Tamarind Tree
Categories: Vietnamese, Caterers [Edit]
Neighborhood: International District1036 S Jackson St
Ste A
Seattle, WA 98127 (206) 860-1404
- Hours:
Mon-Sun 10:00 a.m.-10:00 p.m. - Price Range: $$
- Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
- Parking: Private Lot
- Attire: Casual
- Good for Groups: Yes
- Good for Kids: No
- Takes Reservations: Yes
- Delivers: No
- Take-out: Yes
- Waiter Service: Yes
- Wheelchair Accessible: Yes
- Outdoor Seating: Yes
- Good for: Dinner
- Alcohol: Full Bar
130 Reviews for Tamarind Tree
Best Vietnamese restaurant I've ever been to. Granted, I am no Vietnamese culinary expert so I don't vouch for authenticity. All I'm vouching for is sheer tastiness, even if this is Americanized Vietnamese food. It was jam-packed with locals when we got here and we had a 20 minute wait on a Sunday evening. I'm coming here again next time I hit Seattle!
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The food was pretty good. boyfriend and I went here on Saturday, only a 15 minute wait. not bad considering we didn't have reservations. The atmosphere is dark, romantic-ish, and I got a good vibe from the place.
Our server was very attentive to the candle at our table. boyfriend is a fire fighter and kept putting it out (to my annoyance). But our server kept taking away the candle and bringing it back lit, even though it's a vicious cycle.
The food was pretty good, I wasn't expecting crispy stuff in my salad rolls. Surprised is an understatement when I found this out. The Bun Bo Hue was pretty good, too. Aaron got the tamardind bowl or something like that, but it's basically bun w/ everything in it. I thought it could have been better, to be honest. The drinks were good, boyfriend got the 33 (?) beer, light and smooth. Very easy to drink, great recommendation by our server QT. and I got the tamarind fizz.. not what I was expecting, but it was alright.
The desserts left something to be desired.. we didn't get any there, but went over told coldstone and got milkshakes. mm.. banana milkshake!
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None too shabby if I do say so myself. About 7 of us went there before going to see Avenue Q a couple weeks ago. I think we got there early enough that we didn't have any trouble getting seated. By the time we left the place was full. We had a seasoned foodie in our midsts so I just sat back and let her order. She did a fantastic job! We got a great variety of food and all of it was superb! Some greens that were simple and simply delightful, braised pork belly was to die for! Some ginger chicken that was equally mouth watering. Oh! I could go on and on but I'll refrain.
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I would highly recommend this to anyone who enjoys asian food - this is quite good.
My party started with three different satay dishes, all three delicious. It's been a while, but I know we had a beef and a shrimp, possibly a chicken as well. The only complaint was a lack of fork and knife (I know, blasphemy) to cut the pieces up amongst us. The servings were generous.
My entree was a halbut and mushroom dish - basically a very healthy portion of nicely cooked halibut in a stoneware bowl packed full of savory broth and a massive portion of delicious mushrooms. The fish was delicious, the mushrooms were delicious...just awesome. Definitely opt for some of their more odd beverages - I had a salted lime sode, made with a salt cured lime, sugar, and seltzer. It was a unique taste, but it worked very well with the food. Refreshing, and something different than my standard Diet Coke.
I would love to go back to this place, just to try some more of the menu - highly recommended.
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Okay, I dined here three times in the last two weeks,sorry Huong Binh!
What did I order?
1. Ban Xeo; large crispy crepe style dish with beansprouts, shrimp and pork, served with sweet fish sauce for dipping.
2. Okay I forgot the name of this dish and Nina probably knows what it's called. It's the combination dish with chicken & pork skewers, shrimp paste on sugar cane stick and cha gio. It's served with tons of greens and rice paper so you can make your own rolls.
3. Mojito; I'm a beer drinker and often order 33 at a Viet restaurant but the nice waiter recommended it and it was really good, not too sweet, so fresh mint, enough alcohol to make me really talkative..
Overall, great service for ethnic restaurant, good foods and ambience..
The parking can be really tricky during peak time.
