Bistro SouthEast

Fantastic shrimp and pork Dumplings. I would highly recommend them for you. The service was very good. I would even go there on a quotidian bases. Price was also very reasonable. The menu was also very lucid. Nothing like this in the area.

Bistro SouthEast has really become a go to restaurant for me. I’ve been waiting for an authentic Vietnamese place where you can get classic Vietnamese hoagies and this place has it on top of some other great dishes. The Southeast Wings with Thai sweet chili sauce is a must have. The décor is new, nice and clean. I looking forward to trying out their seafood and in particular their crawfish boils!

Bistro Southeast is one of my favorite spots in all of Philadelpia. The wings are unreal. Definitely the best I have had in the city. Also the staff could not be any more kind. They make me feel like a part of their restaurant community.

I was very surprised with their wings. As I am a big fan of fried chicken wings and always looking for a place that is close to us and this was a great discovery. My husband and I debated if these wings were better than Café Soho. Yes, the wings are that good. I still love the Café Soho wings, but my husband prefer them more because they are not as sweet as Café Soho. I think if you do not like sweet wings, these might be your best bet in Philly.
Just a word of caution, this place is not big so you will have to wait a long time to get served. It was not a problem for us because we were looking for a place to chill and teach our 18 months old about eating out. If you are in hurry, get take-​out. I think this will be added to the top of our take-​out list.
I loved the salt and pepper shrimp, the wings and the crab fried rice. They all were very good. Can’t wait to try more from their menu.

We happened upon this place on a temperate Friday night at the start of the fall season. The place was not very crowded but was clean well-​kept and modern.
We started with the sweet potato fries and the summer rolls along with the Thai sweet chili wings. A fantastic start to the meal. The sweet potato fries had an interesting Cajun spice that gave it a bit of a kick. The summer rolls were good along with the two condiments which were a peanut sauce and sweet Thai dressing.
The rice plate with the barbecue pork was particularly tasty. It was served with a side of vegetables in a fresh seasoning.
As an aside I had a lovely limeade freshly squeezed and my girlfriends Thai tea was very good as well.
Overall the meal was very good in the atmosphere was quite pleasant as well. Will definitely be back here again to try some other dishes.

So so so happy I found this place. Ordered the lemongrass grilled chicken and it was delicious!!! Super easy, quick, and delicious. Can’t wait to try the fresh seafood soon.

I have twice lunched here recently with a friend on the suggestion of my wife who had been favorably impressed. I ordered the pork sandwich which is a kind of «Banmi» served over greens with a delicious sauce (of which I asked for another portion on the side). This was washed down with a a Thai sweet ice tea. Th next time I had the shrimp sandwich special with a spicy sauce and a mint lemonade.
Our hostess, Muy, was gracious and helpful and the setting simple but very pleasant. I recommend this restaurant as an outstanding value.

It is always a good omen when there is an open parking spot directly in front of the restaurant of choice and so was this on our first trip to Bistro Southeast. Located on South Street between 19^th and 18^th streets, Bistro Southeast has been open about 3 months at the time of this review.
The space itself is clean and simple with an open kitchen. There is probably seating for about 20 – 25 diners. The kitchen is open to the dining room and patrons can watch the food being prepared. We were immediately greeted by one of the owners and she was very friendly and informative in exactly the right way.
We ordered Crispy Shrimp Rolls, Spicy Tamarind Mussels, and the Seafood combination Number 2. The Shrimp Rolls were very good, not oily and had a nice lemon grass flavor. The mussels were also excellent in a slightly spicy and super flavorful tamarind sauce. The seafood combo is a boil style served in plastic bag similar to Hot N’ Juicy, etc. We had the shrimp and the clams wit the Cajun sauce. Wow, this was good and boil makes the potatoes and corn super moist and full of flavor, the shrimp and clams were great also and the sauce was really good. We were going to ask for bread or order rice to just use with the extra sauce. This is a little messy because it is peal and eat shrimp but it was worth the mess.
For dessert we had the fried cheesecake and the fried bananas with ice cream. Both desserts were good and nice compliments to the meal.
We really liked Bistro Southeast and they have a compact menu but it is certainly varied enough. We will definitely be back to try some of the other dishes. For lunch they serve Bahn Mi sandwiches and they have a different menu, which I would also like to try. Bistro Southeast as also BYOB and we received a 10% discount with my Unilocal!Check in. This is a really good spot for casual dining and quality, flavors, and service is hard to beat! Bistro Southeast lived up to it’s high rating on Unilocal for us.

