Xanh Bistro

My love for food and cooking was nurtured from the time I remember going to the market with my mother. The highlight of my day was when we arrived home with baskets of fresh vegetable, live fish, and especially some tasty, ready-​to-​eat treats. That love blossomed into a passion for everything about food that has never subsided.
–Chef Haley Nguyen
Sometimes passion and initial success does not create a thriving business. Based on the two lunches I had here, one with a Unilocaler who claimed to know the Chef, maybe Chef Haley was bored and needed a fresh start. Spring Rolls, beef entrees, rice bowls were all very competent but uninspiring.
But we root for a small business like this with a visionary Chef to succeed! Perhaps a better location, they are closed and relocating hopefully not in a strip mall, would help reinvigorate the enterprise.
Chef Haley will be cooking a special dinner at Mesa on June 24^th, as a fundraiser for the Orange Public Library Foundation, and will also be demonstrating at the OC Fair this summer.

***CLOSED***
I drove by today and it’s now closed.
The restaurant industry is quite a killer. 2 years ago this was the darling of many local reviews (LA Times, OC Weekly, Riviera Magazine) but from the many times I went by the restaurant, I didn’t see that it translated into foot traffic. I wondered how long it would stay open.
I especially enjoyed the bo luc lac w/​sweet potato fries dish, which I have had quite a few times, but the last time I went in March, my meat was tough, which it’s never been and shouldn’t be when it’s filet mignon cubes at nearly $ 15 for the dish ($ 15 is not expensive, but there’s a lot of competition in the area). It was a quiet red flag that turned into a white flag.
Intuition tells me this restaurant, it’s higher quality and it’s price points about (20% higher than nearby restaurants on Bolsa) might have done better in Costa Mesa/​Newport area or in Irvine.
Hopefully this isn’t the last that we’ve seen of Chef Haley!

what to order
their shrimp and yam fritters! (they know how to cook sweet potato fries! their small plates are all epic really. and cheap!!!)
banana blossom salad
bo luc lac
lemongrass beef noodle bowl
coconut crème brule

Xanh is an excellent upscale Vietnamese bistro that serves Vietnamese and Vietnamese inspired food. My first experience there was excellent and I loved everything we ordered. The whole meal was positive from the first minute to the last.
We started with an appetizer sampler plate with fried chicken wontons, chicken skewers, and shrimp and yam fritters. The chicken skewers were really flavorful because of its great marinade. The shrimp and yam fritters were crisp.
My green papaya salad was perfect as a light entrée. It comes with a few grilled shrimp and the green papaya itself was nicely dressed and I liked the addition of the mango, which added a nice sweetness.
John’s dish was out of this world. The half cornish game hen was succulent and moist but the sauce, oh god the sauce, was fantastic. It was rich and savory with pan juices and the mushroom side was fantastic. There were some kind of greens as well. The whole thing was delectable.
The dessert was a bit of a miss. Sticky rice was layered between mocha and chocolate mousse and a bit of a chili chocolate over the top. The soft, sticky texture of the plain rice was not natural to pair with chocolate at all but it was certainly interesting.

I love this place. While I’m too lazy at this late hour to write a comprehensive review, I will say that the what-​used-​to-​be-​plum sauce is delicious and goes amazingly with everything i can find to dip it in or pour over. Especially the rice flaked shrimp. let that baby soak in the sauce for about 3 seconds and mmMm Mm!
I remember my mother telling me that the sauce might soon be going on sale in grocery stores. If this is the case, I will gladly buy a bottle and use it in place of that brown stinky-​tofu-​smelling sauce.
No need for commercially made sauces when you have these house-​made delights.
The toasted rice milk is delicious too.