If you do order appetizer and main entree, it'd be smart to make sure main dish doens't come with the smaller portion of the appetizer you are ordering. It happend to us time to time..that is if you do care...
Anyone remembers "Little Bit of Saigon"?? I'm really curious if the family is still in Seattle, they were such nice people...
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So I came here again with my family and had a grand time, my sisters are friends with the owners and with that said we got amazing service. We ordered a whole lot of food, and nothing is better than a fried egg with chao tom (shrimp pasted grilled on a sugar cane ) and grilled pork. I can't really name off the massive amounts of food that we ate because if you don't already know I have six older sisters, two parents, 8 neices and newphews, and five brother in law's and my sisters boyfriend. My bf couldn't make it but it's ok, but he loves tamarind tree. also, people were staring at us like we were crazy, we normally order alot of food just in case we don't have enough food left over....(you know how we asians do)
Anyhow, the appetizer with the fried sweet potatoes were to die for, and the fried banana's a true staple to vietnamese desserts. :) it was good but still not a five star because of past experiences.....
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1 Previous Review: Show all »
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12/16/2007
horrible service if you're asian.. but great if you're caucasian sad..... but they have really good… Read more »
Wonderful restaurant tucked away in a strip mall. While I agree that the food is somewhat americanized (having dined at several elegant 5-star restaurants in Ha Noi and Ho Chi Minh City, I know from authentic Vietnamese food), we thoroughly enjoyed every dish here last night.
Where do I even begin? The fresh spring rolls with the surprising crunch of fried tofu strips? Cigar-like La lot beef with its pungent anchovy-based dipping sauce? Don't even get me started on the chicken skewers.
And the entrees! The claypot fish was excellent. Not quite as good as Monsoon's, but we loved it. The curry prawns were huge, fresh and I wanted to strip down and fall backwards into a vat of the sauce. We also loved the punchy, garlicky string beans with tofu.
Our server was a real card. Funny, friendly, and guided us into ordering all the right dishes and drinks, and made sure that we never ran out of hot steaming bowls of rice, and he kept the tamarind martinis flowing. Excellent excellent service, even in a packed house.
Oh, I forgot to mention that while we watied outside in the parking lot for our table, a lovely lady came out and took our drink orders and brought them to us. Extra star for that nicety!
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Ahhh, the Tamarind Tree. I've been here only 4 times for 4 different occasions and each experience hit the spot.
First - Lunch with the gals from work. It was the middle of the day, but their mocktails were so great that it felt like happy hour. We ordered lots of appetizers and shared them all. A great first introduction to the tastiness and quality this place provides. Plus, I should note, that the two gals I went with were from the culinary/food/nutrition world. My point - they know good food!
Second - Romantic dinner with the boyfriend. We shared one of the specialty platters and loved it. A huge plate of herbs, noodles, veggies, meat, and bean sprouts that you pile into rice paper rolls that you soften at the table yourself. We've never done that before so we really enjoyed the experience. We also shared some homemade ice cream at the end of the night - awesome flavors like ginger, coconut, black sesame and some others. I highly recommend you give them a try... maybe not the durien - we didn't try the ice cream because of past experiences with it, so i wouldn't suggest trying this one. Anyway, we were impressed with the price of our meal. Great quality, outstanding flavors for an awesome price tag. The meal seriously felt like it could cost twice what we paid - but don't tell them that! I want them to keep their prices low!
Third - A lunch date with my vegan brother. Sometimes it's quite the task to find a place to eat with him, but this was perfect. We shared the tamarind rolls, a pineapple salad and a platter. It was nice to be able to share a great meal that we both enjoyed. Keep this place in mind if you ever have to go out with a vegetarian or vegan, you'll both be happy.
Lastly - Dinner with my vegan brother and his wife, my meat-eatin' boyfriend and my vegetarian sister. Don't want to be a broken record, but we all found something great. Bountiful. Lots of fresh herbs and yummy sauces. Oh yeah, and the alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks rounded the meal out perfectly.
TRY THIS RESTAURANT!
