Vung Tau III Restaurant

This is the second time I come here. I really enjoyed the food the first time and my boyfriend and I were in the area so we stopped here for dinner.
We ordered #79 eggplant with tofu and basil and #136 green curry with choice of protein. I chose shrimp. Though the dishes were very tasty, the portion was too small for the price. The curry came with 6 shrimps and the only vegetable in it was peas and bamboo shoots. The eggplant tofu was delicious but there was hardly any eggplant.
The service wasn’t all that great. My boyfriend and I sat next to each other and the waiter put our silverware opposite of each other. That’s no big deal but he doesn’t seem to be too familiar with the menu and not very enthusiastic in helping with selection or recommendation.
Overall, the food is great but the portion is small for the pice. Service is not that great.

I have been to the other two locations, and it was my first time coming to this location yesterday for a late lunch after after a graduation ceremony. This is located in a plaza with a supermarket, boba shops, and other restaurants.
With a party around 20, we arrived around 3pm for late lunch and we wanted something light so we ordered all appetizers. The food was good as usual, and just as good as the food in the other two locations. It came out pretty quickly even though we ordered a lot of food. The beef dishes are always very flavorful and tender, and spring rolls are always wrapped nicely.
The restaurant is nice and quiet, however, it doesn’t feel like a typical Vietnamese restaurant. In my opinion, it feels more of an Italian restaurant with the portraits and signs around the restaurant.

Best Vietnamese food around. Their combo #1 is exceptionally good onion beef fried rice salad and 2 egg rolls. Quick and pleasant service and a huge menu.

First dined here around 17 years ago with a Vietnamese friend that first turned me on to the Hu Tieu Ba Nam Sadec or #25 Dry with Rice Noodles. It’s a dish of rice stick type rice noodles covered in a pork Bolognese with tiny dried shrimp. Pieces of pork, a jumbo prawn, crab claw and a prawn cracker. Served with a side of chicken Phở broth and a plate of bean sprouts, jalapeños, herbs and lemon. Mix a bit if the Phở into the noodles then soak the cracker in the Phở broth. It’s amazing! Also great here are their beef rolls with onion. They’re perfect paired with the wide flat steamed noodles. This place is as good now as it was back in the 90’s. I won’t wait another 17 years to return!

This is my family’s go-​to restaurant when we’re craving Vietnamese broken rice and hu tieu (noodle soup).
For appetizer, try their banh khot– these precious mini fried pancakes with shrimp in the middle. Wrap them with lettuce wraps and dunk them into the fish sauce!
This is hands-​down the best place to get broken rice. I hate it when I realize the restaurant uses regular jasmine rice… Vung tau gets it right! Remember to get the meat pie — so delicious. The wedge is a good size, proportionate to the rice. The pork is barbecued nicely and sliced thinly.
Hu tieu is my dad’s favorite. Broth isn’t too salty. I like the assortment of meats and seafood in the noodle soup from pork to shrimp to crab claw.
We come here once a month at least for dinner and never mind the commute from Castro Valley.

Food is bomb! I’ve only had the bo luc lac and ga nuong so far. Their tomato rice is buttery, and the egg rolls are tasty. Just smelling the aroma of their food makes my mouth water. I can’t wait to try more dishes!

Family friendly for party of 8. Onions wrapped in beef was awesome, the egg rolls were the crispiest I’ve ever had, the fried-​steamed sea bass was full of flavor, and the beef noodle soup had tons of beef+noodles. Great family food experience.

Why a 3^rd restaurant?
Came here for a quick dinner, mainly for some phở. Sadly, I forgot that they don’t sell the typical beef phở in most Vietnamese restaurants, which is what I really wanted, but I’ll settle for the Hu Tieu. This location is in a nice location, but it doesn’t seem to be doing well. Inside it’s really awkwardly quiet with insufficient lighting. Could you guys use brighter lightbulbs instead? Also, what really bothered me was the fact that they assumed we paid the right amount (total + tip). Please count the money and don’t assume it’s right. I had to go up to them and ask for our change because clearly we would not pay a 30% tip at a phở restaurant. Two stars for this location.
I ordered the Hu Tieu Ba Nam Sa Dec (#25 on their menu), and shared a pork/​shrimp spring roll.
The Hu Tieu is one of their most popular dishes, and I can see why. The soup is very flavorful, and the ingredients are tasty as well. I love eating the fried shrimp cracker; it’s crispy and soaks up the broth well. I’ve had this bowl before at the San Jose location, and I would say the noodle soup here comes out a slightly smaller portion than the noodle soup from the original location. There’s nothing much to comment on the spring rolls since they tasted pretty standard. What I will say is that they’re cheap on the shrimp, 1 whole shrimp cut in half per roll.
If you’re gonna go Vung Tau, go to San Jose.