Don’t feel like venturing into a hole in the wall goodness? Then your option would be this bistro tucked away in the corner of a rather large shopping center.
Happy hour is from 5−7pm weekdays. $ 2 off appetizers (which are normally priced at $ 4 – 8). They also offer happy hour prices for drinks too but since I’m not much of a drinker, I didn’t pay much attention to that part.
I settled on one of their rice dishes, lemongrass beef with rice and a side of salad ($ 8). I liked the dressing on the salad, it was light and delicious. The beef portion was super small compared to the rice, it was half the size! You could definitely taste the lemongress on their beef (finely chopped and satueed with the beef so it was more of a lemongrass sauce). The dish was OK, nothing spectaular. I wouldn’t want to pay $ 8 for a beef dish if they were only giving me rice instead of beef. If I were to go back, maybe I’ll try another dish.
Service was good, since we were one of the two tables in the restaurant, we were tended to very nicely.

i liked this restaurant. Good vibe, good environment, very friendly staff.
— egg rolls — tasty, never had them in a lettuce wrap form before.
— banana blossum salad — i thought this was decent. all the normal vietnamese flavors with very fresh ingredients. would not order again.
— caramel fish — caramelized fish was extremely rich and somewhat salty. luckily thats right up my alley.
— bo luc lac — not as tender as i am used to having at other restaurants. the sweet potato fries that came with this dish were my favorite thing of the entire night. a fry with a piece of steak was a great bite.
— fried banana and ice cream dessert — fiancé’s favorite item of the night. it was good but i would try a different one next time.
in addition to a friendly server, both chefs came by our table (multiple times) to make sure we were taken care of.
i enjoyed this place a lot and will be back for sure.

My friend and I decided we wanted Vietnamese food for dinner last night so we decided to go to Xanh Bistro after hearing good things about it. When I got to the restaurant I was happy to the «People on Unilocal Love Us» sticker. For some weird reason, that little sticker reassured me. Okay, good meal coming up!
After going over their menu, my friend told me that they’re known for their vermicelli/​noodle bowls. Well, I was in a mood for soup so I asked the waitress how the fish and dill noodle soup was. Sounded interesting enough but I was a little hesitant. She reassured me that it was very tasty. Okay, sold. That and an order of spring rolls please. Our spring rolls arrived. 2 spring rolls cut in half for $ 5. Ehh… okay, kind of small but okay. I, being a fan of all things spicy, asked for some hot sauce, some sriracha please. Waitress lady looking confused «Oh okay.» She then returns to our table with a little plate of «hot sauce». I honestly had no clue what she brought me. It was very thick and grainy looking, and most importantly not at all spicy. WTF?! Well instead of bothering her again, I enjoyed my spring rolls without my hot sauce. Meehh.
My soup then arrives. Hmm… interesting. I never knew Asians cooked with dill. Safe to say that Asians should never cook with dill. My soup was bland. It had almost no flavor. Despite it being loaded with dill it was so bland. Spice? Salt? I ate maybe half of it and gave up. I took a bite of my friend’s crispy fish vermicelli. Bland. «Needs sriracha huh?» I asked.
I can’t understand what kind of Asian place doesn’t serve sriracha. Especially when serving vermicelli noodles!
Tip of the day: Don’t trust waitresses. They will say ALL of their food is good.
Lesson learned. In the most distasteful way.

Life changes. The world changes. People change. Glad to know one thing hasn’t changed: my Unilocal rating of this place.
But it’s also sad that Xanh, after over a year (that’s an additional year’s worth of experience in cooking and managing), hasn’t changed at all.
The place was empty, like it was before, and the food showed effort but fell short, like before. You know that slow kid in class that studies their ass off but still gets a C+ on the final? Yeah, that’s what I’m talking about.
The appetizer of shrimp coated in flattened sticky rice was a play on coconut shrimp: interesting, crunchy, successful– except the sauce was too light I probably needed the whole bowl to myself.
The short rib with 5-​spices was tender and juicy, falling smoothly apart at the touch of the fork. However, the taste was too reminiscent of «bo kho», a common Vietnamese beef stew dish making it less unique.
The boiled pork on kimchi with the hoisin-​bean paste sauce was average. The boiled pork could have been more tender, and had a similar problem to the short ribs– it was reminiscent of a popular boiled pork dish I had in Korea which took away from the dish’s creative element.
One outstanding quality about this place? The waitress had excellent hearing. You know how some superheroes have super good hearing so they can screen for cries for help from miles away? Yeah, that’s what I’m talking about.
My friend mentioned a curly hair in her water (which we will be PG and guess was an eyelash) and from afar, the waitress brings us a new glass of water. Then my friend mentions that the rice coating her shrimp was soggy, and the waitress, misunderstanding, brings us new toasted sesame rice paper (which she ironically undercooked) for our mango shrimp salad.
Anyway, knowing there were a couple mishaps in our meal, we were even given a complimentary dessert, banana bread pudding with tamarind sauce. The pudding itself was decent but the tamarind sauce was overwhelmingly sour. I think the dessert was supposed to make us feel better or something, but it just reminded us of when we were young and stupid voluntarily ate Warheads.
So once again, I saw a lot of effort but rough, amateurish results. In Vietnamese, «Xanh» means green. Apparently, it refers to how inexperienced and unrefined this establishment still seems to be.

