Bui Contemporary Vietnamese Cuisine

fyi bui is back open!

I work down the block from Bui, and I usually go there to satisfy my Phở cravings on cold days. I love their Phở, although it is in fact more pricier than the delicious phở you can buy in Oakland china town. I come to Bui for the convenience.
The atmosphere is very contemporary, and very cold. Its never really pact inside, its a pretty small place. Still it is very cute and the service is good. I haven’t had any complaints since I’ve been going there.

Boo to Bui. Overpriced and underwhelming. Much less expensive establishments in less upscale neighborhoods serve far superior Vietnamese dishes. Salt seems to be the predominant spice at Bui. Tried the place twice, this last time sampling one of the vermicelli dishes. Latter was the least interesting version of this dish I’ve ever eaten.
Service and seating are decent.
If you must pay through the nose, Vanessa’s (includes Vietnamese cuisine) up the street is quite good. Next door, the new Everest Café (Nepalese) is much better bet for flavor and value.

The place is all smoke and mirrors.
A nice looking upscale storefront on Solano Ave with darkened, candlelit interior complete with foliage and full of groups talking over bottles of wine. Oh, and the prices are around 14 – 20 without tip/​tax so it must be pretty good?
Definitely comparable if not worse than $ 10/​person food. I shared a lemongrass tofu ($ 13?) and a Chilean sea bass hot pot ($ 20). Lemongrass tofu was a spicy lackluster dish with little cubes of tofu in it and some vegetables that were cut into flower shapes like Cha-​Ya does. Eh. Chilean sea bass was just sea bass, little did I know. About eight chunks in a bowl of sauce. It was overly salty, but the fish texture was pretty good… but definitely not worth trying again.
Oh, and they charge extra for rice ($ 1.50 jasmine $ 2.00 brown). I know a lot of places do that, but come on. Much cheaper places give free rice. I’m paying $ 20 for eight of fish in a salt bath and you can’t afford some grains and water?
Also? My roommate was given one chopstick for most of the night. Really? Chopsticks come in odd numbers? Oh, and the dining plate I was given was covered in sugar granules for some reason. Yeah…
Brings them from a two to a one on the personal scale.

We went there as we are exploring new restaurants in the Solano area and were looking for light cuisine. The menu looked promising even though not necessarily what I expected from a vietnamese restaurant.
We had the banana leaf salad and the chicken curry. While both tasted fine they were not very memorable and the presentation was lacking. the dishes were also a bit on the small and the chicken dish only had three small pieces of meat.
So, its not a destination restaurant but if you’re in the area and feel like south-​asian cuisine they are definitely a decent choice.
Update (February 2010)
Gave it another shot for lunch. This time around I enjoyed the meal a lot more (it tasted fresh and flavorful) and the portions were a lot more generous.

In fact I’d give a 3.5 stars for my first visit here. Out of all curiosity I ordered Bouillabaise — a seafood soup dish as recommended. It was a good presentation and the taste was good. However, it lacks a finishing blow to make it great. The red curry duck was impressive, yet the dish seems to be prepared separately– curry and duck– then put them together.
Service is good, waiter is attentive and patient enough to answer all questions and explain. I would give it another try & order their known dishes.

When my friends and I wandered over to Solano Avenue one Friday night looking for a place to eat, we decided on going here because one of my friends said that they had heard this place was good.
At first glance, this place is fancy, but it’s also relaxed and unprofessional in some aspects of its appearance and service. The tablecloth wasn’t impressive looking, for example, but there were wine glasses out. Also, the waiter was young and fairly energetic, but he wasn’t the most experienced or friendly one I’ve ever ordered with. Lastly, they refilled our water attentively, but they also took a while to pick up our bill, though we were fidgeting with our cash for a while. It’s nice that this place is not too upper class-​ish, but it’s also inconsistent in its feel.
I ordered the shaken beef entrée, at $ 16, with a side of jasmine rice, at $ 1.50 (these prices might be off). The entrée was a little small, and the sauce was a little too sweet. However, the beef was tender (it’s cooked medium-​rare). There also wasn’t much to the dish other than the beef, which was cut into small pieces, some tomatoes, and lettuce. The rice was reasonable in size (a small bowl’s worth) but wasn’t anything special in taste.
The food is decent, and the presentation is nice, if a bit spotty. Overall, a solid choice with some issues.

