In a classic “Seinfeld” episode, Frank Constanza once noticed, “You got the hen, the chicken and the rooster. The rooster goes with the chicken. So, who’s having sex with the hen?” Despite the best efforts of all sane individuals to change the topic, he continues, “But you see my point here? You only hear of a hen, a rooster and a chicken. Something’s missing!” To this, Mr. Ross can only respond, “Something’s missing, all right.”

Eating at the Three Seasons restaurant on Bryant Street might lead to a similar line of thought. Everyone has heard of the Four Seasons either as a brand of fine hotels and restaurants or as the sum of summer, autumn, winter and spring. Thus, upon simply reading the name “Three Seasons,” it would not be unreasonable to comment that something’s missing. Unfortunately, by the end of the meal, it may become evident that something is most certainly missing, and it is more than just the fourth season.

A plus of the Three Seasons is the atmosphere. The restaurant features a choice of tables in the bar area or more standard tables fit for a full meal, all in a chic but casual environment. In nice weather, the restaurant also has comfortable outdoor seating on the small open plaza between Bryant and Ramona streets, which manages to capture the outdoors while avoiding traffic. The menu is also highly appealing. Officially, the cuisine is contemporary Vietnamese, but it is easy to see influences from Thailand, Korea and Japan, among other places. There is also a cocktail menu that is heavy on the tropically themed flavors.

But after sitting down and looking at the menu, things begin to go downhill. The service can only be described as weak at best. The waiter never came by to introduce himself or take a drink order and only took the food order after an excessive wait. The first appetizer took a long time to come, but still arrived before our cocktails, which were quite good — neither too strong nor too sweet. The second appetizer arrived a solid five minutes after the first.

The pork ribs appetizer (officially a “small plate”) looked amazing at first. However, their flavor had a little too much of a tang, perhaps from the overuse of tamarind seasoning. Furthermore, the tough meat was so difficult to cut off the bone that eating it in the context of my work for The Daily might constitute some type of OSHA violation. Our other appetizer, called happy buns — consisting of Peking duck on a steamed bun — was better. The duck was nice and crispy, the bun wasn’t overly gummy and the hoisin sauce had a bit of a spicy kick added to it. The only flaw was that the duck was probably slightly drier than would have been ideal.

The highlight of the meal was probably the mango beef entrée, which included generous amounts of tasty beef with no shortage of mango and wok-tossed veggies, which was not overly rich and was difficult to stop eating. Our other main, the yellow curry chicken, was certainly passable, and consisted of a smooth, mild curry with yams and potatoes. The potato flavor in the sauce might have been stronger than I would have liked, but that is a matter of personal preference. Ultimately, however, it seemed no better than the curry served at numerous nearby Thai restaurants for about half the price.

While there certainly are some positive qualities of the Three Seasons, the service and some of the food left quite a bit to be desired, especially for the prices that they charge. With tax and tip, a meal for two broke $100. Granted, that included a lot of food, as well as drinks, but when considering the overall experience compared to the price, something was definitely missing.