Cafe Lao on Argyle anyone?

After several hours of vigorous jogging beside my son on his bike, it was time for lunch and he demanded "soup noodles." So off we went down Argyle. He fixed on Cafe Loa, the storefront next to Benny's where Nha Trang used to be. We hadn't been in before, so in we went.

It was memorial day at about 12:30 but they were empty except for 2 guys smoking and playing checkers, and the sound from 3 different TV (on 3 different channels).

I was expecting a variation on the basic Vietnamese storefront menu that one sees up and down the block. But this was quite different. There was egg roll and spring roll up front. But after that things became somwhat startling.

There were virtually none of the usual stir-fried suspects (chicken/pork w/ lemon grass), etc. Many dishes were untranslated and many, many prices were in the mid-$20s up to the $30s. Some of these involved crab, but not all, by any means.

Has anyone been here? Are they playing at some higher level than other, similar looking places?

Also, somewhat oddly, we ordered chicken soup/noodle off the menu. They were out of it. (Seems like a hard thing to be out of.) Asked for the young coconut drink. Also out.

The beef soup with noodles was quite good. Not deep, but a nice hint of cinnemon, etc. Came with "rare" beef nicely thin sliced and good. (Though not the fattier cut mentioned as used at Dong Thanh.)

I was just there for the boy's soup, so I didn't get to experiment, but it was clear that one could easily drop $50 or more here for one, which seems odd in a smoky, crowded storefront with multiple TVs.

Anyone know anything about them?

here's an old post from laoch on it, though it doesn't seem to touch on any of the higher priced items you mention

it also seems to have weirdly screwed up tags

I still eat at Cafe Lao once a month or so. When they first opened they had quite good Pho. They have changed their menu since then and are often empty when I go. I would not order anything expensive there as I don't think their ingredients are first rate, as financial doom seems in the air. It is still an acceptable place to have a bowl of pho, as their Pho is still tasty but no longer excellent. Their spring rolls are fine. Their egg rolls are bad. They have tasty Bo vien (meat balls).