Song Que

How comes Time out always gives this restaurant such high ratings???? it is so so average. only thing is that people are sheep and follow the crowd always. the soup is supposedly their signature dish, but how comes the broth is so tasteless? all the time...every year, this place gets high ratings from timeout/. do they entice you with a free meal every year? look at the number of bad bad comments this place has got, and it is always 5 stars from timeout.

When you go to a restaurant and ask for some hot water, you might think... hum... the waiters wouldn't be as bad to serve you with hot tap water.

But... unfortunately... they did.

Song Que Vietnamese Restaurant in Kingsland Road, Hackney, London

Food was completely tasteless. 'spicy' squid was boring, flavoured with a bit of pepper. Salad inside the summer rolls was brown and slimy. However, anything was better than the noodle soup that had been so highly recommended. It simply tasted like salty dishwater which they had tried to conceal with an overwhelming amount of coriander. Worst meal I have ever had the misfortune of paying for.

A most rude girl was serving tonight, definitely will not revisit again despite relatively alright food wise.

Dined here in late September. The food was great (spicy squid, summer rolls). The service, while perhaps not exactly the warmest and most welcoming, was perfectly fine. Recommended for its food quality and value for money. A great deal all in all.

As a former employee of the local college, I used to regularly visit Song Que and had continued to do so until around 12 months ago, having always been most impressed by the high standard of food at very reasonable prices. For years, I have been recommending it. Not any more after last Friday’s experience. It has obviously grown way too big for its reputedly ‘so popular’ boots!

I arrived with a friend at 6.30p.m. when the restaurant was quite empty. We had made no reservation but were told we could not sit at the empty tables by the window but had to take one in the middle in a row of cafe style tables. Menus were delivered and, despite an abundant number of waiters standing around chatting, we eventually had to call one over to place an order. We had not even been asked for our drinks’ order at that stage. No sooner had the starters been brought than the main course dishes were also placed on the table and an ‘eat up, clear off’ mentality was already being established. We were brought the bill - unasked for - before ordering desserts (most of which turned out to be unavailable) and then, at just after 8 p.m., whilst finishing our tea, we were asked if we could leave as people were waiting to come in. The service was perhaps the most contemptuous and rude I have ever experienced in London (or Vietnam). On requesting to speak to the manager, the waiter I had asked told me he was “the manager”. No concern for giving service – but an attitude of ‘three/four sets of diners’ at every table per evening... “sorry, thank you, bye bye”...?? There needs to be a clear sign by the door saying “You are only allowed to stay here for 90 mins. maximum and, please, you should preferably eat up within the hour”.

As for the food, the vegetable spring rolls and spicy squid were both excellent; the satay chicken and main course chicken dish average - suffering from the use of ‘cheap, water injected chicken’, I suspect; the sea bream and vegetable dishes both lacked the flavours one would expect from quality Vietnamese food. My advice would be to avoid at all costs – and choose somewhere like Que Viet a few doors away where, for approximately the same price, a group of us recently had outstanding food and excellent service in a congenial, relaxed atmosphere. There are, in fact, a substantial number of very welcoming restaurants in “Pho Mile” serving similarly priced food.

By-pass Song Que!

My husband and I had a meal at the Song Que, upon entering the restaurant we were greeted by a member of staff and seated, we were given a menu and placed our order, Platter (ribs, crispy seaweed ++) and a main meal. The platter arrived and we started to tuck in, the crispy seaweed did not live up to its description it was soggy and tasted stale, I told the waiter who seemed not to understand what I was saying so I asked to speak with the Manager, The Manager (a woman) came over, I explained my grievance and she kept repeating "yes its crispy seaweed" I asked her to try it and altho you could tell she knew I was right she still stood her ground and told me it was correct. NO APOLOGY NO OFFER OF TAKING IT OFF THE BILL, very rude, unappreciative of customers in the economic climate I WILL NOT BE RECOMMEDING THIS RESTAURANT TO ANYONE and would kindly like you to send a shopper to this restaurant to re-review. As I can already see from comments below the service has been mentioned on quite a few occasions. I was not put off by the decor, the food we ate was adequate but what happened to customer service and the customer is always right.......

I've been coming here for years, for what is the best pho, summer rolls, beef in betel, and spicy squid I've tasted west of Hanoi. However the last 3 times I visited the service was so rude and unpleasant-and I dont mean brusque but actually rude, that it has put me and my friends off returning. This has broken my previously unblemished loyalty to song que. It also has to be said that while those dishes i have listed are superb, most of the main courses here are disappointing. I have always ended up feeling sad when I've been tempted to stay away from the pho. It would make my day if Song Que sorted out their service and I could tempt my friends back for another
lovely pho.

