Gia Lam II

You cannot go wrong at Gia Lam II. Nothing fancy, just Good food, very reasonable prices, and a friendly and efficient staff. Get a nice bowl of Vietnamese Soup or a rice dish and you’ll be satisfied and happy.

Order any of the phở dishes and you’re good to go! The viet coffee is strong, aromatic, and flavorful with its components of condensed milk and that slow drip coffee coming into play so don’t miss that when you come and are tired of drinking plain ol’ water.
Because this place can get busy at times, the wait stuff is pretty quick. We got and ate our food in a jiffy, and wanted to sit around and chat while having our teapot refilled 4 – 5 more times. The waitress rolled her eyes at us despite my friends being a regular here… If you’re not expecting phenomenal service and you’re down for just a hearty bowl of phở then Gia Lam II aint bad.

Solid Vietnamese restaurant in the neighborhood. They have a cozy atmosphere and serve affordable, good quality food.
During our last visit, my bf had the beef cubes with rice while I had lemongrass chicken with rice. I wasn’t too fond of the lemongrass sauce but somehow managed to inhale all my food. I was also surprised to find that this place served fast food sides such french fries, chicken wings and onion rings. We ordered a side of fries as well as spring rolls which is a must at any Vietnamese restaurant. The spring rolls were less crispy than other spring rolls I’ve had but were still very delicious.
Definitely left this place feeling satisfied and full. Looking forward to coming back and trying out their phở.

I have been going here for years and the food is always very good. Service is always very quick and this place can get packed at really random times but most of the time there is seating. They have 2 locations. I recommend this place.

One of the best Vietnamese places in the neighbourhood, and that’s saying something (there’re like 10 other Viet restaurants).
I love their Spring Rolls. Other places seem to use frozen or premade spring rolls, so they’re all papery, but this place has super crispy spring rolls, which taste amazing dipped in their fish sauce.
Their Gia Lam Special is amazing value for the amount of food in it.
Take out is quick.

Phở is my all-​types-​of-​mood comfort food, so phở is very important to me. This place fulfills all my phở needs and more. It’s cheaper than other phở places I’ve been to (and I’ve been to a lot) and it is by far the best. If you want real, authentic, cheap, delicious phở, this is the place to go!
Two tips for everyone:
1) Get the #9! It comes in a bigger bowl than what the rest of the other phở orders come in and you get more yummy beef sides in your bowl. It only costs 50 cents extra and the #9 is well-​worth the $ 6.75 price. The broth is extra savory and delicious and only needs a touch of sriracha and hoisin sauce. I’m watering just thinking of it.
2) Do yourself a favor and order the Vietnamese spring rolls. They are not like what you get on the side of your Chinese takeout. The thin, light, crispy skin of the spring roll is wrapped around well-​seasoned pork and comes with a side of the famous Vietnamese fish sauce. Some leaves of lettuce also come with your order. These are the best spring rolls I’ve ever had. Trust me, you’ll want to try them!
On your way out carrying your food baby, make sure to grab a piece of guava candy to top off your meal just right!
This place is pretty spacious but with the amount of people coming in, you may be asked to split a table with other phở-​cravers if they can’t seat you elsewhere. No matter, everyone’s guaranteed a delicious experience anyways!

Food was Ok, service was OK, so A-​OK. Phở was good, all the rest were standard to any other Vietnamese restaurant. Try the grilled pork.

The prices can’t be beat. I got the beef cubes with fried rice. SUPER OILY. You can see the film collecting on the bottom. The beef cubes were delicious and tasty! It would be a lot better if the sizes were more consistent. The onions were just a little too hard. The pork chop is good! The pork chop with vermicelli on the other hand, was very dry. I wouldn’t really know how the service is since I don’t speak much Chinese. But overall was okay. Would probably go again for big portions for not much money.

I grew up eating at this Vietnamese restaurant and one thing that I enjoy about these restaurants is their huge selection of items to choose from. You could go from dry noodles to soupy noodles to rice dishes and more. However, of the few Vietnamese restaurants in the area, I can’t say that this is the best one in terms of their style of cooking and the flavors.