Delicious. Quality.. The onion beef wrap was spectacular. I will be coming here again.

I’ve been a fan of Vung Tau for over a decade now. My favorite one is the Vung Tau II in Milpitas where the food and service is consistently on point.
We were in the Newark neighborhood and saw there was a Vung Tau in the shopping plaza so we gave it a try.
It was a Saturday late afternoon lunch. There were probably a handful or so tables so it wasn’t super busy. I saw there were two waiters and one busboy.
We ordered the usual stuff: goi cuon (fresh spring rolls); tamarind prawns; grilled beef wrapped onions, and chicken clay pot rice. The food itself was average, not as good as the II branch.
Why this is 2 star review was the service or maybe I should say the lack of service.
Okay, I know I’m in an Asian restaurant, so I’m not expecting superior service as racist as that sounds. However, trying to flag someone down to take our order, then to get us a pair of chopsticks and refill the hot water was like pulling teeth.
The food also took a much longer time to arrive than normal. I understand if it was super busy, but seriously there were just a handful of tables and most of them were already eating. It took 30 minutes before the goi cuon (fresh spring rolls) came out, when the other locations would take 5 minutes at the most.
When we asked for a pair of chopsticks or to add hot water the waiter seemed most annoyed at such simple requests.
That’s fine… if you’re annoyed to have paying patrons eat at this restaurant asking simple requests, then we won’t be back.

Really fast service but okay service. The food was pretty good and they do give plenty of food. It is kind of nice to go to a Vietnamese restaurant that doesn’t just serve phở. It was fun trying new items. I wish we weren’t in a rush or I would have enjoyed myself a bit more.

I tried their Bo Luc lac «Shaken beef» and it’s hardly impressive. Its your recommended dish, how do you screw that up? Lackluster, bland and dry. How much do you charge for this?
I already been to the San Jose branch and the Milpitas branch, both are great. This place? Ugh forget it.
I was leaving I saw that sticker at the door that it was Zagat rated, that just tells me never to rely on Zagat at all.

Friendly and fast service. Everything we ordered was good. We got bun bo hue, beef with veggies rice plate, and beef onion rolls. The only thing I would complain about is that the beef slices in the bun bo hue was really dry and tough. Other than that, I will be back to try other things.

I’ve been here at least 6x and can say it’s better than the few vietnamese restaurants I’ve tried in the area.
–the fried egg rolls are really good. The wrapper is crisp w but of chewiness. The filling is the perfect mix of meat to veg. And it had nice rounded flavor of some type of wine or rice vinegar. It’s all served w raw veggies to create true bundle of joy. And I’m not referring to a cute baby (since I don’t have kids). Fish sauce is perfectly crafted. notes of sweet yet salty w little tang. ⁵⁄₅ *
–vermicelli bowl: noodles cooked perfectly. I’m not a fan of their pork. too lean and not that flavorful. Their grilled chicken tasted much better and they use thigh meat. Wish they had julienned carrots but they have chunks that are pickled instead. Their ratio of ingredients is perfect though. Decent bowl. 3.5/5*
–clay pot rice w, chicken: same grilled chicken and it’s good but it came w only one to two pieces. Rice isn’t too oily. 4/​5*
–shrimp w lotus salad: really light and tasty. Crisp lotus w herbs and fish sauce.yum. 4/​5*
Wide menu selection offering many family style options but also individual entrees like rice plates and noodle bowls. Prices are little steep though. and it doesn’t have the ambiance of the sj location.

