Spring Garden

Had lunch here today and enjoyed very good mango salad, duck with bamboo soup, and seven-​flavor beef. The manager was very helpful and took the time to explain how to eat the duck and noodle/​bamboo soup (which turns up as two separate dishes, to the uninitiated). He seemed to be very knowledgeable about all the dishes served, so the next time we go, we’ll ask him to pick for us! Foodies will appreciate the emphasis on authentic ingredients and preparation techniques.

This place has changed owner. Everything is the same. The food is just different, not sure if it’s better. Will try again to come to conclusion

Spring Garden is one of my favorite Asian restaurants (coming from a person that is picky when it comes to Asian food). I love their rice dishes here as well as their Thai tea. My family, on the other hand, loves their noodle dishes as well as their smoothies, especially the avocado smoothie! The food here is amazing and the service here is pretty good. The only negative thing I can think of is the location of the restaurant. It’s in the corner near many Asian restaurants, making it difficult to find parking.

This place is legit Vietnamese food. This is not a phở house so I’d stay away from phở and the other typical dishes served at phở house. The stuff isn’t bad, but there are better places to get these dishes. What they do well is the lesser known Vietnamese dishes like canh chua ca, bun man, bun bo hue and others. I was floored when I ate the canh chua ca. It was amazing, the catfish tasted sweet and clean-​the best I’ve ever had.
Service is fine and the place is large and clean.
Cheap, authentic Vietnamese –that’s how I like it.

Peaceful pond entrance
With tasty Bun Bo Hue and
Smooth jazz Disney tunes.
#yelphaiku

Food: 4.5
Service: 4.0
Music: 0!
Kenny G plays Celine Dion’s Greatest Hits [GAG!]

BOMB bun bo hué. I ask for no meat and extra cooked blood cubes.
Not sure how it tastes compared to Vietnam house but im pretty sure they are equally good from what I remember.

Had steak phở, broth had nothing special, bad portioning = too much broth and little amount of noodles with not enough meat. The quality of meat was SUPER though. On terms of service, waters refilled regularly, and very nice.
3 stars for service. 2 stars for food.
BUT. I really want to try the beef. So I’ll most likely change my mind on the food rating!

Today would be the 4^th if not 5^th time that I have eaten here. What I like about this place is that there is a lot of variety as the restaurant incorporates Vietnamese, Thai, and Chinese cuisine into their menu. The food for the most part is good, and ingredients are always fresh and they are careful with their seasoning and oil. As I dislike greasy foods, I can always count on this restaurant as one of the «healthy» options when going out to eat. The 7 course beef is a family favorite and is a good deal in my opinion. I like their concept of serving beef in 7 different ways and allowing patrons to join in on the fun in making spring rolls as part of the course.
It seems to me that either the ownership has changed or the chef has changed however, as today the food tasted and looked a bit different from before. It was still good, but I would have to admit that it is not as good as before. It might just be that they are having an off day but I’ll have to come back another time and see.

Solid place to go in the I.D. for some cheap Vietnamese eats.
I get the pork chops with egg and rice and my bf generally gets the phở. Each time we’ve gone we’ve been pleased with the meal, especially for the price. For dinner for two, we generally pay about $ 23 after tax and tip.
The interior might not be as nice as Tamarind Tree, but I think Spring Garden is definitely a better value.

I’ve been here a few times but it’s taken me a little while to figure out what dishes I like. One of the meals I had here did not agree with my stomach, but the rest have been great. Just went again tonight and totally recommend the Avocado smoothie, coconut juice, & Chow Fun.
Staff are super friendly and helpful. Nice, clean restaurant with good ambiance.

A nice surprise. Figured I should give Spring Garden a try, seeing that I ALWAYS drive pass it on my way to either Viet Wah for grocery or Tamarind Tree for a weekend lunch special. Inside, it isn’t as glamorous as Tamarind but not too ghetto either. The menu itself gives a nice selection of rice dishes, soups, hot pots and noodles.
The seven course beef and its price ($ 25) attracted me instantly. The size of each of the seven dishes are enough for two to dine and are of decent quality. Compared to Tamarind, the price is cheaper but the food offered is slightly less in portion and slightly inferior in quality. Even then, tasty stuff and the server was quite helpful and funny.
A few items that really would like to try for my next visits include the baked catfish special and the various hot pots. I’d come back again and will update my posts on future visits.