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Seriously, you just need to eat there. Like everyone has said, the outside is what you would expect from Chinatown but the inside is the complete opposite and totally threw me off. It's dark with soft lighting, bamboo accents, and the outside patio is covered by fabric umbrellas, has a waterfall and you can stay warm at night when they light their torch lamps.
After the first visit I couldn't wait to go back and order the Tamarind Tree Noodle bowl. It's reminiscent of something similar my mom makes on occasion, but now I can have it whenever I want! You can either order this to come all in a bowl, or separated on a platter. I prefer the bowl since I don't have to get my hands messy and can just shovel the food in my mouth. Seriously, I don't have time to waste by getting the lettuce ready with all the veggies and meat and then eat it - come on now. I always get an order of iced Vietnamese coffee as well, so if you've never had it give it a try and you'll definitely notice it bites back.
I've only come during late afternoon/early dinner time and haven't had a problem with waiting, but one time I went for dinner and sat on the patio and on the way out the restaurant and lobby was packed! Just a heads up, parking sucks.
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UPDATE: I was requested to bring the funny. damn you katie s.!
Here's the funny...
after you eat, travel to the garbage area to the west of the parking lot....~100 yards away, now enjoy watching 20-30 norway rats feasting on garbage. Good times. It reminded me of the woody allen movie "sweet and lowdown" starring sean penn. The Penn character keeps taking his first dates to the dump to shoot rats.
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It's good...just go.
Here's what three of us ate...all were excellent.
~ Tamarind Tree rolls
~ Egg roll
~ Bon bon (seasonal)
~ Special steamed roll
Kumquat crush
Nice atmosphere and excellent service.
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The inside was nice but it was super hot outside and inside was a oven. Our waiter forgot about us in the corner so we waited almost 15 minutes before getting water and ordering. The food was ok. One bright spot was the Brocoli Rabe in garlic..yum. Tried the Durian ice cream on a lark. eek tasted like gasoline and butter. ugh. Overall just ok. The Coconut ice cream was excellent.
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Tucked away behind the shabby storefronts that line most of the area around 12th and S Jackson is a little bit of paradise. The decor and ambience (dimmed lighting, candles at every table, waterfall outside, modern art inside) are in stark contrast to the dingy restaurants that one would expect in the area.
When we went in, it took us twenty minutes to examine their extensive menu and decide what we would try. The spring rolls with shrimp came first, and felt cool and refreshing after driving about in the heat. The entrees we ordered, specialty noodles with skewered chicken and Thang Long yellow fish (catfish with turmeric) came with mounds of fresh herbs and straw-thin rice noodles. The mingling of flavors, especially the purple basil leaf, exploded on our tongues, and worked to enhance the meats, which like many SouthEast Asian foods are used more as a garnish. When we had finished the entrees, we were left with plum and fish sauces, and a large quantity of vegetables and herbs, which we scraped together into one bowl, tossed with our sauces, and served as a large salad among the three of us.
When they came to take away the paper on our table (covered in the mess we'd left by devouring the food with such gusto), we realized we were sated yet not left feeling overly full (on the few hot days in the summer here, that's a blessing). As we left, I noticed that the collective fireworks of spice and herbs continued to tantalize my tongue, leaving me for over an hour a lingering sensation of the striking purple basil's fresh, nearly prickling flavor continued to enchant me.
This is a very americanized, I've gone a couple of times (4 to be exact) because of my american friends were like ohhh it's sooo good. Well it's not that great, the ambiance of the place is nice, and it's like finding a jewel in the ghetto-ness of int. dist. Unfortunately the food is not that great it's too blah for me, I highly recommend Lemongrass, that is some amazing vietnamese food that my vietnamese friend brings me to, it's taste like homemade food. I prefer my food a bit more authentic.
It is with a heavy heart that I must rate Tamarind Tree with only 3 stars. Let me explain.
As a Tamarind Tree enthusiast I recommend this hidden gem often to friends looking for something decent and "off the hill." The food is inexpensive and always deliciously full of flavor. The appetizer selection rivals some of Seattle's best asian restaurants and the drinks are to die for. The ambiance is low key yet I always feel a vibrant energy about the space.
