Lemongrass Shrimp
Lotus Grill Noodles

Lotus Grill Noodles

4041 Campbell AveVA 22206, Arlington, United States

Soup • Grill • Asian • Vietnamese


"At 2 p.m., there were only 2 other diners in the restaurant besides the staff. When we arrived, I informed the waitress that I had made a reservation for 2 under my name. Although she acknowledged me, I was not confident that she would confirm my reservation through OpenTable. The main reason I chose this restaurant was because I could book a reservation using OpenTable. I had specified in my reservation note that I did not like cilantro and did not want it in any of my dishes. We ordered the spring rolls to share, which were extremely greasy. I also ordered the Pho #1 and asked if it contained cilantro. The waitress informed me that it did, but it could be omitted. However, when my dish arrived, there was cilantro on top. I brought this to the attention of the waitress who had taken my order, and she promptly apologized and took it back. I expressed my concern to my husband that I hoped they would not just remove the cilantro but instead prepare a new dish. The Pho was quickly returned to me, but as I began eating, I discovered a cilantro leaf and proceeded to find more pieces of cilantro. The waitress returned, and I showed her the cilantro I had removed. Apologizing once again, she took the Pho back for a second time. When she brought me a fresh bowl, the veggies were served on a separate plate. Unfortunately, by this point, I did not have enough time to finish my dish, as my husband had already completed his stir fry. I managed to eat about half of the Pho before we paid and left. Overall, I did not enjoy my lunch experience. None of it was exceptional, and I have had much better meals elsewhere. Therefore, I believe a rating of 3 stars was too generous for an average meal, and it should really be 2.5 stars."

Basil Thai

Basil Thai

828 11th St, 93447, Paso Robles, United States

Thai • Asian • Asiatic • Seafood


"I 've been to this restaurant three or four times, each visit when I was passing through the area. Some of the food here is pretty good, and it 's one of the few restaurants in the area that I know of where you can get anything vegetarian. I like that you can get tofu here and the food quality is generally good. It 's a nice location and a nice looking restaurant. HOWEVER, please note that many of the things labeled vegetarian are not truly vegetarian because they contain fish sauce. For example, on a recent visit (Sept 2011), we were informed that the tofu satay appetizer and the tom kah soup can 't be made without fish sauce, even through the menu says that both can be made vegetarian. We had already ordered these and only found out when we asked if the pad thai (which didn 't specify vegetarian on the menu) had fish sauce (it did). When we then said we didn 't want the soup and appetizer we ordered, the server acted inconvenienced and lectured us a bit... I think the encounter was more indicative of the individual than of the restaurant, so I won 't get into the details (we had great service on other visits), but the real moral of the story is: Always ask whether something has fish sauce here before you order it (if you are vegetarian and that sort of thing is important to you), even if it 's labeled vegetarian on the menu. Unfortunately, the truly vegetarian options here become much more limited in this process, but there are still several good choices."