Ngu Binh Restaurant

This place has really gone down hill. The bun bo hue is no longer aa good as it use to be, just a disappointment. On top of that, the plate of veggie had bugs in it. We ask for another & that too had bugs. The mi quang isn’t as good as before also. Everything has gone down hill from the taste of the food to the cleanness.

We’ve been here since this place opened and always enjoy the food. But the last time we ate there 2 days ago and were disappointed with the bun bo & banh beo, cleanliness & the odor from fish sauce which is on the table & in the air. The restroom is dark, old and filthy. We won’t
Eat there again.

This is my first restaurant review ever. After discovering this place, it’s my go to place for Bun Bo Hue. There’s always a wait so best to avoid usual meal time. Menu is limited so that tells me the dishes are YUMMY. If you want to try another kind of Vietnamese noodle besides Phở, it’s a must to try Bun Bo Hue here. Other dishes that I come here for are Banh Beo Chen (steam rice cake serve in 10 individual small dishes) and Banh Bot Loc Tran (steam clear tapioca dumplings stuffed with pork and shrimp). I prefer Bun Bo Hue to be spicy, but they can adjust to your taste. The vegetables that goes with it is always fresh and the bowl is full of stuff. So flavorful. Just perfect to my liking!
Note: if you don’t speak Vietnamese, make sure you stay close to the sign in sheet cuz the guy calling out the name doesn’t speak English so even if he calls your name, it’s hard to understand it. Most of the clientele are local Vietnamese so if it’s popular with them, it’s a must try. I think the cashier is the owner so he can explain the dishes if you have questions. I’ve done so a few times.

We always get go here whenever visiting since authentic Hue food. Usually get the spicy beef noodle soup, banh it ram, banh bot loc and banh nam.
I only noticednit recently that the fillings for the glutinous items are skimpy compared to what I get in Texas. The have like one shrimp for the banh bot loc filling and no pork. Also, the banh it ram was too glutinous and doughy. Should there be more meat filling to balance all that flour? I will only order this to share with others since can only eat one. The crispy flour part only best eaten when still hot.
Hubby got the spicy beef bum bo hue which is a popular dish yet I feel that Houston restaurant does a better job. So maybe I do not to travel to California when I have something just as good in Texas. But Quan Hy may have better food nowadays in Garden Grove

A friend brought me here… Im told they specialize in northern/​central cusine. Only experienced to Vietnamese food was Phở before … Man have I been missing out. Their house noodle soup bowl here is insane! Best broth… Clean full flavored. Just the right amount of spice heat and the noodles were delicious. Thin round noodles almost like spaghetti instead of flat noodles in Phở. Can’t wait to come back. I was the only non Vietnamese there. So you know its the realness. Everyone must come here!

Hello Bun Bo Hue! Wow excuse my ignorance from San Diego, I thought I’ve seen enough Vietnamese restaurants there but wait till you go to Westminster aka Little Saigon because there’s a shop here where every table you walk past has at least one bowl of Bun Bo Hue and it’s also the first item featured on their first page of their menu. And duh, of course that’s what we ordered and that’s what we came here for with a Vietnamese coworker’s recommendation.
We both ordered our own bowl, and it’s the best Bun Bo Hue I’ve had in So Cal! The ingredients were fresh and delicious. The pork’s blood was the best I’ve had outside of HK — smooth, firm and flavorful, just like how a carnivorous tofu should taste like! The pork’s leg had a great cut with all the data trimmed away, leaving only the meat, tendon and cartilage, just like how it’s supposed to be. The noodles were cooked al dente. Although the broth could be stronger, the flavor was still amazing.
I took out one star because the service was slow. It took them a while to even come ask us for water. There wasn’t much smiles or warm welcoming either. We haven’t tried other food because their bowl was pretty big, but I doubt I can order anything else here other than Bun Bo Hue…

wow. this place is legit, authentic, and amazing. There is always a line outside with a crowd of people, but the wait isn’t too bad. It’s a sit-​down place but people come and go at a fast-​food pace.
What a great deal for all their dishes, especially the combination Banh Beo and Banh Bot Loc appetizer platter. The portion is huge and more than enough for 2 – 3 people. Their Bun Bo Hue is also really good (broth is great, love the pig’s blood, fishcake, big portion of beef slices, oxtail, etc…). Their platter of complementary veggies to add to the soup is also unique and abundant. (they offer shallots here!)

