Lotus 1 - Astoria

Excellent pho and sandwiches. Always hits the spot. Highly recommend the Ginger Lime beverage. Chill atmosphere, friendly smiling staff.Food: 5/5

I will share my honest review because that’s only fair to other potential customers. The place has a bad stench upon entering the restaurant. Small but looks clean; was empty. The customer service was excellent, however, the food was sub-par. I got a chicken Bahn mi and was underwhelmed, bland, not spicy at all with the fee pieces of jalapeños, and barely any cilantro. Chicken was a good amount but overall was displeased with the flavors. I probably won’t try it again.

I ordered the papaya salad with vegan fish because I love it. I have ordered that several times. I got my order at it was not eatable. The “fish” was dried out to the consistency of a piece of wood. I was so surprised that a cool thought it was ok to serve that. I called the restaurant 4 times but nobody spoke English. It was impossible to understand if they were planning on sending me a meal back. A few minutes later a delivery person comes and asks for the bad salad, but brings me nothing to replace. Again, I call and the person on the phone can not communicate. The restaurant closed and I got no food. So basically they charged me, sent me bad food, came back to get the bad food and kept my money. I have never in my life wrote a bad review. But this is so ridiculous and there is no one at the restaurant that I can actually speak to! So there you have it!

Taste:(5/5) Have had their CHICKEN bahn mi and TOFU bahn mi sandwhiches medium spicy. Both options are delicious and their chicken bahn mi was better than another store selling the same thing i ordered.portions/cost: (2/5). the chicken /tofu in each sandwhich can be is too little and you have to pay for extra. id say it should have a little bit more naturally (not as much as the extra options) and they should just get rid of the higher priced options. their baseline is not enoguh/mea tofu in the sandwiches so i pay for extra.

Despite being off the beaten path of Astoria eateries, I will happily trek to the depths of residential pathways to enjoy a hearty, delicious bowl of pho. I love this place for the way they treat vegetarians as equals and provide them as much variety as omnivores. It was refreshing to see so many options beyond the usual tofu entree, I regret that my first visit here wasn’t made on an empty stomach, I would’ve ordered so much more. I ordered the veg chicken pho, fresh summer rolls and veg fish bahn mi. Summer rolls were a great light appetizer, like a little rice noodle salad with fresh peanut sauce. The bahn mi was incredibly delicious, the bread was soft and warm. Veggies were fresh and absolutely loved the soy fish that was like marinated tofu with seaweed. The star was definitely the pho, the broth was so savory and mock chicken was like a tofu roll with gluten based for a more accurate texture. The service was phenomenal, our server was incredibly attentive and friendly. I highly recommend this place for vegetarians especially, I will definitely be back to try other items!