Song Long

9361 Bolsa Ave
Ste 108
Westminster, CA 92683

(714) 775-3724

While we down in Orange county, my mother in-law insisted that we had to go to Song Long. Apparently this place was highly recommended by her family and friends. Song Long was actually a bit hard to find. We had to travel down the length of Bolsa Ave only to find it tucked away in a small plaza. When you walk in you will find baked goods on racks near the door with seating in the rear. The decor is like most Vietnamese family restaurants you find, with just the bare minimum required. Do not expect to find table coverings here.

We were seated promptly since there was no wait. The menu selection was large compared to other Vietnamese restaurants we've been to. We ordered some appetizers, a grilled pork chop for myself and a seafood noodle soup for my wife. The others in my party mainly ordered about the same thing.

The first appetizer that came out was the Vietnamese egg rolls. These were like traditional egg rolls except the filling was with Vietnamese meat and vegetables. The skin was crispy and the flavoring was nice. I did not try the fish sauce, since I'm not a big fan of fish sauce, though my wife says it was okay. Unfortunately, our meal went down hill from there.

Next came the puff pastry which is called pate choud. Essentially this was a puffy pastry that is filled with seasoned meat, usually a liver pate or ground meat of some kind. The pastry itself was not prepared well at all. It was soggy and the pate inside was way too livery. There was a hint of sour smell as well. The server took back our order and apologized for it. I suspected that this pate choud was way past its' expiration date.

My grilled pork chop came out next. It was sweet like most Vietnamese grilled meat. However, it was a bit dry and tough. I was a bit disappointed by this, since most of the Vietnamese restaurants I go to, this was my standby dish. The accompany egg meat loaf was better. The rice was a bit on the hard side. Some one else in my party had rice that was rock hard. This could be either due to two things. One, it could be day old rice. The second which seem more plausible to me, is that the rice was undercooked. That's why my rice was only a bit hard while my other party member was rock hard.

My wife's seafood noodle soup was a complete disaster. It looked good, but tasted completely bland. It was as if someone took the standard soup broth and decided to pour some extra cups of water to dilute it. Most of the seafood was okay, though I was disappointed that they used imitation crab meat. Not a major offensive since I'm beginning to see imitation crab meat more and more in Vietnamese cooking.

The service was okay, they took our complaints seriously. They apologized for the pate choud. I wish I could say something more positive, but I can not.

Final Thoughts: Song Long should change their name to so long, because I will not be back.

Food: 1/2 star

Service: 2 star

Price: Average

Overall: 1/2 star