Will ask you to leave comments so that’s why they have so many good reviews. The decorations are excellent. But their food is just average and over priced. One waitress asked me if I’m here for business and how much is my salary, so rude

Best lunch in Hanoi..my frens planned a surprise birthday celebrations for me with the help of the lovely ladies May, Nora, Tess. Attention to service and with big smiles. Our plate of dessert was replaced immediately when she noticed there was a defect on plate. Top star service.

It’s been a while I have such quality Vietnamese food. It is not surprising that the place is packed on a Thursday evening. The Bun Cha and Beef Pho here are very good, especially the quality of the meat in the dishes. The hue imperial fried spring roll, papaya salad and wrapped shrimp with mayonnaise and potato are amazing too. Thank you Dean and Nat for your fabulous service. And that’s not all, you can adjourn to the roof to enjoy cool December air to cap the amazing evening. It’s a place not be to missed if you visit Hanoi.

Disappointing experience for my partner and I. Booked a table for our Christmas Dinner after reading the food reviews. When we arrived, the place was stuffy and we had to inform the staff. The place was cramp and you can easily hear the conversation from tables all around you so nowhere near a fine dining restaurant in my opinion. The fried squid came cold (?), the table beside us had the same comment. The beef was tough and fried noodles was way too oily. The dessert could have been ok without the cheap tasting chocolate syrup. Their saving grace was the pumpkin soup we loved and their wine (this cannot go wrong). We've given our feedback to the ground staff because it was way below expectations. Though they'd given us a 20% discount, I don't think we will recommend anyone given the price tag. We ended up having to get street food dinner because we cannot bring ourselves to finish what was served. Overall, for the service I will say its a 5/5. The staffs spoke good English and were attentive. The food however was what we were there for, and it clearly was not up to standard.

Amazing restaurant located on the 9th floor of a hotel, we ate only western food and it was very good, after we finished we went up to the sky bar for a great view! Very recommended!

Good ambience, excellent view, clean place. May and Lily were very nice to us. The food is good but not crazy good. We were surprised by a pudding 🍮 like tofu, and didn't enjoy. In the end they ask us to review the restaurant on Google and come with a qr code for the purpose.

Beautiful place, splendid decor, well knowledgeable butler's & delicious food. This place has it all. Must visit if you want to try out exquisite Vietnamese food.

Wow. The food here is amazing. Super friendly staff and a hip setting make it perfect for lunch or dinner. And… it has a view. After dinner, go one flight up to the roof deck for a drink on the skybar.

Elegant decorations and cosy environment. The food is Vietnam style with great presentation. The service is very nice and recommend friends to gathering here.

Great atmosphere and food here. Food tastes AND looks great. We had both pho and bun cha. I am not quite sure about bun cha but pho tasted great. The restaurant was on the 9th floor of a fancy hotel. If you are tired of the chaos of street food in the old quarter, this is a good place to try. The price is on the high side but I think it is still very affordable.

We really loved the food we ate in connection with our stay at Aura Boutique Hanoi Hotel & Spa. Nice wide range of breakfast buffet. The evening menu was delicious, very tasty. Great atmosphere and top service with very friendly employees.

Authentic and delicious food! The food are served without delay. The banh xeo and imperial spring rolls are amazing. May and Leo are really friendly and did not hesitate to teach us how to eat the dishes. They made sure we are well taken care of.

May and Annie were very polite and the dishes were delicious. We went to celebrate my mum's 60th birthday on holidays and the restaurant prepared cake for us, which was very heartwarming. Thank you for great food and service! :)

Excellent restaurant with affordable Vietnamese cuisine and international fare! Two appetisers (the fried spring rolls and the mango and shrimp salad), two "mains" (fried rice with chicken and the beef in bamboo dish) and a dessert were enough for four girls. I was expecting it to be ruinously expensive, given the ambience and the location, and was rather surprised that the bill was only about USD 32. Service was impeccable; our server was very friendly (she speaks English and a bit of Chinese too!) and made sure that we felt very welcome.

The restaurant is very nice, the food taste good, especially the coconut beef curry and salad, that my favorite. The waitresses were very nice and come right to you when you have eye contact with. I like the waitress, Mai Nat, she was cute, polite and provide good service. If you would like to end your vacation with one fine dine, this is the choice. Highly recommend.

We didn’t have a reservation but the staff was able to accommodate us. One of the best dinners we had in Hanoi. Great selection and knowledgeable waitress. Recommended. P.S.: The full course, incl. drinks cost around 35USD/person. The entrance is behind the hotel reception.

