Tam Deli & Cafe

Anonymous Dec 4, 2017 at 3:25AM

This place used to be fantastic. Not since it's been sold. I would have been happier going to fast food, yes it was that bad.
My girlfriend got fried pot stickers, they obviously were reheated, rubbery and old.
I got their Breakfast Platter. The egg was way over cooked because it was reheated. The veggies where cut days ago. The meat was tasteless. How do you mess up a fried egg?

Anonymous Sep 28, 2017 at 12:57PM

To be honest with you, I have not only eaten here but also worked here. I found that the management, as much as people say that the food is good, it is actually just a facade from the outside. The fact is that the management is not only poor but also very abusive to the workers that are there. Most of the best chefs that were once there to make Tam Deli great now has left, leaving only one man who turned out to be an electrician hired to be a manager but with no business experience and a cook that does not know English. But there is more to the story.

As a customer that has eaten at Tam Deli when it was still under some management of Tam, I found that Tam was a better businessperson than the new owner, who happened to be a financial advisor with zero restaurant experience. She actually not only knows how to manage the employees and care for them, but also made the restaurant a home for people. Thus, it leads to the fact that Tam Deli became the best place because of the loyal customers. However, from the day that the new management comes in, along with the new manager Johnny, things has gone downhill. Instead of really teaching new skills, they demand the old owner, who they "downgrade" to a worker, to teach them those new skills but without ever taking into consideration of how she wants it to be managed in order for it to work as Tam Deli. Thus, this led her to leave and from there, Tam Deli is never the same as the old one.

From there, there are high turnovers and because of this, the food quality suffered and that explained why the banh mi has varying quality (with some workers that have zero to little experience to those that are knowledgeable about it). I, as a business assistant, have my share of trying to talk things out with the owner and the manager and so far, nothing has been done to improve and the investors are largely ignored by the owner himself. It is through those series of events that I finally call it my quits. Not only the management was abusive to workers, but also the manager has a history of making crude and sometimes inappropriate humors and behaviors towards customer's children. Thus, here are some of my recommendations.

If you are going to come here to eat, try elsewhere because there are other places where people not only speak English to you, but provide a sense of home but I have no idea where it is. If you are looking for quality and even customer service, i recommend Pho Dan. Otherwise, I would stay away from this place because it not only has become a place of "black market" but also now a rat hole for abuse, cheats, and other things. Moreover, if you ever see any businesses that were owned by the owner David himself (who is the actual owner of the restaurant), stay away because it is not authentic and does not represent who this owner really is, especially when I know that the quality is not good and yet he charged a high price for it (and this includes his nail salon that he owned in Cedar Park, stay away from it because the manager that runs the show at the restaurant also runs the show there with his wife).

Anonymous Sep 24, 2017 at 3:09AM

Tam's was one of my family's favorite places but the quality has gone downhill since the new owners took over. We ordered takeout from their website and when we arrived were told they didn't have our order and claimed their website didn't allow online ordering even after I showed them their website on my phone and my order confirmation email. Banh mi bread is doughy, cream puffs are stale, and egg rolls soggy.

Anonymous Sep 20, 2017 at 10:57PM

Since the new management took over, the quality of service has certainly taken a hit. The food is still great, but after having to wait over 45 minutes for my order (typically 5-10 min) and not getting what I ordered the previous time... it makes me a sad-panda to change my review from 5 stars to 3. :(

Update: Looks like they've got their stuff together. :D

Anonymous Sep 9, 2017 at 8:12AM

This is my absolute favorite restaurant in Austin! The food is incredibly affordable, and I can't resist their Banh Mi Tom every time I go. (Sorry for not getting the correct accents.) Make sure you order your cream puffs early, though, or they will run out... Or don't, and then I can have some. 😉

Anonymous Aug 22, 2017 at 7:19AM

This will be a running review as the food isn't here yet but my experience is unparrallelled so far. My server was out front smoking when I came in. He poked his head in the door and yelled in Vietnamese and a lady from the back yelled back. She came out to take my order and spoke no English at all. No problem at all, we worked our way through and things are going smoothly. The only other table in the place is having a discussion about the differences between milking the venom from a cobra versus milking the venom from a rattlesnake. So far so good. The food is out now. The spring rolls are great. I got the ones with pork. I got the rice rolls with more pork. They are more substantial than the spring rolls and are topped with pate and fried onions with bean sprouts and julienned cucumbers. There is a nice and spicy dipping sauce with it. Great stuff. The snake people left. This is really good. I will definitely come back.

Anonymous Aug 20, 2017 at 1:24AM

The old owner's should be disturbed with how poor the quality of service has dropped. We visited when only one other table was here and somehow managed to wait 20 minutes for two entrees and an appetizer, one entree of which took 10 minutes longer to come out. I suspect if we hadn't asked about the other order it would not have come out based on the frantic yelling match that followed from the kitchen. The patrons next to us also had delays and had to send back wrong orders, so I suspect this wasn't isolated to us.

Don't be fooled by all the previous awards, they were for a very different restaurant with owners that could actually manage a small deli. It's sad this used to be a hidden gem of Austin, but I'm never coming back.

Anonymous Jan 30, 2017 at 1:51AM

Great customer service and food. Cmae with a group of friends and ordered the shredded pork banh mi, Vietnamese coffee, and shrimp fritters, all of which were very good.

Anonymous Jan 23, 2017 at 9:34AM

I didn't know they change management until today. Food is not good as it used to be. Seems they changed not only the management but the cooks. Used to be one of the best unknown hole in the walls. Price went up too. Will try again in a few months.

Anonymous Jan 23, 2017 at 5:05AM

No frills Vietnamese cafe. Flavors are underwhelming and meat lean on the salty side. Staff is friendly but the food is mediocre at best. Shrimp chips are extremely oily

Anonymous Jan 14, 2017 at 1:23AM

The banh mi here are great, but rather expensive. They use an interesting bread that is very airy, and their grill flavor on items like roast pork ($7.25) is outstanding, the highlight in my opinion. Overall, I prefer Baguette House, but it's worth trying this one as well.

The #93 Bun Bon Mua ($8.99) is a better value for what you get, and I liked it. 4 types of meat, plus plenty of that great grilled flavor they do so well here.