Now the check mark. I co-planned a birthday party at Tamarind this week and it was a disaster. We pre-confirmed the head count, the use of the patio and the food order a week in advance. When we showed up however the hostess and staff were completely unaware of our party. They accommodated our group but not after having our 20+ guests wait in the doorway for over 30 minutes. The service was incredibly slow, partly because the staff was not prepared but even after the dinner rush(we were finally sat after 9pm) we often had to beg the bar to make another round. The experience disappointed the Tamarind regulars and soured the first timers.
Tamarind Tree is a great spot for a good, inexpensive bite to eat for 2-4 guests. They are not equipped to handle large groups nor do they care about fixing a big "oops"
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I just went here for the first time and I was very impressed. The outside looks like a hole in the wall, but inside it's surprisingly elegant and classy. The mixed drinks here are amazing... I recommend anything with the green tea liquor in it. I got the Tamarind Tree Noodle Bowl (my friend actually ordered for me) and was surprised how good it was. Well, actually, I think "perfect" is a better word for the whole experience. Parking may be difficult.
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Chinatown/International District on a Saturday? PASS! However, my girlfriends suggested lunch there. So it use to be a Pho place for the longest time. I've never even heard of the Tamarind Tree.
Took me 15 mins to stalk someone down and steal their parking space. I don't know how my parents were able to go to Chinatown every single weekend. Parking is a mess.
Anyways, I walk in and the atmosphere is amazing. It was very classy inside...surprised being a Vietnamese restaurant. Sat down, looked at the menu...overwhelmed with the variety. I was craving a good rice dish so I asked my friends for suggestions....
Com tam -Broken rice Steamed broken rice with pork chop, egg pie, shredded pork, and pork rind served with mixed herbs fish sauce.--YUM!
Coconut juice was a little bit on the sweet side. Okay TOO sweet. I apparently do not have a sweet tooth.
My friend has the Banh khot ~ Tumeric coconut rice cake
Rice cake topped with shrimp served with lettuce, green herbs, and mixed herb fish sauce. Not that good. Greasy..overly oily and the flavor was ok. Fish sauce made it better but not all that great.
Took forever and a day to get the check. I understand they're busy, but still....I'm eager to go back and try the other dishes.
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I have to say right off the bat that Tamarind Tree is only getting four stars instead of five because of the long lines and incredibly flustered hostess. It was kind of a mess getting a table but once we did, it was more than worth it. The outside patio is so beautiful and really romantic (if you are there for that sort of thing). I love any Seattle restaurant that will put heat lamps outside so you can enjoy sitting outside on any night other than the three warm ones we have in this city.
The drink list is long - try the pineapple mojito. My friend and I ordered a lot of fun because we were so hungry. It was so good that we almost burst from trying to eat it all. For appetizers, I would skip the chicken satay but definitely get the salad rolls. I think my favorite of all night was the catfish pot. Otherwise, I think this place is a vegetarian's dream come true. There are pages of non-meat items.
Tamarind Tree is just as good as Monsoon but way easier on the wallet.
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Don't be fooled by the shady strip mall it's located in. The interior of Tamarind Tree is definitely sexified (think candlelit, modern, and orange tones) and a good place to go to impress. It's clear that they spent a lot of time and money on sprucing the place up. Even more impressive, they did so without neglecting the quality of the food or raising prices. I've eaten here twice and I would definitely come here again for dinner the next time I'm in the International District.
On Trip #1, I went with family and we had, among other things, the bo bay mon (seven courses of beef) which is good for people like me who like lots of small dishes to try (yay for dim sum/tapas/). I remembered having the coconut jelly for dessert...they hollow out a coconut shell, take out the juice and refill it with yummy coconut gelatin.
Trip #2 my bf and I ordered some dishes to eat with rice family style:
-Tamarind quail appetizer: yummy savory bbq flavor
-Canh chua: Tangy fish soup with tomatoes. This was good, but I'm used to canh chua having pineapple and some other stuff in it, not just fish and tomatoes.
