Dong Tay Restaurant - Norfolk

I enjoyed my visit here! I decided to try this place out with a friend of mine who is vegan and I was happy to see that there were many options for him! It's most certainly a beautiful low-key place walking in and had a nice ambience. We were seated immediately after walking in which was great! The service was cool but could have been a bit better. Now the food was amazing! I ordered the shrimp deluxe with white rice and was thoroughly impressed! It was well seasoned and the portion size was great for the price. I'd highly recommend this place and look forward to returning!

The place is empty on a Saturday evening. Walked in and nobody’s around to welcome or seat you. Walked around and a guy was on his phone hidden behind a column foundation, plugged in on the wall jack. He finally saw us sat us down and took our order. I got the shrimp Pad Thai, and wife ordered beef vermicelli salad. Food came, but he got my order wrong. The nice lady server took away the shrimp fried rice l, and apologized. The vermicelli salad was good, but the beef was a bit chewy and cut into long strips. It was still refreshingly good. Pad Thai came, and it smelled good. Topped with 5 large shrimps, and there was the smokiness that I like and actually craves for. This made up for the overall taste which lacked sweetness. The overall experience is okay, and we’ll be back for more. The place is spacious, and be great for a big party I think.

For the price you are paying, you would think the quality of the food and the presentation would be so much better but it’s not. For appetizer I order the summer roll with shrimp. (Shrimp lettuce and rice noodles) you would expect other veggies in there but no. 2 rolls cut in half for 8.99… then I order the spring rolls. 11.99 for 5 small spring rolls.. it comes out as pictured. You would expect it to come out with garish and lettuce to enjoy the spring roll but it doesn’t. The taste of it is very bland tasting. Yes it’s crunchy but no flavor. For my entree I order the Vietnamese Shaking Beef, off the lunch menu. One the lunch portion you get fried rice or chow mien. Dumpling or crab Rangoon and soup… but for some reason it was only à la cart for the shaking beef. On the menu it says it was fillet mignon steak. I had to order the fried rice separately. Fried rice was ok. Nothing to special. The shaking beef, the taste of the beef had a little sour taste to it and you can tell it’s old beef. The beef wasn’t fillet, more of then sirloin. Even the cucumber was old. They also gave me hot and sour soup, and it wasn’t that great either. Over all my experience with the food wasn’t that great. Would I come back, most likely not. It’s not truly authentic Vietnamese.

We enjoyed our experience here. Our waiter was friendly and attentive. The menu had a variety of choices, and everything was reasonably priced. My husband and I both had the wonton soup which was delicious! It had a great flavor. My husband ordered the pad Thai. He said it was very good. I ordered the lunch salt and pepper chicken. It was very fresh and delicious. The restaurant was also very clean. We will be happy to return.

$12.99 gets you this for chicken wings. 1 normal sized and 5 of the smallest wings I’ve ever seen. Pigeons have bigger wings. Not worth it.