Café Da Lat

The lotus tofu salad was out of this world. My taste buds took a journey to far away places in the world. Layers and layers of flavors. Between the shredded lotus leaves where roasted peanuts, basil leaves, cilantro cucumbers, onions, fish sauce, just incredible. The lemongrass rice noodle bowel with veggies was delightful. Service was very good, and place has charm inside. If you love Vietnamese food, this place is well worth a try

Alright, this place blows the other Vietnamese restaurants in town out the freakin’ water, The dining experience here at night it’s just absolutely so exquisite feeling, things are a bit on the pricier side, but not too noticeably so, The Vietnamese beef stew I got was very flavorful, you can tell they didn’t hold back for western audiences. They have a lot of interesting stuff that beats plain old Pho. Wonderful place for a date. Get a good drink to go with your entree, these big bowls of Vietnamese soup take a long while to eat, I recommend some hot tea.

I came here on a Monday night while visiting Albuquerque, and the usual Vietnamese restaurants I frequent were all closed, so I tried Cafe Da Lat based on the reviews. Very clean, not crowded, nice decor and very attentive wait staff. They have an extensive menu (but no 33 beer or salted lemonade) so I tried something different from what I normally order, the lemongrass chicken with rice. I thought there was a bit too much sauce, with a bit of a gravy texture instead of the clean flavors I expect from Vietnamese cuisine. The chicken was a little tough and chewy, with almost a hot dog taste and texture. I walked away a bit disappointed based on my expectations from the reviews, but am chalking that up to the dish I ordered as much as the quality of the kitchen. I'll probably give Cafe Da Lat another try one of these days, but for the time being I wasn't impressed