Not good and not bad. Went here for breakfast and got the bun bo hue on the weekend. The menu is very small, not a lot of choices, but we went specifically for the bun bo hue, so I guess didn’t really bother me. For my husband though, since he didn’t eat spicy food, there were no other non spicy noodle soup that looked appealing. As far as the bun bo hue, The noodles are filled with stuff, from pork blood, to pork feet (I think), and the veggies are plenty. However, I just don’t remember it being that amazing, perhaps next time when I’m more hungry.

craving authentic vietnamese popular entrees? with so many vietnamese restaurants in OC and haven’t gotten a clue where to go? ngu binh is your place!
i’ve been to so many restaurants to try bun bo hue. whether its a bun bo hue speciality restaurant or a regular restaurant that just serves bun bo hue. i was pretty impressed by nhu binh version.
ordered:
*bun bo hue– you can request for the soup to me more spicy or less. flavorful! i really dig the soup!
*banh beo chen
service is like any typical asian restaurant (average). i would totally recommend nhu binh to my fellow Unilocalers as my food cravings were met. i would definitely recommend the bun bo hue and the banh beo! if you are sharing these two items i would recommend ordering some more food because it’s definitely not enough. if you are in the area and need to get your bun bo hue/​banh beo fix? then definitely make a pit stop here to satisfy those cravings!
tips:
*indoor seating only
*shared parking lot with other businesses.
*cash only
*definitely a long wait during the weekends.
*very busy parking lot.
*limited menu with only a few items.
*menu has pictures.
*prices are a bit higher than other competitors in the area.

Hailing from a city where I am 99% sure that there are 0 – 1 bun bo hue options (never mind good options), my opinion may be skewed. But still, let me be honest for a sec– my parents and I drive 16 hours round trip at least 2 or 3 times PER year basically just to eat bun bo hue here. And it is SO worth it every damn time. Even if my Americanized palate cannot be 100% trusted when it comes to Vietnamese food, even according to my parents this is where you wanna go for bun bo hue. It’s oily, delicious, fulfilling goodness with generous portions of meat (mmmm that pork loaf & rich strips of beef tho) and soft delicious noodles, even for a small bowl. It is honestly the perfect balance of spicy & salty. I cannot describe the joy I feel after stewing in car for 8 hours, finally sitting down in this restaurant, and taking that first slurp of noodles & soup. Quintessential comfort food. Soooooooo so so so so good. And all for under 10 bucks. yesss!!!
Oh yeah, and the banh xeo is good too.

I’ve been here so many times and am finally writing a review! One thing I will say, is that this place is not the most consistent in flavor. I don’t mean it’s drastically different every time I come, but some days are better than others.
Food:
I only get the banh beo and the mi quang here. It’s so good… Occasionally, the mi quang can be a tad too salty but usually, it’s great. I always bring my friends here and I haven’t met one person who doesn’t end up falling in love w the food. I usually share a large mi quang and one order (sometimes 2) of banh beo if I come with one other person.
Service:
Not bad. Typical Asian joint w Asian service. You do usually have to go up to the register to pay, but that’s not a big deal.

Cash only whole in the wall joint. hopefully you dont come during lunch or dinner peaks because there is always a wai, dont let that scare you away. This is an asian joint, so you know the turnover on the tables are pretty quickly. be ready to have your order when you sit, because they will be ready for you. be ready for food comatose afterwards too…
2 major items they are known for — bun bo hue and the mi quang (regular or special bowls)… both delicious dishes. and they have many appetizer options such as the banh beo, banh bo loc, banh it ram (yummy glutinous rice) and many more. they even have appetizer samplers. try them out — they are all pretty good.

I was excited to try this place but was disappointed. This place was surprisingly poppin and we got there right when it opened. There was a list and people waiting after we were seated.
There’s a parking lot. Service was terrible. We took the waitress we needed more time but she literally walked around and came back a minute later. So figure out what you wanna order! It’s noted below but we order a combo dish and 1 item was subbed without telling us until we asked!
Hue Appetizers:
–BANH BOT LOC– (combo) it was delicious! This was my favorite out of all the dishes we ordered. MUST ORDER!
— Banh Beo– (combo) meh wasn’t very good. I was expecting it to come in the little plates but it was already all on the plate… Maybe bc we order the combo. It wasn’t chewy. Nothing special.
–Banh Nam– (combo) can’t comment on this since they did not have this but the waitress that took our order didn’t even bother telling us until we asked. They subbed it for something else.
Banh It Kep Banh Ram– others like this but I didn’t enjoy it very much. Too much dough/​batter. There wasn’t enough filling either.
Noodles:
— Bun Mit Mam Nem– this was my first time trying it and didn’t enjoy it. It’s pretty much egg noodles. It was spicy to me at all and not enough sauce.
–BBH– it was layered in chili oil and the taste was so different to what I’m used to. BBH An Nam in San Jose is still my favorite.
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Overall, I will not be back but if I did I would only order the Banh Bot Loc.

I was surprised by the low rating, but as my friend pointed out, sometimes the best Asian restaurants seem to have lower ratings (going to assume this is due to the employees General DGAF demeanor which may be off putting to those who can’t speak their native language. Being from San Jose, I’m rarely blown away by Vietnamese food but this spot was pretty good.
The Bun Bo Hue isn’t amazing but it’s pretty good. My favorite dishes here though were the Banh Beo and the Mi Quang. Will definitely return.

