For those who have pawed through Y&H’s 2009 Dining Guide, you know that I’m a serious fan of Present, a Vietnamese restaurant unlike any other in the area. Y&H, of course, is just one of a number of media sources beating the drum for Present.

But what do eaters who don’t get paid to chew think of the place? Here’s what Restaurant Rater RMF9 had to say about Present, which is really a comment more about the price of becoming famous:

Upscale decor, a large menu of fairly priced items as well as specialties you may never have seen. I visited when it first opened (and was one of the only patrons). My recent visit they approached full capacity! The restaurant is across the I-Hop in a location that used to be the Korean Restaurant, Bee Wan – Secret Garden.

By contrast, MsKungfuBokChoy (who gets Y&H’s award for Handle of the Year) offered a more detailed look at Present:

Met up with my friends here for dinner without a reservation and it was full! We had to wait 15 minutes, which to me isn’t so bad. The service was great. The food taste and looked great. I thought my caramel fish portion was a bit small, but I was full at the end of my meal so it was all good. My only complaint is the menu… It took me forver to go through this menu because the way they named the entrees. Instead of calling it caramel fish, they called it Fish in Shallow Water. My boyfriend ordered the beef stew and they called it Fragrant Travel Beef. I thought the food was great, but because of the way they name their entrees on the menu, I’ll just stick to Four Sisters and their easy to follow menu.

Photo by Darrow Montgomery