Hoa Viet

I don’t know why the reviews of this place are so low. I love eating here. I always get the Bun, as the veggies are really fresh. This is honestly one of my favorite Phở places and I’m sad that I’m no longer in Davis to enjoy it regularly.

One of my must Go places for Phở.
My current favorite that i can not find at any other place (other than other family owned hoa viets) is the Beef Stew.
With a side of egg rolls, the meal leaves you over satisfied.

Hoa Viet is actually one of my favorite lunching places in Davis.
Despite seeing some of the recent bad reviews, I really miss their special phở, which has meat balls, beef brisket, and a number of other beef products. The soup base is just so yummy that you can’t resist the temptation to go bottoms up with your bowl. Beef was okay (i don’t see anything that’s too particularly bad or good about it, and the rest of the ingredients were standard). In my humble opinion, as long as you don’t get the noodles too soggy, the deciding factor for good phở (in my book) is the soup. And, I love their soup it’s all what I can say.
I used to go there weekly before and I dont frequent the city as often no more. Nonetheless, it’s actually one of my bookmarked location for my next visit to Davis.

The waitress is incredibly nice! I’ve been here for 3 years now, but have stopped coming lately because Phở King opened down the street.
To be honest, the only thing that is better at Phở King is the Bun Bo Hue.
Here at Hoa Viet, the bun xeo (vietnamese crêpe) is SO good. You got to try it.
I grew up eating vietnamese food so I know what is considered decent vietnamese grub. This is what you call decent, which in my book, is pretty good because usually any vietnamese restaurant outside of the Bay is meh.
They allow you to pay with 2 cards per table, if you need to split.
Try the 3 bean drink for a dessert, yum.

Do you like food poisoning? How about an MSG overdose? Or hair in your food? Because that is what you will get if you come to Hoa Viet.
I ask myself over and over again how an establishment with such poor sanitation and awful food is still open?! They are an endangerment to the community of Davis. Not to mention, they give Vietnamese food a bad rep.
I’ve eaten here twice (shame on me). The first time was when I first moved to Davis and I was craving phở. I got a stomachache that night after eating here. It wasn’t too bad to overcome, but I knew not to frequent this establishment again. The second time was six months later when my friends really water phở after a night of partying. I reluctantly succumbed to the dying wish of my girlfriend even though I told her that this place gives me stomach problems. I ordered a rice dish this time. Sure enough, I find a piece of hair in my food and the lack of proper food handling and abundance of MSG in my food led to another day in my deathbed.
Save your money, please!!! Avoid like the plague.

I used to come here all the time, but once Phở King 4 opened, I’ve been going there instead since it is closer to campus.
I like their Phở Combination (#16). Compared to Phở King 4, I like their phở better since the meat is still uncooked when it is served. At Phở King 4, the meat is already overcooked when I receive my food.
Hoa Viet gets 4 stars instead of 5 due to their service. It always takes awhile to be seated since there are usually only two people running the place and they are busy in the kitchen. Also, the lady is pretty impatient when she takes our orders. However, I must compliment them on their speed of serving food. You can expect to get your food within 5 minutes of ordering. Yay for speedy service!

Phở here was wutevas…
came here cuz a friend wanted to show us davis phở… which i protested upon seein the abundance o shitty reviews…
After eating here i guess u could say i was pleasantly surprised that the food was decent… only weird thing was that the eggrolls were mega hot… my guess is that they were microwaved upon seein the plethora o reviews that complained bout eggrolls comin in cold… tastewise the eggrolls were meh… but u could view it as a matter o preference… every phở place is diff.
The best thing i can say bout this place is the portion. I got the vermicelli w/​beef and they hooked it up FAT. i usually can finish the whole dish in a sitting if i try… but i was able to eat this for lunch/​dinner and then friggin lunch the next day.
I prolly wouldnt come back but I guess if ur in the area u could prolly give this place a chance… it mite surprise u

I think their Phở is better than Phở King. Their rice plates are also better as well.
I usually get A-​9, which has grilled pork with rice paper. I love making it myself. It takes awhile to eat since I have to make all of them but it sure is worth it.
I don’t go here often but when I do, I usually order that dish because I don’t know where else in Davis where I can make it myself.
I also like this place because there is parking! They have their own cute little parking lot.

