The Alley of the Far East

Food is pretty good.
Drinks — different variety but not to my liking
Service — disorganized. They lack a system among the waiters. May take a long time to attend to you
Prices — seems overpriced for street food
I’d give them 2.5 stars

This place is different and awesome. Try the rice paper salad, crunchy rice, and fried chicken w/​sweet and spicy fish sauce — all very yummy!
Great service! Our waiter David was very attentive, friendly and helpful with ordering dishes. I don’t know why this place has such a bad rating… I personally think it’s wonderful.

Omg I love this place. The food is delicious and so flavorful! The service is so nice. The décor and ambiance of the place is so welcoming and pleasant. Even though I live far from here, I would always come here to eat.

I wish I remember all the names of dishes we ordered… But my Vietnamese friend ordered them. She described the menu as mostly street food. And I loved EVERYTHING she ordered! From the corn to the seafood (baked clams and mussels)… We also had those small snails. Those suckers are a little hard to eat, but they’re really good too!
If you want an entirely different dining experience, come here. You won’t regret it. But I suggest bringing a Vietnamese friend along that knows more about Vietnamese food than phở and banh mi.

Good place to eat Oc (clams, mussels, etc) and other vietnamese specialty dishes. Very clean and sanitized. I cant find anywhere better than here ti eat Oc here in OC.

NOTEWORTHY: Based on my dining experience shown on my receipt copy.
My party of two tried this place out because I wanted to taste Banh Trang Tron that’s trending over in VN’s street carts. Heard so much rave about this place, located next door to the Boiling Crab, however I was somewhat disappointed.
Our order consist of:
— Banh Trang Tron ~ The strips of rice paper were very chewy but I was expecting more crunch, and the overall taste was okay IMO but nothing special to rave about. My mom said the ones in VN taste way better.
— Goi Xoai Oc Huon ~ The best item of the night. A refreshing cold dish choice. You just have to try it to know. If you’re a fan of fresh green mango, and not queasy over escargot, then you’ll enjoy this dish.
— Oc Len Xao Dua ~ I’ve had better elsewhere. A runny coconut milk bath which I don’t prefer.
— Lau Ca Bap Chuoi ~ I’ve had better elsewhere. Nothing special to rave about here on all their hot pot variants.
— Da Ua Trai Cay ~ Yogurt with (supposedly) fresh fruits drink but all I got was the yogurt drink WITHOUT the fruits.
— Tra Da ~ Ice tea pungent in taste. Good… since it’s not free.
I have no desire to return here. Nothing special going on.

Been here twice and both experiences were good. Went on a weekday evening for dinner around 7pm lots of empty tables. Wasn’t too busy so we had good service. We ordered the crispy rice with the pork meat dried shrimp sauce. I loved it! The rice was nice, light and crispy. The sauce had a great flavor. We got the grilled clams was great with the sauce plate. The snail with curry coconut was really good. I really enjoyed the food. We sat there for 2 hours eating and talking. Definitely coming back to try other dishes.
Wished I had taken pixs but was too excited about the good I completely forgot.

Not impressed in the least with their cuisine. No liquor license forces you to BYOB, but alongside ho-​hum Vietnamese Nhau dishes, I’d pass and save my stomach for the real deal over at Quan Gio on Euclid. I can definitely see the appeal since the décor is fun, vibrant, and open for family dining. Especially good for the kiddies since the dishes are very bland across the board (We ordered over 20 dishes for our group) and lotsa finger foods with a spread of sauces to accompany them. Sadly, even the 7 – 8 different sauces failed to save the atrocities of the boring food. Pass!