I was kinda disappointed with this place. It wasn’t bad but I had higher expectation from the ratings.
We ordered bo luc lac and com bao xao for dinner.
Bo Luc Lac: The price for half and full was only $ 3 difference so we got the bigger portion. It was served with sweet potato fries. Not your typical bo luc lac but it was kinda good. It wasn’t saucy though =(It was peppery and needed a little more seasoning other than pepper. Maybe like sauce???
Com Bao Xao: aka lemon grass beef. It was served with pickled carrot, cucumber, salad and rice. I wanted to cry when I saw the portion of my beef. It was super small. I am a grown woman and I eat more meat than that. The taste was interesting.
The complimentary hot tea was my favorite. It was tea with lemon grass and kaffir lime. Now that was yummylicious!
Happy hour 5−7pm Mon-​Friday for $ 2 off beer, wine and appetizers.
3 stars!
Xanh Bistro’s hot tea was yummylicious!

Xanh is a hidden GEM. I don’t think they are given the credit they really deserve
Granted I am addicted to their fish and shrimp rice plate, but it’s NOT because I am one of those people who hoard one item on the menu and don’t like to try new things. It’s just THAT good, no it really is. It’s grilled and not oily at all – and the salad is super fresh.
They make their own nuoc mam (fish sauce, or «vinaigrette» if you wanna get fancy) and they also have this special chilli paste (you have to ask for it) that makes your food super yumz.
For lunch that’s 8.70 (after taxes, I’ve gone here so often I memorized the total), it’s really a steal for healthy fresh food.
Oh! and also try their hibiscus tea. It’s a really unique, refreshing tea that’s not too sweet. It reminded me of a hibiscus tea I had at Peet’s once, although at Xanh the size is much bigger and for a better price. That’s what she said.

Restaurants like Xanh Bistro make me sad.
«Sad?» you ask, «But you rated it five stars?»
Exactly. This restaurant is too good to get so few props… It deserves SO much more recognition!
Located waaayyy in the corner of the Albertsons-​Dennys-​Starbucks shopping center on Brookhurst and Edinger, Xanh Bistro is literally a hidden gem. It’s been open for three years and the only thing I can think of that keeps it from getting more attention is the fact that it’s hard to spot unless you know what to look for in the first place!
Every time I’ve been here the service has been friendly and efficient. Whether it’s the soothing music they play in the background, the artsy black and white photographs that decorate the room, the delicious lemongrass tea they give you if you dine-​in, or even the clever idea of storing nuoc mam in an olive oil bottle… This place knows how to make you feel good while eating out!
While I’ve only had a full meal here once (lemongrass beef for lunch… it’s ok, a little pungent for my taste), I think Xanh hangs its hat on their desserts. I’ve tried the Sticky Rice & Mocha Mousse (topped with a fried plantain crisp and a killer spicy chocolate sauce drenched over it) as well as the Chocolate Molten Cake-​Ginger Ice Cream-​Hibiscus Tea Trio… Phenomenal! If you like beautifully-​prepared desserts that are decadent but not too sweet, you MUST go to Xanh for dessert!
The last time I visited Xanh was last Saturday– the 4 people I brought to check it out literally fell in love with the place. Word has it that the chef-​owner still teaches cooking classes once in a while… I definitely plan on taking one the next time there’s an opportunity!