I’ve been reluctant to try Ngu Binh because I never wanted to wait in the line outside the door.
I came on a Sunday around 10:30am with my dad. We got seated right away, however getting our food to our table took a bit longer than I expected. The place was packed by 11am and there was a line out the door when we left at 11:30am.
They have a simple menu that consists of Hue styled Vietnamese cooking (Central Vietnam) which are known for their flavor and spicy foods. We both got the bun bo hue, the spicy beef and pork vermicelli soup. The meat inside the bun bo hue is really good. The only thing that was disappointing was the cha/​gio (the round pork meatloaf) — the texture was too soft. There was plenty of pieces of sliced beef inside my small bowl, along with one pork hock and a couple cubes of the congealed blood. For one small portion, one large and a hot tea, our total was around 18 dollars.

The Banh beo was lacking in topping and pork skin. There Banh bot loc is better.
There bun bo hue is okay nothing special is more spicy than flavor.
Service here was pretty terrible good I speak a bit of Vietnamese if not its hard for someone who doesn’t speak Vietnamese to order. We barely had time to look at the menu before the waitress asked us to order. When we asked for more water the waiter just glared at us. I don’t think I’ll come here again.

My parents tell me that this is the place to go for Bun Bo Hue (spicy beef noodles). I’ll take their word for it, because I’m not 100% sure what Bun Bo Hue is supposed to taste like. I do know one thing though; I really enjoyed the Bun Bo Hue here. You have the option to order it spicy or not spicy. I recommend ordering it spicy for the full affect. The broth was good, there was a generous helping of meet, meatballs, pork blood and noodles in the dish. I ordered the small and could barely finish it. It actually tasted that it was a bone broth base, instead of a soup base doused with tons of MSG.
My parents also ordered the Banh Beo which is like a small steamed rice cake with meat on it. It was pretty good, but I wish that it would have come out warmer. It was on the room temperature side, which tells me that it wasn’t freshly steamed.
This place is pretty big for a local Vietnamese restaurant, and there are plenty of seats. It gets crowded though, and it’s cash only. So, make sure you swing by the ATM on your way in. It’s located in the corner of a strip mall on the South east corner of Magnolia and Westminster. The service wasn’t bad, but the food did take a while to come out. The place was generally pretty clean as well. I’d come back to fulfill any future Bun Bo Hue cravings for sure.

Pretty darn good food for Central Vietnamese cuisine!
There was a huge line and waiting list when we got there, but we quickly got our table since 6 parties in front of us for impatient and left. Yippee!
This place is known for Bun Bo Hue, but we’re a little hardcore and went straight for Mi Quang and bun mit mam. We also ordered the combo plate with banh beo and banh bot loc to compare to what we get in NorCal.
Must try if you’re craving for Hue food.

A solid place to curb your Bun Bo Hue and Banh Beo Chen cravings!
In a busy plaza with a too small of parking lot, Ngu Binh is always filled with hungry patrons. I’m glad they expanded and moved to a new, but much larger location in the same plaza. No wait on a Saturday before noon, but there most definitely was a small wait after we got seated.
Our wait for our food today was a little bit longer than usual, my mom commented that the back might be backed up? Not sure, but the wait was not too unbearable and definitely worth it.
Banh Beo Chen comes with 10 and more filling than expected! Beware, the fish sauce is very spicy with the peppers premixed in.
Another warning, the bun bo hue here is ALSO very spicy. If you’re not into having your mouth of fire, ask for not spicy. The large was more than enough for me and my mom to split. My boyfriend barely finished his large.
Our meal was less than $ 30, great prices for great soul warming food.

OMG! Thank you to my friend for recommending this mom and pop shop.
i’ll make this quick and shot.
Get the Bun Bo Hue. Hands down. So freaking bomb. The flavor of the broth was damn bold and flavorful. i was one happen child when I saw that giant cube of pork’s blood in my soup. Nice. Spicy. Delicious.
They’re also known for their rice cakes, the Banh Beo, in the little individual dishes, as well as their mochi rice cakes with the shrimps inside. You can either get them individually or in a combo plate. We ordered the combo plate where the Banh Beo is already scooped out of the little dishes, I think next time i’ll get the one still in the plate.
My bf got the yellow noodles? Mi Quang? And thoroughly enjoyed the salad. The dressing in this was very good. It’s more of a dry salad with the dipping sauce/​dressing on the bottom. There’s shrimp, sesame cracker, peanuts, veggies and some other goodies in a bowl. Very refreshing.
Overall the meal was around $ 30 and we were totally stuffed. We had leftovers and for the noodles, the small size would suffice.
Prices were on the higher side for the area, but not bad. All under $ 10 which is amazing compared to WLA prices