- Meat stuffed squid: a little tough for my liking
-Ca thanh long: fried fish with dill eaten with vermicelli and fresh herbs
Too stuffed for dessert, but all of the options sounded really good...lots of exotic ice cream flavors.
The last time I was here the wait was crazzzy long, but you can make reservations online at their website as long as they're made at least 24-hours in advance. While we (and around 15 others) were waiting, we were solicited by a neighboring restaurant trying to steal some of TT's customers. Shady!
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Whoops. Just had to write a review, and weigh the stars down a bit.
I really don't have much to say (though the length of this review may betray that). The food was good as far as Vietnamese food goes. I haven't found it noticeably better than other Vietnamese restaurants as far as the flavor of the regular menu.
What they do have to offer is some more extra items on the menu and the ambience.
Located around the corner from the Sichuanese restaurant, to be spotted when getting out Viet Wah's back door.... you'll see this place that has tall bamboo next to an aquarium? It's nice to look at when you're looking back from the door, though it looked a little tacky from the parking lot for me. So, believe me, it's about what's in the inside: dark wood, some dim lighting, nice furniture.
The service was decent, and they were able to accommodate my friend's request to order an item that was apparently only available on the dinner menu.
It was nice, it was cool, but I probably wouldn't seek it out again unless somebody else was just dying to go back there. This last part pushes it down to three stars for me.
awesome food, awesome food, awesome food - we've had three meals here and al three have been incredible. best vietnamese food in town - authentic, fast, yummy, and while you're eating wish your stomach was bigger so you could fit more food in. Only thing that took a while were the drink orders. mojitos rock. oh..and the long lines. but you can book a reservation ahead of time online. so easy. so good. location a little hard to find.
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wow! i was not expecting that....
When i think of the id and the restaurants in the id i think grimy and places you go post clubbing. I mean the chinese restaurant and vietnamese restaurants all have that same kitchen cleaning smell to it. Well, tamarind tree is an exception to this rule. The interior is beautifully laid with a waterfall sculpture in the patio and great use of orange and red for the paint color.
Not only is their decor beautiful, their martinis are delicious. My d. and I probably tried almost all their martinis. from their pomegranate to the kumquat (sp?) martini. My favorite has to be the guava martini. Their tamarind martini tasted like old strawberries, so i wasn't into that.
their food was amazing. I didn't expect them to make curry as well as they did. very delicious.
The reason for the four star instead of five is because the bathroom smelled like old nail polish. i don't understand that. why would there be an acetone smell in the bathroom? And there wasn't good ventilation so it got a little smoky in teh restuarant because of the food. strange.
but other than that, fantastica!!
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I love to eat at this place but I believe it has become a victim of its own success. Last night my wait for a table lasted for an hour even though I was told it would be 20 minutes. The hostess was vary hurried and curt with one family that was waiting next to me. When finally seated it took a long time for my drink order to arrive and when the food arrived one order was wrong and one did not arrive till much later. This left one person at the table with food while the rest of us waited.
The food for the other people in my party was good as usual but I found the beef stew which I ordered contained mostly fat In which I declined to complain as I didn't feel like waiting anymore. We also had to ask twice for our second drink order as the waitperson forgot so thus it arrived as my dinner was finished.
Not once were we asked if our food was to our liking, and as I sat to finish my wine I felt as if they were trying to rush us out of there so they could seat more people and cash in on their success.
I'm not sure if I'll go back but I do know that I will try the Saigon Bistro which is in the same parking lot. As I walked towards the Tamarind Tree that night, they were giving free samples of their crepe which is just as good as the Tamarind Trees and the food is very similar. The owner assured me he was there every night and he was very friendly. Although the atmosphere is not as hip it was full of people when I peeked in. So beware Tamarind Tree change your ways or start losing you customers.
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I've eaten their Bun Bo Hue (spicy beef noodle soup) three times now, and I can safely say its the best bun bo hue i've had outside of my mom's house. I can't remember ever seeing it on the menu - I just ask for it, so keep that in mind if you want it. Maybe it's under a different name.
