Kemah Cafe

I’ve come in here a lot and I love that they know me! The restaurant has a parking lot that is hard to get into if you are coming from Seabrook area, but it is worth the struggle. Their phở is the best I have ever had. I am a vegetarian, but I try to eat as vegan as possible. They offer a vegetable phở that is not made with fish broth or any other animal products. It is very full of flavor and leaves me completely satisfied. Also their prices are extremely reasonable. I take my non vegetarian friends here too because I imagine their regular phở is perfect as well. Definitely my favorite place to go on a rainy day or when you need soup!

This is our FAVE place to go! The spring rolls and won ton soup are delicious every time. I would recommend this place to anyone.

You’d think that after a hot day spent on the boardwalk, I’d be foolish to crave a hot bowl of phở… right? Wrong. After stumbling across Kemah Café, I was pleasantly surprised by the tasty and authentic phở this place had to offer. I’m a huge supporter of local, family-​run businesses, so this place hits the spot. The broth was very flavorful without too much saltiness or MSG, and the meat was cooked just right.
I came in a very large group, but the service was incredibly accommodating and friendly. I immediately got the sense that the staff wanted to do everything they could to ensure that we had a good meal and pleasant experience, so huge props for that.
I must say, I was initially pretty skeptical of this place. However, I left very surprised and incredibly content with my meal. Kemah Café undoubtedly serves the best phở in the area. The phở and its broth is very authentic, and the service here is spectacular. Definitely give this place a try if you’re ever in southeast Houston!

The price was as expected and service was good, but overall it wasn’t very tasty or fresh and we wouldn’t choose to come back.

If you want Phở in the Bayshore area this is the place to go. Not amazing but consistent. I keep going back because I know what to expect. You will not be overwhelmed or underwhelmed.

This place is pretty close to my house, and phở is one of my absolute favorite things, so I find myself picking up carry out from here once a month or so. I’ve eaten in twice, but it’s been easily 4yrs+ since I have, so I couldn’t really give you an up-​to-​date review on service. When we were there years ago, though, everyone was plenty pleasant and attentive. I’ve had the bun before, and found it flavorful but still ultimately average, so I stick to phở. My usual order is their chicken phở & spring rolls, which comes to about $ 13, I believe. Today was just phở, and it was $ 8.88, a decent price for an enormous lunch I couldn’t even finish. There’s nothing overtly wrong with their food that’s kept me from giving them a full 5 stars, and the staff when I pick up has always been very friendly, I’ve just never found a place that has phở on par with my favorite place, Van Loc, which is now closed (probably because, despite their amazing food, they were some of the meanest people in the service industry ever and once chased my now exhusband down for a tip he didn’t leave after they publicly berated me, lol). It’s all in the broth, and Kemah Café’s is tasty, but I donno if anything will ever wow me like Van Loc did. Ultimately, Kemah Café wins coz they’ve cornered the market in our little area for Vietnamese while also making sure the staff is friendly and pleasant. Even when we move a few miles away and I have to come back over the bridge to get there, I’ll still choose them over venturing to other options near the Space Center, as their food’s worth it, they’re super quick, and the price is right.

Very friendly service and very close to me in bacliff. Usually stop by here once a week before I go to Walmart and they haven’t let me down yet. If you’re next to the Kemah boardwalk and feeling like Vietnamese this place is a good pla

Been here a few times and returned once when they were closed on vacation. Once again, I returned today ordered spring rolls with peanut sauce and imperial rolls with lettuce to wrap them. That was a great start. I went on to order the main dishes and was very disappointed! I ordered the BBQ pork fried rice. There wasn’t that much meat in the rice, but the scarce pieces that were there were disgusting looking. I’m not sure that it was actually pork. It almost looked like squid or some type of intestinal pieces. Each piece of meat looked different colors. Pork is usually close to white and some of these pieces looked near purple. The green peas were so old that they were faded white and hard. I could tell they were old. I go go into further details about the other dishes, but I’m stopping there about the food. The service was not great today either. The owner and staff are nice, just had to wait on water refills a lot. I love Asian food and there’s not a huge selection in the Kemah area. Unfortunately, this will be my last visit to this café bc not only was it not good, but seemed unhealthy. I’m very particular about meat. They totally skimp on the meat and each piece is odd looking. The ticket was adjusted, but it’s not exactly cheap there and overall not a decent experience. Be careful eating there.

Their food is below average. There phở is decent but overpriced and not enough meat. Been to many phở places, this has to be the most overpriced and smallest phở I ever had. I actually went there 3xs (I was desperate for phở and this was the only place nearby) thinking maybe it was just a bad experience… but nope… they were being cheap every time.

