Out to eat in Sioux Falls: Quality service, flavorful food at local Vietnamese restaurant

The stickier the table, the better the food. It’s a simple rule, yet a good one to follow to keep stomachs satisfied. 

Lam’s Vietnamese Restaurant makes no exception to this phenomenon. Although the restaurant lacks a formal atmosphere, it more than makes up for a deficit in style with a surplus of flavors.

Located on Rice Street and east of downtown, the restaurant occupies what seems to be an abandoned worship building. An ancient sign marks the otherwise unassuming location. 

Every time I walk into the restaurant, I am convinced that I am in the wrong place. A small flight of steps with narrowing walls ushers me into the waiting area, and from there the entire restaurant is visible.

Strip-down tables and chairs make groupings of two and four, with not much space between my neighbor and me. Minimal wall decorations and somewhat unappetizing paint colors don’t create a cozy feeling; however, I don’t care in the slightest. Because as soon as I walk through the door, my nose is immediately overwhelmed with the fragrant scents wafting from the bare-bones kitchen.

The friendly waiter seats me and presents a menu filled with an assortment of traditional dishes. Pho, spring rolls and bun baos stick out to me, and I make quick work of placing my order. Before I have much more of a chance to take in my surroundings, my appetizers arrive, and I focus on nothing else besides taking the first bite.

The spring rolls become my first victim. The crunchy bean sprouts and soft rice noodles create a textural variety while the shrimp adds a more intense flavor to the roll. The sticky rice paper holds the food together but doesn’t make each bite impossible to chew. Adding a drizzle of peanut sauce gives each bite a balance of flavors. At $2.80 for one spring roll easily the length of my hand, I had to stop myself from eating them all to save room for my main course.

The bun baos meet a similar fate. For only $3, a well-seasoned mixture of sausage, pork, and eggs delicately wrapped in a puffy dough offer a different take on the traditional dumplings I have grown to adore. While one of their most popular menu items, these didn’t quite make my favorites list. My hatred of onions didn’t pair well with its considerable presence in the stuffing.

Once I was almost too full from these appetizers, my waiter brought a huge bowl over to my table. The beef pho is beautifully presented with a traditional Asian-style spoon and a colorful assortment of toppings. For the full experience, I add in bean sprouts, green onions, Thai basil and limes and begin to stir the broth quickly, hoping to cool it down enough to eat. With chopsticks as my weapon of choice, I assemble my first bite, ensuring I have a little bit of each ingredient.

I can smell the broth before the bowl even arrives at my table, but the scent pales in comparison to the taste. The aromatic flavors almost overwhelm me, making it obvious that this is nothing from any box or grocery store. The rice noodles are cooked well, no longer hard but not falling apart either. The meat is tender — providing a savory flavor without taking away from any other element. A price of $12 is more than fair for a bowl the size of my head.

The overall dining experience was quick. I didn’t wait more than five minutes for each item I ordered, and the food was so flavorful and rich that I didn’t bother wasting time by chatting with my friend across the table. The only waiter working was kind and quick to refill drinks and take away empty plates.

Walking out of the restaurant presented a difficult task, as I was completely stuffed and about to crash into a food coma. The portion size of each item was more than fair for the price, and I could hardly finish my food. Despite having skipped lunch in preparation, I requested a to-go box, admitting defeat.

I am more than happy to flip through tacky menu pages and sit at sticky tables if it means my taste buds get to experience a barrage of incredible spices and sauces like the ones that Lam’s serves up. By the time I had finished eating, the only thought on my mind was wondering how soon I would be able to eat my leftovers.