Lotus Garden Vietnamese Cuisine

Service was poor, banh mi sandwich was worse, asked for hot sauce he told me it was in the sandwich, he lied, didn’t even offer me anything to drink, most expensive banh mi I ever had $ 6, DON’T COME HERE!

Ive had much better Viet food in the past. This was a $ 38 bill for one beer, Spring rolls, a tasteless fried rice and an OK lemongrass chicken. I’ve been to many other Viet places where you’d get way better and more food for that price. I was really looking forward to eating here after a long day flying across the country. Flavors were bland, I can surely make better fried rice.

Ordered to go
Garlic Noodles with Chicken: I was looking forward to try this because of the numerous positive reviews. I was disappointed, the noodles were very bland and although the serving size was large, I could count the number of chicken pieces
Shaken Beef: They were very salty and tasted more like fried tofu balls, lacking any beef flavor
Beef noodle soup: I liked the broth and it tasted well. I would rate it above average
Over all, disappointing experience. Will not try again

Saturday lunch — delicious. Got a vermicelli bowl anf lunch special.
The imperial rolls were light and crispy. The starter soup was a nice touch. The five spice chicken was moist and not too spiced. The thai iced tea was smoky and woody.
All in all, a good meal at a decent price. Service was fine as there was only half a dozen in the place.

Food is still fine but service was terrible from the new? waitress tonight. I ordered one dish but when I didn’t get what I ordered the waitress insisted I ordered what I got and then charged me extra when I asked that it match the dish I ordered. My mom ordered an appetizer portion but she gave us the entrée size and charged us for that. The owner is still very sweet but needs to review her staff training. Not sure we will be back.

Food taste good, good presentation. Place looks clean. A place you can visit again, definitely!

The food here was really good. I really liked the Bun no hue and the imperial rolls. The owner and waitress were really nice to my family. I would definitely recommend this place!

I’ve been here several times. An Asian friend introduced me. Very yummy food, clean and quiet. I have never tried their phở, but the food has been consistently good. I rarely give 5 stars, reserving those for the many outstanding restaurants in SF; but if you like Vietnamese food, this is one of the better ones.

Mediocre phở. It tastes okay but you can certainly find better elsewhere. They’re more expensive than most places too, for phở and other dishes like rice plates.
Unfortunately they don’t offer nearly as many options for phở as other places do. Lots of phở places will give many options, all with the same price, for different combinations of ingredients. If you want certain things in your bowl, you can ask them to add it in for you, but they’ll tack on $ 4.95 to your order — that brings you up to about $ 13 for a bowl. You’re better off ordering the special bowl ($ 9.50) that has everything in it and taking out all the stuff you don’t want.

I’ve been eating Vietnamese food in San Francisco my entire 32 years of life. so I kind of have an idea of what im getting and can expect. I’ve eaten at Golden Lotus because it’s the closest and it does the trick. The food tastes really very decent. the wait times are usually a little long and the credit card minimum is $ 18 which never fails to annoy me. today, I waited 20 minutes for bun, lemon grass beef and fried rice. and for reference– there is a picture of my $ 10 worth of bun. the quarter is for reference. yes that would be two thin slices of beef about 2 – 3 inches long. this is before I ate anything but 2 slices of my imperial roll that were each the size of a nickel. no lie, the smallest portions I have ever seen. suuuuuuuper chintzy.

Great lunch here yesterday.
This is downtown living, 5 minute walk from sons apartment in the mission district.
I had theSpecial Beef phở and Jen had the Beef Phở and Mags had the curried shrimp in coconut milk.
There were no left overs.
This place is in a dumpy sort of neighborhood but is a really great restaurant. It’s one of Jen’s favorite places for Phở.
I will be back here again and again.

Got takeout via caviar. The salad rolls tasted like feet and the phở was way below standards. It was the worst $ 50 I’ve ever spent.

I forgot I had a bad experience until I read my review. Had a better delivery experience yesterday. The chicken veggie soup is bland and has no noodles perfect for a Paelo type fighting a cold. The catfish was good.