Let me start off by saying this review comes from several visits to Xanh Bistro (I’d say 10+ being a humble estimate).
I love the food at Xanh Bistro. *Like* every single thing I’ve tried there. Every time I go I know I’m getting a culinary delight that is balanced, healthy and clean in taste (not that heavy, over sauced/​over seasoned food that weighs one down).
I’m going to cut to the chase and share my absolute favorites at Xanh:
Shrimp and Yam Cake Wraps — Oh yum! You wrap the shrimp and yam in lettuce with mint leaves, house dipping sauce, and all sorts of yummy goodness. I love it and my little one does too!
Lime Leave Chicken Skewers — Probably my favorite appetizer. So simple yet sooooo yummy!
Banana Blossom Salad — Heavenly and like no other salad you’ve had. Healthy, yummy, satisfying.
Fish & Dill Soup — Refreshing! It’s like an Vietnamese version of Menudo (aka «hangover soup») and when you taste/​eat it… it’s just like a cure-​all! A fish soup that’s not fishy… just fresh, light and tasty!
Bo Luc Lac/​Seared Filet Mignon over Yam Fries — Probably my favorite dish (I’m such a carnivore) hands down!
5-​Spice Beef Short Ribs over — Oh… my …goodness…soooooo good. It’s rich in taste (the short ribs) but the mustard greens add this bitterness to the dish to balance it out. I love, love, love it!
And now my ULTIMATE FAVORITE:
Sticky rice & mocha mousse /​spicy chocolate sauce — Praise Jesus for this dessert! The «spicy chocolate sauce» is TO-​DIE-​FOR! I can’t fully explain how much I love this dessert (and everyone that ever tries it) BUT… you have to experience it! The sticky rice, the mocha mousse and it’s drizzled in the fan-​tab-​ulous spicy chocolate sauce. Sometimes when I’m feeling ambitious… I ask for the chocolate sauce, «extra spicy.»
Xanh Bistro is a diamond in the rough… a restaurant that you need to experience… fan-​fricken-​tastic if you ask me!
Oh…and lest I forget the owner/chef…she is probably the prettiest chef I have seen in the kitchen.
O.C. Weekly’s 2010 Best Vietnamese Restaurant? Meez thinks tis true!

Going here for a third time makes me appreciate this place :) This may sound weird, but it really makes me cherish my tongue. Cause for one, I’m able to try new flavors that I haven’t seen in the standard Vietnamese food that I’m normally eating. It’s hard to describe what I was tasting cause. I didn’t know what it was, should’ve asked but didn’t — however I knew that what was in my mouth was delicious :)
With the help of our wonderful waitress (Jennifer :D), my fail exercise buddy and I ordered a deep-​fried fish vermicelli dish and a broiled fish in clay pot with the wild grain rice dish thing. I wasn’t able to try the rice, however I did steal some of his fish. which was really interesting. It was good but it had some flavor I was unable to point out. That’s the type of thing that I haven’t ever really seen at a Vietnamese restaurant, experimenting with different flavors. However, I don’t normally order fish at a Vietnamese restaurant. but I did enjoy what I tried. It made me think for a bit, and that was kinda cool. My dish that I got was splendid. It made me appreciate all that is fried; the fish was nice and flakey, and it went well with the spicy chili paste, nuoc mam, and tons of veggies so it didn’t seem like I was eating so much noodle. Though that can be all right too :)
My only gripe was that I wish the yummy yet unknown sauce they put on my fish was on the noodles. so then the fish wouldn’t get all soggy though it eventually will from the nuoc mam. Everything is so fresh here and the portions are quite hefty. :)
For our dessert, we decided to share a plate of fried banana with ginger ice cream. It was a good portion, as by the time we were done eating our main dishes, we somehow managed to squeeze this in, yet we didn’t really need to unloosen anything: D The fried banana were two mini ones, which tasted .like fried banana. And the ginger in the ice cream was only detectable after you swallowed it. It left a subtle gingery flavor on your tongue, so it wasn’t crazy as ginger can sometimes get.
This place is so relaxing with nice natural light — in addition to its yummy food. yay for Xanh!
Oh yeah, that tea. some tea that’s made with lemongrass and something else. Hella addictive! Yay for free refills of it ! It wasn’t very tea-​y but it wasn’t sweet. something about it just made me want it more and more. You know that feeling of when you bite into a huge chunk of lemongrass? Yeah it wasn’t like that. After you swallowed the tea, it just had a hint of it. with a mixture of something else, but it wasn’t like green tea or anything. just addictive!

