Blue Bamboo

Delicious bun bowls, phở, spring rolls, coco shrimp. ahh I could go on and on. For those who complain about the amount of meat, go to bk and get your triple whopper, or, you could also try something else on the menu that is more than 7 bucks (vermicelli bowls) like the bamboo temptation,-a great steak dish for 10 bucks, a steal I would say-​, or even better the Yum Nua, amazing steak salad with chili-​lime dressing. Oh and if you really want to be a person who holds their own opinion then read none of these reviews and try it for yourself! :)

Just had the WORST experience ordering on the phone for delivery. The girl kept laughing in that awkward I-don’t-know-what-the-hell-I’m-doing way. I can only hope the food is edible. The food is here! & my rice plate is missing. Strike out! Argh!!!

It seems that Escarpment Village is cursed. As of Jan, 2013 this restaurant has also closed.

The food was alright, but definitely doesn’t compare to the other options you have here in Austin.

Lemongrass tofu bowl is great huge «springroll» salad. I love it here.

closed.

We were extremely disappointed with this place ever since they opened up. We’ve been going to some of the great Vietnamese restaurants in North Austin and were excited that a Vietnamese restaurant opened up practically down the street from where we live. We gave this restaurant 3 opportunities before coming to a conclusion that we’ll never return again and resume frequenting the far better yet remote restaurants of North Austin. I even went to one of the good restaurants and got a take out and brought it back to Blue Bamboo telling the host at the front counter «This is what Vietnamese food (Ginger Chicken with Vermicelli in this case) should taste like!». They looked at me like I was crazy so I just left it there and walked out. We then went back a month later and nothing has changed. Basically the noodles are overcooked, there is no flavor and it tastes like it was put together without skill. The location is great, restaurant looks great, but the food is terrible. I really had high hopes for this place but the owner has no clue what they’re doing for customers. It’s either that or their staff just does not care. They should go and visit some of the great mom and pop restaurants of north Austin, like Sagiang and see what makes their dishes great. In a restaurant the first thing that is a «must be great» is the food. I don’t really care about the presentation if the food does not taste great.
Here is a must for a Vietnamese cuisine: Grilled Chicken curry with Vermicelli and Vietnamese drip coffee. Also, Phở Ga and shrimp spring rolls with peanut sauce. If you can’t make that then find a different profession to be in. Might as well make burgers with french fries if you want the business, but if you pick something that features flavors of another country then you need to keep in mind that customers are the ones that keep a business going. «well I think it’s good» says the cook with the head in the sand. Sorry to be negative, but I hope that I’ll be able to change this review to a positive one if the owner sees this.

Quite good and consistent Vietnamese food.
Nice restaurant, good service and very decent food. Quite reasonable as well.

For the most part I really like the food here. Appetizers are hit and miss but you owe it to yourself to try out the pineapple curry with chicken. GREAT dish.
Service is usually good as well.
Definitely recommend to a friend, but it’s not necessarily a weekly trip for us.

I feel bad I’ve waited so long to update my review. Blue Bamboo has really stepped it up a notch from when we first started going. I may even like it better than Hai Ky. What?
I really like their Thai Iced Tea — its one of the freshest I’ve had in Austin. The lemongrass tofu makes for a great vegetarian vermicelli bowl. The ingredients have always been fresh and crisp, and the noodles are cooked just right.
Sometimes, we get amazing service and the server is right on top of everything. Sometimes, he’s not there and the lady can be a bit overwhelmed with orders, getting checks out, etc.
There is a great outdoor seating area that has a big grassy field. I much prefer that to staring at cars in a shopping plaza parking lot.
Give it a shot. Give it a shot again, if you haven’t been back recently. Hopefully they’ll pleasantly surprise you.

Its pretty good and resonably priced for viet-​thai food.
The Phở keeps me coming back. The Sping rolls are ok. And the vermicelli is decent.
Ive never had a probaly with the staff and have always had good service.
The atmosphere is pretty blan and could use an update.
but other than that its resonable pricing, good food, and they also deliver now which is a plus.

Not a fan.
I think the cook/​chef might benefit greatly from reading a recipe book on Thai cuisine.
The Pad Thai I ordered was… odd.
The children’s soup (phở) my daughter ordered was filled with bell peppers… seriously, what child likes bell peppers?