Was a little difficult to get to…
phở bo kho
[+] tasted pretty good
[-] not a lot of meat/​tendon
[-] not a lot of noodles
[-] no bread to add to it either!):
[+] but at least there’s parking!
There’s not much else to say about this place, aha

Accessibility (Parking /​Wait Time)
¹⁄₁ Star: parking lot
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Service (Waiter /​Cleanness /​Ambiance)
⁰⁄₁ Star: was served cold phở. Waiter didn’t know an ingredient I asked about nor has she tasted the dish.
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Taste (0=Not Edible /​1=Edible /​2=Good (average) /​3=Must Try!)
⁰⁄₃ Stars: worst phở ever
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Overall Experience
¹⁄₅ Stars
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Pictures
Fried Rice:
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Last Words

I always told myself I would never go back here again, but some force of nature dragged my body over here… Well also Phở King 4 is closed on Sundays and my friends really wanted phở.
I don’t know if it was because Phở King 4 was closed, but Hoa Viet was packed. The staff let us have a seat on the right side of the restaurant at some empty tables to wait until there was more seating. He told us it is really hot on the right side, so he will move us as soon as possible. They gave us menus and waters while we waited and kept apologizing reminding us that they will be getting us seats soon. It is always nice to see the staff concerned. I have never seen these waiter/​waitresses, so I am pretty sure that they are new which is good. Their English is better and they’re attentive.
3 of us ordered phở and one of my friends ordered a rice dish. The rice dish was really simple. There was about a bowl size of rice on the plate, with slices of meat and a mini salad on the side. The portion was little and it didn’t look super appetizing. The phở is a little better than I remember. Everything was mediocre, but that is a step up from a year ago. By the time I got home, I was pretty dehydrated despite having 2 – 3 glasses of water at the restaurant. I felt super sluggish, so I feel like their broth is still chock full of MSG or other additive.
This is still my last choice for phở (out of the two main phở places in Davis), but the phở is acceptable.

I bet this place lost a lot of business when Phở King 4 opened up closer to college campus and offers more variety in terms of different phos!
This use to be the only place that had good phở, but now that Phở King 4 opened, I like that place better in Davis! They need to up their menu!
Their Phở Tai (Beef Noodle Soup) is good, but not great. The only reason I would come here for phở is because this place WAS the only one around in Davis when I needed my phở fix — especially when it’s super cold and rainy during winter season.
Their fried calamari is surprisingly really good in terms of flavor. The batter they use tastes different in a good, unique way. I highly recommend trying it!

THIS PLACE IS CHEAP, BUT I GUESS YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR.
I have eaten here MANY times and their service is not great, they sometimes forget my order so I have to remind them and pretty much, the SERVICE IS BAD.
The food is NOT EXCEPTIONAL. The phở and rice dishes taste like any other standard Vietnamese restaurant and it’s just the prime location of this place is what makes it so frequented.
BOTTOM LINE:
Even though the service sucks, I would still go here again because it’s cheap and the food is decent. I hear they charge you $ 1.75 if you make your order to go? Just go here with no expectations, then you can’t be disappointed!

Back in 2003 – 2010, this was like the only Phở place in Davis. Whenever I had phở cravings this place would be it but after I eat, I’m always wishing there was a better place. I grew up in SoCal and went to places like Little Saigon for Phở so I’ve had the best and this place is just «Meh.»
But the one star? Why I gave this place a one star? One day my friends and I came here to eat. My friend ordered the BBQ Pork fried rice which is decent but after eating half of it finds a little cooked COCKROACH! we were all very grossed out and all the manager did was give him a new friend rice.

What can I say about this place?
Well to start, it’s not too shabby. The fact is, you’re in a town with a ton of asians, from everywhere so with that being said, it’s going to be pretty hard to stoop up to the level of your favorite hometown phở place. But at least these people have decent phở.
The service is really good here I think. What I don’t like is when I go to this place in the middle of the day, and the lady is going around mopping the floors with bleach that leaves a horrible burning stench in my nose. It’s just not appetizing to do that when someone is eating or going to order food.
I was seriously expecting worse, but I wasn’t too disappointed. Their other dishes aren’t too bad either.
But of course, if you’re really craving phở and don’t want to drive all the way to Sacramento, this won’t be too disappointing.

