restaurant 88

awesome as always, large portions and the most like the food we had in vietnam, although more expensive. our kids love it there and we shared two mains; lemongrasschickenand the crispy pancake with a couple of entrees. yum!

this place was recommended to me by a friend who lives in wellington. there were 6 of us. when we arrived it wasn't busy yet. customer service was very good. staff were all friendly and had smiles on their faces.

their aromatic roast duck wraps when plum sauce were awesome. stuffedchickenwings with pork and prawns were such a great idea! tasty too.

but their banana leaf wrapped baked fish with prawn and papaya salad -which i ordered was a tad too salty and strong in terms of flavour. quite hard to swallow alone. and correct me if i'm wrong, but i was expecting to have papaya in my salad which i saw none of.... so i don't know what happened there.

overall, a nice place to dine at. food in general is very good. good portions. will definitely be back.

we were disappointed wth our meal at restaurant 88. my husband's tofu was very overcooked and dry. mychickenwas mediocre: basicallychickenand coleslaw. not really good enough for the price.

this is not your standard vietnamese. the dishes are refined and definitely a bit different. the fresh rice paper rolls came with a very tasty dipping sauce. a delicate pancake filled with crispy lemongrasschickenwas full of taste and texture. there was also a good wine list.

lovely and beautiful green enviornment. it's so green and clean. waiters are really friendly. for entre we had the coconut calamari which was really delicious and fries which were not so oily. my main was the lemongrasschickenwith rice which was really filing as it also came with corn springrolls. beautiful setting and lovely staff. great place to dine out.

have been there few times now and seen couple of iterations of the menu now. every dish is packed with excellent vietnamese flavours. i remember the prawn dish my wife had before a change in the menu and that was to die for. thechickendishes are all very good and enjoyable. i remember the rice which came as an accompaniment to one of the dishes. it was cooked and served in some leaves and had coconut and mushrooms in it. delish!

wonderful family meal tonight. extremely busy for a sunday evening, not one spare table available. everyone enjoyed their meal, service was as expected, nothing to write about though!! well worth a visit!! the pho was delicious as was the salt and pepper chicken. i'd recommend them to extend their children's menu, not all kids wantchickennuggets and chips achickennoodle soup would go down well. recommend

the food at this restaurant is truly inspired. from mini prawn pancakes to succulent chicken, to quirky cocktails and lashings of fresh coriander and mint, this place is doing (almost) everything right. i came here with a friend the other night and was totally blown away by the food. we had some above mentioned prawn pancakes which were absolutely delicious and left as salivating for the main course. for mains we shared two dishes – the beef and the chicken. the beef was done two ways. one was seared and came with a fresh salad packed full of fresh herbs. the other beef was sweet and sticky. bouncing from savoury to sweet was an absolute delight for my taste buds and the sweet and sour tastes from the salad made for a fantastic flavour explosion. thechickendish was divine. thechickenhad been cooked perfectly and was accompanied by a noodle salad, which again, was packed with fresh herbs, namely coriander and mint – the top two herbs on my top 5 list. i had a cocktail which paired really well with the food. the service here isn’t overly friendly but our waitress was pleasant and very attentive. i much prefer attentive, pleasant service to overly chatty and conversational. so for me, the service was very good. as mentioned, this place is doing almost everything right. there is a lot of pork on the menu, none of which is free range. as a big supporter and activist for the free range pork movement, this is a deal-breaker for me. i do commend them on their honesty when i questioned them about it. so it’s a 4.5 from me, but i would have no qualms in giving this place a five otherwise.

a great restaurant with great service and great food. we shared our meals and ate everything. mongolian beef drunkenchickenand the beef salad were delicious. i would definitely go back and try more.

yummy authentic vietnamese food! 

the first impression is positive, we were shown our booked table straight away, in intimate dark corner, good for couples or small groups. 

not too bad drinks list, and the well portioned food was great! highly recommend most dishes we got, including duck wraps and stuffedchickenfor entrees, lemongrasschickenfor main and creme brulee and black sesame ice cream for dessert. yum! the prices are on the higher end, but worth it. 

the only things that were a bit off were mains taking awhile to come out, but as someone with experience in hospitality, it was a busy night and not everything goes according to plan. one of the staff was wearing short shorts which did not suit the classy restaurant itself, but it wasn't a bother. what mattered was that they were friendly, polite and attentive.

overall it was a great dining experience and would definitely go back. 

thank you for having us!

it's been many years since i came here - not long after it started i think. back then it was ok, but not startling, and for that reason it lapsed out of memory. the street frontage is pretty underwhelming - it could be any old office building except for the lime green 88 on the door.

however flicking through the zomato reviews i realised it scores very highly - higher than i would i have imagined - 4.4 suggesting either its very good or its patrons are stupid. it seems to be the former.

anyway last night on a friends recommendation, it came down to a toss up between a cheapy in petone or restaurant 88 - 88 won.

i confess to hating trying to find a park in the area but yesterday we found a dream park very close to the restaurant.

it is exactly as i remember it. high ceilings, slightly clattery and not particularly warm - it was a cold night. but the decor and general ambience was pleasant and had the actual temperature been a little higher it would have been cosy.

a bottle of rabbit ranch pinot noir arrived quickly and we decided from the menu to go for five entrees rather than entree / mains.

vietnamese caramelised sticky baby-back ribs: lovely, gooey long cooked - delicious.
roast duck wraps with plum sauce: my favourite, the wrap was excellent but in combination with the dipping sauce was inspired.
stuffedchickenwings with pork and prawns: good, pleasant, slightly predictable.
vietnames fresh spring rolls: fresh yes, but the wrapping rather rubbery - the thought "vegetarian condom" came to mind, but nice, and again with the dipping sauce quite moreish.
"glorious" vietnamese crispy mini pancakes: so interesting - a strange mix of flavours and textures.

by the end of those five, we were completely full. any possibility of going further with main or dessert had disappeared.

service was great, lovely wait staff - very very helpful and such good advice. nothing too much trouble, very efficient and accurate.

overall highly recommended for an informal dinner, i could imagine older kids loving it. a good alternative to and probably slightly better than chow down the road

date night: yes
kids: yes
big groups: yes
parking: hmmm but probably ok
foodies: yes

i very nice place to eat.  good service and great food.  always reliable.!  had the lemongrasschickenwith coconut noodles, so good and worked well together.  if you want a my full review visit my website.

good place for a group or just two people. food is always good and good portions. atmosphere is always good. babychickenand rice a high favourite

this year's birthday celebration was low-key – i had a group dinner with close friends at restaurant 88 last night where we got to catch up over drinks and the delicious vietnamese cuisine. we started off with drinks at 5.30pm and i tried their saigon 333 beer which was nice and somewhat sweet to taste. a few of us got entrees and i got to sample some stuffedchickenwings with pork and prawn, and caramelised sticky baby back ribs as we await more friends to turn up. yummy!

sunday night and the weekend is drawing to close. you need something extra strong to stave off those pre-monday blues. will it be the drunken crispy salt & pepper babychickenor the beef pho? decisions, decisions ...
on a more practical note, this is a very popular vietnamese restaurant so you should book if coming at a busy time. decor is ok, and it can be a little noisy, but the food is real drawing card. great flavours, and some unusual dishes.
service: 4/5
ambience: 3.5/5
food: 4/5
value for money: 4/5