Empty restaurant, Friday night
We had a big turn out for the Jackson Street Crawl on Friday night, but I was crabby. Maybe I shouldn’t dine out while crabby. See, I found the whole experience more irritating than funny. It should have been funny, but I was just getting impatient with the whole experience. I’m not usually like that. (Forgive me, fellow diners.)
There was one Vietnamese couple dining in Bam-Boo, otherwise, the place was empty. The menu was a mystery, listing such items as “Pork, Shrimp, and Beef with Noodles†under Vegetarian entrees. Our waitress peered over our shoulders to get a look at the menu up close. The poor thing clearly needed specs. One of our eaters tried to order a dish “with no pork, please†but it wasn’t possible to get the message across. “No English,†said our visually challenged server.
Our tofu spring rolls turned out to be pork and shrimp rolls. The veggie bowl turned out to be the beef bowl. We all eyed the tofu skewers with suspicion, but they were indeed as advertised. The place stayed ominously empty. There was no music, so it was oddly silent in there. Bam-Boo doesn’t have a liquor license, so my crabby edge remained intact. No beer, no cheer. Bah.
How was the food? It was okay, just okay. Though three out of eight did say that their meal was delicious. I tasted the grilled chicken, it was all right. I had the shrimp on sugar cane and found it rather dry and plain, like something was missing.
While the folks that work there are really nice, there are loads of better choices. Maybe in time, they’ll get their A-game on, but until I see the place filled with Asian families on a Friday night, I’m not going back.
Bam-Boo is on Jackson, just east of 12th.
I have had the same Vietnamese experience (at a different restaurant). A vegetarian section with Pho with Beep. I said “Beef,?” and they said “Yes, yes, beep.”