Dai Loi Restaurant II
4186 Buford Hwy NE #GAtlanta, GA 30345
(404) 633-2111
Pros: Great authentic food, fast service
Cons: Shrimp salad rolls, awkward location
Our Vietnamese palletes have largely been shaped by the superb Vietnamese restaurants in the Portland, OR and Phoenix, AZ areas. Thus, we tend to be picky about Vietnamese restaurants. For a while, we thought the only worthy Vietnamese restaurant in the Atlanta metro area was the amazing Pho 96. After looking, we finally found another restaurant to hang in the ranks.
The location may be a little off-putting, as there's not much immediately around it. But don't let that discourage you from Dai Loi II. Upon arriving, we were greeted with amazingly friendly and fast service. Unlike a lot of other Asian restaurants in the area, this one has service staff who speak English and can help you out if you're unfamiliar with the cuisine.
We ordered our standard Vietnamese meal of shrimp salad rolls for appetizer, and entrees of pho and vermicelli noodles with grilled pork. The shrimp salad rolls were a little underwhelming. Compared to our other favorite Vietnamese restaurants, these rolls did not seem to offer fresh vegetable ingredients. The accompanying sauce seemed to really emphasize the peanut aspect, and not so much the sweet aspect, so depending on your taste, this may be a plus or a minus. Salad shrimp rolls aside, the other dishes were fabulous. There's nothing to describe the pho other than fabulous. With the vermicelli dish, I often feel the need to supplement the dish with chili paste. That is not at all necessary with Dai Loi's vermicelli dishes, as there's plenty of spice to spare.
Dai Loi has its ups and downs, but definitely is a place to go to for good authentic Vietnamese cuisine.
