Sen

Outstanding service. Super friendly and always keen to help. Made us feel very welcome in an empty restaurant (empty because we’re have dinner quite early).
We order a phở each (they are mini entrée sizes) and my beef one was delicious! All it needed to make it perfect was softer more chewy noodles and a larger serving hahaha but actually it’s really good already. The summer rolls were a bit hard on the outside but once we let we sit for a bit longer it got softer so that worked out well. We also ordered a viet pancake, full of flavour but hard to pick up and eat (but that’s the dish in general, other places are similar). Last dish was the shaking or shaky beef and boy was that juicy and tender!
Definitely going to be my go to viet restaurant in central Auckland!

What a hidden gem! Came here for a work lunch, upstairs. We tried quite a few dishes from spring rolls through to main dishes. Everything was delicious and the staff were very attentive. I’ve definitely been wanting to pop in again.

My sister and her husband brought me here after they had discovered this restaurant a few weeks ago by accident. My ethnicity is Vietnamese so it is always nice to find when we find Vietnamese restaurants.
Last time my sister and her husband ordered some salads and were raving about them.
This time, we tried to order one of the salads, the mango salad, but they informed us that the chef did not have any of the mango salads tonight because he did not have any good mangos. In a way it was kind of a bummer because we were all looking forward to it, but I do appreciate that the chef cares about the quality of his food and would rather be up front about it.
Instead we ordered:
Sen platter, the grilled market fish, the Vietnamese pancake (aka banh xeo), and clay pot caramelised pork belly.
Sen platter — assortment of spring rolls, summer rolls, fried squid, and fried pork mince pieces — pretty tasty. It is a good starter to get a little bit of everything if you cant decide on one appetizer.
Vietnamese pancake — pretty authentic. It was a little bit burnt/​too crispy for our taste. It came with shrimp, pork, bean sprout, and mung bean, which are the true authentic ingredients for a traditional banh xeo
Grilled market fish — i can’t quite remember the name of the fish it was, but it was a white fish and it was prepared in the Cha Ca Thanh Long style (Hanoi style fish with turmeric and dill) served with rice noodles. I really enjoyed this and it was also pretty authentic to the traditional dish as well.
Caramelised pork belly — a bit fatty, but still delicious. caramelisation done was very similar to what i would expect back at home. It comes in a cute clay pot as well.
The ambiance is also great, they have a really cute upstairs area which gives it a nice authentic and intimate feel. I think this would be a cute place to go on a date as well. Service was also very good. The servers were attentive and friendly.
Overall I would definitely recommend this place to anyone and I know I will be back as well.