I've been to almost every Vietnamese restaurant in town. Kimson is near my current office, and provides a decent presentation of all the tradition classics you would expect. The lunch buffet is sub-par, I would advise against it, but order off the menu instead. The Pho is solid. I would never pick it for supper, there are better choice if you're going to spend supper money v lunch money.
The service is about average for most Asian restaurants in the city, perhaps a little lower than it should be.
My husband is vnese and loves this place. granted it is one of few in the area he still speaks highly of it. We always get a Pho it's fantastic. We've gotten a few of the traditional dishes and have enjoyed them. Get the Vnese egg roll.
They do have a buffet that I have not gotten but I have seen the choices. I would recommend just ordering off the menu.
I've tried this out a couple of times now, looking for some decent Pho near my work. I came across this place when searching on Yelp and decided to give it a shot. The building must have been a seafood restaurant at one point. It's got that theme going on. Inside at lunch, it's clean and neat and there is a small buffet setup.
I've been having the #5 Pho (rare steak). It's not bad. Not my favorite Pho in the area but it gets the job done. It's very light on meat though and heavy on noodles. Going from the regular size to the large size doesn't yield any additional meat - just more noodles. I've tried a few times now!
The service is pretty slow though. Unacceptably slow. I know it's the lunch rush and everything, and I need a little patience but 2 waitresses for the whole place isn't going to cut it. I don't want to be late coming back from my lunch break! Service is also sort of lackluster. Not rude, but not spectacular either.
Overall, it's just "ok". The Pho isn't anything that stands out and the service is a bit slow.
Don't be put off by the strangely nautical exterior. The BF knows his Asian food so I trusted his judgement and we went for dinner a few weeks back. It was DELICIOUS. I had the bean curd with a variety of vegetables. Huge portions, small prices, plenty to take home. A new favorite on the south side of town.
Review Source:Excellent Pho Bo Vien (meatballs). Â Large portion was huge. Â Great fresh herbs, pepper slices, etc on the side as expected. Â Pho was delicious. Though Quang is my "go-to" for-Pho - would def eat here again when in this hood. Â Service was excellent too. Â Could use some new carpeting.
Review Source:This is strictly a convenient place to get decent pho if you live or work here. Â Veggies are fresh, broth good, and you can get tripe & tendon. Â The Vietnamese coffee is tasty too. Â I've never had bad service as some of the reviews describe. Â Wouldn't recommend anything else off the menu except maybe fried wontons. Â If you have dust allergies be aware there are a lot of fake dusty plants here.
Review Source:BEST EGGROLLS i've found so far! Two Eggrolls and I'm stuffed!!
PHO is exceptional and filling. Have yet to finish a whole bowl yet.
Service is nothing to write home about but if they keep my drink filled and get my order correct, that's all I really care about. I'm not there to converse with the staff. I frequent this place maybe once a week and have yet to have a complaint yet!
Kimson, you are a pathetic restaurant.
When I started coming here about a decade ago service was so-so, but the food was good and it was the closest place for pho and that is why I kept coming back.
In the last couple years I was on the verge of officially calling it quits because service has become so poor. As of this past Saturday I am officially no longer a Kimson patron. They do no deserve to be in business and people deserve better service.
I am used to not getting refills, waiting forever and unfriendly staff. But, this time they really ticked me off. They try to take me for a fool when the decided to charge my sister for XL Pho, but that is not what they brought her. My husband and I order XL Pho and in no way was her order as big as ours. When the woman set the food in front of my sister we noticed right away that it was not the right size, when we mentioned it to the server she said that is an XL and walked away! What the F**k? Do you think we are stupid? She never even came back to give us refills or our bill. My husband had to go up to the counter and ask for the bill. He noticed that they did charge for an XL Pho and demanded it to be changed. If they made a mistake why could'nt they just fix it?
I was a customer for 10 years and would stop in only 2-3 times a year. Half of those years were fine and the other half were crappy. I can't believe I was so patient with them!
For all the people reading reviews for KImson, please do not give them your money! There are plenty of other places that give good service and is much worth the drive downtown.
I came here today after not coming here for about 4 years and some things never change. Â
Entered the door and was not acknowledged. Â Sat myself down and waited 6 minutes to receive menus. No "hi". Â Waited another 4 minutes to place 2 orders of pho. No verbatim was made. Â Waitress came back with water after 10 minutes. Still not a word. Â "Standard" size pho finally came after 10 minutes with no words exchanged. Â Pho was decent tasting and not too salty. Â Went up to pay the bill after standing there for a few minutes even after waitress saw me she kept doing other things. Â
Keep in mind there was 2 other patrons there and 2 waitresses. Â They act like they are doing us a favor and dont want our money or tip. Â However, paying my bill with cash she expected a $5 tip. Â haha.
I wont be coming here ever again.
I've been twice for lunch and it's a good choice in an otherwise disappointing area for food. Ignore the buffet. It's OK but I found the dishes too salty and there wasn't much choice.
The pho however is well worth getting. It's not as good as say Pho 79 but still good with a nice broth. Also I wasn't mega thirsty after going so maybe they use less MSG than other places.
