Com Tam Thanh

I stopped by the restaurant for lunch and sadly to see their closing notice.
All the best to Com Tam Thanh!!!

This place isn’t that great to be honest. Come here if you want to get something quick and easy or if you live near the area where you don’t want to drive out. Here is the breakdown of the place.
Food:
I ordered the house special broken rice plate. I believe it’s #49. The pork chop is a tad bit salty and very oily. Being from LA or westminster area I’m used to having a bigger slice of the egg but here they gave me this small little size. To top it off they added a sunny side up egg over everything, which is kinda weird for Vietnamese broken rice dishes… At least for me. They have you shrimp paste which is decent but nothing spectacular. I guess the good thing about it that for $ 10 you get quite a lot.
I also ordered the egg roll. Not a fan. It’s too oily and the presentation looked as bad as it tastes.
Ordered the spring roll. It’s actually decent. Maybe a tad bit on the harder side but it wasn’t bad.
Overall:
I did not have to wait. I was seated immediately. They give u a lot in terms of quantity. However, I have been to way better places.

This is one of the best place for the Vietnamese grilled meat and rice plates. Their broken rice is fluffy and come with full of aroma, then covered with perfectly seasoned and grilled meat and condiments. I had similar dishes in many other places but this one and their Story road branch serves the best signature rice dish. Their quality, flavor and value stands out.

I’m around milpitas and was fiending for some good rice plate. Usually my bf and I would head over to our nearby fix at Phở Com Tam Nhu Y (just a mile away) but we decided to give this place a try for a change.
we both ordered #14 except my bf substituted for korean ribs instead of pork. We also got #5 nem nuong.
Soooo, you know the feeling when you’re cooking a new recipe at home for the first time, and although the presentation is nice, it lacks a bit of flavor but its still decent to eat? That is how I feel about this place. The food is plainly just decent.
Food:
–rice is not as finely broken that you’d expect for a com tam plate. It still somewhat has the regular rice consistency that you’d get right out of a rice cooker
–soup is bland.
–shrimp cake is piping hot. Meat inside is nice and tender
— pork meat is almost flavorless. Poor bf got really skimped on the ribs.
–nem nuong: sauce tastes like a mix of hoisin and peanut sauce. The fried egg roll skin is soggy. But they did give a large pork piece.
Thumbs up for a super clean restaurant. The waitress was also not rushy rushy to take your order. it would be great if this place had a TV to watch. Your only type of entertainment is old school vietnamese songs, which in this case I really don’t mind.

2 stars based solely on their special broken rice dishes. Took out. Ambiance is typical mom pop — old etc. But food wasnt bad, just right below average. Everything was a bit dry for my taste. Nothing special that stands out.
Probably wouldn’t recommend or come back.
The good is they accept credit cards and the staff is friendly. The location is easy to get to.

Locals say this place is the original and one of the best broken rice plate dishes.
This is sad if this is true. From Where I Am From
(ORANGE COunty Ca), this is just any typical broken rice dish place.
Momma/​poppa store with dirty and outdated décor. Bad customer service.
As for the food, this is like any places. Nothing special.

Like the one on Bascom avenue, San Jose…
The thai curry with tofu and chicken and the shakin beef are really great! This one is right by the hotels so a three minute walk away is nice. Cozy and next to a nice Starbucks as well!

Our go to spot when we’re craving Vietnamese food and don’t want to drive too far. Looks just like your everyday, normal neighborhood Vietnamese restaurant with all the posters and stuff.
Food here is flavorful and I’d say the portion size is generous.
One thing I like? The vermicelli bowl! Eat-​in or to-​go, both delicious.

I came here with my mom and sister because we were craving some com tam and it was near our church. My sister and mom got Com Tam Bi Cha Thit Nuong Tau Hu Ky, and I got Com Tam Bi Cha Nem Nuong.
The potions are on the smaller side compared to other com tam places we’ve been to. The food is average, nothing spectacular but it satisfies your craving. The waiter forgot to give us the tau hu ky (fried shrimp cake) with our order and brought it out after we got everything. While that came out very hot, everything else was luke warm, definitely not freshly prepared. We looked on the menu and they charge $ 0.25 for a cup of tap water? My mom laughed and said that’s extremely cheap of them.
Will we be back? Probably not. There’s other com tam places within a 10 – 15 mile radius that offers much better. Learned our lesson; don’t settle for convenience, take the little effort to go somewhere we know there’s good quality & flavorful food and great customer service.