Eating in their little covered patio is also nice...they somehow manage to create this oasis in the middle of what is otherwise the asian 'hood. wait times on the weekend, or any evening can be ridiculous though. other than that, pricing is very good for the quality of food and ambience you get
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I really have to say this is one of the best Vietnamese places in town. We started with the chicken satay over a mango salad. I almost died. It was so friggin good! I ordered the Tamarind Tree Rice for $10. It has a nice sampling of chicken, pork, and prawn over a bed of white rice. I had such amazing flavors running through my mouth they almost had to rush me to the ER after the dessert. Black sesame ice cream! The service was excellent and the price was very fair.
Love this place. I tried twice before to eat here but the wait list was so long on a Friday night that we ended up going somewhere else. At least I knew it was a popular place. Finally ate here on a Wednesday night with a few out of town friends.
This is a great place for a small group. Delicious vietnamese food offerings, including familiar Pho for the uninitiated. It's a little tucked away, but our "new to seattle" friend were able to find it, but I tend to give detailed directions.
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I go to Tamarind Tree over and over again, and am amazed every time! The food is fantastic! The Tamarind Tree Rolls, Chicken Satay, and everything else. You can't go wrong with anything on their menu. The owner is very sweet too, we've known him for a long time.
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It is the type of place you want to try to keep secret.. so you can get in..
Smartly decorated place, w/excellent food and cocktails. A real gem in the ID.
I used to think of this place as our 'secret sancuary' to stop in after cheap grocery shopping at nearby Viet Wa, as that was how we found it years ago..
We would stop in the middle of a rainy day with no wait, to sit by the fire and drink the free tea, have a nice bowl of Pho, the excellent spring rolls and mushroom satays and walk away spending under $20 bucks. You can still have this experience if you come at off hours I think?
Recently we went in with a small group and hit a more busy time- wow it does get busy at normal meal times! I finally tried the excellent specialty cocktails and dessert. Great drinks! Prices were still reasonable. We had slow service and ran out of water but it was packed. I'd still say worth the wait.
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Decent food, but service is terribly slow. maybe a bit harsh at 3 star
Stop wasting your time reading and go to the Tamarind Tree RIGHT NOW! GO GO GO. Also don't be afraid based on the surroundings, the place is wonderful and sexy inside but try to get a table outside if you can. I usually stick to beer and whiskey but their house drinks, such as the Asian Pear Slush, are worth the price every time. One of my staples in Seattle.
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It's amazing how the owner had the guts to open such a nice place in a somewhat rundown strip mall in the I-District. Tamarind Tree has one of the best ambiance of any Asian restaurant I've been to, and the food is actually quite good. Although it has a slight "fusion" quality to the food, it is still pretty authentic (to someone of Chinese extraction). We had the 7 courses of beef (26.99$ for 2), and it was good. It's better to make a reservation though, because the wait was 1.5 hour last Friday without one. But then you can always go to Viet-wah supermarket next door to get your weekly groceries while waiting!
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I had to add my rave review of this place, even though it seems that's all they get on here! I went here for a friends birthday dinner last week and was highly impressed by their food. The place was BUSY on a Thursday, and we had to wait a bit even though I had made a reservation...but no mind...once we tried the Tamarind Tree rolls I was in heaven! Sweet, salty, crunchy and crispy! A delight! I had the red pepper chicken which was divine and tried all other dishes around the table...the vodka ginger chicken was a fave. All dishes were incredibly tasty and fresh. We also tried a few desserts which were quite yummy. I might have passed on the flan. A great spot, very fun and I cannot wait for another excuse to go there again! I should also mention VERY REASONABLE for large parties where the check will be split equally!
I love to eat at this place. The crispy pork rolls they have as an appetizer are amazing.
I haven't really ever had anything that I didn't like. The noodle bowls are great.
Of course, the wait can get annoying and the service, more often than not, it lackluster at best. But don't worry, the food is worth it.
Everything here is awesome except for the wait. My roommate and I waited for about 20 minutes to get a seat for two. Make sure you find someone when you come in and get on the list, as they didn't find us until I asked about the list.
