Road Trip – S Vietnamese Fine Dining – Westminster(OC)

*** S Vietnamese has closed

On our recent quick trip to Marukai in Gardena, we thought that perhaps a stop in Westminster would be in order…and maybe we'd try something different. So after hearing about S Vietnamese Fine Dining, and noticing it was right off the 405 freeway, we thought it would be an interesting alternative to the Brodard's, Quan Hy, etc……..

S Vietnamese is located right at the edge of Westminster Mall, in what looks like a highly retrofitted chain restaurant facade.

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'S' bills itself as a higher end modern and stylish Vietnamese restaurant, and when you enter and notice all the wood paneling, the grand piano, and the art work lining the walls, it sure does look like the right place.

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Strangely enough the restaurant was totally empty, at 1230 on a Saturday! The complete stark lack of customers made us feel a bit uncomfortable, and made the large, airy, spaciousness of the restaurant seem a bit "cold".

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Sviet05 This was all remedied by our wonderful, warm, and friendly Server, Linda. As we were seated and handed our menus, we were asked, "have you ever eaten Vietnamese food before?" The Missus and I traded puzzled looks, and the thought "uh-oh, was this a mistake" entered our minds. We managed to choke out, "yes, we've had Vietnamese food before…..", and ended up having a nice conversation regarding the various dishes, and got some recommendations.

Based on the recommendations we started with the 'S' Skewers($12):

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6 skewers arrivedSviet07 accompanied with 3 dipping sauces. The skewers were a mixed bag, the Garlic Shrimp Skewers barely had any garlic flavor, though the shrimp were of good quality and cooked perfectly. The Soy and Sesame Beef skewers had the most flavor, and mild sweet-soy flavor, but the meat was on the tough and chewy side. The Curry Infused Chicken was the best overall, with moist dark meat chicken. But again, the flavors were really muted; there was barely any curry flavor, in fact, the chicken tasted like a very mild lemongrass chicken. The sauces were so-so, the supposed "peanut sauce" tasted almost like 100% coconut milk, the sweet chili sauce tasted like bottled stuff, the best of the group was the soy-scallion sauce, which we ended up using on everything.

We wanted something with a little "punch" so we ordered the Bun Rieu($8) as our soup:

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Supposedly the most "savory" soup on the menu, we thought of it as Bun Rieu Shadow soup…a mere shadow of the pungent Bun Rieu. Sviet09 It didn't help that the soup was served lukewarm, and that the vermicelli noodles were overcooked and mushy. On the positive side, the crab-shrimp "cake" was the absolute best I've ever tasted, sweet and so very soft. The fried tofu was fine, but the soup was very mild in flavor. The garnishes were on the skimpy side, but I must admit that the julienned banana blossom served was the freshest I've ever tasted, slightly tangy and refreshing. Requesting extra garnishes is a must.

The Missus ordered the Banh Mi Ca($8):

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This was a breaded catfish Banh Mi. First off the baguette was excellent, perfectly crusty without being hard and dry. The panko breaded fish did not fare as well. The fish strips were dry and flavorless, and we thought that the use of Honey Panko was not the best choice, making the fish too sweet.

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I ordered the Bun Cha($10), a dish of grilled pork and pork meatballs that are meant to be wrapped in lettuce leaves with various herbs and eaten:

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Sviet13 This was by far the best dish of the day; the pork meatballs had great flavor and the grilled pork served in a sweet-garlic-soy sauce was very soft and tender. In keeping with the use of  high quality ingredients butter lettuce was served for wrapping, along with a very large portion of vermicelli, which I ended up pouring sauce over to finish up….we also dipped the leftover baguette in the sauce, it was that good.

For us S Vietnamese Fine Dining was a real mixed bag; on one end many of the ingredients were of good quality, the restaurant decor is very stylish, and the service was excellent. On the other end, we thought that some of the dishes were not prepared well, the presentation of the dishes are not quite at that "fine dining" level, and that many of the flavors that we consider to be the heart and soul of Vietnamese cuisine were severely muted. We didn't think the prices were really too bad; our entire meal cost $45. It seems that S Vietnamese Fine Dining would be a great pick for someone who is perhaps a bit intimidated by Vietnamese food. The dinner menu is much larger with many interesting almost fusion style dishes like Lamb Nuong Xa, a lemongrass and peppercorn crusted lamb dish.

I think the Missus had a very interesting observation; as we were leaving She turned to me and said, "Why do I get the feeling that we just ate at Vietnamese PF Chang's?"

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Sviet14 S Vietnamese Fine Dining
545 Westminster Mall Drive
Westminster, CA 92683

Open Sun-Thurs 11am-9pm
     Fri-Sat 11am-10pm