A Dong: User Reviews

As a first time visitor to A Dong, I had received great reviews from my dad, and nothing fell short. Obviously, I had little experience with Vietnamese cuisine, but after this excursion, I’m already planning my next trip back. I ordered the crispy egg noodles with shrimp, chicken, beef, and vegetables, and I found the pea pods, carrots and broccoli all extremely fresh, and the meat and seafood all seasoned and cooked to perfection. My favorite, though, were the fried shrimp and cream cheese rolls we ordered as an appetizer, which was crunchy on the outside and ooey-gooey with the cream cheese that had remarkably not dried out during the frying at all. What surprised me the most was that even with 170 plus items on the menu, including a 30 item vegetarian menu, and a packed house, it took less than five minutes to get our food. The overall ambiance of the restaurant was fun and exciting, except for the strange six foot by six framed photo of their main entry with several restaurant-goers posed for a picture looming over my head. Other than that, there was no down-side to my visit to A Dong, and I would definitely recommend it to anyone with and open mind and empty stomach.

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I am Vietnamese and I can say that A Dong is not an authentic Vietnamese food at all. We are very open minded people and we like to try out new restaurants like A Dong. We always like to order the basic items from the menu to see whether they can make it right. If they can't master the basic recipe right, there is no point eating there. For starters, we ordered the spring rolls. It was very disappointing. The spring rolls were missing fresh herbs and pork and tasted bland. We asked the waitress what happened to the pork in the roll and she said that you have ask for it. We were confused and asked why the menu said pork on it. Waitress seemed speechless and then finally said "Oh, you mean Vietnamese style spring rolls". But aren't we in an authentic Vietnamese restaurant? Shouldn't this be Vietnamese spring roll? To me, it sounds like the food is a diluted version of Vietnamese food. If they can't make an authentic spring roll there is no point eating there. If you want real Vietnamese food that is not Americanized to go a restaurant where local asians go to.

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You can't go wrong with the ginger tofu at A Dong. Their spring rolls are wonderful and the staff always helpful.

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This is a great Vietnamese restaurant, with fresh ingredients and consistent preparation. Concecador...there are many Vietnamese restaurants in the city, and I encourage you to try all of them, as each has something in particular that is likely better than you can get at the other Vietnamese places. Pho elsewhere is better than at A Dong, but if I were to recommend one Vietnamese place to an out of towner or to a Vietnamese food newbie, this would be the spot.

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*sigh* Steve, the reason you cannot pronounce the Chinese correctly on the menu is because it is not Chinese, this is a Vietnamese restaurant. Let me reiterate, this is not a Chinese restaurant, there are no mashed potatoes, and no pie. A Dong is, to my knowledge, the only Vietnamese place in DM and it is fantastic. Cheap, fast and all around an awesome value. I recommend it to anyone who wants more quality food than the Hy-Vee "Chinese" food.

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Peter Longfellow! You are just a demented old circus monkey!! HA!HA!Of course the chinese food available at Dong's is absolutelythe best! But, here's my secret, I make rice at home and put soy sauce in it. It is my secret I shared with you all! I like putting food on a stick and soaking it in soy sauce. Soy sauce is the secret ingredient.I have made soy sauce burgers,s.sauce chicken strips,s.ssauce chicken nuggets, s.sauce shrimp. Soy sauce is one of my best friends!!HA!HA! Here's a secret get a butterball turkey(IT MUST BE BUTTERBALL) and somehow inject soy sauce into it's upper under carriage and you will be in for a luscious treat.My Mom told me to do that

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I have to agree Meghan! I thing the food at A Dong is very much like the athentic food from chinnese people. However, I have to admit that I always laugh when we go there! I say to my sister, lets go eat A Dong tonight and we have a good laugh. But the food is great! I also have to say that the words are sometimes hard to say for chinese food, because I don't speak chinese. I think someone who did speak chinese food would probably just laugh into histericals if they heard me trying to order food at A Dong!
But, inconclusion, I must say it is definitely thumbs up from Peter!
P.S. I do also like Hy Vee for thier chinese and even regular food at thier deli area. It is very good and you can even get chinese food, and maybe a fried chicken and mashed potatos and chocolate silk pie for dessert, plus coke with refills. You could never even do that at a chinese restaurant, becuse they dont have fried chicken or mashed potatoes or hardly any kinds of pies. They might have coke, and would be a fountain, but probably did not offer refills. Please let me know if there is a chinese restaurant that you can get fried chickem and mashed potatoes at becuase to be honest i dont think that there is.
Moreover, I still say A Dong is good food!
Good Luck and enjoy! Peter

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A Dong appears unassuming by the building, interior and relaxed atmosphere, but its one I truly think its one of Des Moines' best Vietnamese available in Des Moines. I have only been a handful of times, but I have always been impressed with their fresh, perfectly seasoned food and superior service. Its especially evident that they take pride in their business and want all their diners to have a good experience. So refreshing to find restaurants that are still like that!

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I went here with my mom after hearing rave reviews from several friends. The restaurant may not look like much but the food is amazing. Unlike most Asian restaurants I've been to, A Dong's is not greasy or overly saucy.

The service is amazing. When my mom tried to order something the waiter flat out told her, "That isn't very delicious," and directed her towards something that was.

The prices here are relatively similar to what you'd get at any Asian take-out restaurant. All in all--definitely 5 stars.

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