This was my first time here. I’d read about the great rating and, boy, did the food stand up to them! I had the combination rice noodle soup and it was seasoned to perfection. The service was prompt and everyone was extremely friendly. I’ll be eating here again!

As far as Vietnamese food goes, it’s alright. If you really have a craving that needs to be satisfied, this place isn’t terrible and probably one of the few places in the area to get some decent Viet food.
If you’ve had GOOD viet food, this place might be pretty disappointing.
It’s also above average in price for this kind of food (about $ 10 bucks for a bowl of phở /​w no extras).

I had the Phở for lunch, a little light on meat but otherwise very good. The egg roll was very good, fresh but small so just be aware that there isn’t much to it. Good service and the quality of the food was very good.

I come here at least one a week and if I can’t make it in I have the phở and spring rolls delivered, I LOVE it. The restaurant itself is quiet and pleasant, and it’s family owned and operated and they’re always very friendly. I always enjoy my meal and I have zero complaints about Kemah Café, its staff or its food!

Out of all the Vietnamese restaurants in the area southeast of Houston, this is by far the best in quality hands down. The broth in the phở is delicious, but the portions are all off. I concur with other reviewers that they skimp on the meat.
I tried the com thit nuong, and it was by far one of the best ones I’ve ever had. Most places will have their meats either overcooked and FULL OF OIL. However, not at Kemah Café. The meat is tender and literally cooked to perfection. Even the rice is being praised because the taste of the aromatic jasmine rice can not be tasted in most cases (unfortunately), here you can get that hint of how delicate it is to your taste buds.
Lastly, we always order a side of egg rolls. Yes, the egg rolls are TINY. But, entirely delicious and fresh. (Unlike most Vietnamese restaurants)
Gave a 4-​star review simply because the quality is exceptional, but the lack of quantity rings true.

It was clean, good food with very good service I had the eggrolls but the eggrolls where like half the size of other places but the same price and i had the phở soup it was OK with a lot of noodles

Phở is ok here. Hit or miss but mostly miss. Sometimes it’s very oil. Smallest amount of meat in their phở. The rest of good menu is just ok. I would give 2.5 stars but closer to 2 stars.

I had Curry Chicken for the first time and it was delicious! The servers are kind and very attentive. The next time you go out to Kemah stop by and try something. Finally, what was very surprising is how good and refreshing the water tastes.

I had the pork banh mi, was good but they left off the jalepeno.
Could have been a little more to it, I like the addition of cilantro and mint as well.
The fried viet eggrolls were very fresh and good but only served with a little bit of lettuce to wrap them in. Quality great but could be more generous with the extras. The Iced viet coffee was delicious

Here’s the break down. We ordered Com thit cha bi ($ 8.95), Phở tai chin nam ($ 7.95), and bun cha gio ($ 7.45), and 2 banh mi thit nuong ($ 4.25 each).
Com thit cha bi was ok, but they were cheap on the grill pork. Phở was good im not going to lie, but again cheap on meats. So I ordered the bun cha gio to go and wtf… they only gave us 3 small egg rolls?!
So skimping on meat and portion –1 star, not only are they cheap on meats, but they are pricey for the quantity they give us so –1 more star. The food was pretty good but if you make people pay for something they can get cheaper and taste better for the same price then you will lose customers that’s just the truth. I live in Houston and I came to seabrook to try this place out cause my mom lives close by, but I guess next time I’ll take her to Houston to eat. First impression is everything and I already gave the waiter a hint when he ask if i was ready to order that I needed more time because its my first time here. But for those who haven’t tried this place its good, but not good enough for what you pay.

As far as Vietnamese food goes, this place is one of the best Vietnamese restaurants in the Houston area. And that comes from a Vietnamese American.
The food is quite authentic. I detect a tweak here and there to cater to the customer godly demands. However, when I asked them to cook me the food as if they would in Vietnam, I got a delicious, mom-​standard, home-​cooked meal. There is inevitable miss-​communications when you embrace yourself to visit a Vietnamese restaurant without your Vietnamese friends/​acquaintances/​co-​workers. The language barrier and the cultural barrier are to blame. With that being said, all the servers I have met here are super nice people.
Now, if you must make changes to a dish in order to enjoy it (as you think), please remember you may contribute to the way it doesn’t taste right. Unless you are knowledgeable about culinary art, if you request to remove even just one ingredient or spice, be ready to take responsibility for how it tastes.

A little more understanding, a little more patient and a little more kind will surprise you with the quality of the food and service you will receive.