After a crazy Memorial Day weekend out in Montauk and Jill’s fun birthday week, it was nice to have a peaceful and relaxing weekend in the city. It was beautiful out Friday evening, so we set out in search of a place to have dinner al fresco.  We’ve been wanting to check out Bia Garden (154 Orchard b/t Stanton & Rivington; cash only) for some time now. We learned from their Twitter feed that they now accept reservations (212-780-0010).  Bia is Michael “Bao” Huynh’s homage to the Vietnamese beer garden.  We first heard of Bia, which translates to “beer” in Vietnamese, last summer when it opened as a pure beer garden with Vietnamese small plates.  Now it seems to be more a restaurant than a beer garden. 

The space has a little speakeasy feel to it as you walk past the front takeout counter through a refrigerated beer cooler to reach the garden out back.  

The beer list has more than 15 Asian beers served in coolers by the six-pack, twelve-pack, or case.  The food menu has received a little makeover since the opening, and we tried some of the new offerings.  While some Yelp’ers have complained about Bia being too expensive, we found the opposite to be the case. Everything on the menu, from small plates to entrees, range from $7-$19.  We started out with a series of 3 small plates: crispy cuttlefish with spicy tamarind sauce ($11), pork summer rolls ($7) and spicy mussels in curry broth ($12).

The thai mussels in green curry were the clear standout of the three small plates.  The crispy cuttlefish and pork summer rolls were decent and the sauces each had nice, subtly spicy flavors, but nothing special that wowed us in any way. 

For large plates we went with the shaking beef with spicy cress, red onion, mustard vinaigrette ($14) and the crispy red snapper in spicy tamarind sauce ($19).

The shaking beef reminded me alot of the filet mignon you get at a Hibachi restaurant like Benihana.  There were nice, tender and well-seasoned pieces of tenderloin, which while leaving little room for complaining, nothing really took the dish to the next level.  The red snapper was beautifully prepared and fun to eat.  The only problem here is that the spicy tamarind sauce was a bit elementary.  It tasted something like a sweet and sour sauce from a Chinese restaurant.  With a little more attention and work on the sauce, this could be a standout on the menu.

CONCLUSION:

Overall, the food at Bia Garden is pretty good, but it definitely takes a back seat to the nice ambience out back created by the super-chill music and the warm and friendly service.  It’s worth noting that they have a large table that can hold a party of 10 pretty comfortably.  I’d say go here on a Sunday afternoon (opens at 5pm) with a group of friends and throw back a couple of buckets of nice, cold Asian beers (I liked the ’33′ and the Beerlao lager) and order a few small plates to share.  If you’re going here solely for the food, there’s a pretty good chance you may be disappointed.

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