Pho’s F&B consultant, so you can trust he’ll produce quality Vietnamese food
• Quick, friendly service

Comments:

• Place was empty when we were there, which is strange because I heard that it’s normally pretty busy
• Decor could use an upgrade to match the quality of the food

Rating: (on a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being best)

• Food: 8
• Atmosphere: 5
• Service: 6
• Overall Experience: 7

Va Va…Splat

I want to like Va Va Voom.  Really, I do.

I like their menu, I like their artwork, I like their location, I see the potential and I know it’s gotten positive reviews, but every time I’ve dined here, I leave an unhappy customer.  Despite an unpleasant experience the first time dining here, I returned to give it another chance only to be disappointed once again.

When I arrived this most recent time, I was warmly welcomed and the waiter was super friendly and eager to introduce me to their different dishes and most popular items.  This was perfect while I waited for the rest of my party.  After they arrived and we began the ordering process, we had a new waitress who clearly woke up on the wrong side of the bed.  She was unfriendly, would blatantly ignore us trying to wave her down, and clearly wanted to be anywhere but there. The food we ordered was satisfactory, but the portions were small and the price was high.

Typically, I’m not picky when it comes to customer service.  What’s most important for me when I’m dining out is the quality and value of the food, then the location and interior design/level of comfort, and last on the critic chain would be standards of service. It’s always a plus when the staff is friendly and helpful, but not a necessity by any means.  To be honest, for the most part, I expect the service to be bad. We’re in China, where most restaurant staff are practically children with zero experience in the hospitality industry, zero exposure to foreign cuisine, and they don’t even get tips, which equals zero incentive to be better/nicer to customers.

But this time at Va Va Voom was an exception.  The waitress was rude when she took our order, she answered our questions incorrectly (I asked if the vegetable noodle soup was pho and she said yes, when it is absolutely not pho, but plain ramen noodles), our dishes came out 15 minutes apart (you can imagine how long we waited with four orders), and we literally had to wave down other waiters to get drink refills or extra servings of pho sauce, etc.  Her excuse for her neglect and the slow service was that they were too busy and overwhelmed (when the restaurant were basically empty with only 4 other tables of two in the entire place).

While the pho did wonders on our hangovers, we all left with a headache from the service.

Review of Va Va Voom: 19 Sanlitun Road, The Village Sanlitun, Unit S4-32, 3/F, Tower 4, Sanlitun  北京市朝阳区三里屯路19号 The Village 4号楼，3层 S4-32单元, Tel: 6416-3732

House Beef Feast Combination at Va Va Voom

Best Part:

• Menu is easy to navigate with mouth-watering photos and the introduction to their restaurant concept and philosophy is a nice, personal touch
• An extensive selection of spring rolls (fried and fresh), salads,  pho noodles, fried noodles, rice dishes, entree dishes.
• Pho has a great sauce to be mixed in yourself with pho ingredients.
• Presentation is unique with pho brought out on a pot in a burner.  Nice touch while food cooks, but too unstable to eat on, so it’s easier to just remove the burner for the pho/noodle dishes.
• Food is good quality, clean and well presented
• Interior is modern and all white
• Location is convenient in Sanlitun Village
• Serving contemporary Vietnamese cuisine is a strong concept that is still unique in the Beijing dining scene

Comments:

• Service was dreadful. Staff was rude, inattentive, and unprepared (either under-staffed in the kitchen or on the floor, but the food came out incredibly slow)
• Portions could be more generous and it’s over-priced for home-style Vietnamese food.

Rating: (on a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being best)

• Food: 6
• Atmosphere: 7
• Service: 2
• Overall Experience: 3