Fantastic Vietnamese food! First we ordered the spring rolls and peanut sauce as an appetizer. Delish! I ordered the black tiger prawns special over egg noodles as my entrée and ate every savory bite. We also tried a fabulous sparkling lemonade that tasted like an alcohol free mojito.
Bui has excellent service, too. Our server was extremely attentive, even going so far as giving us a complementary crème brûlée for dessert.
In addition to great food and service, the place is very tastefully decorated and has a warm, inviting seating area.
Top notch casual fine dining. We’ll definitely be visiting again.

I went here for my cousin’s wedding rehearsal dinner. They let us rent the place out on a Saturday night for something like $ 300. AMAZING deal! The food was plentiful and delicious. Nothing was labeled so I don’t know what I ate… but the egg rolls were the best I’ve ever had. great spicy drumsticks. The fish was flaky and well-​seasoned. Really, everything was a delight, and I wish I had the chance to go back and have a real meal there.

Overall, I liked this place. I had the opportunity to visit for lunch. The Buddha and Spring Rolls were nicely minty, fresh, and tasty. The accompanying peanut sauce was good. I also had the lemon grass beef vermicelli noodles while my colleague had the pork over rice.
I liked the décor. Service was on point. It’s on a quiet section of Solano with easy parking. i’d come back for dinner on a date… the lamb looks interesting.
Will be back!

I’m torn. The food is really good. The people who work there are really nice. The atmosphere is good, although I’ve only ordered take-​out twice and never actually eaten there. But the prices for the portions are way off. Eight dollars for two small spring rolls? I ordered two entrees and an appetizer (the spring rolls) and it came to $ 40 (would have been $ 45 if I’d eaten there and tipped more) for two people. That would be okay if everything wasn’t so small. I guess I’m accustomed to Vietnamese and Thai places that serve spectacular food (as Bui does) but serve you enough for leftovers and only charge you $ 8-​$ 10 for entrees. I didn’t even order the more expensive dishes, which are $ 16 or more.
For what I ordered, four stars for the food, two stars for the price.

The owner, Chef Bui, is brilliant! We ordered about half the menu, and the dishes ranged from great to sublime. Amazing appetizers. Great beer and wine selection. It’s very clean, has a friendly staff, and a warm atmosphere overall.
Highly recommended!

I’d have to disagree with some of the not so warm reviews here. The only thing that keeps me from going here more often is the usual prices you get at nice Vietnamese places. But the food here is usually every bit as good as fancy places like the Slanted Door in SF.
I love everything here, especially the cubed beef and seared tuna.
The owner is a nice guy and it has been a family restaurant since many years ago when it had a different name and location in Berkeley.

My husband and I decided to try this place out since my brother frequents this place often, but for dinner. My husband was feening more of a phở place, which this place obviously wasn’t.
We dropped by on a Sunday afternoon for lunch. We decided to try the chicken wing appetizer and the calamari. The chicken wings were pretty good. As for the calamari, I thought the sauce it came with could be a little more tastier or spike the dish up more.
As for our entrees, my husband ordered the grilled pork lunch plate and I the seared sea bass. Both our dishes were pretty good, although the sea bass is quite expensive– $ 19 for lunch.
We decided to try the kefir lime crème brûlée which was very different but good. Our lunch came to about $ 60 w/​tip. Pretty pricy for lunch, but I guess since it is French/​Vietnamese it is what it is.
I think we’ll try dinner next time. We checked out the menu and it looks like they’ve got a few more dishes to choose from.

I would probably give this place 4 ½ stars to be honest, but I think some of the previous reviews are unfair or judging the place more by the service than the food.
This is, quite simply, the best French/​Vietnamese I’ve ever had. My boyfriend took me to Chef Bui’s former restuarant, Saigon City, a few times early in our relationship. When Saigon City closed, we were aghast, and we didn’t realize that Bui had opened another place until we did some in-​depth research.
The food here is simply amazing. I don’t even like duck, but the duck confit blew me away. The banana flower salad tastes like nothing I’ve ever had before — it’s incredibly refreshing and pairs great with the Gewrztraminer on the menu, available by the glass (although the bottle is reasonably priced). But it’s the claypot sea bass that really stands out. This is the only entrée we’ve had here, because it’s just that delicious that we can never resist. The sweet caramelized sauce pairs perfectly with the slightly firm and crisp morsels of fish that dissolve on the tongue.
We also had coffee and dessert, a rarity for us, and the kefir lime crème brûlée was quite tasty. The service was a bit slow towards the end, and the chef’s toddler-​aged daughter was running free during a good part of the meal, which probably would’ve annoyed some diners although it didn’t bother us too much. For this price point you would expect service to be just a wee bit better, but I think the food is actually a deal, so it all evens out in the end. There’s no law that says Vietnamese food has to be cheap hole-​in-​the-​wall phở joints, people!