I ordered their phở, and was only mildly impressed. The flavoring of the broth was pretty shallow — there was no depth to it, and it tasted too light. The meat portions were not very impressive, either. The quality of meat was good, though.
My wife ordered the vermicelli with lemongrass beef and she enjoyed her dish. I tasted a bit, and although the noodles were thicker than I had anticipated, the beef was well-​marinated and I appreciated all the vegetables they included in the dish.
The restaurant set-​up was nice, but the service was definitely lacking. I think there were only 2 waitstaff when we went, and it was incredibly hard to try and get someone’s attention to ask for a favor, or even for the check. The tables were left dirty until another party arrived and there weren’t any more clean tables left — only then would the dirty tables be cleaned. It was just. poorly operated.

With all these excellent reviews, I had to check out Spring Garden! When I arrived at 6:30pm on a Monday, it was totally empty which made me a little nervous.
My friend ordered the Vietnamese Bun Bo Hue, a spicy beef noodle soup (she asked them to omit all the pork) and I had the lemongrass seafood vermicelli bowl. I had a really hard time choosing since I wanted so many things but my stomach was feeling a bit upset so I skipped the laksa or anything curry-​like.
My vermicelli bowl wasn’t what I expected at all: it was better. It wasn’t a bun in that it wasn’t cold. It was warm which was perfect. It was similar to the bun in that there was no soup and lots of fish sauce. There’s also a lot of vegetables and seafood in this thing. They don’t skimp especially for the reasonable prices!
I also like that they have parking and its close to Viet-​Wah so I can pop over to some grocery shopping afterward. haha. Good times. I’ll be back.

Our waiter was son of the cook \ owner, and as friendly and accommodating as could be. Its true, the glasses and plate were are cleaned spotless, water glass never near empty. The place is a little loud, not much in the way of sound deadining… we were there when there were some kids, may have added to the noise. I ordered some Malaysian curry soup, GF ordered some tomato seafood soup. Mine came with shrimp, chicken, pork loaf, and cuttle fish, and one quail egg. GF got a seafood tomato with noodle soup, she tells me «it was OK». The coffee was great, I look forward to trying the rest of the menu. Being a family owned \ ran business I will most assuredly return.

They say the noodles are their specialty Bun rieu is great. Crab noodles. Yum! This is just catty corner to the very popular Tamarind Tree and they have new management, but I have to say that having gone with a very picky Vietnamese gourmet and it is super authentic. Maybe the fact that I was the only non-​Viet there tells you something.
But their speciality are the beef noodles and they were terrific. If you haven’t like me had enough of it, you should just take the recommendations of the staff. You will learn there is way more than Phở to life :-)

Vietnamese food is an amazing gift to the human race, and has always managed to put me in a state of PURE BLISS after I’ve consumed it. I hunger for it constantly, and I’m always searching for the next best place… let me tell you guys… I rarely give 5 stars but this place is AWESOME
Tamarind Tree, Vietnam House, Saigon Deli, Green Leaf… I’ve been to it all, and none of these restaurants can compare with perhaps the exception of Green Leaf.
Tamarind Tree — over priced, over hyped, mediocre food
Vietnam House — Decent food, but Dirty, Dingy, and bad service
Saigon Deli — well… I guess it wouldn’t be fair to compare such an amazing restaurant to a Deli… So I won’t
Spring Gardens is an incredible restaurant despite the horribly cliché name. Here are so reasons why it blasts all of the other nearby Vietnamese Cuisine’s out of the water
1. Free parking lot for your convenience
2. Fresh Veggies (Someone once told me you can judge the quality of a Vietnamese restaurant by how FRESH their veggies are, these guys must buy their Veggies fresh daily because it’s always super crunchy and green)
3. Beautiful View (One of the few times I’ve been here, I remember coming here during the evening, sitting by the window, and watching a beautiful Sunset melt into the City of Seattle)
4. Variety (menu is not limited to Vietnamese food)
5. Great Atmosphere (You can literately hear the rushing spring water against the rocks… no lie. Listen for it next time)
6. And the MOST important thing for a restaurant and ESPECIALLY a Vietnamese restaurant… the restaurant itself is spotless, clean, as are most of their plates, silverware, and water glasses. Nothing turns off the palate more so than eating at a restaurant with nasty stains all over their water glasses
The list goes on, but this restaurant is truly remarkable, and takes Vietnamese dining to the next level. Unfortunately the service which was once impeccable has decreased in standards, but not enough to notice for most… It is still above average for most Asian restaurants, and your water glass will never be empty.
Definitely a place to check out if and decide for yourself if you haven’t done so already