This lovely restaurant on the top floor of our hotel is well worth a visit. Do try to arrive before sunset to get a great view of the city skyline. They seated us by a window but unfortunately the sky was already dark and we couldn't see much of the surroundinga outside. There was a good selection of Vietnamese food from the various regions. All expertly prepared and delicious. The wine was chilled perfectly. We were served excellently by Dean who was ernest, soft spoken and obliging. Unfortunately the one element that dissuaded me from giving this restaurant a perfect score was the female server of a neighbouring table with a Caucasian family. While she was equally enthusiastic in her service, her voice was loud. As it is the tables were closer to each other than what I find usually so the volume of her voice meant that we would hear the conversations at the other table ever so often. I offer this sincerely as a feedback for improvement towards perfection because overall the restaurant was wonderful. I think the staff was unaware of the volume of her own voice.

Located along a bustling street of food stalls, the restaurant is an oasis of peace and well-decorated with a good ambience. It feels like an upscale dining spot but most of food is reasonably priced and tasty. The portion of squid was much smaller than we expected though, especially for the price we paid (USD13). They gave us complimentary prawn crackers as an appetizer and jasmine tea to complete the meal. The service was excellent, and they provide you advice on what and how much to order. The meal cost us slightly more than 700,000VND in total.

A great fine dining you don't want to miss. From presentation to taste, this is one restaurant you don't want to miss. A must have for me was the fried spring roll with pork and shrimp! Lily was outstanding, not just helping us out on the menu but also as guide to the sights and sounds of Hanoi.

Staff service is amazing, everyone is very polite, attentive and courteous. However, the food can be a hit or miss. We think some dishes like the bamboo beef is a must try while others like the fried spring rolls can be skipped. I’d like to point out that this restaurant, along with many other establishments in Hanoi, “encourage” customers to leave a 5 star review before you leave. Just a thing to note.

The food here was amazing. Didn't order much so couldn't explore the menu, but everything that I did order was great. The restaurant itsel is also really nice, but it was a shame it was empty when I went. The staff and service is also great. If you're up for delicious Vietnamese food in a upscale setting this is a great place to go.

This is the second dinner we have at Essence Restaurant, because the food was so good the first time we came here, that we had to come back. Thank you Lily and Kim for your help in choosing what suited us better from the menu. I recommend visiting the restaurant, the food is really nice!

We were waking by and were lucky enough to find this place. Lily and Tess took super good care of us! The set menu is perfect to try the local cuisine. It tasted better than expected. Ambience is great and the view is amazing.

We had a delicious meal here one afternoon. The restaurant has fantastic views over the city and is beautifully decorated. Daisy our waitress was very kind and helpful and the menu was varied. Even though it is in the hotel (guests receive 10% discount), it is open to the public, I would highly recommend it.

Super good service here, especially Nat who can explain the dishes well in English. Good food and good vibe!

this place is such a godsend. why was i out trying all the food when the hotel had so much good food and the price is very very decent!!!! the hanoi sunrise is also a strong drink and the rooftop bar is just amazing. i will so want to come back here again! beautiful, delicious and very professional restaurant ! i wish i had more space for the hotplate buncha!

Saved the best for last. I will definitely make it a point to come here every time I am in Hanoi! Really amazing food in a nice hotel Setting. Staff were really friendly and helpful with food suggestions. If you need modifications done to the food (like less spicy), they can help! Lunch spread was a variety of local food done in a more finesse style. Especially amazing was the hot plate meat and the coconut-cooked dish. Check the pics to understand what I mean! The only thing the pictures cannot do is let you smell how delicious it was! This is a great place for nice family meal and a great way to end a holiday.

It’s a fantastic restaurant. The food is yummy, presents with amazing features, the view is fantastic too. The service is excellent. I do recommend to try one on your visit to Hanoi. We had great time on our lunch!

05.09.23 Excellent service. Speaks good English. Service was very accommodating with various questions and requests. Even helped with sightseeing quotations and recommendations. Ordered duck in coconut - yummy. Cute presentation. Has taro inside too. Grapefruit salad with shrimp was very good too. Gave us complimentary shrimp chips and ate it with the salad. Ordered passion fruit mojito and modified elixir drink - both very good. Take hotel lobby up to restaurant. Also went to rooftop bar for sunset views.

We stayed at the Essence hotel because we found this wonderful restaurant. Food here is amazing. The breakfast here is full of options, from poached eggs to omelettes. For vegetarians like myself there aren't much dinner or lunch options but staff is nice and they are good english speakers.and can help you out. Service is amazing!!

A great view of the city from many of the tables. Had a lightning show tonight too which was sick. Definitely loved the staff's service. Nathan was great and I forget the other woman's name. Very attentive and on point! Food was delicious. The tempura fish was bomb.