Stopped in randomly looking for a place to neutralize a Friday night hangover; couldn’t believe our luck (myself and the lady).
Perfect sized menu with options spanning the divine cuisine of Southeast Asia. Opted for the social of the day, the Asian Chicken Sandwich, which evokes memories of my café experiences throughout Hanoi, Vietnam. GF went with a noodle/​salad combo that wasn’t necessarily what she expected (was gunning for more of a hot soup instead of cold noodles), but it hardly disappointed.
We then left to take on the festivities and hoppy beverages of Blocktoberfest on South Street. After congregating at a local Amiga’s abode we followed our stomachs back to the Bistro so we could vanquish some dinner menu options.
We ended up splitting the 1lb mussels, caked in a Cajun sauce that was recommended by the hostess, and paired it with the Thai Sweet Chili wings. We didn’t talk for 20 minutes as we made sweet love to the dishes (neither one of us caring about the infidelity), only stopping to look up every once and a while, admire the lobster bibs they had given us, and nod approval at taste of heaven we found ourselves engaged in.
They’ve only been open for three months, but the food, courtesy and warmth of the staff, and ambience reflects a more seasoned (pun certainly intended) business.
Simply put, you won’t be disappointed by any aspect or element of your experience (be it dine in or take out). The cognitive dissonance I implore by wanting to keep this place a secret, all the while concurrently wanting it to thrive, was difficult to manage. But I went with my gut (hehe another pun) and chose to share my feelings with the rest of you. Bön APPETIT mes amis

The hubby and I stumbled upon this place when we were walking down South St.
The good:
I like the fact that this place has fresh seafood. crawfish, clams, mussels, shrimp. they have it all and it is low fat and tasty. I also like the fact that they have directions written on the walls (in a cute way if that makes sense) on how to bust a cap in your lobsta/​crab so you don’t have to ask your waitress and feel like white trash.
The bad:
I think their lunch menu differs from their dinner menu. I wanted to order the ribeye buns are only on the lunch menu FYI
The ugly:
No ugly!

Everything I ordered last night was delicious. I wanted to get football watching food for the first game of the season, so decided this would be a good fit. I think i missed the whole first quarter because my face was in the seafood bag.
I ordered through EAT24 (I’m really liking the whole online ordering thing) but had a hard time deciding what to get. I wanted everything but thought it wasn’t responsible to spend $ 100+ on a Thursday night take out meal. So after perusing the Unilocal reviews, I decided on the thai chili wings, dumplings, noodles, and Combo 2. Then my boyfriend ordered… no I’m kidding, that’s for both of us. I’ll repeat my first comment, everything was delicious. Tip: Try to get some of that Casian sauce onto your noodles and mix it in a bit. You’re welcome.
Picking up was quick and seamless. The hostess was friendly and even gave me a $ 2 off card. She knew damned well I’d be back. Just to mention, because this stood out to me, the take out packaging was very thoughtful. They included bibs, wipes, and even an extra empty container for shells. Most places would assume you could use a receptacle at home, but these guys thought «Just in case she starts eating it in the car.»
I hope to eat in at some point, since they are byob. And since I saw a lobster on some guys table that I did not see on the EAT24 menu.

Must I say I stopped in on the wrong night. I came here to try the sandwiches and bao buns but didn’t realized it was only for lunch. Came in and got seated right away. The waitress gave us time to look over the menu as it was our first time here. So I ended up getting combo #1 which is 1lb of crawfish with clams in Cajun seasoning and my boyfriend got the dungeoness crab in curry sauce. The crawfish wasn’t the best. It taste like the one that you’ll get at the buffet. As for the dungeoness crab, it wasn’t good either. Very pricey at 28 $ a pound not worth it at all .
My food took a very long long time to come out. My waitress didn’t seem to remembered everything we ordered. The food was already taking long so I didn’t want to reordered the items that was forgotten. My combo comes with corns and sausages and that didn’t come out til after I’ve finished my crawfish and clams. From what I know, that usually comes in a bag with the seafood. Waitress didn’t really check up on us to see if we needed anything or to even refill our cups of water. Horrible, horrible service .
Overall my potstickers and crispy shrimp rolls appetizers were the only thing I like. Maybe I’ll give it another try but considering lunch menu next time .
I gave it a two stars because my apps was good and she didn’t charged Bae for one of his coconut water for waiting too long.

The entire lunch menu tempted me, that’s a good sign. I started with one of the few non– Viet snacks, the Korean rib eye buns, 2 for $ 8.95. The mantou buns were packed with nicely marinated slices of meat. This would make a good appetizer to share or a smaller lunch for one.
Sticking with the flavorful meat theme, the blackened slices of lemongrass pork belly in the banh mi ($ 7.95) should not be missed. For this sizable sandwich, they use the bacon like cut of pork belly rather than the thicker pieces that require a long braise. My one critique was of the bread, I like my banh mi bread softer and crispier.

