I was privileged to join this interesting, talky, fascinating group. And I concur that the restauraunt showed a bewilderingly odd unwillingness to pivot in order to provide quests with a great experience. Towards the end of our visit there, we were actually scolded as a group by the (I hesitate to call her - the maitresse’d) for giving her staff a difficult time. We were pleasant, not demanding, respectful, etc. And then to actually - for real - be scolded was waaaay over the top. Many of us will not be returning. Poor performance Saigon Babylon.
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Was the food worth it, at least? Bummer your group had such an unsatisfying experience for its first outing together.
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Maybe I shouldn’t have been surprised that when I sat down at the bar, the bartender didn’t ask me whether I wanted anything to drink 
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First, hats off to @MaxEntropy and @digga for collaborating to organize what I think was the first-ever meetup in the history of HO’s Boston board. Great group of folks! It felt like I knew most of you because we’ve been corresponding here for so long. Perfect weather to enjoy a rooftop terrace too.
The glitches in the evening were far outweighed for me by the pleasure of meeting people IRL.
As for the restaurant, I realized that the earnest staff probably weren’t equipped to deal with parties larger than a 4-top. We were a party of eight and our presence seemed to stress the restaurant’s way of doing things, although we had a reservation. And I have a hunch the establishment has rules that servers are not granted flexibility to bend. Such as: Not being able to request one dish from the indoor dining menu (the dining room being steps away from the terrace) when a member of our party could not find something suitable from the concise terrace menu. It’s only fair to servers when the restaurant’s hospitality procedures empower them, and when they are allowed to help customers with small requests. Everybody wins when small graces are permitted.
We explored, it was fun, and I hope that more meetups are in the future!
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The food was excellent, as it was during my prior visit which led me to propose Saigon Babylon in the first place. Service had not been an issue at all when I had dinner there a month or so ago, and at that visit we were even given the okay to order anything we wanted off either menu while sitting on the gorgeous roof deck. I’ve also dined at their other restaurant Cicada several times and really enjoyed it with no issues. Luckily, the company last night more than made up for the lapses in hospitality! I agree completely with all the other Onions’ reporting, and it was truly astonishing to be called out and scolded by a staff person less than half the age of most of our party. They were almost completely empty at 7pm when we left, and I am afraid that if they can’t treat their patrons better that will continue to be the case.
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Sometimes, company > food. But it sounds like none of you will return after the… scolding? Srsly? 
I would rather be scolded than have the chef slip something into my food 
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I think that’s mostly an urban myth, but technically I agree. I wouldn’t return, however.
…and mangled orders, and refusing a request off the dinner menu (which they have honored in the past)? There are so many excellent places earnestly vying for repeat customers, why return to a place that doesn’t appear to care?
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Wow. I would have been seriously annoyed at being scolded when it was their staff being incompetent (not writing down orders) and unreasonable. I hope they didn’t insist on a service charge?
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Had I been the restaurant owner or manager I would have rolled out the red carpet for group of influential, discerning diners. Word gets around. I hope the Boston HOs who enjoyed themselves in spite of the crummy service make plans to meet up again.
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Was there a single item of food that anybody enjoyed – or hated? What was it?
I was waiting for the designated reporter to chime in but they’re busy. I’m going to turn into a pumpkin in 5 minutes. I’ll report tomorrow now that some work is behind me. Plus, I have the photographic evidence (albeit lame-o).
Short story—for me—is that the food was tasty and piquant.
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But of course they did!
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Do you ever meet some people for the first time and you know immediately that you are in for a fun time? That was my experience this past Sunday with this lively, interesting, and smart group of Onions.
Attendees were: @tomatotomato + 1, @MaxEntropy + 1, @Parsnipity, @SuzieCK, @tartandfit, et moi. The setting was wonderful, being high above the Central Sq. fray on that beautiful evening. The service issues didn’t faze me one bit (ETA: but then again, I was just glad to be eating somewhere that wasn’t a pub or pizza shop, so my standards are low). In hindsight, a seated dinner may have been a better format for us, but I must say, the apps were uniformly tasty (I think…I had only the fluke and the clams) and beautiful plated.
We started with some adult beverages (the Cicada Breeze, which I think elicited some shivers from one Onion, which implied to me that it was strong/unbalanced; tamarind Old Fashioned; I think they weren’t able to make a requested Pisco sour and not sure what the sub was; txakolina by the glass; there was a French 75 at some point).
Food included lemongrass beef carpaccio (lovely to look at, not sure if it was lovely to eat), fluke salad (loved this one, although a tad salty; redolent of herbs, including one of my favorites, perilla/shiso leaf), steamed Manila clams with lemongrass (fine but blander than expected), squab prepared laab-style (I saw some leftover, so maybe not awesome?), and the Viet festival salad with kohlrabi (I didn’t taste, but it looked similar to a Thai-style green papaya salad).
Here is some awful photographic evidence (shrimp salad is post-takedown; it was more composed when it came out):
By the time we parted, we were all on hugging basis (I may have hugged @tomatotomato from the get-go?!). And wonderful @MaxEntropy came through with his welcome gift of Onion pins. I think mine looks quite fetching on my jean jacket, mais non?
We barely scratched the surface, conversation-wise. I’m certain we will meet again!
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Thanks @digga for the photos (I’m particularly poor at photo documentation). I think Julia Child said it:
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Lovely write up! I am so sorry I had to miss it, but hope that future meet ups are indeed in order (let me get through this benefits renewal season in one piece…). Bummer about the rough service. The food looks good, even if the taste wasn’t always up to expectations. I always have that worry with food places that seem to lead with the cocktails, as food sometimes is an after thought. They may make it pretty to be ‘Instagrammable’ (if people still care about that medium) but the flavors may not work as intended. I hope some of this feedback to them makes them reconsider.
Edit to add: There are many on this forum who do a much better job in writing up their meals than I do, and I wouldn’t consider myself influential. But damn it, I will pay for good food and good service - that I think is true for all of us. When many of us have to be penny-pinching especially in times like this, we are willing to pay for a good meal and experience. I would hope for any restaurant that is enough!
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