Visited the Harbourfront outlet on 18 Mar 08. At 4.30pm, the place was empty.
Service was good and prompt but for several long minutes after we were seated, there was irritatingly loud clanging noise from the kitchen, the kind made by banging a spanner against a metal pipe. Not the best welcome for someone with a raging hunger-induced headache!
For 3 persons, we ordered the Imperial Rolls, Pho Bo (rice noodle soup with beef), Mango salad, Bo La Lot and Fish Net Spring rolls.
There were 2 skewers of tiny beef rolls, which were a mixture of minced beef and herbs wrapped in betel nut leaves and then grilled. You could eat the beef rolls on their own or wrap them in rice paper, together with lettuce, raw bean sprouts and bun (a kind of noodle, like laksa noodles but much thinner and softer).
The beef rolls had a very subtle fragrance from a Vietnamese herb which I couldn't identify. No, not the taste of betel nut leaves, which didnt really have any distinctive taste, as far as I could tell.
The Imperial rolls were very crispy and not oily at all. Tasted pretty good when dipped in the sweet and sourish fish sauce-based dipping sauce. The same sauce was served with the Bo La Lot and the Fish Net Spring Rolls. 
The mango salad was fresh and crunchy, but nothing spectacular in terms of taste. IMO, the portion served was a bit too small for $7. The restaurant might wish to consider increasing the serving size. Afterall, green mango is very cheap.
Fish Net Spring Rolls
We ordered these after trying the Imperial Rolls but were disappointed as they were not as good or as crispy as the Imperial Rolls ( I guess that's why the latter were named " Imperial". Good enough to serve royalty??) Oil used to fry the rolls was probably not hot enough as I could feel oil leaking out of the rolls when I bit into them.
Pho Bo (Rice Noodle Soup With Beef)
Saved the worst for last - the Pho Bo was horrendous - soup was cold and tasted only of fish sauce. Can get much much better Pho Bo in Vietnam, for a fraction of the price... but of cos have to take plane there lah.
The rice noodles were not the authentic Pho which I ate in Vietnam, very smooth and soft noodles which you can't seem to stop eating as they slip down your throat so easily. The ones at Orange Lantern had hard edges, tasted very much like the dried thin rice noodles from our local supermarkets, which you rehydrate by boiling in water, definitely not freshly made.
The sliced beef was ok but the brisket was unbelievably tough and dry AND the beef smell was so overpowering that my mum later said she had contemplated spitting out the one and only piece she tried but was too polite to.
Had planned to have Vietnamese dripped coffee after the food but were pretty stuffed.
Bill came up to about $45 for the 5 dishes.
Would I go there again? Perhaps, but only for the Imperial Rolls and Bo La Lot. Stay away from the Pho soups!!
Jetstar now offering promotional return airfare of $200 (incl. taxes) to HCM city. Definitely worth considering, if only for some authentic Pho!