This will do for Asian food, but the standard is higher in Austin me thinks.
The spring rolls are bland, kind of white bread… let me tell you, dipping anything into peanut sauce is good… anything.
Anything.
Vermicelli is light on the meat, heavy on the noodles, probably a good value though, and it will fill you up if you let it.
Satay is good, but hard to work with on the skewer. Don’t stab yourself. Cucumber dipping sauce is good.
Maybe I’m going off on my own tangent here too, but I’ve come to learn that sprouts are a dangerous food exactly the same as raw beef. I’m big on food safety, and I don’t really think anyone would miss them if they were gone, just sayin. This type of food is heavy on the sprouts. People associate them with health, but they really give me the creeps.
Service was slow. I think one of the servers got an evil eye from someone in charge for not greeting us, never the less, we were left hanging.
This is family place it seems. The patio was loaded with kids kicking and throwing things. There was even a basketball hoop set up in the grass area for your progeny to make a repetitive dull thud sound.
Actually… never mind, if you throw peanut sauce on a kid, it doesn’t make them any good.

Well, Now the Owner is the only waitress.
She did a great job, the food was good, and there was no «Drama» while we were there.
Maybe she is getting the hang of it!
BTW, The food is really good!

Southwest Austin has a shortage of good Vietnamese and Thai restaurants. So, this review is mainly intended as constructive criticism in the hopes Blue Bamboo will eventually shine in Circle C!
I do wish they were less stingy on the seafood and meat dishes. The taste is fantastic but if, for example, you order A2 (Blue Bamboo Spring Rolls) you will find one very thin shrimp that appears to have been sliced using a laser gun. One shrimp per Spring Roll is not acceptable. I can walk across the street and get better Spring Rolls from the Sushi Bar at the Escarpment H-​E-​B.
For TO GO orders: As with many Asian restaurants, the Alpha Numeric system on the menu is a MUST. A big tip: get the hard copy menu or go to the website. The hard copy menu is beautifully designed and is extremely informative. Just make sure you order using the codes on the menu, and that the person taking the order for TO GO, repeats it.
So bad news out of the way, those were my two major points for criticism. However, I have hope this place will make gigantic strides in improvement down the road.
The Phở is great. But I’m not from Vietnam so take that with a grain of salt, or perhaps a sprinkling of soy sauce. I feel the meat they use is of high quality. Scarce, but still of good quality compared to many phở joints around Austin.
Blue Bamboo definitely provides your daily FDA designated serving of vegetables for most dishes. I get nicely cut cucumbers, carrots, tomatoes with a good serving of lettuce for most of the meat dishes I order.
Chicken and Beef Satay (A5) were okay — they’d be inedible without the cucumber sauce and the peanut sauce.
I like the Tom Yum (S6) and Tom Kha (S7) but I strongly feel that both can use more meat and the Tom Kha should have more coconut milk. I understand coconut milk is expensive but if the soup is mainly broth for $ 10 — I would pay extra for them to not water it down.
Silent Mistress (S3) [*one of my favorites] is grilled marinated New York Strips flavored with chili, lime onion, rice and mint. It’s very tasty but they need to provide more rice with the serving and should include MINT if it is listed on the menu.
Serin’s Nest (N3) should have more seafood — price is $ 10.50 but three skimpy shrimps just doesn’t give the patron bang for the buck.
Pad Thai (N4) is okay; I’ve had better ones at other Thai restaurants. Then again, it has always been too sweet for my taste buds,
Green Curry (S2) [*one of my favorites] has a good combination of bamboo shoots, bell pepper and zucchini.
I’m no expert on South East Asian cuisine BUT, I really hope they heed the advice of other Unilocalers and patrons and make the necessary improvements. The owner was there one night and explained the three Vietnamese statues of women [ found at entrance on wall when you first walk in]. Each lady represents a region in Viet Nam and attributes…
1) At the far left, North Vietnam,
2) middle statue: Central Vietnam
3) Far right, South Vietnam.
I can have phở and a history lesson too = I’m a happy camper! I just wish their service didn’t depend on the alignment of the stars. Sometimes it’s perfect, and sometimes it’s extremely lacking. But still proof to have faith in new establishments and be patient with them.

I don’t care what the others say about us, this place makes me happy!
this has become our regular stop when we drive home from weekends in wimberley. we look forward to it all week. I don’t eat the phở so…
the kids love the pad thai, I enjoy the red curry with pineapple and tofu…
I’ll say that the pad kee mao was a bit too sweet for my liking, but I can forgive them of that as there are other things on the menu we like plenty.
they serve blue moon and sometimes I need that for a late sunday lunch.
this reminds me, I think I have some leftover red curry in the fridge! gonna go nuke it and eat it now.

Oh I so want to like this place. It is very close to where I live. The Phở selection in south austin is borderline criminal. I would go by it every other day before it opened just to check to see if they are open. But What a disappointment. Bar none the smallest amount for Phở anywhere in town, maybe besides T&N which is also south austin. My wife who can not finish a small bowl of Phở at Phở Saigon is still hungry after a large here. Their service is kind of odd. Not bad, friendly but odd. Their Thai food choices are also half ass. Not quite as good as «real» Thai restaurants, but not all the way Americanized either. Pad Thai is a little dry. Curry a little sweet. Their appetizer dish with the wings is pretty tasty though.
Don’t come for Phở. Half way decent Thai is what you’ll get.

