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Anise Cafe (Vietnamese cuisine) $$

1663 W San Carlos Street, San Jose, 95128 (Directions)

408-298-8178

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Upscale Vietnamese-fusion restaurant with plenty of swank.
Reviewer: Jason Total Reviews: 1012 Reviewed: 8/23/2006 Rating: 6 My photo gallery	I was looking forward to eating at Anise cafe since I heard it was a fusion type Vietnamese restaurant. With most of the fusion restaurants, you can expect upscale decorations and amazing plate creations. We step in for a lunch visit and sure enough, the place looks like something you'd find in San Francisco, swank all around....aaalllllrrriiigghhht. The only thing missing from this fresh establishment were the people. At 12:30, there was only 1 table occupied and scattered people eating outside. Scanned the fancy menu and placed an order for 2 colossal shrimps with mango salsa and my main dish would be lemongrass chicken. During the time we placed our orders, I'm sure I could have ran out to the car, changed the oil, do a car wash, and maybe squeeze 2 coats of wax. If I were to estimate, mango salsa takes 4 minutes to whip up, and cooking shrimp 3-5 minutes. They can't use the excuse of being busy because NO ONE was there. The appetizer finally makes it to the table as it was probably flown all the way from South America. Note to Anise Cafe, we're on a lunch break, not a week long vacation. For a fusion type restaurant, the plating was absolutely unoriginal. The signature sriracha swirl off to the side remained untouched. Mango salsa had too much tart as if they were using unripe mangos. There was no mojo to the salsa. The shrimp, it was completely raw in the center. It was gray and I sat worried I would be hitting the porcelain throne later that afternoon. I only ate the head and tail section. The only time I eat raw shrimp is at sushi restaurants. I need to see those bugs swimming in an aquarium to the chefs hand to my plate. For $10, I call it a complete rip off. Not to be outdone with the uninspiring shrimp, the lemongrass chicken arrives to what appears to look like something I can pick up at any teriyaki bowl restaurant. It was a chicken bowl placed on a flat plate with the signature red swirl, and the best part, it cost me $10.95. The only memorable thing about the chicken was the heavy peppered seasoning and 2 layers of thigh meat. I ate half my food and sat there depressed. All I wanted was the check and that never arrived until I flagged the waitress down. The service was slower than the jatbar turtle and she even wanted us to fill our service forms, I really wanted to say...you can read the review on jatbar.com. I'm never coming back unless you're buying.

Reviewer: Terry Total Reviews: 738 Reviewed: 8/18/2006 Rating: 6 My photo gallery	Jason had heard that this place was good, so we took the chance to find out. It is located in the same complex as Sliders burgers but is tucked away, almost in the middle of the complex. I really dug all of the bamboo they had in planters outside, as I am a big bamboo fan. The decorations inside and out were rather nice, especially inside, it felt like you were in some hip SF joint. We were shown a table, the only people eating inside for lunch. And then we waited. Service was really slow. We settled on the prawn appetizer, and I decided to go with the Vegetarian Saigon Crepe. Prices were high. The appetizer was $10, so our hopes were high. The crepe was $9. Food took a long time to arrive. Mostly we just discussed how swank the place was, and what it must be like at night. Our appetizer arrived and it was hard to not let out a laugh. For $10, it was 2 prawns and some mixed vegetables. Very disappointing. These prawns better blow doors on anything we have ever had before. They were barely cooked, Jason was worried that they might be dangerously undercooked. It was a little concerning. The flavoring otherwise was just decent, not mindblowing at all, and definitely not worth the $10 for these 2 prawns. Our dishes finally arrived and mine looked pretty good from the outside. I dug into it and it was loaded with shrimp and chicken. Wonderful! Instead of complaining, (i was overall disappointed in my meal and service by this time), I picked out the chicken and just went with the shrimp. To be fair, it was pretty good. I would have liked to have the Vegetarian to fully enjoy it without having to pick chicken out, or examine every bite I took. Portion of this one was a bit better, but I still left the place hungry. On the way out the lady asked us to fill out a questionnaire form. We laughed. Waste more time here filling out a form? I think not. We are out the door. I would return if someone else was buying and I was not in a hurry. I would be VERY careful to specific Vegetarian (although I was very careful to mention Vegetarian twice and still got the wrong thing) - sigh.

Reviewer: Lainie Total Reviews: 41 Reviewed: 12/29/2006 Rating: 6 My photo gallery	This is certainly not a memorable experience dining here. The only thing you'll truly remember is the decor, which is unusually swanky for a Vietnamese joint that serves the same stuff as any other Vietnamese restaurant, just more expensive! It's nice on evenings when they have live music, but it's not anything special foodwise. The only thing I truly like is the Shaking Beef. Very tasty. Just don't think it's the most economical choice for what you get in return.


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