Blue Bamboo

Just stay away! Food was awful and the service was lacking.

Blue Bamboo is closed. It’s now part of a chain called Simply Phở The Bun was meh! Ordered the charcoal pork and shrimp, only wanted shrimp. Asked that they leave off the pork. They charged $ 2,50 more for shrimp only. Next the waiter, a young dude with a black beard, forgot our order, the kitchen had to scramble to get it out when they realized we hadn’t been served. Oh yea, what about the appetizer? He brought it after the dinner was served. I forgot to tip the young man, actually I do have a tip for him… try bagging groceries, you aint no waiter.

Blue Bamboo is CLOSED. Unilocal search for the new place Simply Phở is spotty and does not show up on the app, but it is under new ownership and a vast improvement from Blue Bamboo. Hopefully Unilocal will fix the issue so I can upload a review and photos from the app.

Ok… I guess the glamour of the first visit has worn off. Yikes! Went with hubby and kiddo’s over the weekend and we were pretty unimpressed. Actually, the food from when it was Blue Bamboo was better tasting. I ordered my usual from before… Pork and Rolls vermicelli bowl and hubby had phở. Lacking in taste and my vermicelli noodles were very thick. There wasn’t much pork in my bowl at all. My hubby did not really like his phở. Look, the guy has had his share of phở in his lifetime, and knew this did compare to some of the ones he’s had. Or maybe it’s because I started making phở at home with my pressure cooker. Once you get homemade, it’s hard to go back to what you get at the restaurant. Oh, and the prices are higher now too. I’m not sure about this place after all… you can try and be your own judge. We probably won’t be back anytime soon. =(

New name, simply phở, new owners !! Not just great phở also fantastic authentic Vietnamese food, service pleasant, thank you, I will be back soon and will tell all my chef buddies we have a new Vietnamese restaurant to hang out at ! ;-)

TOM is great! I would’ve given this place 5 stars BUT when I walked in at 2pm (the place was dead) some old broad I’m assuming was the manager looked right at me and instead of greeting me she asked across the room «Is that mine?»… I used to be a server in college and I worked with dumb people who clearly didn’t know how to assume tips… I’ll lump her in that category. Sucks for her because Tom got a $ 20tip.
TOM my server (who is brand new) was on top of it. Even when the other servers & cooks were flat out rude when he was asking questions. I could hear the cook yelling at him from the kitchen; I sat by the front door… Unprofessional.
The food is good. Love love love the French Press w Vietnamese iced coffee. Hated the RAW chunks of red onion in my phở… That’s a first but it was good. The spring rolls were fresh but the peanut sauce wasnt anything special. I’ve had better Vietnamese food but this place I’ll revisit.

I’m still hongry. I shouldn’t be after dinner, but I am.
Driving home and wanted some good food. The missus has been here before (a couple of years ago) and wanted to show it off… Oh dear.
We enter and are immediately seated (its not busy, but everyone is served and eating). Server (also bartender I believe) asks for drink order — we decline, saying we want to look over the menu. He gives us a few moments and comes back:
Server: Ready?
Table: Yes — we would like a diet Dr Pepper and and Iced Tea. And we want to order two Pad Thai with Chicken, one with no beansprouts and one with extra egg and sauce. Add an order of beef spring rolls.
Server: No problem. Be right up.
Five minutes later, our appetizer, our entrees, our silverware, and our drinks arrive (all at the same time, in that order)
Portions are small for the dinner menu (cuz im still hungry 40 minutes later) and look identical, i.e. no extra sauce or noticeable egg in my dish. The missus dish however does have beansprouts mixed in. She tries to work her way around the first, then second, then third sprout. Finally we call the server over…
Table: There are bean sprouts in this dish. We ordered them without.
Server: Oh. Its not supposed to be.
**** awkward silence*****
Server: Um. What do want me to do?
Table: Just take it away.
Server takes the plate and goes in the back. He returns:
Server: Can we make another?
Table: Fine. I’m not going to eat it (when he walks away
We ask for the bill, pay and leave (less than thirty minutes)
TakeAways:
— I do not like restaurants that charge for can/​bottle sodas. Get a fountain. LOL
— I do not like being charged for essentially two orders that were incorrect.
— I really do not like being charged for food I didn’t receive.
Not coming back.

The quality has significantly dropped hence my 1 star rating. I’ve eaten here for past many years. The chicken is always burnt (Bun Ga) and the vegetables are not fresh — yellow broccoli and inconsistent. Their other location closed so this one might be on same path. Tiny portions now and chicken is always over cooked. never never get To Go orders as the portions are embarrassingly small (e.g. Beef Phở) and most of the time they forget something in the order (like rice). Just a shame this restaurant has changed so much with food quality, price, and portions. I could really eat two meals instead of the one. Lastly, many of their dishes have lost their authenticity meaning that it just doesn’t taste like the great Vietnamese food esp when I contrast it to other Vietnamese restaurants when i travel elsewhere.
Other notes… Never seems to be anyone in the restaurant when i visit. People are looking around. Wait staff doesn’t seem to want to be there. Sometimes when I called in an order, the phone would just go to an answering service that’s not set up. Think the owners need to reconsider being in the service industry and just sell it and retire.

Tasty and consistent. Our daughters love the cyclone driver … chargrilled marinated pork served atop steamed rice and a light fish sauce and fresh veggies on the side. The springrolls and the vermecelli bowls are delicious & if you want a spicy dish, try the chicken basil.

