So Bia is really less of a restaurant and more like a bar that happens to serve Vietnamese food. I appreciate that they are trying to do something different than having regular bar food, but it just didn't resonate with me. I did like the bar itself and would come here on a nice summer/spring day, grab a beer and chill out on the rooftop.
If you want to eat your food on the rooftop, you have to first order your food at the bar and then they call you on your cell phone. They won't bring the food upstairs to you, instead you have to go all the way back downstairs and pick up the food in a take out bag and come back upstairs. The menu is a pretty decent line up of Vietnamese food: dumplings, spring rolls, steamed buns, pho, curry, and bahn mi sandwiches. Aarti and I split the papaya salad ($8) and the grilled corn with scallion oil ($3). I got the bahn mi sandwich ($8) and Aarti got the eggplant and tofu curry ($9). We sat around with our drinks and lo and behold they call my cell phone about 15 minutes later. We go downstairs to pick up our food and ask if there is sirracha in the bag, to which they said that everything we need is in the bag. Of course, it wasn't. We get up to the roof deck and there is no sirracha or a spoon for the curry, so we had to go back down and up again. The papaya salad was a little spicy but not overwhelming spicy and was totally fine but nothing special. The grilled corn was a bit overcooked and didn't have the fresh corn crunch you get with a fresh ear of corn. It wasn't a very sweet either and the scallion oil didn't add much flavor to it. The bahn mi was made with all the classic ingredients: pork, ham, pate, cucumber, pickled carrot and cilantro on a french baguette. The inside of the sandwich was fine but what makes or breaks a bahn mi is the bread - it should have a nice crunch to it but without being dry and stale tasting. The bread wasn't stale but it was overly crunchy to the point where I kept cutting the roof of my mouth. It a filling sandwich but I've definitely much better bahn mi sandwiches in the city. I had a bite of the curry and again it was fine but not mind blowing.
All in all, I love the idea of what they were trying to do here. It's nice to have some fun Asian options instead of regular bar food, but if it can't be done right, then I would still prefer a burger and fries instead. Price wise it's very reasonable which is why I didn't give this place a lower rating. Go for the view and maybe a snack if you're hungry, but I wouldn't make this a restaurant destination. Total bill: $43 for 2 people including tax and tip
Photo Credit: Yelp
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