I know I’ve been here before, but now the memory has faded of whatever restaurant used to have this location. It’s a great space – looks almost like an afterthought as you drive around the parking lot, but when you get in, the views are pretty great of the ID and the port, provided you can get a window table.
There’s a grand opening banner out front right now, and the décor inside definitely gives the impression that they have spent a ton of money. It’s all stuff that comes from the high-​end part of the asian restaurant starter kit; faux bamboo paneling, faux marble backing on the chairs, lots of fronded artificial plants. You can almost hear the radio commercials with the big announcer voice saying «yyyyyyour chinatown headquarters!» The tabletops look like ornate mah jong backdrops under half an inch of resin, and they all match. There must be a resin imbalance somewhere in town; starving kids in Mercer Island must be eating off exposed wood tabletops.
The cumulative effect, though, is rather nice. It certainly feels clean, and eager to make a good impression. The service is super friendly, full of smiles, and ready to fly around the room at a moment’s notice. I got the phở, which wasn’t too bad, and very reasonably priced. The broth was a bit mild, but very clean and clear. The noodles were wonderfully firm, and the condiments were all in great shape. The meat had clearly been frozen at some point, going all crinkly when it hit the broth. Not a big deal; the broth and the meat aren’t demerits that take the soup below average. They just keep it from being in the running for best in town.
The menu is fairly extensive, with page after page of appetizers and dishes from many different culinary traditions. I’ll definitely be back with a group to try a few different things.

This place is my favorite vietnamese/​chinese restaurant in Chinatown. Every time I order different things and I have never been disappointed. Usually I ask Howard what is good and he always has great suggestions! They even make things to accommodate my peanut allergy.
My favorite things in no particular order are:
1) Beef Tenderloin with vegetables (i’m not sure the exact name of this dish but it came with some strange salt/​peppper side dish… so maybe you could mention that if you order it)
2) Beef fried rice
3) Tomato Beef
4) Soursop Drink
5) Make your own spring rolls
6) Honey Walnut Prawns
7) Seven flavor beef (however they make this as 6 flavor w/​o the peanuts for me)
The food not only tastes great here, but there is ample parking, the inside of the restaurant is really clean, and the staff are very friendly and your water is always full! Give it a try — spring garden will not disappoint you: D

Was on my way to Than Vi, which is in the same area-​ish, when the lack of parking took me smack dab in front of Spring Garden.
This used to be Saigon Bristo, which used to be good, but kinda limped along in its later years. And the layout looks about the same as before, which is why I was hesitant to enter the restaurant, as you are met first with this darkish, empty hallway, where you think you’ll be murdered before reaching your table.
It was lunch on a weekday, hardly anyone there, so my anxiety level went up (what did I get myself into here?).
But I was really pleasantly surprised. I ordered a pork chop, shrimp cake with rice platter and it came (a little slow) but was HUGE! It could’ve fit my entire face. I felt like a big pig eating the whole thing… but DID. The platter was less than $ 10.00 and two people probably could’ve shared it, along with another appetizer.
The pork chops were grilled perfectly (there was one and a half pork chops!), the shrimp cake is not like the kind I had other Vietnamese restaurants — this one was wrapped with tofu, which was deep fried. And the shrimp cake inside wasn’t as dense as what I had previously, but not bad.
The service was beyond outstanding to the point of creepy — the waitperson came round to my table more than 5 times asking how the food was (I wasn’t there more than 1 hour). I had both iced water and tea and the glass was never empty (I tried drinking both to see if the guy was on his game, and boy did I need to go to the bathroom!)
Overall, a pleasant experience. I would go back and try something else… or at least give the waiter a hard time with the water/​tea again. (Yes, I have no life).