The Food is always wonderful, that in itself gets a 4 star from me. We try to stay away from chains and support our local businesses, but not at our expense.
Why I am leaving a 3 star is the service was terrible on our last visit. We heard the waiter complain the whole time he was working. He was verbal about hating the cook as he passed our table to serve another. He walked by tables that needed cleaning and did nothing. He starts a conversation across the dining room with the waitress on staff telling her she would be mopping and she proceeded to tell him she didn’t wan to, this went on awhile. In between we got our delicious food and our teas were refreshed as well from the waitress who put her best foot forward as I am sure she knew the other guy obviously hates his job. I don’t know his name, but another customer came in and referred to him as «Stoner» which made the waiter smile and blush.
I don’t need all of that, next time we want Thai we will be only doing To Go orders there if not somewhere else all together.

I’m glad this place exists because there seems to be no thai or vietnamese food at all out here. I’ve always liked what I order, my favorite is the pad kee mao. My only complaint is that no matter who works there as a waiter/​waitress, they are so slow. The food comes out within a normal time but the service is always slow. Sometimes the wait staff chit chat while my glass is empty and has been for 10 minutes. That isn’t fun when you ordered spicy food. Anyway, this place serves decent food for a reasonable price, so that’s why I keep coming back.

Very slow service, painfully slow to pay our bill, and the food was how I imagine prefabbed psuedo Thai food would be.
Definitely never coming back… would have been far happier going to bed hungry. Yuck.

We were very happy with our food and service here. Try the chicken phở or the sizzling chicken (its literally sizzling and so delicious)

Would recommend this as a takeout place instead of a dine in restaurant. No ambiance per se.
Super fast and very friendly service from order time to take it home less than 5 minutes I would guess.
Portion size is just right for the price and quality of the food is A OK.
Husband and I both sampled the Phở and mixed stir fry. Both adequate.
Will definitely try again simply because the manager/​-​owner was so pleasant. Goes out of their way to please the customer. Thank you.

Went during lunch and the service was sooo slow. I asked specifically for something that was a lunch item. Took over 30mins to get the food and by that time I had to leave. I had to get it packed in a to-​go box. When I ate it later that day it was not good. I don’t know if its because i didn’t eat it right away or because it was just bad. Either way, I’ve had much better at restaurants in the north area. I would not recommend this place if you want real Thai or Vietnamese food. Try it if you want an Americanized version of curry and rice

Me love Blue Bamboo long time. Me love Blue Bamboo long time. Me love Blue Bamboo long time. Me love Blue Bamboo long time. Me love Blue Bamboo long time. Me love Blue Bamboo long time. Me love Blue Bamboo long time. Me love Blue Bamboo long time. Me love Blue Bamboo long time. Me love Blue Bamboo long time.

The food WAS decent. The restaurant’s ambiance is that of a boring sports bar. The food IS pretty affordable. However, the owner is the greediest person I’ve ever met.
After years of eating lunch at the restaurant about 2 or 3 times per week I’ve found that it’s a pretty decent meal. Today, however, we found a long, black/​brown hair in our Larb. The person eating it was pretty disgusted and lost her appetite. The owner came to by to convince us that the long hair was lemon grass. Well, we’ve eaten the Larb and the Yum Nua for practically every meal. We know what lemon grass looks like. We know what hair looks like.
Well, the owner decided to charge us for the meal with the hair anyway. We were shocked.
So, if the lack of proper food handling and hygiene doesn’t keep you away from this restaurant then perhaps the fact that the owner doesn’t care enough about her customers to comp a spoiled dish from the bill should.
In short– STAY AWAY.

My Phở was great and service was excellent. Both the hostess and waitress were genuinely fun and professional. This place is a great value and they have a fun happy hour with $ 3 drafts and $ 10 pitchers. I didn’t care for the crab cake appetizer, but I’m not sure what I expected since they were 6 for $ 10. I’ll opt for the spring rolls next time.

Perhaps not the best Thai food I’ve ever had; but considering the service level and how fast the food hit the table I’m sold on a three star experience. The Rooster family ventured over to Bee Caves around lunch to run some errands picking Blue Bamboo for our dining adventure. I’ve been to the Slaughter Lane location yet for some reason I didn’t review it.
We started with the soft spring rolls with beef. I instantly appreciated the options of shrimp, tofu, pork, or beef as a filling. Seems other places just do shrimp or tofu. Good crisp flavor on the rolls paired with the dipping sauce. Add in a little sriracha for a good spice level and I was happy.
Its worth mentioning again the speed of the kitchen; with me grabbing my last bite of spring roll our entrees were hitting the table. I picked the highest level of spice they could offer on the phad thai. The waiter basically offered the three standard mild, medium, and hot. I personally could have handled probably 5 times what they sent to the table. I like sweating while I eat, keeps me out of the gym!
The wife picked the chicken and rolls vermicelli bowl and the kiddo his usual chicken fried rice. I loved the charcoal chicken flavor, wish that would be an option on all the dishes. We also appreciated to the kids price vs. a full entrée on little Rooster’s dish. Well maybe I should round this up to four stars because our drinks were never half empty and we were in and out in a flash with Thanksgiving shopping next on the agenda. Maybe I’m feeling the holiday spirit creeping in, four stars!

Blue Bamboo is interesting. Somehow they stay open, being slightly incognito up at the north end of the Shops at the Galleria (aka the ecological disaster at little Barton Creek). We’ve been a few times now, and while I haven’t gotten sick and have been pleased with my food, I haven’t been blown away.
They have decent spring rolls and an acceptable peanut sauce. The fried egg rolls leave a little to be desired, especially at the price they’re asking.
Similar when I’m going to Hai Ky, it’s hard for me to find something on the menu that really speaks to me. Unlike Hai Ky, whatever choice I make at Blue Bamboo doesn’t excite me after I get it.
So if you can’t make it to Westlake for Hai Ky, Blue Bamboo is a decent choice for Vietnamese-​ish in Bee Cave.