Only come here in case of a phở-​deprivation emergency. Otherwise, going to Sac might prove worth the drive over the amount of pain, regret and dismay you feel after eating at Hoa Viet.
I’ve visited Hoa Viet a few times and am sad to say I’ve never really left happy… or full for that matter. The ingredients aren’t fresh, the broth is anything but and the phở… wow. Not sure if it’s worthy of being called phở.
I left Hoa Viet wishing for more, and not in the good way…

My heart-​family and I were in Davis for kid’s soccer tourney. Since the weather was chilly and full of rain, I searched Unilocal for a Vietnamese restaurant that served phở nearby. There were several places suggested but I got really curious as to why this place had so much negative reviews in it. Being a phở-​fanatic, I took the challenge and visited Hoa Viet.
The place was located at the corner of 1^st and B streets. They did have a tiny parking lot, but street parking was available too. There were a lot of diners inside when we got in. Of course, there were a lot of Asian customers too which gave me the hint that the place was the opposite of the reviews I’ve read. If it was full of Caucasian and Mexican people, I would have probably backed out. Don’t think I’m being racist. My belief is that an Asian restaurant is good when Asians eat in it. That goes the same with Mexicans and Taquerias. I’m sure you get the picture.
Anyways, we were greeted and seated by a friendly server. The table reminded me of my mom’s restaurant, wide square with a non-​slip laminate on top which probably why it was considered to the touch as dirty. It was not dirty. It actually helped plates not to slip off or glide across the table. The place was actually organized and clean, especially the big restroom at the side-​back.
We ordered our food after perusing the menu: (1) I ordered an extra large number 5 with added beef balls, (2) my heart-​husband ordered their extra large number one with added beef balls, (3) my heart-​son ordered their number eighteen wonton soup and (4) my heart-​daughter ordered egg rolls and BBQ pork fried rice.
I had the patience to take photos of our food because a lot of reviews mentioned that the vegetables weren’t fresh. They were fresh. Not sure where the other reviewers get their sparkly fresh vegetables for them to consider it not fresh at Hoa Viet though. We got crunchy fresh veggies on our table and definitely the dishes we ordered were served hot and fast.
If I would compare the phở I ordered to the phở I had from The Bamboo Chopsticks (TBC) in El Sobrante, I would say that this phở at Hoa Viet was way better in size and price. The tiny bowl at TBC was $ 9.50 or $ 9.25 I think which looked like one-​fourth of the size of what I got at Hoa Viet for only $ 7.25 + $ 1.50 (added beef balls). That’s $ 8.75 extra large giant bowl of phở. Huge servings!
Out of five stars, I’d be taking out one because I didn’t like the consistency of the beef ball and noodle, but they were definitely edible. Also, with regards to the MSG reviews of others, I would definitely have a huge migraine if it even had a dash of it. However, I never had a headache at all. It was quite a wonder for me why would other reviewers say that the broth was tasteless and full of MSG when MSG’s purpose is to make food tasty. Ironic huh?
Well, I’ve been traveling around the Bay Area eating at a lot of different Vietnamese Phở places because of their phở. I wouldn’t brag about being a «pro» nor being an expert with phở, but I would probably say that I would know what an MSG-​filled soup is from one that’s without, especially when I’ve worked years at my mom’s restaurant and been eating phở for years here in California.
Before you judge this place as a not-​good-​phở place, please try it for yourself. It’s one of the phở places that accepts credit cards too. Very convenient. Sometimes, having a bad experience does not just rely on the place. You know what I mean.

Like many other Davisites, I’ve had to come here if I was craving phở.
Somehow every single time I’ve ordered phở, I feel light headed and the top of my body feels heavy and numb. EEEEK! What a scary sensation! They really need to lay off the MSG.
However, I really like their jellyfish salad and bun.

My coworker and I decided to eat at Phở Bac Hoa Viet on August 5, 2010 b/​c she carving for soup. She ordered chicken phở ($ 6) and I ordered grilled pork with noodles ($ 7.95). The restaurant was very busy, all the tables were full and they didn’t want to seat people in the back room. So we had to wait for 5 – 10 minutes. The waiter was nice and took our food as soon as he bought us our drinks. Once we place our order, the food came pretty quick. We were hungry, so we ate and left. The food was good, the portion was a little smaller than usual, but I had leftovers to take home. =)
The Viet food isn’t the best, but its the only Viet restaurant in Davis.

Immediately when we opened the menu, we noticed that the prices were a bit higher than usual. But, I was glad to see that they actually have an «XL» (extra large) size for the phở. I’ve never seen an XL before, or at least not in San Diego.
I think the XL was $ 7.50 and my bf and I decided to share. We weren’t completely hungry, but wanted to fill our tummies. The service was good as our food came out quickly and there was always someone walking around w/​a pitcher of ice cold water. The waiter even gave us an extra bowl since we were sharing.
The rare steak phở wasn’t bad, it was average. I added lemon juice and one jalapeño slice to my soup. I would recommend doing that if you want more flavor. Overall, my experience here was good for some cheap eats!