This is one of those places where you go if you’re ever in the mood for broken rice, shredded pork, crab cakes, and bean curd skin wrapped shrimp style dishes. It’s not a place where it will blow your mind, but this place will give you what you need.
That was apparent when I got my plate of Com Tam Bi Cha Thit Nuong Tau Hu Ky (broken rice with shredded pork, grilled pork chop, and fried wrapped shrimp beancurd, $ 7.95). No particular part of the dish stood out, but this fulfilled my cravings for a Vietnamese dish I haven’t had in a while, and I’m A-​OK with that (hence the A-​OK rating). Everything was there and made exactly as I imagined it to be, and for the price, it wasn’t bad at all.
I don’t think I will go out of my way to stop by this place more frequently just because there are so many other places like it, but if I’m ever in the area and craving the same food again, I’ll be sure to come here.

Decent place for com tam. They do a good job on their pork chop. It’s never dry, but a bit fatty. I don’t mind it though. extra flavor.
I got the number 13, which has shredded pork, steamed pork cake, bbq pork chop and tau hu ky (which is steamed shrimp paste inside a bean curd skin) sound weird, but it’s awesome.
Since the pork chop sits on top of the rice, I usually just cut it up into small pieces and discard the bone to the side. I then mix everything all together except the tau hu ky. Add some fish sauce and I’m ready to gorge. You can also add a fried egg which makes it even more delciious.

Got number 20 com tam
Steam broken rice w shredded pork skin, steamed pork cake, BBQ pork chop and fried egg $ 7.25
The meal also comes with soup…
I also got number 89 red bean green tapioca and coconut milk $ 2.75
The food was pretty good. who doesn’t like anything with an egg on top…=)

Love com tam thanh! Their food is fesh and their prices are awesome! I can say that ive never had a bad experience here.
Their com tam is always cooked perfectly and the meat sides are freshly made. I am sad that they took away the container of pickled onions and just include a few on your plate. So if you want extra you’ll have to ask the waiter for some more.
Must be the rise in operating costs. I dont mind since they always bring me extra when i ask and its not extra $.
Service is polite and fast. Close to home and a good option when im craving for some vietnamese rice plates! 4 stars

TORN, I’M ALL OUT OF FAITH, THIS IS HOW I FEEL.
Thinking I was going to my all-​time fav phở place for some phở ga (Phở Kim Long, for those that are curious), my friend makes a left at Abel and takes us for an adventure to this random eatery. This place is known for their Com Tam, aka broken rice dishes, and I was absolutely torn (as referenced by my opening statement) about what to order because I’d envisioned tender chicken and soft noodles in my stomach prior to the detour.
Took a risk and went with the Com Tam, which I’d never had before. I got #20, which comes with grilled pork, pork cake, a fried egg cooked sunny-​side-​up, and an assortment of pickled vegetables. Now, in my world, anything topped with an egg immediately makes it a million times better, but the other ingredients satisfied! The grilled pork wasn’t dry at all. The pork cake was forgettable IMO, but I was told it’s an acquired taste anyway, so let’s just focus on the egg and grilled pork :)
Comes with fish sauce and a side bowl of soup.
~$ 8 total.

I’ve been to the Bascom location of this popular broken rice chain many times and the menu looks quite a bit different from the one that was brought with the to-​go order from the Milpitas location.
In fact, the Bascom location has a large section on phở and even some Thai dishes so may cater to a different crowd. I will have to go back and see if they have a broken rice dish section beyond that I’ve tried because my recollection is that they only had a few simple variants, not the almost 50 versions I saw on the menu here.
Was so happy to have this brought to go to our home by good friends who obviously know more about the secret menu than I do.
Must double down and do more research.

For those that don’t know what ‘Com Tam’ is, well it’s basically cooked rice from fractured rice grains and depending on what you want, it’s served with beef, or even chicken.
I ordered the #29, which is BBQ pork, shredded pork skin, porn and egg cake and BBQ shrimp (Yes, I like BBQ and pork) and it was pretty good. The plate came out really nicely put.
Like many Vietnamese places, the waiters and waitresses are these old Vietnamese women that rush your order and never seem to have a smile on their faces.
Overall,
Pros+:
1. The food is great! Better than my cooking :)
2. The restaurant is clean
3. Offer take-​out
4. Not expensive… it’s affordable.
5. Food cooked and served quick.
Cons-​:
1. Employees sometimes state at you
2. Employees could smile more and be more customer friendly.
3. Portions in food are a bit small.
—
So, if you are in town, and want some Vietnamese food, I recommend to stop by Com Tam Thanh.

