Hue on Charles

Checking out the list of new restaurants takes time and energy. This past Friday night, we had only kid home and I figured we’d check out one of the new hot spots in our neighborhood. I had gotten good reviews from 2 people, so off we went.

Hue is located in the heart of the West Village on Charles and Bleeker Street. I decided on Hue after going to my new favorite site, Menupages.com to check out menus of the various new spots. Hue had an interesting menu and I really like Vietnamese food. Hue not only has an eclectic menu of asian food, but they also serve sushi which is interesting.

We walked in early, around 6:30 so getting a table was no problem, even without reservations. They saw our 8 year old and proceeded to give us the worst table in the house even though the place was empty. Reluctantly, they took our coats too. Our seats were situated right where the music was blasting in our ears but we’re still game. My husband attempted to order a bottle of cold sake. Out of the 5 bottles available, 4 were not in stock and they were all over $50 – absolutely ridiculous. But, we stuck with the sake and got the one bottle available. It wasn’t very good either.

We ordered. We started with a dozen oysters (a special) that had interesting spicy asian sauces on them. Not that interesting and the sauces overpowered the oysters. We also had the spring roll to start which was really tasty. Crisp on the outside, filled with shrimp and chicken and served with a dipping sauce on the side. I really liked them. My son had sushi for a main course which he really liked. The presentation was really beautiful. My husband and I split the seared spinach with ginger and soy which was not that interesting. We also had the whole fish which was beautifully prepared. They had already deboned it and prepared the pieces in chunks next to the whole fried fish. Unfortunately, it was laden with garlic and spices. After dinner, we decided that dessert would be picked up on the way home.

As we left, we went to the main desk and asked for our coats. They told us to go downstairs and get them. Then, we went to the other desk downstairs. We did not even realize their was a downstairs and would have preferred to sit down there but c’est la. They did not want to get us our coats there either but just pointed to us the coat check in the back area near the bathroom. Nice service. Not.

Needless to say, we will not be returning to Hue. The attitude is not one that defines the easy going atmosphere of the West Village. On a side note, we went home and a few hours later I was having the horrible taste in your mouth that you get after having an over powered spicey meal. I ran downstairs and got a lemon and parsley. I brought up the other half for my husband so he could also rinse out before he went to bed. The next morning, which is the real true test if the restaurant was any good based on how you feel when you wake. All I kept saying was how I was so happy that I ate the lemon before we went to bed.

Over priced with an attitude doesn’t work for me. I can’t imagine it would work for anyone.