Quick pit stop before a movie session down west at Sunflower Vietnamese Restaurant on Days Road. Upon arrival, we were left standing at the door for a solid 5 minutes with waiters bustling past us constantly with no acknowledgement. :/ Now, we were left with the dilemma of just leaving the premises and looking elsewhere to find a quick feed during the interim before the movie starts, or taking things into our own hands and seating ourselves. Before we could come to a decision (we’re rather indecisive people, hehe), a waitstaff finally… finally seated us and presented us with their menus.
Word of mouth from friends have talked this place up saying that the food is pretty damn good. Unfortunately for the pair of us, we had no idea on what was good and what was bad sooooo.. what to order?! We started off with an entree of bbq quails.
BBQ quails; $7.90
Small and rather expensive, I thought; thankfully the marinade was flavoursome and fragrant but not enough to mask the overcooked meat which was dry and tough.
Next up, prawn toast and two dishes from the specials blackboard.
Prawn toast; $5.50, steamed rice $2.00 per person,
soft shell crab in tamarind and plum sauce; $17.90, sizzling crocodile in spicy sauce; $17.90
The prawn toast was abysmal. Oily, bland and unappetising. The special mains were sub par as well. The soft shell crab was drenched in the tamarind and plum sauce thereby rendering the soft shell crab to a soggy and soft mess. The sizzling crocodile was average with a mix of chopped up vegetables drowned in a so-called spicy sauce that didn’t even register on the spice radar. Not only was it your average asian stir fry that you can pick up at your local asian take away store, the smell permeated through our clothes and my hair for the rest of the night! My tip? Steer clear from their specials menu!
After our uneventful dinner, N notified me that we ordered the wrong items on the menu (go figure), so the plan is to tag along with her next time and let her take reigns on the ordering side of things. I’m willing to give it one more shot, just one more, even with their crappy service and all. Hmph!
Food: 2/5
Service: 2/5
Value: 2.5/5
Ambience: 2/5
-d
Sunflower Vietnamese Restaurant
30-32 Days Road
Croydon Park SA 5008
P 08 8340 0880
Opening hours
Monday Closed
Tue-Wed, Sat 5pm-Late
Thu-Fri, Sun 11am-2.30pm, 5pm-Late
Been there….hated it!
I went years ago….seems as if things haven’t changed
That’s the worse! Going out for a meal and the meal ends up being a blunder! Do you have any recommendations on where to have amazing Vietnamese food?
We used to go there occasionally before the New Furniture: the night they changed over the old furniture for the new may well have been the last meal we enjoyed there.
We used to order a steamboat, usually seafood, and liked them very much.
Our next visit after the New Furniture they had installed a big TV: my heart sank. They then started not remembering that we had been there before: we stopped going back.
I suspect there was a massive change in attitude between the old and the new- the very young and charmingly incompetent waitresses felt more important and the cooks relaxed from the old standards. There was a decrease in the pleasure of eating there, and it became too far from Plympton to bother.
Maybe they got comfortable and after building a loyal following, they started to slack off. Or maybe, they’re not operating under new management? Either way, what a shame cause I have heard great things about it.. but like I mentioned in the post, I will give it a go another time. Just not anytime soon I don’t think. Hehe, thanks for dropping by and commenting!
I love Vietname Sunrise only Henely Beach Road. It’s always busy there so book if you want to go for tea. I also heard along the grape vine (not sure how true it is) that the same people are opening a place on Prospect Road under a similar name (sorry I can’t remember it) but there is signage on the window saying that it is opening soon.
Oh yes, I’ve been there before and did enjoy lunch. My friend told me about the new place on Prospect Road which has just opened as I saw quite a crowd there over the weekend. Looks like it might be worth a visit! Thanks!
I think their Chao Tom/Nem Nuong was quite nice. I also had the Salt & Pepper Flounder. Lol I think you just had all the wrong things.
Damn it, what a waste of a meal as well cause it wasn’t cheap either!
there is Saigon House opened 6months ago at para vista , food nice too..