After two days of camping out in the wilderness, my boyfriend and I decided to reenergize ourselves with phở. We ordered a bun bo hue, combination rice plate (shredded pork/​grilled beef with onions/​meat pie), and egg rolls.
The bun bo hue wasn’t anything special: standard soup base, decently cooked vermicelli noodles. The grilled beef wrapped onions in the rice plate was interesting, although a bit oily. The egg rolls were fried nicely, wrapped with rice paper and had good fillings. However, the fish sauce was too salty.
The food was actually OK but what wasn’t was the service. In particular, I tried waving down the same waiter twice (once to order, and another to get a to-​go box) but he pretty much ignored us. Maybe people are in charge of serving certain tables, but it would be nice to inform us instead of just walking by???
Not likely to return after this experience.

My tongue’s wagging just thinking about it. I don’t know about Part I and Part II locations, but Part III is only the second Vietnamese restaurant that I’ve given 5-​stars (you’d have to go to Monterrey Park, CA to find «Golden Deli»). I knew «Vung Tau» was special right away when I had Steamed Mussels with lemongrass and tamarind sauce on the side and it tasted far side of the world good. When the Spring Rolls with garden packed veggies, Rice Cake Shrimp with crunchy exterior or Pork Rolls that steam the mouth are this good as well, plump for my large mouth, I start realizing how inadequate other restaurants actually are.
And those are just the starters.
I’ve had premium thin but wide meat Phở bowls, but lately I admit, I’m more into vermicelli. And «Vung Tau» has world class Vermicelli dishes that give a buzz to my lips. But I have to admit, I’ve any dish this year the Shrimp Paste Wrapped Around Sugarcane is the one that’s a revelation. Before now, I had no idea you could put delectable taste together with those two things. At this point, my lips are strumming a new tune and my tongue is in a twister.
«Vung Tau» is going to be a favorite of mine for a long, long time. Yes, it’s only a simple café with a homey den ambiance. It’s not a palace. But why should one care if it’s among the best food I’ve ever had?
#classiceats

Used to be my regular spot until ownership changed. The place wasn’t too packed for a Sunday night. However, the service was extremely slow and the only waiter working seems like he didn’t want to be there. Needless to say, I felt uncomfortable.
We ordered eggrolls, bun Bo hue and a combination rice plate with shredded pork, grilled beef with onions, and meat pie.
The egg rolls were fried well with good stuffings. But, the nuoc mam that came with it was too salty and overpowered the eggrolls. The bun Bo hue was nothing special, tasted like pre made soup base. The broken rice plate was okay, the grilled beef was pretty good and interesting. A bit oily though!
I just wanted something quick that day and this place did the job. Was it really good? Not really but it’s an alright place to go grab a quick lunch or dinner.

I cannot get enough of this place!!!
The banh knot is so crispy and delicious. Their fish sauce is not watered down like many other places. I normally get a rice dish or a noodle sheet dish, so yummy.
Full disclosure I come here weekly and still love it. If you like Vietnamese food definitely give this place a try. Also the woman is super friendly too.

I loooove coming to this place when I’m craving Vietnamese food. Food is awesome, prices are affordable, and service is on the good end for a Vietnamese place.
When I’m craving soup, I love getting the rice noodle soup with seafood. It comes with shrimp, a crab claw, pork, and a fried shrimp cracker. The shrimp cracker tastes great as is when it’s crispy and is also good when soaked into the soup. The vermicelli bowls and combination rice plates are also really good. The portions are generous so I’m never able to finish my whole meal. The egg rolls that come with the rice plate and vermicelli bowls are amazing!!! My coworkers like to call this the «Egg roll place» because we all love the egg rolls here.
I also like this location because it’s less crowded than the Milpitas location, which can get really packed.

Still love this place! After moving back to Fremont for a few years now, Vung Tau is my go to spot. On weekdays I don’t like to venture out of Fremont for dinner after spending over an hour commuting. Funnily enough though, if I do go out of Fremont for Vietnamese, I often go to Vung Tau in Milpitas since I don’t make the trip out to SJ much.
Anyhow, I recently discovered Hu Tieu Ba Nam Sadec and am HOOKED. This is now my favorite dish — finally a noodle dish that I feel absolutely satisfied after eating it. Shrimp, crab claw, fried shrimp cracker, pork, and pork bolognese with soup on the side. Not sure how the proper way to eat it is, but after trying it twice now, I’ve come to realize I like the dish with the soup mixed into the noodles, etc. I’m a noodle soup person. YUMMMM. Just had this last night and I want to return for more!