Hien Deli

I’m really surprised that no one has left a review on this restaurant yet. Probably one of the more underrated, hidden jems of Vietnamese food in Minneapolis.
If you’re looking to get a bowl of phở, or bun bo hue don’t get it here. But if you’re craving for any of the rice platters come here!!!
The hours are a little weird since I have came during the hours of operation listed on their door, but they were closed. It’s a lot smaller than Quang’s or Phở Tau Bay down the street, but the service and food isn’t bad. Another great cheap Vietnamese eat.
Things I suggest:
–Com Ga Nuong (grilled chicken w/​rice platter… one of my favs from here!)
–Com tam, bi, suon, truong (grilled porkchops, fried egg, w/​broken rice and fish sauce)
–Any of their Vermicelli noodle salads
–banh uot cha lua (thin rice sheets w/​pork and fish sauce)
–banh bot chien (fried taro and rice cakes w/​eggs and soy sauce) — this dish is hard to find anywhere in MN, but one of my favorite Vietnamese dishes
–banh cam (deep fried sesame seed balls w/​mung bean filling in the middle)
They also specialize in catering. They make party tray sizes for a lot of their dishes.

Ok, I sould start with full disclosure. I’m like family with these people. At least they make me feel that way. I’ve been going there for 5 years. I’ve brought all my friends and family there. On a first name basis with them. However, I’ve been to countless Vietnamese places and this is my favorite. The food is spot on authentic. There’s always Vietnamese in there. You will not find a better price. Their Phở is great. Their broken rice dishes are amaizing in the amount of meat they put on the plate. Their spring rolls are the best (3 to the plate!) Their banh mi is better than the competators on Eat Street (Nicollet Ave). If you’ve been to VN, you know that these ladies are serving authentic cusine. One last item. The Vietnamese iced coffee is sooo good. um… just don’t order it after say 4PM. It’s quite strong, but tastes like a coffee smoothie. I’m surprised it’s not illegal.

I’ve eaten at all the Vietnamese delis in this area many times and I’m probably just ignorant but they all seem to taste about the same to me. But this one stands out as being the cheapest, emptiest, and freshest. Maybe it’s because they get so few orders that they can’t cook anything ahead of time, vs. the deli a block up Nicollet. But I love getting the grilled chicken sandwich here because they grill up the chicken and put it hot in your sandwich.
Little English is spoken, but lots of little old ladies sitting around smiling at you, who call out to someone in the back when you come in.
Once I ordered the broken rice grilled chicken, and was surprised to find a whole piece of chicken instead of the diced pieces you get elsewhere, but I liked it.
This place is CHEAP!

Kind of like Jasmine Deli up the street, but took their position as the place to get super-​cheap banh mi after Jasmine raised prices. $ 2.50 mock duck banh mi!
Get there earlier in the day, they tend to run out of banh mi fixins’ in the evening.

a quaint little place that looks closed but actually is open. the ladies are so sweet and funny. i just had their banh cuon (steam rice cakes rolled with ground pork) and spring rolls. their banh cuon was so big and full! a lot of places i’ve been to make their banh cuon flat and doesn’t have the big bite factor. theirs was rounded, almost like spring roll size, with a lot of meat filling. why i like it so much is because banh cuon is usually a weekend special at a lot of restaurants but you can get this any time of the week (except they close on tuesdays like most asian businesses). i’m definitely coming back for more!
they also do large orders so call in advance for your next party :)

Sure, the restaurant doesn’t look like much, the the sandwiches here are top notch. Maybe I disagree with previous reviewers since I’m an unashamed omnivore, but the grilled chicken sandwich here is incredible.
But here’s the real joy of the place. There’s a hot tofu dessert that you wouldn’t believe. It’s the silkiest tofu you’ve ever had. You’d swear it was custard or something. But it gets better because this tofu is swimming in this ginger syrup. This dessert alone makes me sad that I no longer work in the neighborhood.

While the atmosphere is not great, the food is AWESOME! My dad, boyfriend, and I all frequent this restaurant almost weekly because it seems to have the most authentic/​great-​tasting Vietnamese food on Eat Street and is super affordable. I think it’s much better than Jasmine Deli (which pre-​makes all their stuff) and is comparable if not better than Phở Tau Bay.
All of the soup is good and our favorite entrees are the beef with onion and the beef ribs meals. Spring Rolls are always freshly made and the vietnamese coffee is pleasantly strong.

Hien Deli is smart enough to copy the business model/​atmosphere of Jasmine Deli, as it tries to cater to non-​Vietnamese and vegetarians. It has clearly labeled vegetarian options and veg. banh mi. Many of the other small Vietnamese cafes on Nicollet don’t make any effort to be veg-​friendly or to attract frightened, uninitiated Minnesotans.
However, the food at Hien Deli falls short. Their banh mi was more coarse and bland than Jasmine’s; Hien’s bread was dry and not crispy and warm, they don’t have a more flavorful «curry mock duck» option like Jasmine, and the rice dish I had was passable, at best. It lacked the delicacy and freshness you find at Jasmine.
While I appreciate that Hien makes an effort to attract vegetarians, its food quality is not up to par with its inspiration, and the still reigning-​king of Nicollet, Jasmine Deli.

Zara beat me to this post… but here’s an additional review…
For 3 years of going to Quang’s for my fix of Vietnamese food, I have always glanced over at Hien’s and felt sorry for it… much like looking at a pathetic kid picked last to be on a kick ball team. sigh … so, I decided «enough was enough», that it was time to at least walk in and glance at the menu. There were a few items on the menu that made me go, «OooOo!!»…because there were some pretty traditional dishes that are served here and not anywhere else (that I am aware of) on Eat Street. They had my *favorite* Banh Beo. It’s like a Vietnamese version of a blini — dainty, steamed rice-​flour pancakes with scallions, dried shrimp, scallion oil and fluffy mung beans. Each order came with 10, so I got two for 5 bucks. It was really freaking delicious and made me miss cooking with my mom. The old ladies who work there are adorable, too. I really hope they are doing well… seems like much of their business come from catering as they offer specials for large orders.

I randomly went into this place one day looking to try something different. (I usually go to Jasmine Deli when I want some banh mi). The restaurant is pretty bare and usually relatively empty. Still, this is the only place in the twin cities (that I’ve found so far) that you can get banh cuon. A sort of steamed rice flour crêpe usualy filled with ground pork and shrimp, topped with cold cuts and fried shallots and served with nuoc mam. It sounds odd but it is delicious. The banh cuon at Hein Deli is pretty good, definitely worth having if they have it (it’s one of their specials). Their banh mi are just ok and I haven’t tried their phở yet, but the banh cuon is what keeps me coming back.
Like Quang, they’re closed on tuesdays.