monsoon bellevue

it’s modernized vietnamese food, in a cleaner environment, and friendlier, yet slightly slower, service. standard vietnamese places used to feel like the cutlery still had some leftover fish oil, and the food would come out within 5 minutes of ordering, since all they really had to do was pour soup into the bowl of noodles. while theservicewas slower at monsoon (it took a while for them to bring all the food out), i’m sure it was because we had a 17 people group. the food tasted good, but i’m sure they used plenty of msg, as we were parched for the rest of the day. i had the pho bo, so basic beef noodle. look how pretty the onion garnish was:

this is a far best vietnamese restaurant i have ever tried. of course it is a kind of the fusion restaurant, an americanized vietnamese cousin. i would rate the food is 4.9, the deco is 4.5, theserviceis 4.5. the regular pho is fantastic of course. but the mushroom pho is also something you should try. the combination pho is a good size meal. i love also their thai-french inspired, americanized fusion dishes as well.

boo for monsoon. i ate at this restaurant a couple of times when it first opened and i loved it. so i thought it would be a special place to bring my out of town guests. big mistake on my part! theserviceand the food was horrible. their famous catfish claypot was too salty and the drunken chicken and the ribs were both the consistency of shoe leather. not only was it not good, but the portions were extremely tiny compared to their inflated prices. i was so embarrassed i picked up the whole tab which was not intended. i couldn’t expect people to pay for such an expensive mess of an evening. shame on you monsoon east for letting me down. i won’t be back for a 2nd chance.
for better food, service, and price i highly recommend the tamarind tree in seattle. it’s worth the drive over the bridge.

salt & pepper chicken wings!. i just ate here for the first time and it was great! well, the food was amazing, theserviceleft a lot to be desired but the food was delish.

the salt and pepper chicken wings were so awesome - crispy delcious coating on the outside and some of the juciest chicken i've ever had. wish i would have taken a photo. i'll be sure to snap one next time.

consistently great. we eat out a lot (more than we should) and me has turned into our "go to" restaurant. the flavor quality is high on every dish..even the side dishes are terrific. i tend to place extra emphasis on creativity, and this is an area where me really shines. if all you want is meat and potatoes, then maybe you'd be happier going somewhere else (more for the rest of us).serviceis about average (they always seem pretty busy). what puts them over the top is that their prices are quite reasonable. the wine is a little pricey, though.

good brunch. my wife and i enjoyed brunch there recently. theservicewas excellent, facilities clean and food very good. the bloody mary is very good. i ordered the drunken chicken which is better without the sauce, but with the sauce its not overly sauced. yum!

delicious but rushed service.. the food and drink was quite good. we ordered the chicken satay (very flavorful and fun to eat with the accompanying lettuce leaves and delicious tamarind sauce), chicken roll with peanut sauce (also good), crispy washingotn drunken chicken (similar to general tso's and a nice, tangy sauce served over greens), and the eggplant/squash in coconut milk (wonderful taste, strange odor). i had a monsoon soda (fun and colorful, not too sweet) and my dining companion had a bottled beer. (surprisingly, they don't have a tap so beers are bottled and sodas are from a can.)

the atmosphere is elegant although we quickly ran out of room on our table and the servers were fussing with moving around our plates. courses were a bit rushed and theserviceovereager, as if they wanted us to leave quickly.

i also found it odd that we were first offered a table next to the only other group in the restaurant and had to ask for a more private table.

i will return, but probably to check out the happy hour next.

food is really good at monsoon!. went to monsoon last night for my brother's b-day party.servicewas great, but food was even better. my brother's friends are really picky eater (young adults) but they all loved the food and will come back.

we made reservation for 13 people but about 20 showed up. some stayed for a bit and some left. monsoon staff accomadated us very well and we had the big private room.

either way food was really good and we'll be coming back here very soon!!

fantastic - my new favorite!. i can't believe i didn't discover this place sooner! the food was absolutely delicious, the price eminently reasonable, and theservice-- well, as opposed to a lot of places these days that give you "attitude" and seem to be on their high horse, these guys seemed to genuinely love having us there and wanting us to have a great time. one of the best restaurant experiences i've had in years - and i'll definitely be rewarding them with many future visits and lots of patronage, going forward! these got the perfect combination of great food, reasonable prices, andservicethat makes you want to become a regular. definitely give it a try if you're in the bellevue area...

good service, interesting entrees. i had been looking forward to trying this place for some time. we were seated quickly on a midweek evening. on the server's recommendations, we got the bo la lot, which were tasty. for the main course we got the black cod with glass noodles / fermented beans, along with the drunken chicken. the black cod was good, but didn't care for the fermented bean flavor. it imparted a strange taste - others may prefer it over me. the drunken chicken - their interpretation of general tso's - was tasty, but you can get this anywhere.

goodserviceand nice decor though. i'd come again and try something different.

bah. i was really disappointed that monsoon east had virtually the same menu as it's sister, and it wasn't executed nearly as well.

perhaps i need to give the restaurant a little bit more time, but theservicewas off (we got one round of drinks and nobody ever came back to offer another round) and we had to send two dishes back because they weren't cooked all the way through.

monsoon is absolutely one of my faves in seattle and it's looking like i'm going to stick with it, rather than go east to monsoon east.