Be gentle with me — this is my first review. I hope it doesn’t sound too sophomoric.
Blue Bamboo is close to where I live, so about 2 months ago my son and I decided to try it. My son is a vermicelli snob, but was pleasantly surprised with how much he enjoyed the «Tongue Toaster». He also raves about the spring rolls (he likes the shrimp the best).
My first visit I tried the Phad Thai, which was good but not my favorite (for some reason no one does Phad Thai for me better than Pei Wei… but that’s a different story!). I also had the Satay (both chicken and beef — we were really hungry that visit!). I really enjoyed the Satay (the meat was not overcooked) and their peanut sauce rocks.
My second visit I found the best chicken dish I believe I have ever eaten. Their Thai Basil Chicken is the bomb. I love a little spice in my food and this has it, and much more. With whole leaves of basil, nicely cooked Chicken and delicious veggies, it is an explosion of goodness in my mouth (ok that expression is not worthy of a food critic, but I just can’t come up with another description!). And instead of rice, they let me substitute vermicelli noodles.
And their servings are generous; I always have left overs. We now eat there at least once a week, but usually get it to go and eat at home.

I shuffled off to suburbia and waded through all the shiny BMWs and hyperactive six-​year-​olds for this? Sigh…
To be fair, the environment Blue Bamboo offers isn’t nearly as blasé as many reviews have stated. The TVs are tucked away in the corners of the restaurant, and the sprawling murals and well-​placed decorations create a nice sense of neo-​asian fusion (or something). After a brief stint indoors, we decide to shift over to the patio.
The musical offerings for the evening were fantastic (Kevin Scott Duo) and made the grueling task of eating there somewhat tolerable. The $ 2 Blue Moons also made for a welcome happy hour special, and the service was, uh, serviceable.
Still, it’s a restaurant, and these saving graces can’t overshadow the fact that the food sucked. My order of the lemongrass tofu was mostly void of sauce, instead just a huge pile of bland vermicelli noodles with sparse vegetables. I had to order a side of peanut sauce to pour on top of it to add taste. I’m tempted to compliment Blue Bamboo for its hardily sized plates, but when the food was this bland it just meant I’d have even more «blah-​ness» to gobble down.
My friend ordered a vegetable stir fry that we both agreed was barely edible. After a few bites, she gave up entirely. Even heaving gallons of soy sauce and hot sauce on it couldn’t save the freezer-​worthy stir fry.
It seems that Blue Bamboo has all the aesthetics and auxiliary elements that make for a good suburban joint: the atmosphere is nice, the music was awesome, and the service was fine. Nonetheless, the food didn’t keep its end of the bargain.

In a nutshell, I should’ve listened to the other reviews. We went here for a friend’s show and I was soon wishing I would’ve eaten something beforehand.
Aside from the sterile atmosphere of suburbia, it seemed every dish ordered at our table was sub par… and definitely lacking any sort of flavor. The venue gains its two stars for the friendly staff — our waiter was very nice and willing to joke around with a group of 20-​somethings after we’d had a few beers. :)

I’ve had my fair share of Vietnamese food and Blue Bamboo is okay. I went for dinner and ordered the shrimp spring rolls and the chicken vermicelli bowl. The spring rolls were good but they weren’t AMAZING either. To my surprise, the peanut sauce was good and to my satisfaction. The vermicelli bowl was much better than other places I’ve had in Austin.
I stayed away from the pad thai because of the bad reviews.
The service is BAD. The waiters never refilled my water and brought my food out before spring rolls. I understand that they are high school kids working here, but how hard can it be to see if a customer needs something else? There wasn’t that many people there. The wait staff is also unfamiliar with the menu. I went for dinner and already knew I wanted the chicken vermicelli bowl but it was nowhere on the dinner menu. All they had was tofu and other vegetarian vermicelli bowls. I asked the waiter if he could give me chicken instead of tofu and he hesitated for a good while before telling me he’d have to ask. Turns out, the chicken vermicelli is on the lunch menu.
The owner of the restaurant is not very nice either. The table behind me were given LUNCH menus instead of DINNER so the prices were, of course, cheaper. The man asked the waiter why his meal increased $ 3 more and the waiter said he accidentally gave them the wrong menu. The waiter then said he could most likely take off the $ 3 but would ask his boss first. The boss came to the table and instead of speaking in a quiet manner, she raised her voice and was practically screaming at the guy. I couldn’t understand her thick accent but did pick up some words here and there. The point is, the owner should have dealt with the situation better than yelling at the man.
I may go back but if I do, I will definitely do take out.
All you people looking for Thai, check out CK Thai off Brodie and 290. It’s new and has great THAI food.