Lotus Cafe

I love this place. Great food, nice people, great atmosphere. Lots of my friends like this place. I first went because they recommended it. I will go back again.

Don’t be fooled by the current star rating that it has, if you’ve ever tasted decent Vietnamese dishes before or if you possess working taste buds.
My sister and I were feeling lazy and did not want to drive out to eat at ANY OTHER VIETNAMESE RESTAURANTS IN THE CITY OF ARLINGTON, so I suppose this is our fault, but we didn’t expect such bland food or bad service from reading the other reviews. We ordered the regular beef phở and the pork vermicelli. Here’s how the food/​service went wrong…
1. I specifically asked for no cucumbers in the vermicelli bowl. Got extra cucumbers instead because dude doesn’t care.
2. While everyone else had their water refilled and topped off, we had attempt multiple times to get the lone waiter’s attention. Again, dude don’t care.
3. Iced Vietnamese coffee was not the proper drip type, so it tasted all chalky and artificial… but what can we expect, when the rest of the boba drinks seem like the powder and ice type.
If you look at the neighborhood’s demographics, this restaurant’s reviews make more sense. If you want better food AND aren’t too lazy to drive 10 minutes to other better Vietnamese restaurants, please do that instead.

Excellent pot stickers, appetizer egg rolls.
My favorite orange chicken and just about everything else. Owner takes extra effort to
Make sure we are taken care of

I saw the good reviews and decided to give this place a chance. Mediocre food at best and awful service so I would not recommend this place to others. I have waited tables so I am not by any means a demanding customer but our waiter took our order and then spent the rest of the time sitting at a table with some other customers. My husband had to go up to the take out counter to pay for our food. Drive the extra distance to Phở Palace for way better food and service.

We ordered over the phone. Mistake #1. We had ordered The chicken Phở, and Chicken Shaken Rock n Roll and spring rolls with peanut sauce.
We got home and realized our order was not right then called them to get it corrected. They knew that they had given us the wrong order and didn’t call us, even though they had our number. We live 20 minutes away. With broken English we were told to come back now if we want it corrected. We explained we had family in town and could not return at this time. No solution was given to get this corrected. So, I guess we eat it financially. We won’t go back!

We highly recommend this delicious Vietnamese café! We used to drive further into Arlington (there’s at least 6 Phở restaurants off Pioneer) but were so pleased to find this little gem only a mile from home. So much so that we visited the café three times in two days and still can’t get enough! We’ve had an assortment of boba teas and smoothies and loved every single one. The phở (we’ve had the combination, round-​eye beef and seafood) was EXCELLENT. The broth is some of the best I’ve had and we all thought the rice noodles were cooked to perfection. We’ve tried each of the appetizers listed and not a single one disappoints. My personal fav are the crab rangoons — large and perfectly balanced with crab meat and cream cheese. We’ve also been pleasantly surprised with the Banh Mi sandwiches! At only $ 4.25, they’re perfect for lunch and are packed with fresh veggies and meat. The atmosphere is laid back — perfect for a casual meal or pickup to eat at home. We’ll come back here again and again and are just so happy to have found another local favorite.

Just ate here for the first time. Definitely on of the best Vietnamese restaurants. The Pad Thai and spring rolls were great. Good coffee too :-)

I crave their chefs special often — the wide soft rice noodles with chicken & veggies — very generous portions! Their pork spring rolls have a wonderful flavor, I just wish they would separate the cilantro from the stems a little more so it’s not like biting into a stack of stems in your spring roll with just 1 or 2 leaves on it. Their pad Thai was good too, also probably enough for 2 to share. Maybe it’s just me but the smoothies were WAY too sweet, so I just stick with water when I go there. More room for spring rolls! I like their décor too — comfy & casual. A neighborhood fave for sure.

We went here for the trifecta (spring rolls, boba tea, and phở). The traditional spring roll was fantastic, fresh, and wonderful. The boba was equally impressive and I highly recommend the lychee green boba tea. It’ll cost you an extra $ 0.35 for boba, but it’s worth it. The phở was super filling, and tasty. The entire place was clean and the service was great. We will totally be back.