My go to spot for Viet food in Brooklyn. I’ve never had phở from Vietnam so I can’t speak on what’s authentic phở but I do know that the phở here is absolutely delicious, authentic or not. The broth is very flavorful and their meats are cooked so well. Their grilled pork chop is so flavorful and tender. They season it differently than all the other Viet restaurants I have been to making this place my favorite Viet restaurant in NYC. Although most people don’t rave about grilled chicken, I love their grilled chicken here when I want something a little healthier than grilled pork chops. Portions are big here and prices are not steep.
Don’t expect the best service here. I’ve had a few bad encounters with the service here but I can overlook it because of the food. A solid spot to get some delicious Chinese influenced Viet food.

This Gia Lam is awesome. They’re constantly having a full house of customers. It’s always busy here. Even before noon and after 8pm, they are still a ton of hungry customers eating here. It’s hardly ever empty. The ambiance of the place is almost like a competition.
All the staffs are doing their best serving their customers and tending to every single person’s needs. I don’t even think they ever make mistakes. it’s so professional. You order, they explain if you have questions, they bring you the food, you eat, you pay and move on. They all wear uniforms and the’re very attentive to the cleanliness of the tables which is a big plus. I wouldn’t want to eat in a dirty area.
The food is good. The moment you walk in, you can smell the phở’s aromatic broth. It just hits your nose, and from your nose you sort of salivate, and from there you just want to eat their food even more. When the phở comes, it’s always fresh. It’s ALWAYS HOT, why? because you need that boiling hot broth to cook the meat that’s inside that phở bowl of yours. So when people complain it’s too hot, rethink for a moment. You don’t want to eat raw meat with no flavor. You want that juicy meat cooked thoroughly and soaked within that tasty broth.
Although I must admit, the noodle’s portion size has gone smaller. The bowls’ sizes and soup bases are still the same but, the amount of noodles given inside the bowl has reduced.
Besides phở, they have great spring rolls and my favorite summer rolls. Spring rolls are fried all around whereas summer rolls are built together using ingredients were individually cooked separately. Love them both with the sauced and lettuce.
If you are too busy and need food on the go, this is a great place for it. In less than 10 minutes, I was able to get my 3 orders of pork chop phở. It was fast, the food was burning hot as i touched the side of the bag that contained my order. It was delicious when I got home. Just tell them to make it quick and you’ll get it almost instantly and with the same flavor, taste, price and everything else.

This is my favorite Vietnamese place to go to on 8^th Ave.
I order the same dish 85% of the time because it’s just that good here. It’s the cold vermicelli noodles over a bed of romaine lettuce, cucumbers, and bean sprouts, all topped with their cut up spring rolls.
Sometimes, I’ll switch it up and get the sautéed beef on top, instead of the spring rolls. It’s just as good but this one comes with this soy sauce based gravy that’s really addicting.
Takeout is not as good, which is expected, but it’s still better than most. It’s about $ 6 – 7 a for their dishes, which is really cheap. Under $ 15 for a lunch for two!
Tip — don’t forget the sriracha!

Since childhood, Gia Lam has been the primarily location to get Vietnamese cuisine whenever I come to 8^th Ave. Of course, there are a lot of other Vietnamese restaurants that erected nearby, but none of them overall are better than Gia Lam.
Pros (+):
–More of a family-​style restaurant
–Cozy atmosphere
–Portions aren’t bad, compared to the price.
–Phở & Spring Rolls (comes w/​lettuce) are pretty good. Crispy Mhmhm.
–Quick service: attentive and helpful
–Neat Presentation
Cons (-):
–Bathrooms conditions can definitely can be better
–No Phở Sizes. One standard price

Whenever I’m around the area this is one of my go-​to spots for lunch.
Pros:
— #10 beef phở (w/​o tendons) is great!
— Spring rolls are fried to perfection
— Very reasonable prices
— Attentive waiters/​waitresses
— Convenient location
— If you don’t speak mandarin/​Cantonese just say the number of the dish to order
Cons:
— Coed bathroom isn’t the cleanest but it’s manageable
— They don’t have different phở sizes but the amount they give did decrease

3.5. I come here quite a bit and has become a good standby. I’ve been a number of other restaurants in the area but this one still holds my interest. I usually leave satisfied.

