My wife and I are on a Vietnamese food kick. I have a co-worker from Vietnam, who has given us several recommendations in the International District: Tamarind Tree, Lemongrass, and (our undisputed favorite) Green Leaf. They are all excellent in their own way. Tamarind tree is a bit fancier and has excellent ambiance. Lemongrass serves home-style dishes in a small location in a strip mall, and Green Leaf is simply one of the best hole in the wall restaurants in the whole world--get there early or you will wait for hours for one of their scarce tables.
Try all of the above . . . but this blog is about Renton, and our little burg just graduated from the all-Pho-all-the-time Vietnamese that we've had for years, to a genuine Vietnamese dining experience. Lemon Leaf just opened in South Renton. They are too new to have a website or a phone book listing, but they are easy to find. Take 167 south to the 180th Ave S exit (the IKEA exit), and you will see a bright yellow sign straight ahead (across the street from the mega-plex movie theater). We saw said sign and went in after seeing Spider Man 3 (entertaining, but the least enjoyable of the three). The decor is beautiful. You can't tell from the outside, as it's just a strip mall, but the interior has a beautiful bar/dining area, including fire-side dining (if that's your thing) and some lovely tables by the front picture windows. The wait staff are all in vests and black tie, and I immediately felt underdressed.
They are clearly still getting their act together. We had to wait a few minutes to be seated because they ran out of menus (the resturaunt was only at 1/4 capacity!), and there was some confusion over where we would sit. We witnessed this confusion with every party that came in. Clearly the waitstaff is still figuring out how to run the place. My meal also came WAY before my wife's. Little things like that were annoying, but I'm sure they'll figure it out.
The menu is outstanding. It has all the best of Green Leaf and Tamarind Tree combined. With Bun (vermacelli noodles), crepes, and Pho, and many traditional dishes--even seven course beef! For an appetizer we had fresh spring rolls with Shrimp, which were great (reminicent of Green Leaf's) and for entrees wifey-pants got vegetarian Bun an I went exactly the other way, with Shake Shake Beef (chunks of Filet Mignon fried in garlic, onions, and spices). It was all really good. I think I would even say that it measures up nicely with the "classic" International District places that we love--ok, maybe not Green Leaf, but they're pretty close. Appetizers are $ 7-9, entrees are in the $10-$18 range and they have a full bar.
Great addition to Renton!
-TinFoilHat
12 comments:
I was going to run and tell this blog's contributors about that restaurant, but you went the same night I did! We also experienced lack of menus and my hubby's plate arrived after I polished mine off, but the food was REDICULOUSLY good. I shall return.
Hehe, I'm Alexandra's husband and I wanted to second (third) what's been said here. This place was way classy, but still didn't break the bank and the food was fantastic. We had the same service experience that you did, but despite the delays the staff was all very courteous and professional. We'll definitely be back.
I recommendthe fresh lime soda. It was amazingly good.
The tofu they use thewre is some of the best I've had as well (or maybe it's all in the prep?). We had the Tofu satay appetizer and the wife had vegetarian stuffed tofu for her entree and both were fantastic. As for myself, I had the clay pot catfish. It had an overwhelming smell of fish sauce, but it didn't overwhelm the superb flavor of the dish.
We'll have to try the other places you mentioned as well and I'll be bookmarking your blog for future reading.
Hello! Thanks for reviewing this restaurant - we are always looking out for a new Vietnamese place to try which goes beyond "just" pho. I am so excited!
And BTW, where do you find parking near Green Leaf??? We always end up eating at House of Hong instead (not that I'm complaining) because we can't find a place to park.
parking for Greenleaf?...right around the corner in the dead end street. Drive 1+ block southbound past Greenleaf, take a left, you're there. It's reasonably safe parking and no charge after 6pm.
What's the name of the Renton upscale Vietnamese place?
Never mind, I just can't read. Lemon Leaf!
Go to this place NOW! Before they change or lose their chef. The duck noodle soup was better than anything similar I have EVER eaten! The place is that good!
www.etherhuffer.typepad.com
I agree, thanks for all the comments. makes it much easier to try a new place when you here comments like this
Just went to this place tonight, WORST SERVICE EVER. They tried to blame us for using the white napkins that they gave us, apparently they were set in wine glasses, and we werent supposed to use them if we didnt order wine.. so why would they give that to us?
they missed on alot of different things, they only put out 2 of the 6 dishes that we ordered in the 1 hour and 30 minues that we were there. We all just decided to pay for what we got and just left. There were also alot of other customers that were very dissatisfied with their service. I did some observing around, and it appeard that the "white americans" were getting their food, and service faster than the "asians". I found little things here and there that really bugged me:
-Our Waitress would come and say to bring something, only to have another person come and ask us if we would want the same thing, and then none of them brought it.
-We were sat by the fireplace even though we requested not to, we got up and went back to the waiting area, only to wait another 15 minutes for another table, when there were at least 5 tables available.
-We were asked approximately 5 or 6 times about how many people were in our party.
-They kept telling us that the kitchen was "high volume", when not even all of the tables were filled, they had two women in the kitchen doing what appeared to be nothing. It also took forever to get our food, which we never got becuase we left. And we also saw that one of the hosts had to go in and start taking over the kitchen. This really shows a lack of organization and a lack of customer respect.
-And their prices were seriously overpriced. A typical Seven Courses of Beef costs 22 dollars at tamarind tree, and you get plenty of each course. But it costs 32 dollars at Lemon Leaf, AND you get about 20% less food.
-For the food that we did get, it was only mediocre. We didnt care about whether the place was "classy" anymore, becuase we were all hungry, and dissapointed/frustrated/infuriated at their customer service (or lack thereof).
From what I observed, it looked like the place was run by a bunch of college kids with no idea of how to work a restaraunt. Very unorganized staff, slow food, disrespectful customer service, and overpriced food when compared to Chinatown's offerings.
I will not reccomend this to any of my family, friends, or even random people that may approach me.
In the years that I've been alive, I have never felt so "time wasted" ever.
This was a First and Last time restaraunt.
We had lunch there yesterday, and I agree that the service left much to be desired. We arrived fairly early and only about 4-5 other tables were occupied. We were seated almost immediately, but waited about 5 mins just to receive our menus! Only 1 waiter seemed to be serving everyone, although there were several other people there who seemed to be in a more supervisory capacity standing around. Our appetizers came in about 15 minutes, and only then did they ask if we could wait 30 more mins for the pho one of us had ordered! I think they should have asked sooner so he could have chosen something else from the start. He then decided to order the grilled chicken instead, and that came after the rest of us were done eating! We had the spring rolls (fantastic), stuffed squid (pretty good), cha gio (good as well), stuffed fried tofu (a tad overfried but otherwise tasted good), vietnamese crepes which were so-so, and of course the grilled chicken which was good although it came very late. We spent nearly 2 hours there, most of it spent waiting...Having said all that, I think this place has potential and I liked that the owners put some classy touches in the decor. Plating was excellent too. We'll probably give them a few months to get their act together then try again.
BTW, thanks for the parking tip for Green Leaf :)
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