Friendly service, but food just OK.
	Reviewed By howie	Jan 31, 2008

Dao Son is one of those places that I feel guilty giving a middling review because the people who work there seem so nice. Plus Dao Son fills a greatly needed niche in the metro area; if you want casual, but not too casual Asian food in the metro area, your options are limited.

...but... I just don't love their food. The menu is hodgepodge of selections from East and Southeast Asia. That's usually a tell-tale sign that the food won't be authentic, and it seems to hold at Dao Son.

The bun (a Vietnamese noodle salad) was not like others I've had in Vietnamese restaurants. Instead of simple char-grilled meat, they topped the noodles with a generic stir-fry, and the noodles were quite mushy. The clean, bright flavors of this Vietnamese classic weren't evident in Dao Son's version.

Dao Son also serves a large selection of stir-fried dishes. They aren't unpleasant, but they have the feel of generic, Westernized Asian food. They basically end up all tasting the same to me. And sometimes the meats are overcooked. It also doesn't help that the rice served with it is often severely mushy (a pet peeve of mine).

Still if you're in the mood for Asian food, and you're too lazy to go to Kearny Mesa, City Heights, National City, etc, Dao Son is a good choice.