Loved it!
I got the rice paper salad, mussels and chicken wings. The prices here can rack up pretty fast because most of the items here are meant to be «snacks».
The chicken was seasoned amazingly but the pieces were very tiny to our dismay. I loved their rice paper salad!
Décor is BEAUTIFUL! Perfect depiction of an Alleyway, Very very cute!
I would recommend this place to my friends

We wrote our name down on the list and the wait was only about 20 minutes even though there was about 10 small groups ahead of us. We ordered the rice paper salad (banh trang tron), a dozen razor clams, a dozen scallops, and the burnt rice. They let you mix the flavors too, if you can’t decide, but the grilled onion style is the best option. The food came out fast, but I think they forgot about the burnt rice because it was warm and we had to ask for it after we finished eating everything else. I like the variety of sauces they gave us, but the food was a little salty and just average. The clams were kind of sandy too, so we sent that back. The décor is very simple and bright and service was okay. Overall, just a place to grab a snack or drink if you don’t want to wait in long lines with their competitors…

For my appetizer, I ordered the grilled oysters. Wasn’t really sure how to eat it… they provided us with a few skewers so we just poked at it with those things, then chopsticks which seemed to work a bit better. It was a pretty hot mess. But they were bomb and I would order them again. Also, not sure if it is always served or if it came with our dish, but there was a whole tray of sauces to use with them. I’m a saucy eater so big plus for me!
My entrée, I ordered the Bun Mum (fermented fish noodles) and, at first it was really bland, but if you ask them for an extra side of the mum sauce (fermented fish/​shrimp paste) and pour about a spoon full in, it is DELICIOUS. That’s all it needed. I highly suggest that they serve it with the item as I saw a few other reviews with the same complaints.
The décor is super cute. Lots of families when I went and a few running and screaming children. All in all, I’m definitely coming back to try more things on the menu.

Vietnamese gastropub… without the pub.
This place opened a while now and have been struggling to get their alcohol license… until now. From what I hear it’s on its way. The entire menu is made for drinking and eating, so a lot of current customers now are not happy that it took so long to get one. I guess thats why their fobby banner above the restaurant reads,“Opening Now”. Haha! I guess it’s still in the process?
Wide Selection, None that fully hit the mark
I would say the biggest sellers here are the hot pot (lau) pots that will run you about $ 25 per pot and a wide array of seafood dishes from grilled clams to curry snails. All the food is actually very pungent in taste, and actually comes with an assortment of different types of sauces. I couldn’t put my finger on it but nothing really stood out to me. Ordered the razor clams, catfish hot pot, burnt rice, and rice paper salad.
As the wife would say…“too much flavor.“
Maybe I just need to be drunk to eat here next time.

Service was hilariously terrible. We had a big party so we were in the ‘other’ room, but still, it was at least 10 minutes between dishes and we had to ask a waiter directly in order to get anything done (refill waters, bring napkins, remove plates, etc). I feel like they were juicing the mandatory gratuity.
This restaurant is trying very hard to be trendy by serving more unique style dishes. By the grace of having lots of people with me, I got to try lots of their stuff: the special fried rice, pineapple seafood salad, several snail dishes, the hotpot, rice paper salad, balut, the hand shredded chicken, and a couple of other things. Personally, nothing really stood out except the chicken. I do like the fact they bring out a tray with all 7 different kinds of sauces for your seafood though.
They also have some pretty «Vietnamese» drinks like passion fruit soda and pennywort juice, but no alcohol. I don’t hold that against them though.
Not my cup of tea, but definitely unique.

Coming here on Christmas Day definitely brought out the Scrooge in me.
I tried my best to be joyful. After all, the staff of The Alley are working on Christmas Day so I that I can be full and merry.
However, after 35 minutes of waiting for one Lau Mam (fermented fish) hotpot, the holiday cheer quickly dissipated.
The hotpot came with a nice, quality selection of seafood and vegetables: two pieces of bone-​in catfish, good-​sized shell-​on shrimps, squid, fish cake, shaved banana blossoms, eggplant… no cheap fillers.
The hotpot was around $ 25 and enough for 2 hungry people after we called for an extra order of rice noodles (no charge).
Unfortunately, the fermented fish soup was too light, lacking the pungent flavor that makes this dish unique.
Another petty complaint: my Passionfruit Sugarcane Juice did not come in a mason jar like the drinks did on previous visits.
I feel mean-​spirited for being a curmudgeon, but sloppy service, over 30 minutes to assemble a hotpot, and weakly-​flavored soup? Not the Christmas meal I was wishing for.
Next year, to save me from tears, I’ll go somewhere special.

