Sunflower Chinese Restaurant

January 20, 2010

Sunflower Chinese Restaurant

7370 Sawmill Road

Columbus, Ohio

Really, there is a good reason we ended up at a Chinese restaurant for Vietnamese food. We had an errand to run on that end of town, on Sawmill, so we thought we'd Google "Asian Cuisine" instead of Pho to see what we came up with. After all, Lotus Leaf was not on my pho radar through any traditional pho search. We found Sunflower, which was barely 1/2 mile from our destination, browsed the menu online and found our "noodles, Vietnamese style".

I have to hand it to the Chinese: At least they attempted to make a decent bowl of the stuff. Even though it was sub-par (per Melissa, as in "thanks for the sub-par pho mom"), the pho at Sunflower was STILL better than Mi Li.

This pho was a little weird. For starters, they started with a beef broth base. It was good, but not quite the traditional broth we're used to. They did use rice noodles, but they used the wide ones. There were a few bean sprouts, and both types of onions already in the broth. The biggest problem was the beef. It was thinly sliced and plentiful, but not thinly sliced enough to finish "cooking" as it is supposed to do, therefore, we never were able to eat the beef. The plate of garnishes was almost complete, just lacking the basil. The bowls were HUGE, and cost just $7.99.

We had Chinese egg rolls for an appetizer, but there was an extensive Chinese menu to choose from. OH, and I must mention the smell when you first walk in the door.... There are fish tanks there in the front room. Fish tanks smell fishy. Pee-You! I think it goes without saying: the fish is fresh. The restaurant itself doesn't stink, but it wasn't exactly a good impression.

Overall grade: D

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