AVOID AVOID AVOID - RUDE Service.... This restaurant is a gem, great food and wont break the bank. However, the service by the front of house 'man' is poor and rude. I asked for a table for 3 people, a friend was on the bus on 10 minutes away. However, the man could not stop asking 'where your friend'.... this went on even when we were seated. We can to order food (friend was still stuck on a bus) and the same guy rudely again said 'wheres your friend' ? 'wheres your friend?' ..... at this point I lost it and called the manager over.

My first experience with Vietnamese food- the food is ok but this restaurant is a disgrace to the restaurant catering industry. The rude woman rushed us to get out as soon as we finished the dinner. When I requested for menu for pudding, the woman blantantly lied that this restaurant does not have puddings. I would not step foot in this place if you pay me to! Disgraceful and rude service!

I've eaten here a few times now, and I've found the vegetarian food hot, fresh tasting, a little on the salty side, but absolutely fine. It's somewhere I'll come back to if I'm needing some salty, savoury tastiness.

I've also had no problem with the service. The staff don't bow and scrape, but they're polite enough and service has always been reasonably quick.

very bad service, food no so good. They asked us to leave before finished our meal and offered to put our desert in a take away bag because there were people queuing!!! And we had only been there 20-30 mins!

http://3eat.wordpress.com/2011/05/24/songque/

The Spicy Squid (£6.90) arrived searing hot and seasoned to perfection, the batter crisp and the meat tender. Pork with lemongrass, chilli and onion (£6.70) was succulent and highly flavoured, the perfect antidote to a chilly June evening. And at a bargainous £11, the crisp house white really couldn’t be faulted.

We'd been warned about the dire service and adopted the view that it was merely there to act as a form of interactive performance art. This just about made it bearable.

Read our full review here: http://3eat.wordpress.com/2011/05/24/songque/

You come here for the pho and it's good really good. FACT.

Don't bother going if you're going to make a fuss over service, decor or simply good food.

This place is a no nonsense, super fast service eatery not a fine dine restaurant.

Don't come if you want to lounge around sipping beers with your friends. That's what a bar is for.

Anyone one who thinks other wise needs to get their head examined.

whoever thinks this is a 2 star is also the same idiot that ordered the aromatic duck. BEST RESTAURANT IN SHOREDITCH

So i decided to try out this restaurant after seeing them packed every time i pass by and sure i made a right decision, it even led me to posting up a review which i rarely do. So i ordered a Pho which i always order when i go to a vietnamese restaurant and by far can i say that it's the best i ever had. It was seasoned well and just brightened up my day. The place didn't look pretty but i didn't care, you come to a restaurant to eat not to stare. I also ordered a summer roll which was so fresh, i even heard the crunch when i bit into it. The rice paper around it was not dry so i can clearly tell that they did not make it beforehand and made it to order. I was surprised at the speed at which the food came considering they make it to order. The service wasn't great but wasn't bad well it was better that that i received at other vietnamese restaurants.

Definitely would recommend this place.. and btw the price was so cheap that i had to leave a generous tip as service charge wasn't included

I'm Vietnamese and I must say this is one of the most unpleasant Viet restaurant I've ever experienced. Our friends and I went for a simple Vietnamese lunch (with rice, braised fish in clay pot and soups). The rice could not be colder than if it is spread on a witch's bossoms while she hang out bare-breast on one of Hanoi's December nights. When the rice came out I immediately feel uneasy about the place. There was a big party at the next table with kids and the place was indeed chaotic so we thought they might be forgiven for that. But then the soup arrived, again cold and sickly, sickly sweet together with some sad-looking pieces of fish of questionable species lies beneath a layer of tapioca starch glaze in the clay pot has done us the coup de grace. Tapioca starch! In a braised fish dish! Can you imagine this blasphemy! Honestly I don't feel the owners and chefs put any efforts into the food at all. Don't go to this place, even if all you only want non-authentic, pan-Asian fare. There are so many much much nicer Viet restaurants within paces of the area. Don't be the unlucky guy to land in this place, which simply doesn't justify your money.

Awful. Simply awful. Perhaps we went on an bad night, but the food was grimly disappointing. The fried monk fish was lacking, particularly in monk fish of which there were three paltry pieces hidden in a sea of onions. The pho was uninspired--lacking the complexity of even the OK competition down the street--and served with wilting mint and soggy bean sprouts. Well, you get the idea. The service was also unpleasant, including plates dropped on the table, multiple incorrect deliveries, and frequent reminders to leave soon. If I'm honest, this still probably deserves two stars, but I'm trying to do something about the ridiculous grade inflation. You get better food at the Pho in Westfield, which is sad.

Been here several times and although OK, I am somewhat dubious that this restaurant year on year gets 5 stars in your ratings. Is this laziness on Time Out's part or...?

the food was good, fairly greasy though, but we didn't find enough vegetarian dishes despite what is said in the facilities.

the food was good, fairy greasy though, but we didn't find enough vegetarian dishes despite what is said in the facilities.

The pho here is reallly tasty, 5 star.

Food can be good here, but think Wong Kei when it comes to service, bordering on disasterous.