Do not eat here!!! They serve under cooked crab!!! They will make you pay for it too!
I had late dinner at this restaurant on December 6^th of 2014. I ordered their broiled dungeon garlic crab and it was under cooked. The crab eggs and small portion of the crab body meat was under cooked. The legs were cooked. The crab eggs tasted raw as they went down my throat.
I told the sever what happened to me and stopped eating. She went back to the kitchen to inquire her boss. The boss and staffs were loud so I could hear them talking about me. They initially offered 30% discount off the crab, not the whole dinner. Their reasoning for the undercooked crab was they bought the crab live and sometimes the broiling method can leave the crab uncooked. Huh!!! I told the server that if they sell food in a restaurant to people, everything they serve should be cooked regardless of different methods they use to cook food in their kitchen.
They then offered 50% off the crab. The boss told my server in their kitchen loudly that they don’t care to discounted more than that, and I should take this offer or leave. I paid the bill and felt disgusted by their unethical and total disregard for food safety. I am not the arguing type so I didn’t want to pursue conversation with these cheap, immoral people.
Be warn, eat at your own risks!!!

My mom heard of this new restaurant from a friend that serves Vietnamese street food. Seems like a worthy venture… unfortunately we were left quite disappointed.
We ordered the fish rolls, a bun dish, and a bun mam. The fish rolls were the only thing we ate and liked. Both the bun dishes were a letdown and the bun mam was so terrible that we had to return it to the kitchen. What made it worse was the bad service we got too. We had to ask for everything, from napkins to chopsticks to dipping sauce. Nothing was brought out as it should’ve been and the servers just didn’t seem to know how to work front of house.

I gave it 4 stars because their «pha lau» is tasty but very greasy. My experience there was very good, specially for «yogurt da». It reminds me the taste of my childhood in Vietnam. However, Oc Len Xao Dua is a big fail coz they add curry flavor to it. Big no no.
Overall, good restaurant

Why am I always here? Came again twice in one week.
We tried the Lau Cua (crab hot pot). It was okay, and since there was 4 of us it was ok to share.
Xo long nuong comes in either 6 or 12 pieces. It’s okay, nothing special.
Favorite new item is Oc Len Xao Dua. The sauce is like a sweet curry. So delicious! Also comes with bread so you can dip in the sauce.
Like my previous posts, I recommend
— Oc gao xao bo toi: yummy sauce. May be difficult to get out.
— tom tai Chanh
— Oc Len xao dua
— goi xoai Oc Huong
Service is hit or miss so just make sure you flag them down when you see them.
Also, they refill your waters by switching cups, not refilling with a pitcher. I recommend management look into investing in pitchers because you’re eventually going to run out of cups and you’re wasting water by washing too many cups. We are in a drought people!

I’m glad I got to try this spot out. It’s pretty darn good for nhau food, which I don’t really eat too often. While being seated, u are going to straight up feel like you’re in an alley! Telephone poles are decorated throughout, with pastel shutters hanging on the walls; it really captured the essence of being in the streets of Vietnam without looking dirty nor cheesy.
I tried the razor clams, chicken wings (nouc mam style), banh trang tron (rice paper salad), bo tai chanh (rare beef in lime), and bang canh cua. I really enjoyed the rice paper salad and chicken wings! It was a perfect experience trying out small different plates, and all the flavors from each pulled through. I loveed their dipping sauces too, just kinda disappointed we didn’t order a dozen clams now bc their sauces definitely won me over with this dish!
& although the drinks sounded very creative, I didn’t really enjoy the icy tamarind or yogurt drinks here.

I came here pretty late in the evening. I walked in and whoaaa it looked like a street alley. but clean and fun of course. I didn’t expect or ever seen interior décor like this before. They even had fake wires above to look like street wires. Very cool. The menu is pretty extensive.
We ordered chicken wings, crispy sticky rice, clams, drinks, noodles, and more.
My favorite items were the fried fish spring rolls, crispy sticky rice, and instant noodles with beef.
I would recommend coming here with a medium sized party. The food is made to share. The serving sizes are pretty good.
Recommendation: Crispy sticky rice