A Dong Restaurant

The table was sticky but they were pretty quick to get our order to us. I had never had Vietnamese food and decided to try the quail. I wish I’d asked the waitress or she gave some insight before I ordered. It was pretty bland except the little bit of meat I was able to get off the bones. My husband wasn’t a fan of their fried rice either. The rest of our party seemed to enjoy their meals.

Zero stars! No service! Restaurant wasn’t even busy, Got seat but no one came to take our order after 15 minutes, he was busy chatting with another customers table and then went to check out some other people. Another group came in and he seated them but didn’t even give them menus. One person from that group went to get his own menu and then the waiter went to take that bigger groups order who seated after us so we just walked out.

The most honest review of this place from an Asian perspective. I will review this restaurant in 4 different categories. Location: 4/5 Good location near just off the busy downtown area. Very conveniently located. Only drawback is the lack of parking for a restaurant expecting to seat 40-50 people. Cleanliness: 4/5 Very clean restaurant with simple decors. Could add some lightings, but no big deal. Food: 2/5 The food was super bland. We got a few orders of pho and some rice platters. The pho broth was overly water-downed, you can't even taste anything. The seasoned meat on the rice platters had minimal seasoning on them and just tasted....well, like plain unseasoned meat. Customer Service: 2/5 I could be mean and rate this place 1/5 but I will be respectful as I understand running a restaurant can be very difficult. First of all, I am Asian and was just passing through Des Moines with my family looking for a Vietnamese restaurant to dine at. I happened to find this place on Google conveniently located with decent reviews. When we first walked in the door, the gentleman up front never greeted us. He just pointed us to a table. He gave us literally 2 mins to order. We asked him to come back in a few minutes. A minute later he comes back to take our orders. After 15 minutes, we got our food which was not terrible on the wait time. As stated above, food was more bland than dry grass. The whole time we were munching away on tasteless food, no one came to check on us. The waiter did refill our water as we were finishing up without saying anything as if he didn't like us. However, he was very nice and friendly to table across from us asking how everything was etc. (maybe because they were white). We paid our bill and left quietly. Overall, this restaurant is very forgettable. If this is your only option for Vietnamese food, give it a shot. It's good to support small local businesses. If you have other options, I would go there without any hesistation. Best of luck to this place.