Yes, I realize I have been a blogging delinquent here. Truth is, we have been eating out (or ordering in), but mostly we have been unadventurous and have stuck with our favourite places.
However, I did manage to go to Doan's Vietnamese Restaurant twice in the past few weeks. Why twice? It was that good, and I had me a hankerin' for pho (beef rice noodle soup).
So about Doan's - they are a pretty casual eatery, clean and spacious and comfortable. The decor is a nice mix of booths and tables, and they even have the 8-person cubbie-style booths for larger groups.
Service, as we experienced, has been efficient, prompt, and curious. Rather than your typical server-per-table style, they serve tables on an as-needed basis; the servers don't ignore you if you are not their table, but instead they help whichever table happens to need to place an order or get the bill or get more ice water (which is automatically brought out to you upon arrival).
Both times that we visited Doan's together, Hubbs and I ordered the half-order of salad rolls, and the second time Hubbs also got some steamed scallops to start. The salad rolls were decent, although smaller than at other Vietnamese places in town, and also conspicuously lacking in lemongrass within the roll. I assume that this is to cater to the less-Asian population that frequents Doan's, but was nonetheless a little annoyed at having to peel my own lemongrass leaves (from the plate of bean sprouts, lemongrass, and sauces that was brought out when we arrived) to add to my rolls. The scallops were light and not terribly tasty, but acceptable.
I then ordered my pho, but not just any pho; I ordered the house special, which came with many slices of raw beef, beef brisket, and beef balls in a broth of onions and spices. The rice noodles were perfectly al dente, and the raw beef was appropriately raw. The beef brisket, though marbled with bits of fat, tasted absolutely amazing and I was truly stuffed before I could even finish half of my noodles (although I wanted to eat on, because it tasted so darn good!).
The best part was that our meal was enjoyed in a quiet atmosphere, for although Doan's is a rather large place, it has not been packed at the times when we've gone, and somehow the sound has been muted (either by quiet patrons or by really good sound-absorbing walls and booths). Regardless, we enjoyed our meal in peace and were pleasantly surprised by the affordability of our delicious, filling fare. The total of our two half-order appetizers and our two pho came to a mere $30!
Some argue that Doan's is the best Vietnamese food in town, but I cannot yet vouch for that given that my exposure to Vietnamese restaurants has been limited, and I'm told there is an even better pho place downtown (in the heart of Chinatown, across from Lucky 97). However, I highly recommend Doan's to anyone who wants an affordable, quiet, tasty meal on a cold wintery day; it's come-as-you-are, and you definitely won't regret your visit!
Rating: 8.5 / 10
For Ridley's b-day, Hubbs, Ridley, Big Brown Guy, and I went to Montana's for dinner.
BBG made the reservations, and we showed up fashionably late (only 10 minutes). Anyway, apparently by the time we had arrived the server had already messed up Ridley's drink order. We ordered water with wedges of lemon, and were promptly informed that they were out of lemons. We ended up with limes.
So began the rest of a disastrous meal. Don't get me wrong - the company was fantastic, but the food and the service was hit-and-miss (and mostly miss). The restaurant itself was pretty Western-themed, with a log-house sort of feel to it. The tables were lined with butcher paper, and atop the tables were crayons and a mug tree (with apparently zero functionality, as far as I could tell).
Hubbs ordered the rustic citrus-grilled salmon salad, and I had the steak sandwich with a side of house greens. Ridley had their pot roast and BBG had the meatloaf. With the exception of Hubbs, I think we all ended up being disappointed with our meals. Ridley's meal, which was supposed to come with yorkshire pudding, didn't - and the server failed to inform him in advance that they were out of that, as well. BBG's meatloaf was too sweet, and my medium-rare steak was actually overly-well done, to the point of dry and yucky.
The only highlight of the evening was the server's enthusiasm that it was Ridley's birthday; she and her fellow servers came by with a large "water buffalo-esque" hat that they forced Ridley to wear, and then they sang a birthday song that uses the melody from the Flinstones theme song. They had the whole restaurant clap for our birthday boy, which was nice. Then they gave him his free dessert, which was uber-cheap: vanilla ice cream, whipped cream, and chocolate syrup.
When we paid our bill using two separate credit cards, our server messed up on the totals, charging one card for the full amount and the other for the additional amount. She didn't even bother to correct it, but tried instead to tell us that since it was a pre-auth, we could write down any amount we wished that was less than the full amount, and that would be the value that would be put through. I'll have to double-check our account once the payment goes through, since her incompetence throughout the night suggested that she probably cannot be trusted.
Anyway, I am glad we had such great company and fantastic conversation, because overall, Montana's food sucked and the service was poor and the atmosphere wasn't exactly classy. I would not recommend anyone going there, period. There are way too many good places to eat, including Smokey Joe's if you want BBQed meat (cheap, greasy spoon with killer huge portions and yummy fattening grub).
Rating: 5 / 10