Walked in on a gloomy afternoon for some Vietnamese comfort food and Lotus Garden did not disappoint.
A clean restaurant was a good first impression followed by friendly service from the owner. Her son was doing homework in a corner — definitely a family-​owned business kind of feel.
We started out with the imperial rolls and they were crispy and flavorful with a nice balance of shrimp and pork to veggies. I had the special beef noodle soup which is essentially a combo if you will. The broth was light, and while not the most complex that I’ve had, it more than did its job to warm me right back up. Fairly decent portion sizes for the price and I left feeling pretty full.
Bumped Lotus Garden up a notch a little because the service was really personal. Not often in this part of town too much but wouldn’t mind coming back if I am.

My favorite Vietnamese restaurant in SF, definitely the best south of Market Street! I work nearby and get lunch here whenever I can. The combination chicken and vegetable stir-​fry rice plate is delicious, with fresh veggies in a super flavorful sauce. My other go-​to dish here is the Chicken salad, which is just the right amount of spicy, with a hint of mint and peanuts. I’ve also had the shaken beef, BBQ pork chop, and imperial rolls here. Great Vietnamese food, as good as I’ve ever had.
Plus, the prices are very reasonable and the owners are a super nice, sweet little family.

Visiting the Bay Area for the day and stopped at this place for some Phở. The place was on a street filled with other restaurants, parking might be a challenge. The place was empty when we went in so it was a little concerning, but that soon change as customer started to flow in, still not as busy as others.
The Thai tea was definitely good. Ordered the Phở and had to wait a good 10 minutes to actually get it. The meats were still pink when served so that’s great. The other meatball and tendons were a tad chewy, perhaps they were not cooked long enough. The broth was a little bland, but good enough. I certainly had better tasting broth than this place. The staff are friendly. I’m deducting 1* for bland broth and chewy meats.
Other than the definitely worth a checking out. Perhaps we just had a bad night. May try again in the future.

Service ehhh so so the lady in the front really rude after asking me if I had a hang over today –_​– how unprofessional any ways
I ordered imperial rolls Vietnamese coffee and beef phở came up to 22.00 kind of pricey compared to other places id come back but for sure just for the rolls

I have been a big fan of Lotus Garden for many years. It is what I consider to be a very special neighborhood gem, and a place that delivers solid foot at very reasonable prices. Kathy, the owner, is a really awesome lady who makes me feel at home every time I go there. My husband and I went for dinner tonight with my son. It had probably been a year since we have all eaten there, and Kathy remembered both my regular order and my husband’s regular order! Talk about making someone feel welcomed!
I love the appetizer combo. It is a plate full of dry rice papers (that you soak in water until they soften), mini imperial rolls, meats, noodles, veggies, spices, and sauce that you use to create your own delicious rolls. I think that it’s an awesome interactive meal, and I have not seen this on other Vietnamese restaurant menus. It is absolutely delicious and a great sampling of different foods. My husband had the Phở, and said that it had a nice rich flavor. Our 4.5 year old son had the chicken and veggies, and chowed down. he even started grabbing broccoli, dipping it in the broth and proclaiming «this is yummy!».
Is the cuisine authentic? Honestly, I don’t know! I have never been to Vietnam. Is it delicious? Absolutely!
I love that Lotus Garden is a nice, clean, low-​key place to go with my family. It’s great to feel welcomed at a restaurant during prime dinner hours with a young boy who often cannot sit still or stay quiet!
I honestly can’t imagine why Unilocalers would call Kathy rude. She’s a really sweet lady and has always given me and my family amazing customer service. I also do not think itis fair for someone to complain about not being able to order sandwiches in the restaurant. There are no sandwiches on the menu! There is, however, a huge sign out front that says that people can order sandwiches to go. (I think that this is a separate service for lunch, perhaps?) In any case, I hope that you will try it for yourself. It has been a reliable spot for me to eat for around 6 years and I would highly recommend it.

Almost anything can be made gluten free. They have gluten free fish sauce and oyster sauce. It’s the soy sauce that is not gluten free so BBQ items cannot be gluten free.
I’m taking off a star because a lot of the items we’ve ordered have not been great. I just stick to the same thing which is the imperial roll and noodle dish. It is amazing!

This is the closest Phở place I have to my area. The décor is definitely nice – much nicer than most Phở places I’ve been to. The phở itself, though, was ok, but not much better than average. The broth doesn’t have much flavor, so it’s probably not boiled for any long period of time. Pretty much the kind of Phở quality I would expect if I made Phở at home (but not at a Phở restaurant)
The service was ok. Phở was not-​bad. Giving it a not-​bad score of 3.