The building on the corner of Mill Avenue and Sixth Street in downtown Tempe has seen a variety of restaurants come and go in the last few years. Dragonfly Vietnamese Kitchen, currently taking up residency there, seems to be an unlikely candidate for permanency.
Dragonfly's Vietnamese fare is made with ingredients lacking freshness. The flavors of their soups and entrees are poorly melded. There's an echo of a missing element in every bite.
To start, Dragonfly offers a variety of appetizers, including an eclectic assortment of spring rolls stuffed with everything from the typical vegetables and shrimp to salmon or beef. Stick with what's familiar. The traditional spring rolls are decent, but some of the other combinations are questionable. The tiger shrimp and cream cheese rolls are also edible, but overpriced at $4.50 for two half-sized, deep-fried rolls.
A large part of Dragonfly's menu is comprised of their traditional soup, or Pho, list. The seven variations include seafood, vegetarian and spicy versions of the noodle soup. All are served in a giant bowl with a side of bean sprouts, jalapeños, leafy herbs and lime. Unfortunately, none of the Pho is very good. Each is made with poor meat cuts and dull broth.
The Shrimp and Tamarind soup is slightly better, served in the same giant bowl but with a bit of tang to the subtly spicy broth. Made with pineapple, mushrooms, tomatoes and okra, it has a zesty kick but still lacks the freshness diners would want in seafood dishes.
Skip dessert entirely. Dragonfly offers several dessert items, but all are pre-made and have artificial flavor. The mango cheesecake has a poor consistency. The sorry excuse for mango syrup appears to be made of cheap ingredients and little actual mango. Tiramisu is no better, with none of the spongy texture or sweet liqueur flavor common in better versions of the Italian dessert. Most disappointing is that the dessert display wholly lacks any Vietnamese options, a curious finding in a Vietnamese kitchen.
On the brighter side, the service in Dragonfly is incredibly friendly, albeit slow at times. However, even friendly service can't make up for mistakes like appetizers arriving after entrees. Plus, diners should expect no less than friendly, attentive service when there are hardly any customers.
While Dragonfly has a small patio and a fairly spacious dining room, there doesn't seem to be much of a lunch or dinner rush. Perhaps this is merely a suggestion that Dragonfly will be following in its ancestors' footsteps. Let's only hope that if this is the case, something more enduring will follow in its place.
— jessica.kokal@asu.edu or foodinphoenix.com
