Karissa Stevens is a private chef and a prominent culinary content creator on YouTube, known for sharing her cooking experiences and recipes. She has a substantial online following and has participated in chef...
5
The place was warm and friendly and the atmosphere was great. We sat at the bar and they have a special menu. We had a cucumber salad that was so so. The veggies were overripe. But the rest of our dishes were very good. The ribs had a delicious sauce but they were overcooked a bit. Chicken great and the eggplant wonderful . Charred cabbage excellent. I would come back again.
Food: 3/3
Overall, the food we chose was very good. I highly recommend the double cut pork chop. The flavors were familiar, yet elevated by the chef in a refreshing way. I'm sure lots of you are wondering what this means. Well, IMO there are lots of Asian restaurants in the Twin Cities that try to elevate the food for what is typically considered cheap Asian street/home-cooked food so they can charge a premium price. Most of them do it very poorly. This place actually hits the mark on most of their dishes. This is not just a trendy place for less familiar Caucasian patrons, but can be enjoyed by those familiar with the flavors.
Service: 1/1
Staff was attentive and provided excellent service. I was seated in a busier spot, and the servers always made an effort to give me plenty of space.
Ambiance: 1/1
The seating was clean and spacious, and the lighting was not too bright or too dim.
It is street parking, but it is manageable with the nearby neighborhoods.
We went here for my birthday dinner and honestly… this was one of the best restaurant experiences I’ve ever had. First off, the hostess, runner (person who brings out the food?), and our server (her name was Emma) were fantastic. They checked on us the appropriate amount of times and always kept our waters full. They were attentive without being overbearing.
As for the food, 5 out of 5. I have never had this style of food before (Hmong) and honestly I’ve been missing out.
This food is served family style, so if you come keep that in mind. The portion size justifies the price in my head. You will leave with left overs.
We started off with the fried catfish. This was a impromptu healthy walking taco type of dish. Delish!
For our entrees we decided to get the two most popular items. The double cut pork chop and the crabby fried rice. Believe me when I say this, I have never had a fatty meat like pork chop just melt in my mouth how it did in this meal. The crabby fried rice was absolutely delicious.
The seasoning and spice level of everything was perfect.
For desert we got the lava cake with ice cream. Delicious! My fiancé said that this was the first desert she has ever eaten that has almost brought her to tears due to how good it is.
My only gripe was that it is a very loud building. The room echos and that can make it hard to hear for people like me.
Overall this was a fantastic dinning experience and I would highly recommend it to anyone!
Our bill total came out to $130+ before tip. So for two people on a date night it wasn’t bad. Well worth it in my head. You can easily spend less but we were splurging tonight.
Once again, to our server Emma, thank you for making my birthday dinner special and being so kind and helpful with us!
Came here with high expectations. We loved the atmosphere and the service, but the food didn’t quite live up to the hype. To be honest, it felt overpriced for what it was. That said, I still think it’s worth trying at least once, especially if you’ve heard a lot about it and want to see for yourself.
We came as a party of three and ordered the pork chop, crabby fried rice, charred cabbage, and shrimp toast. 4 dishes-about $200 total. Standout was definitely the fried rice, everyone at the table loved it. The shrimp toast was also really good. The charred cabbage had a unique twist I hadn’t seen before - I personally appreciated the creativity and flavor the chef puts in, though others at the table weren’t fans.
The biggest disappointment was the pork chop. All three of us agreed it was overpriced and nothing special. We couldn’t even finish it and ended up taking it home. You can find a similar lemongrass pork chop at many Vietnamese restaurants for a fraction of the price.
Celebrated my birthday here and we had a great experience. The service was wonderful. We didn’t love the curry rice ball but everything else was good. My favorite was the Hilltribe grilled chicken while my partner’s favorite was the shrimp & pork toast—the jam had a unique flavor she enjoyed. We got the lava cake with white rabbit ice cream and it is, by far the best dessert we’ve had in the twin cities. There were so many pleasant flavors in that dessert! Thanks Vinai for the great experience.