Wow, the food here was very good. The place is a bit small, the waiting area in front is not really a waiting area, and the tables are a bit close together. Otherwise it’s a very nice place. The food comes in somewhat smaller portions, but it is good regardless.
The service is top notch!
What does Bui mean anyway? Not sure but it’s good! Definitely a nice place to go on Solano if you’re craving something a bit different for dinner.
I’m not exactly sure what Contemporary Vietnamese is, but it’s nothing like Vietnamese food I’m used to (PHO and BUN!)

I could be picky. The 2-​person tables are too close together. The courses were served in an awkward sequence. The spicy tuna appetizer was much imporved with a side of wasabi we had to request. But none of these pickiune complaints add up to a whole star demerrit.
I can still feel the perfect crispy bite to the very edge of the pan seared chilean sea bass. And taste the freshness of the microgreens and the smooth, sweet tart of the coconut tamarind sauce. It was perfection. Even the brown rice was perfect. I hadn’t realized I wasn’t cooking it perfectly at home, but now that I’ve had this I will have to try to do better.
We started with the soup of the day, chicken noodle. I took one bite of it and thought, «Now that’s what all those other restaurants are trying to do with their wonton soup broth.» It tasted like wonton soup, only perfect. Served at the same time as the soup (the sequencing awkwardness) were banana flower salad and spicy tuna sashimi served in a martini glass with an oversized sesame cracker.
The tuna sashimi was overly subtle. The husband asked for a side of wasabi, which at first embarrased me, as this is the type of restaurant where you really want the chef to speak to you through the food and altering it seemed almost disrespectful, but I relented once I tasted how imrpoved it was.
We ordered the banana flower salad because neither of us had ever had banana flower and we wanted to know what it tasted like. It was light and elegant with complex flavors. It was amazing.
It was just a particularly enjoyable meal, even sitting so close to our neighbors, even getting three courses served all at once. It cost more than we usually pay to go out, but we didn’t midn because the food was so good. We did make one adjustment due to the price and that was to share everything, so we only had one entrée. However, there was pelnty of food. They do not suffer from small-​portion-​itis like some other more expensive restaurants.
We would happily go here again the next time there’s a special occasion. This one was the husband’s birthday.

Although it’s not the cheapest to go to, it is worth every penny. I ordered a duck breast and it was divine. I’m Vietnamese so I’ve had my share of wonderful duck dishes over the years, but taking a bite into this made my day many times better. I don’t trust very many Vietnamese cuisines here in Berkeley and so stumbling upon this restaurant to find that it had amazing food is incredible.
It’s a bit dim on the inside, but I enjoyed it anyway. And their bathroom! It’s so nice to go into a really good looking bathroom and not feel disgusted by all the flying germs.

I went there last night with a colleague. It was a pretty good dining experience. Food was well prepared. Presentation was pleasing and taste was on par with our expectation. Total cost, including taxes and tips, was $ 49.
We ordered one appetizer, Spring Roll, Banana flower salad, and one entrée (Bo Koh) to share. Spring roll is fresh. I like their sauce. I like Banana flower salad, but my colleague didn’t find it as impressive as I felt. Bo Koh (not sure if I spell it right) is beef shank stew. It was tender and juicy. The only drawback was it was somehow on a salty side, especially when you don’t eat with rice. But the portion and quality were both good.
We finish with flan for dessert. Nothing to mention, and not recommend to order this at all.
I give Bui a 4 star rating mainly because of it’s service. Very attentive.

We tried this place today since we found Vanessa’s Bistro to be closed for lunch.
The food here is pretty authentic… the nuoc cham was particularly flavorful, not toned down for western palates. That being said, the prices are a bit higher than your average phở joint. But the lunch menu is limited to your average phở joint menu. I was expecting fusion-​y type dishes because of the «contemporary» in the name, but they’re all pretty standard. The interior is nice and modern, just a bit echo-​y from the walls. Service was great, my waiter offered me another Vietnamese coffee, when I failed to mention I didn’t want condensed milk.
Food: The shrimp in my bun was very fresh and cooked to perfection. My friend, on the other hand, complained that his pork chops were dry. The imperials rolls were good, but I like the ones better at PPQ in SF. I might try dinner here for the clay pot selections, but I’m in no rush to come back, especially with Vanessa’s Bistro just a stroll down the block.