Being Vietnamese, com tam isn’t really a big deal but this place is seriously my new favorite! I live in Cupertino, but I’d be down to drive here a couple times a month to get my com tam fix! (Been here twice in the past week and a half!) Brought boyfriend here, and he loves it too! Vietnamese food always fascinates him haha. Ordered the #34 here, which is like short ribs, egg/​pork cake, shredded pork, and a sunny-​side-​up egg. The only time I’ll ever eat this much meat! YUM! So much variety, my taste buds never get bored. Also comes with a small bowl of soup, more like broth actually.
The prices like at most Viet places, are super cheap and totally worth it.
ALSO the thing that makes this place a ⁵⁄₅ for me is the CHE BA MAU !! (Three color bean drink/​dessert) SO NOM. My favorite in the whole wide world of all che ba maus. The beans are sweet and soft but not too mushy, and the jelly is like more a chewy cube thing instead of those tasteless stringy ones. It’s pretty condense and sweet so with the scoop of shaved ice on top, it’s perfecto! Comes in a to-​go cup, so even when I’m so full after the rice plate, I can take it away with me!

South Bay mini-​chain with Broken Rice Plate (com tam) focused menu with ~40 combinations. They also have Bun (rice vermicelli) including Bun Bo Hue and Bun Rieu and a few other items like Banh Cuon (steamed rice paper rolls) and Chao (porridge). Prices are reasonable with most entrees in the $ 6 – 8 range. They had a Specials page with Phở and Hu Tieu that they gave me as a supplement to the regular menu.
With all the combos of Com Tam, it might help to have a spreadsheet, or maybe a personal shopper. They do highlight the most popular like #14 & #20 the later of which is what I ordered along with Nem Nuong Cuon (fresh rolls with pork meatball skewers).
The Nem Nuong Cuon come with peanut sauce ($ 4.50
) and were so-​so. The meat was very bland. I liked the crunch of the fried egg-​roll wrapper inside (. It didn’t help that I recently had an excellent version at Phở Ao Sen in Oakland (
).
#20 is Com Tam Bi Cha Suon Nuong Trung Chien ($ 6.95 broken rice with shredded pork skin, pork & egg cake, pork chop, and fried egg
) which also had some pickled carrots, cabbage, and onions. Egg was a nice runny sunny side up, the chop had a tasty marinade, but a bit dry in spots, the steamed pork cake had the thickest layer of egg that I’ve seen which made it too «eggy» for me.
Nem Nuong Cuon — 2 stars
Com Tam — 3.5 stars

Super convenient for a take out order since it’s right off of the ²³⁷⁄₈₈₀ freeway in an Asian shopping plaza.
On the way back home from Great Mall, ordered from the counter a #43 — grilled chicken broken rice plate ($ 6.50), taro pearl tea ($ 3), and bun bo hue ($ 6.25). It took about 5 – 7 for the order to be ready.
The taro drink was really good, they used real taro which gave it a starchiness.
Never had a broken rice plate before but found out that it’s actually a lower grade rice since these are the grains that break during the harvesting and cleaning process. Back in the day, since the lower grade was cheaper, it was popular amongst the poor. Over the years it’s become popular across the different $ classes because of the taste.
Except for being a smaller grain, the rice tasted the same. It wasn’t as sticky but it absorbed a lot of the sauce, the consistency reminded me of risotto.
Definitely easier to eat with a spoon than chopsticks.
Overall, the rice plate was pretty good. Would have liked a better rice to meat ratio but the grilled chicken was good and juicy. Not a fan of the bi (pork skin noodles) since it was super dry from the ground rice. The pork cake was interestingly good.
The bun bo hue was just ok. Last time, I’d order bun bo hue from a rice plate joint though. It was better than the BBH I could find in San Mateo county but the flavor of the broth wasn’t as developed and spicy to those SJ joints that specialize in BBH.
Overall, pretty good for some cheap authentic fast food. Stick to the rice plates. Love the prices and worth going back but I think I’ll explore a few more Vietnamese places around the area before I can be a fan.
3.5 stars. (
)

I woulda gave this place 4 stars. but then I thought about it, and I see absolutely nothing wrong about this place. Well, i’ve always ordered the same thing so that may change other people’s experience, but man I LOVE #14. I’ll post a picture of it. It’s got rice topped with green onions I believe and some fatty porkskin which my family advises against eating. And then theres that little bit of vegetables on the side to make you feel a little less guilty about pigging out. Then theres the egg cake, and the shrimp inside the fried beancurd, and shredded pork, and beef, yum :).
You could step up for 15 to get korean bbq instead of beef, like a $ more. Great place though, love it, I could eat here all my life. It’s also hardly ever crowded so you won’t have any trouble finding any tables.
If you order something else and are not pleased with it. well. you’re coming to Com Tam Thanh, and Com Tam means Broken rice (plate combination), so don’t go complaining to a place that should be specializing in rice plates, try one out, especially #14 :).
Also, I believe they close at 3 on Tuesdays, but 9 on the other days. not sure.