I liked this place very much. Good service. Decent wine list for an Asian restaurant.
Desserts were terrific. The appetizers and mains did not blow me away though.

I stopped by here for early dinner on Saturday with my sibs with no expectations. My brother said he tried it once before with his GF and that it was good.
Here’s the breakdown:
Location — tucked away deep in a non descript corner of a strip mall.
Ambience — clean, contemporary and cozy little eatery, darkly lit.
Service — one guy, namely Andrew was waiting all three tables when I was eating here. Friendly, attentive and helpful.
Food —
Appetizers — you’ve gotta get the crispy rice and grilled pork! Every bite was crispy crunchy goodness! Excellent textures with the rice and the strips of grilled pork was tender & seasoned perfectly.
Salad — The green papaya and mango with grilled shrimp — The rustic flavors of the plump grilled shrimp paired well with the julienned papaya and mango. The house lime & coconut vinaigrette imparted a refreshingly flavorful addition to the salad as well!
Entrees — Bo luc lac (filet mignon) with yam fries was also quite tasty. The meat was very tender and soft. Because the filet was not over seasoned the flavors were very subtle. The only complaint was that the meat was served atop the yam fries leaving it a bit soggy.
5 spice pork — tender, slow-​cooked meat, quite nice.
Seared orange roughy — textures and flavors were almost too subtle on this forgettable dish. It was ok. I would pass on this and try the seared tuna next time.
Dessert — chocolate mouse with spicy dark chocolate sauce and sticky rice — imagine a big mochi covered in chocolate sauce, actually very interesting combination and for me, quite successful! I really enjoyed the smoothness & creaminess of the mousse coupled with the chewy sticky rice — mild complexity in texture paired with the richness of the spicy (spiciness was very mild btw) dark chocolate sauce.
Overall, I had a great experience. Great service, interesting interpretations of traditional Vietnamese dishes, I would definitely come back…

I adore the concept of this restaurant. The presentation is sweet. However, the food doesn’t have much taste. it seems like they skimp on the salt. The food, like many other reviews stated, is tasteless.
The only thing I like is the tuna spring roll. It was ok but nothing special.

Clean, kinda pricey, but the food isn’t half bad! I had a family dinner here and the service was good. The waitress recommended dishes. The salads were ok. Nothing extraordinary to rave about. It’s just ok.
The chairs. Oh my goodness. My butt and lower back were so sore by the end of dinner time, I couldn’t really wait to stand up and leave. But that’s really the only reason I would rush out of this place. It’s a clean place, unlike many Vietnamese restaurants you’d find on Bolsa.

Clean and simple design. What’s diff from the other grungy mom pop places? This lady cheif specializes in whole viet culture, from peasant to traditional to modern (viet today culture other country influence) From north Vietnam to south (Thai influence).
Neat uh? Yeah never learned so much about the food. So yeah, recommend fish dishes, either banana or mango salad, crunchy rice balls. Everything I’ve tried has been a good hit.
Service is fantastic. Place is small but still could hold big groups. Plenty of parking in the plaza.

I know it’s customary to write about the dinner first and then the dessert, but the desserts were truly worth writing home about. The coconut crème brûlée had the right amount of subtlety and sweetness. The chocolate mousse Tom T & I sampled off Ryan M’s plate was extremely tasty.
The dinner was pleasant. Service was pleasant, also. We did not feel rushed at all. We ordered sauteed beef, lemongrass beef cubes (bo lu lac) and a cornish game hen dish. I enjoyed the beef dishes. The cornish game hen was a bit sweet for my taste but still good. The food we shared was good enough for 3 people.
Their soy latte (iced) is good.
I hope you don’t compare this restaurant to ones in Little Saigon. It’s not an apples to apples comparison. If you are hoping for phở, it’s not here. I enjoyed Xanh for a twist on Vietnamese food. And I really liked their desserts.