I think I watch too much BBC Kitchen Nightmare
Today I ate at the Blue Lotus Restaurant in Carson. Its a sit down restaurant where the decoration is simple and modern and has a cozy atmosphere. The place seems a bit crowded with the amount of tables and chairs packed into the small place. They had a quaint waiting area in front of a flat wall waterfall near the entrance while you wait.
Me and mama went there around 12:30 - 1:00ish so we were expecting the jam packed crowed.The waiters and waitresses were pretty busy so it took awhile to have one take our orders. The good thing was a few minutes after we ordered, the hot foods came out hot and the cold foods came out very cold.
The menu is plain and simple. Even though the dishes are in Vietnamese, the descriptions are in English and there is a number next to each dish like how you order in a Chinese Restaurant. I ordered the Pho Ga (Chicken with noodles and beef broth), mom ordered this cold shrimp dish with noodles and we split the vegan spring rolls.
Like other Asian restaurant/fast food places in the area, they also served boba ice blends like taro, mango, strawberry, or honeydew to name a few. Both me and mama ordered the taro boba. Mama was able to request for the boba drink not to be too sweet since she can't have too much sweets.
When being served I was given a plate with little extras for my soup like fresh bean sprouts, some sliced chilis, lime and a sprig of this one herb that tastes like licorice. It let me control what I like in my pho. When they first serve it, its very basic and bland with the clean beef broth, translucent noodles, thin slices of chicken meat with cilantro. I could control how much of the extras I want in the soup. They had a jar of sweet chili sauce, Sriracha hot sauce, hoisin sauce, and I think soy sauce, and fish sauce at the side of the table next to container of disposable/non disposable chopsticks and soup spoons. I think I put too much Sriracha hot sauce in the soup midway into my meal and it was a bit too spicy for me.
The price is not bad at $7-$8 a bowl the size of my head and is very filling. VIsa and Mastercard is also accepted at the place so that is a big plus. That alone wins me over compared to Mami King where its Cash Only.
The only thing I found a bit confusing is the way the bill is handled. Its not like a regular sit down where the waiter will give you the bill when requested. You have to go up to the front, tell them your table number which is displayed on your table, and pay in the front. I don't think that is a good practice because a lot of people could do a dine and dash. Maybe they just did that this time since the place is swamped. I saw a pile of black leather bill jackets they use at other restaurants on the front desk. I guess when things are a bit slower they would have have the waiters bring to the customers.
I'm pretty impressed at the menu for this start up restaurant.
They did the right move and used beef broth as the base soup because most people prefer it to the other kinds. Chicken broth can be too bland, and not everyone can have pork broth.
About 40 items on the menu which can be seen as daunting for the chef but you can see several dishes have similar ingredients. I.E. All of the Pho dishes basic ingredients are translucent noodles, beef broth and cilantro with licorice herb, chili and fresh bean sprouts on the side. The noodles for the Spring Rolls are the same as the Pho and the noodle dishes. It keeps the cost down if the restauarant gets them common ingredients in bulk. Also the dishes can be prepared fast and is out to the customers fairly quickly. If prepared correctly with fresh ingredients, this restaurant can succeed.