ChoLon Bistro

So here is the story of our ChoLon experience. I went here with my Fiance for my birthday. He wanted to take me out for a nice time on the town. It was a Tuesday night but we made reservations anyway. We arrived 10 minutes early and they sat us down with no problem at all.

We start off by ordering a glass of wine each and getting this huge tasteless bread/cracker thing as our "bread". It was pretty...but rather bland.

For the appetizer we order the soup dumplings. OH MY GOODNESS they taste SO AMAZING. I could seriously eat them all night! (and I should have)
Next we got an order of their summer rolls. I loved the sauce that came with it: but the roll itself all I could taste was cilantro and corn. I couldn't even tell it had anything else in it.

For our entree we decided on the Salmon. It comes with 3 filets and it is served over corn and lima beans. This was the biggest disappointment of all. One filet was under cooked, one was overcooked, and one was just right.. the Lima beans were severely under cooked and the whole thing came out cold. So cold the sauce fell apart and the butter turned globby. I DO understand that it was a Tuesday, they don't have their "A game" on, but this was just sad. There were only 7 other tables in the whole place: we should have gotten hot food.

I will have to say even though the food was mediocre (which it should NOT be for the price we pay) The service was EXCELLENT!

We ordered some dessert and the server overheard that it was my birthday and she came back with a plate saying "HAPPY BIRTHDAY" on it written in Chocolate sauce. That was a nice touch :)

Overall I will most likely go back just for the drinks (did I mention the mixed drinks were yummy) and for the service and the soup dumplings. But I don't think I will ever order an expensive dinner again.

Tried this ChoLon during restaurant week.  Was always hesitant to try it because I'm Vietnamese and am picky when it comes to the food.  This is a Vietnamese fusion place.

I called to make my reservation and the took down my credit card info.  If we no showed, we would still be charge.  This is when I knew they meant business. lol.

$8 valet, not bad.

They only serve their 5280 menu and we were disappointed cause we wanted to try other stuff.  We also had and odd number of 3 dining.  To get the most bang for our buck we should order as 3 individuals instead of 1 couple and 1 individual but they didn't let us so that was irritating.  

Ordered a bottle of wine for $52.80.

We basically had one of each thing on the menu.  The "bread" is a Vietnamese rice cracker with a spicy dipping sauce.  

Great:
Soup filled dumplings
Shrimp toast

Ok:  
Salmon with lima beans.  Salmon was seared so most was still raw and I didn't like that.  But it had good flavor (think of the tart sauce on a sashimi dish at a sushi place) topped with mushroom
Rib ws a tiny little thing with some noodles and baby bok choy
Brussel sprouts in a oyster sauce

Not a fan:
Egg foo young was soggy rice topped with a scrambled egg and some chili

Service was good.  Food was surprisingly good.  I hear it's pretty pricey otherwise so not sure I will return but it was nice to try during restaurant week.

I went during restaurant week which I think the staff couldn't handle the influx of people.  The food was great - I would give it 4-5 stars.  The soup dumplings were outstanding and the donuts, oh my.  But the service was, well, lacking.  We were sat much after our reservation time and we were so rushed through our dinner, it was difficult to enjoy it.  The waiter, who was obviously overwhelmed, tried to take our drink order before we were all even situated in our seats.  Food came out rapid fire and were even asked to get up from our table so they could sit another party about 2 minutes after we had paid our bill.  The restaurant week pricing was unbeatable for the amount of food we ate; but part of dining out is about the experience, not just the food.  I left feeling annoyed.  I hope this is not typical for this restaurant.  I'd like to give it another try but would only go if it seemed like it was a slow night.