by Greg B. on As of this writing, Le Viet is not "officially open." Their grand opening is April 11, 2010. I guess they wanted to do a soft open and we happened catch them during this period. First, this place is brand new. Atmosphere is really modern - sharp lines, fancy lighting, walnut tables, pretty trendy design. Wait, this is on Washington Ave? It's like a Banana Republic fell on flea market - a huge departure from the rest of the Asian Washington Ave offerings. How does it compare to Nam Phoung and Viet Huong? (1/2 a block away?) Based on the pho and the charbroiled pork plate we got, I'd say it's on par. The crabmeat and white asparagus soup was pretty good - kind of like Chinese fish maw soap. I don't know how to rate this place. It's certainly not bad. But the food we had wasn't better than our usual Nam Phoung and Viet Huong. At the end of the day, are you will to pay a 25% price premium for the fancy atmosphere and the marginally better service? Le Viet is betting you will.
by Mathilda Zinsmeister on 1 star for food 5 stars for music...so average and round up... 4 stars! I have fond memories of Ethiopia---landscape, people, culture, Amharic language, food, coffee, etc as I spent time in Addis Ababa, Jimma, Kafa Zone...so I will forever love anything r/t Ethiopia Salsa dancing Friday night in the back room was a flash back to 8th grade with boys on one side, girls the other..awkward and wallflowers...no sexy salsa...but the live band was working it....and the salsa instructors were stellar....we loved every minute of it ;) We also loved the jazz band in the main front section....soulful and classy sassy.... we made the mistake of ordering the bar menu chicken drummies and pita chips....no bueno...the chicken was previous frozen and then thawed out a week ago-plain and stale...and the deep fried pita chips left a lard residual on my tongue....thank goodness the music was good b/c I had to burn off the lard calories by dancing all night;) "Ish"