We got an incredible stone table attached to one of those fake wood gas fireplaces that was really cozy. The interior is really nice, certainly surprising for this venue being tucked into an ID strip mall.
Awesome vegetarian options and some neat drinks as well made us eager to come back again soon.
My bf and I decided we would venture down to the ID to try this place based on the rave reviews for "Vietnamese/Fusion" cuisine.
The place was packed on a Wednesday night but we were seated outside in a nice covered patio with a ton of heat lamps and a beautiful stone slab waterfall. It was warm enough to take our coats off outside.
The menu was quite extensive serving satay, springrolls, salads, noodle bowls, meat, rice, vegetable dishes and exotic cocktails.
We tried the tofu satay, which came in HUGE chunks. It was quite delicious, but the sauce was a little watered down. I tried the Vietnamese crepe filled with prawns and vegetables. It was good, but they used coconut milk in the crepe recipe, which I found to be a bit overwhelming and not traditional...(but hey, it's suppose to be fusion, right?) Also tried a combo noodle bowl and the presentation was beautiful. The highlight was a huge looking mushroom, which turned out to be a grilled stalk of sugarcane with a cap made of deep fried shrimp cake. Really cool. Had a grilled pineapple and prawn salad that tasted delicious and also, kudos for presentation.
Overall, I think think for the price, you get beautiful presentation, nice flavors and an ample amount of food. If you were in SF or LA, you'd be paying almost double for a place like this. I'll definately go back to this little gem tucked away in the back of a Jackson St. strip mall!
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People love this place with good reason, me being one of these people. Everything about this place makes your dining experience well worth the adventure of trying to actually find it. Tucked back in the corner of a strip mall in the International District, don't be surprised if you drive by a few times before you actually locate it.
The drinks, the food, the ambiance, the wait staff, all fantastic. My only gripe would be that I felt rushed the entire meal. I understand they are busy and need to turn over tables as quickly as possible to keep the masses waiting by the door happy, but "Damn, I haven't finished eating that beef salad yet, dude!"
On the plus side of them rushing us through dinner, I didn't have time to realize that I was full, so I was able to stuff my face and not feel it until after I left. Well played, sir.
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I'm covered in fish sauce.
If I had been able to become covered in fish sauce a little faster, there would be some red stars sitting up there.
Central Broken Rice. Purple Mint? Wowza.
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What I love about this place the most is that we can go as a family(my husband, myself and our three kids)and walk away having only spent $27. We spend that amount and are full. I love the food, the atmosphere and did I mention the food. The pho is delicious. My kids love it. We have gone with the kids, without the kids, I've gone with my friends and with just my kids. Actually any excuse to go and I'm there. I hate to give it such a good review because I feel like it's been a little secret of mine not shared with many people, but it's too yummy not to share. Have fun!
3 stars for food, but it loses 2 stars for disappointing service and being a victim of its own success. It is almost impossible to get a table in a reasonable amount of time, and the $2/card surcharge when splitting a bill among greater than 3 diners is simply price gouging. Bill-splitting is really par for the course for a restaurant these days; if the transaction fees really kill you, then build it into the price rather than imposing a policy that leaves a bad taste in your customers' mouths afterwards.
The food itself was excellent (as other reviewers will attest), but I was disappointed by my most recent experience... I think I will stick to the Green Leaf down the road and around the corner until the Tamarind Tree can get its service issues sorted out.
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I'd put this place in more of the 'fusion' category than in the 'authentic Vietnamese' category. And it does the Vietnamese/fusion thing quite well. It stays well within the Vietnamese base (even keeping the French colonial additions), but adds the thick chopsticks, dark lighting, square plates, etc. along with the slightly sweeter seasonings, and some non-traditional ingredients that mark your typical fusion additions. But, even though I don't think okra is traditional Vietnamese, it was still markedly traditional.
Agree with Andrea J: plenty of vegetarian options, although they do mix & match some of the vegetarian elements in getting a wider array of dishes. For example, I ordered the vegetarian Tamarind Tree noodles, and got the same style mushroom satay and tofu satay that I just ate.
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