I have always loved Lotus Café and I am happy that their business has been successful. They are located in a spot that has been home to many other businesses that just couldn’t seem to make it past a year
Looks like Lotus Café broke the curse. They are always clean and their food is fresh. They have a nice selection of milk tea to choose from and the staff is friendly.

Phở and boba are very good here. The meat is nice quality and does not have the fatty parts of typical phở. I also had a thai tea which featured perfectly cooked boba pearls. Layout of the restaurant is a little odd, but its not important.

Nice clean restaurant, friendly staff and good food. The phở was good but the hunan chicken was a 7 on a 10 scale. Premade coffee and Boba tea rather than handmade.

One of the most reasonably priced Vietnamese food that’s well done. The service is excellent and the staff is friendly. They are also very accommodating with meal sizes. If you have a small appetite, you can request a kiddie size of your order. Their portions are huge. Love this place.

Enjoyed our lunch here. I had phở with brisket and my sister had the combo rice noodle bowl (like a cold noodle salad). Hers had lots of different toppings and a dressing served on the side. Highly recommend you try it. Both were very good. The place looked like it had lots of regulars. Great prices and portions and the interior of the restaurant was nice.

I am here every week! Amazing boba
Great customer service
Love the ladies there they treat me like family when I walk in
I always come several times a week and order the same thing
In fact I got a free drink there one time
Love it

I live maybe a mile and a half from this restaurant and love it. Their Phở is some of the best I’ve ever had and I love their Boba tea and spring rolls as well. We’ve eaten here well over 20 times and have never had a bad experience. They left siracha and hoisin off of a to-​go order ONCE and I had them here at home so not that big of a deal.
I also have many friends who pass other Vietnamese places to come here. It’s clean, quiet and friendly as well as reasonably priced.

I work and live very close to Lotus Café so I come one or more times a week. I’m not a glutton of punishment continually eating bad food so it definitely means I’m a fan. I frequently go and order the Phở, Crab Rangoon, Bun Thit Nuong, and Pad Thai. Every once in a while I get the bubble tea and something special on the front cover. I do like the location so I don’t have to drive deeper into Arlington for good Vietnamese/​Asian food.
When I order food to-​go they are efficient so I can order for co-​workers and have separate payments. Service is nice and everything is clean and neat.

I liked Lotus Café and was a fairly regular customer since it’s so close to my house. I usually get their Phở but tonight I tried their Teriyaki Chicken. It was awful. It was flattened dried-​up chicken sprinkled with sesame seeds and teriyaki sauce on the side. The teriyaki sauce tasted like something you’d buy at a grocery store. I consider myself a bit of an expert since I’m Asian and I grew up on this stuff and trust me, I know good Teriyaki Chicken and this wasn’t it. Sarku at Arlington Parks Mall — now they make good Teriyaki Chicken.
But where I was more disappointed was in the lack of customer service that I received after having been a regular customer (I’ve never returned any of their food before). As soon as I tasted the chicken, I told the waiter that I didn’t want this dish and asked him to remove it from my tab. I didn’t eat it. I took a bite and it was awful. I didn’t think I should pay for it. Most restaurants I’ve been to would be apologetic and even offer another dish for me to order. But not Lotus Café. Oh, well. No problem. I paid for it but I will never go back.

Have you ever walked into a place and new that what ever you order, you wish you would have ordered something different? With Lotus Café, they have so many choices and I could not make up my mind. Should I go Vietnamese, or stay with the basics? Well, I went with the shrimp fried rice and spring rolls. I know. How generic. I have been to Brodard Asia Express many times, and have most of the dishes on the menu. I am not comparing my experience that I had at Lotus to Brodard.
The rice was very good. Cooked perfectly and great flavor. the spring rolls were great. Now that they exceeded my expectations on the most basic dishes, can’t wait to come back for some Vietnamese food. I love Phở, but I will wait to try it when the weather cools down.
Stay hungry my friends…

I give this place 4 stars! The place was clean and had exceptional service! We ordered the lemon grass chicken and my husband had the combo bowl. We also tried the tornado shrimp as an appetizer. Let’s just say once we started eating it was complete silence! Sure sign the food is great!
We also tried the boba drinks so refreshing! I will be back here for sure! So happy we found this place thanks to Unilocal!