ESSSENCE is OUT OF THE WORLD. Vietnamese food at this restaurant is amazing, it is a symbol for Vietnamese cuisine. Moreover, the service is impeccable, the waiter is really attentive and helpful. Highly recommend when you go to Hanoi. Definitely come back 👍

Wowww! We were so amazed with delicious foods and the impeccable service given by Blair.The Bamboo beef and the passionfruit ice cream is a must try! This is a good find and one of the best restaurant experience in Hanoi.

Recommended by our hotel manager that this is a go to restaurant for Vietnamese cuisines. Quite disappointed. We ordered the egg omelette which is called Meng Siow in Vietnamese but tasted horrible compared to one popular street food vendor where we tasted it first time. The kitchen completely forgotten our second appetizer. Our main courses were bamboo beef and a fish wrapped in leaves. Nothing to rave about. But I must compliment two waitresses- Kara and May - for their exceptional services.

Christms Dinner 2020 Loved this restaurant both the set menu Western food and the service. Large, tender Australian tenderloin, one of the best...dessert was spectacular...enjoyed everything

Refined Vietnamese cuisine while still keeping authenticity. Our server Annie was very professional and attentive. It is a truly fine dining experience. Reasonable price

Excellent food, more luxurious setting, outstanding service. Definitely one of the best restaurants in Hanoi. Food is very high quality, taste is absolutely authentic northern Vietnamese cuisine and it's presented beautifully. Price is very fair for the provided quality. Absolute recommendation!

I had an enjoyable dining experience here. The waitress who served us is very friendly and helpful. They even offered each of us a cup of Jasmine tea and cookies after our dessert. The food was great. Kudos to the team.

Splendid staff and service which make the food also very delightful. Ambiance is nice and prices are decent. The food tasted even better then high-end hotel restaurants we had. During the Tet new year they charge 20% extra for service but we didn’t mind because all high rated eateries/restaurants were closed, so we got lucky in getting a table. We will definitely come back again. Recommendable dishes: grilled cat fish to wrap in rice paper, pomelo (grapefruit) shrimp salad For improvement: aubergine in clay pot

Outstanding service, delicious food and remarkable cocktails. This was the only restaurant throughout our entire 3 weeks in Vietnam that specifically had a gluten free menu which made it a Coeliac's dream. Not only that, their awareness was so excellent that, when my partner ordered a beer (we asked for two gluten free menus) they asked if it was OK! Would definitely recommend this restaurant whether you are Coeliac or not!

A wonderful dining experience, coupled with great service from our host Annie. The food was fresh, flavourful and reasonably priced. Would go again on another trip to Hanoi!

Food is authentic and good. It's on the expensive side for Vietnam, but the restaurant is beautiful and ambience is great. Staff are attentive and helpful. Thanks to James, May and Ivy for the fantastic meal experience! :)

Really great place. Food was delicious, cool view and beautiful space. Very generous portion sizes. Bun Cha was very very tasty. Probably one of my favorites in Vietnam.

Very tasty food. The Bun ca is very clean compared to the street versions (of course). Very prompt service from waitresses that spoke excellent English. Perfect place to experience street food without the fear of getting tummyaches, even if it's a little modified from the original street version.

Had a lovely dinner here after seeing photos of the beautiful food and view. We walked over from our hotel in the Old Quarters and received an impeccable experience from Lily, James, and Nat! They were attentive, hospitable, and even brought us surprise cakes to celebrate our honeymoon! Our favorite items were the mango daiquiri, beef papaya salad, cha ca, and violet rice dessert. Highly recommend!

This restaurant is on top of the AIRA Hotel. We are staying for 2 nights and opted in for the breakfast each morning. The food was incredibly fresh with a great buffet selection of western and Vietnamese foods. You can also order several items freaking prepared from the kitchen in addition to the buffet. Nora, Kim, and Tess immediately greeted us with warm smiles and politeness. They took incredible care of us and made the experience that much more enjoyable. Thank you all so much! Highly recommend.

매우 매우 맛있습니다 강력 추천 It was a great restaurant. Period. The server was great. Nora, Tess, Ivy helped me out with selections and also they gave friendly recommendations for tours. Foods were absolutely on high level. Enjoyed my meal!

We had lovely dinning experience food was wonderful with you stay at the Hotel! The staff were wonderful and amazing customers service! Much thank you to our waitress Kim_Tess_Nora!

Wonderful! I had such a lovely afternoon tea here. The presentation was excellent! The decor, color scheme and ambiance here are perfectly designed! The staff here are all very friendly and helpful! This place is perfect for a special occasion brunch!

July 2023 Review: - Very tasty food 🥘 - Friendly staff people - Very affordable prices for tourist ! Definitely recommended ✅

The third time I comeback to the restaurant and still have the best food. Recommend the bamboo beef and the grill snaper. Really Amazing. And you can go to the sky bar for a nice and good drink after the meal too.