So there you go, if you're in Bloomington and hankering some
pho come here.
This is hole in a wall place that serve Vietnamese food. Â The ONLY thing I would recommend here is the Pho(more on this later). Â EVERYTHING is mediocre at best.
Keep in mind, I am Vietnamese and expect a lot out of my food when it claims to be a part of my culture. Â Their egg roll may have pork in it...Most non-Vietnamese person might like it... Â I personally 'HATE' it - even my son refuse to take a second bite. Â Their spring roll was a roll of lettuce with little meat and lack basil/'essential vegetables, etc...
Now back to the Pho, this is one of the BETTER Pho in Minneapolis hands down. Â Now there is the catch - they only serve in one bowl size(compare to other Vietnamese restaurants throughout the area). Â Last but not least, that bowl is 'standard' pho bowl that we have in our home. Â In other words, it is a SMALL in my book. Â Yes, most non-Vietnamese would consider it as a LARGE. Â If you believe that - you just need to get out more. Â Yes, you need to try other pho places!
All in all, the soup is very good but NOTHING else. Â If I go back, it is because I am too lazy to drive all the way down to eat street to get a bowl of Pho...
I came here for some Pho during my lunch break. Â I was quickly seated and ordered. Â My Pho was out in just about a minute or so.
It was simple and tasty. Â Nothing special. Â The broth wasn't as flavorful as I would have preferred.
I didn't think it was nearly as good as Quang's. Â Though with all the reviews saying it is almost as good, I am definitely going to try it again. Â Perhaps the broth hadn't been simmering quite long enough.
There are three varieties of Pho on the English menu, while the back of the menu is in Vietnamese. Â I noticed the pricing on the Vietnamese menu didn't quite line up. Â I wonder if the Vietnamese menu has more Pho options on it?
I tend to like my Pho with tripe and tendon in it as well, which the American menu version did not have. Â I may return to investigate whether or not the Vietnamese menu has these options available.
Avoid this place!
My wife and I stopped in her to have a quick lunch. Â That was a mistake. Â The server talked on her cellphone the entire time that she took our order and later served us our food. Â Not a single greeting to us whatsoever. Â
I might overlook crappy service if the food is good. Â But the food here was sub par and in no way worth trying again. Â I had Hot & Spicy Chicken and I have definitely had much better theirs. Â The chicken was dry and tough. Â My wife had Beef with Mushrooms and Broccoli and she was unimpressed with her meal as well. Â She absolutely hates Wendy's and said she'd prefer Wendy's to that.
After our lunch was through the server had disappeared I was tempted to leave without paying anything. Â I had to wait at the counter about 5 minutes before someone appeared (not our phone talking server) to pay for our meal.
The worst meal and service I have had anywhere in a long time. Â Skip Kimson's!
I am surprised I didn't review this place earlier- I come here for lunch almost once a week, as it is great when I don't have time to get from Edina to uptown for pho (which is almost always). They do a quite decent job on their pho with all the trimmings. Their stir-fry dishes are better than your average strip-mall Asian but are nothing too special. The service here is horrible though, especially during the lunch hour as there are two servers for the entire place (and their English is not the best, they make mistakes fairly frequently). There is also a lunch buffet which I don't recommend as it is your typical fried rice/cheese wontons/beef&broccoli, but it is a potential option for your less adventurous friends.
Review Source:I didn't come in with high expectations. There were about two cars parked and the place wasn't exactly hopping. However, we're glad we visited Kimson.
Atmosphere:
It's obvious Kimson use to be another restaurant, with its red linens and oak decorated booths. But if they are a hole in the wall, there isn't much you can expect here.
Service was good. They were prompt and very accommodating.
rating: 7/10
Food:
I naturally had the Pho to find out if this was truly a decent Vietnamese restaurant. While it took a little longer to get my food (at most places, Pho is out in 56 seconds), the pho was fantastic. The broth was flavorful yet light and didn't reek of MSG (which is common). The meat was tender and the veggies fresh. The Mrs. had a seafood soup with clear noodles and that too was delicious.
We couldn't help but see the old couple sitting next to us. They ordered chicken wings and they came out looking scrumptious. We'll have to try that next time.
rating: 8/10
For a quick trip if we can't make it to Eat Street, Kimson is a nice alternative.
Ever since I was a kid, my parents would always make pho every weekend and it has been my favorite thing to eat since. Â And since I don't live with them or around them, I have to substitute theirs for restaurant bought. Â Since I've moved here, the only pho place I've been to is Quang's, and while theirs is pretty darn good, I will admit that Kimson's is pretty good too. Â
Kimson's is a little pricey for pho, since the median price for a good bowl of pho runs 5.50-6.50, their's starts at 6.50ish? Something like that...I just know that's a bit much. Â But the trade off is driving all the way out to Minneapolis for pho...while I can just drive down the street for just about as good as Quang's, I still got my pho-munchie on! Â And I would have to say their coffee with condensed milk is quite tasty! Â I have yet to try some of their other dishes, will update again once I try other stuff!