I’m giving the place 5 stars for consistency throughout the years. They’ve always been very reasonably priced and I’ve never been to satisfied with a dish that I’ve gotten, though dishes aren’t too notable. The prices are good, service is off-​hands, and the quality of food is good as well. My favorite dishes are:
The Gia lam special — pork chop with fried egg and Chinese sausage. This is a very solid rice dish with lots of flavor in the marinated pork chop with the fried egg and the fried Chinese sausage being good add-​ons.
The #9 beef phở — very solid and consistent and on par with any other Vietnamese restaurants that I’ve been to.
The grilled chicken and grilled pork chop rice dishes and phở dishes are also great for the same reason that I like the Gia lam special. These grilled meats are marinated very well, very flavorful, and not too oily.
The curry chicken or curry beef with bread is great. In general, I found that Vietnamese curries are similar then their Malaysian and Indian counterparts, but this one is just as flavorful. Just do not be surprised when the car is a little bit watery, just enjoy it with the toasted French bread that it comes with.
Both the spring rolls and summer rolls are good as well. Note that the spring rolls are the fried flavorful ones and the summer rolls are the fresher ones with more vegetables. Both solid options.

I cannot believe I only found out about their existence a few days ago. My favorite Viet restaurant in 8 Ave became a hotpot place and the food quality just went downhill since they switch owners and the owners switched all the staff.
Anyway, I was craving Viet food and my friend recommended this place and I was pleasantly surprised. Service was quick and food was good. There’s really nothing to complain about. The staff leaves you alone and give you your own space and only come to assist you when you need assistance, I totally appreciate that.
There is really nothing bad about this place. I would recommend this place to anyone living in Brooklyn and is craving Viet food.

This place is one of the old timers.
When 56^th back in the earlier 2000s had viet restaurants back to back from each other. I remember when a giant bowl of Phở was only 5.50. Those were the days.
They kept to their roots and stuck around with a lot of OG stuff, but as 8^th avenue evolves, they were definitely evolving too. Quality throughout the years slowly weighed themselves from good to mediocre.
I’d come back if I want a quick bite to feed my crave monster inside of me, but not if I want some quality phở.

Classic Vietnamese restaurant on 8^th Avenue and a childhood favorite of mine! They are extremely generous and does not skimp on the ingredients!
Here are some of my favorites:
Grilled Pork with Rice: A MUST GET! The grilled pork is a bit sweet but has a very nice charred taste. Always a very consistent dish and always well cooked. There is something about the rice. The rice aroma smells so good and it even tastes different but it’s a perfect combination with the grilled pork!
Beef Cube with Fried Rice: So good, so beefy, and so much food! I love that it comes extremely hot and when I smell it, the only thing on my mind is that I must devour it! This is enough to share or for two meals. Get it!
Spring Rolls: Fried, crispy, and really good! It is stuffed with minced pork. Wrap it with lettuce, dip it in the sauce, and enjoy!
Summer Rolls: Very well wrapped together. The shrimp is still jumbo and the ingredients are just so fresh.
Phở: I personally think phở is decent here. The soup is light in flavor. There is so much beef and other ingredients too!
Gia Lam is the best on 8^th Avenue and this is why they are still in business for decades!

When it comes to Vietnamese in the five boroughs, it’s without question I always sway toward Brooklyn (#1). At one point, Gia Lam II was as close to a «go to» as I could recommend, but after several subpar experiences in the last couple of years, I will have to downgrade them to average (#2) at best.
Phở is not really their specialty, but it deserves some mention because so many people will likely come for it. The broth has become blander with every visit and it takes every ounce of my will to not douse it in mint leaves, beat sprouts, cinnamon basil, cilantro, lemons (not limes), hoisin, and sriracha just to enhance the flavor.
If one is extra compelled to get phở, then make sure you’ve got plenty of meat. Their sliced lean flank is actually quite good, along with their bits of brisket and/​or fatty flank. The bo vien meatball should be avoided at all costs however, as it’s always been overcooked and a tad too tough.
Where Gia Lam II fails at phở, it excels in rice dishes. This means staples like bo luc lac (marinated beef cubes) or com tam (broken rice + pork?) are safe bets. I’ve also had some decent success with their version of the infamous Chinese yangzhou fried rice (com chien duong chau), but in all likelihood, it’s really just Chinese people doing it.
And that’s another oddity, ordering in Viet will get one nowhere with this staff. It seems silly to not be able to even refer to dishes the way they’re actually noted on the menu. Mando is the way to go, though the number system («I’ll have a #12!») will also work wonders. Kind of weird, but not at all a surprise in Brooklyn Chinatown.
Keep it cash only. Try to avoid the bathrooms if you can. An added bonus to all the mediocrity: it’s open super late.
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(#1) See? I got love for BK.
(#2) We’re using the «NYC Vietnamese» scale, which is far more generous than the actual standard of Viet in big cities.