Taste of Saigon

During warmer months, the Rockville location of this two-outlet, family-owned chain entices you with its quiet, leafy outdoor patio, which is well-insulated from the congestion and noise of nearby Highway 355. Too bad this oasis from suburbia doesn<0x2019>t extend to the menu, which appears to pander to the well-coiffed Anglos who mostly frequent the Vietnamese restaurant. The vibrant juxtaposition of flavors, textures, and temperatures, which practically defines Vietnamese cooking, is hard to find here; it<0x2019>s replaced with a number of dishes that prefer to coddle, not challenge, the taste buds. The oily beef-stuffed grape leaves taste of overly charbroiled meat and little more, while the Vietnamese ravioli, crammed with pork, crab, shrimp, noodles, and other stuff, lacks the complexity these ingredients suggest, even after dipping them in nuoc mam. The chicken with curry and coconut sauce, which boasts a warning chili-pepper graphic on the menu, barely registers on the heat meter. One of the house specialties is a bowl of lightly breaded seafood drenched in black pepper sauce, which, the wait staff will warn you, is sweet, not piquant. Sweetness is not the problem; the problem is a lack of the titular ingredient in the sauce, which would provide a much-needed counterbalance to all the sugar. The only item I found worth savoring is a bowl of mussels in a black bean and ginger sauce, which supplies a welcome kick of spice in a Vietnamese outlet that<0x2019>s just too cloying.
—Tim Carman, July 25, 2006