After viewing Midtown Lunch’s vision of a pork belly sandwich, I knew I had to stop by Bistro Southeast’s newly opened shop in the Graduate Hospital area, south of Rittenhouse. Their mission is to showcase the mélange of Southeast Asian and Cajun «Casian» flavors, while highlighting quality seafood as well.
Full transparency for their seafood MP is appreciated, with offerings ranging from Alaskan snow crab and king crab to crawfish. There’s plenty of seating for the lunchtime crowd, with a clean and casual design.
Korean BBQ Ribeye Buns [$ 8.95]
Steamed mantou bun
A hefty portion of tender ribeye was marinated with the prototypical Korean flavors of fruit and soy. Balanced by pickled carrots, the freshness of the lettuce and the the texture of sesame seeds against the sweet pillowy Chinese buns made for a nice bite.
Soft Shell Crab Bun [$ 9.95]
Steamed mantou bun
The soft shell crab buns were stellar, with a whole crab halved between the two buns. The fry rendered the crab perfectly crispy and not at all greasy, with the meatiness of the sweet crustacean coming through. Great textural bite with this one, with the crisp and lightly pickled cucumbers really providing a countervailing element to the crab!
Po’ Boy Fish Sandwich [$ 8.95]
Toasted french baguette, pickled carrots, cucumber, cilantro
The fried fish po’ boy featured crisply fried and moist fish. This was housed within a wonderfully toasted and fresh french baguette. The crunch of the pickled carrots and cucumbers added a nice bahn mi element to each bite, along with the herbaceouness of the cilantro.
Lemongrass Pork Belly Sandwich [$ 7.95] [$ 6.95]
Toasted french baguette, pickled carrots, cucumber, cilantro
But I was here for the lemongrass pork belly sandwich. While not as pretty as Midtown Lunch Philly’s iteration in terms of grill marks, the flavors of the lemongrass and the unctuousness of the pork belly were definitely there. Better yet — it was on special so who can complain about saving a buck? Again, the balance between the cucumbers, carrots, and cilantro made each bite, along with the wonderful bread.
So if you’re in the Graduate Hospital area, I would definitely pop on in for a proper workday lunch. With most of the lunchtime offerings below $ 10, you’d be robbing yourself of a delicious and affordable Southeast «Casian» experience if you didn’t. A separate dinner menu is available as well so I’ll definitely have to stop by again to check that out. Pro-​tip: It’s BYO!

Get the sweet chili wings. You will want to lick the sauce off your fingers. The crab fried rice is also good and has huge chunks of crab. We also got the salt and pepper shrimp. The seasoning is good but it comes off when you peel of the shell and tail. That being said the shrimp were big and tasted good. We ordered take out and the food was still hot by the time we got home across the city.

Wow this place was just my style. Somewhat casual setting, great service, reasonable prices, and amazing seafood and Asian creations! We had lobster summer rolls, sweet chili wings, and steamed peel shrimp with Cajun sauce. All were fantastic. I’ll be coming back here.

Not many places like this downtown. Bistro Southeast is a small unassuming BYOB on South St in Grad Hospital. It bills itself as Asian Fusion, but I got the Seafood Combo which includes Shrimp, Mussels, Sausage, Corn and Potatoes with Casian Seasoning. This was a lot of food! And all of the seafood was perfectly cooked.
The Casian seasoning/​marinade was absolutely delicious. I am pretty sure you could put this seasoning on anything and it would taste yummy! I usually like cocktail sauce with my shrimp, but with this meal it was totally unnecessary.
Grab some friends and a bunch of beers and feast on their delicious seafood boil (combo)!

Came here to try this place out for the first time. Came on a Wednesday night and it’s pretty packed which is a good sign that the found is decent.
Service — Our waitress was very friendly and came to check on us often to make sure everything was ok.
Food — for appetizers we got the shrimp potstickers and bistro southeast wings. Both of these appetizers were Delish and definitely met my expectations. The shrimp potstickers had nice size pieces of shrimp and full of flavors. The wings were well seasoned and had a nice crunch and not over cooked. It was crunchy on the outside but not dry on the inside. Then we also got combo #1 1 lb of crawfish with 1 lb of clams in Cajun seasoning. We also ordered an additional 2 lbs of crawfish in Cajun seasoning as well. For dessert we had a fried cheesecake. It was amazingly yummy. Everything was well executed.
Price — I think the wings were a bit pricey but it was well worth it. You definitely get what you pay for. The seafood was reasonable priced.
Overall experience — I left this restaurant feeling very satisfied with the meal and definitely will be back to try out other food from the menu. So if you haven’t try this place out yet and around the area you should stop by to check it out.

I come from a city with a large Vietnamese community and am always craving the cuisine. Since moving to Philly, my only options have been to venture out to Chinatown or Washington Ave. from the Rittenhouse area. I recently found out Kidari Sushi on South St. was replaced with Bistro Southeast and decided to check it out. It’s now one of my favorite spots in the city.
My girlfriend and I stepped in on a Sunday afternoon and it was quite slow, allowing us to take a seat right at front window. Amanda, the owner, was incredibly welcoming and friendly. Thanks to her recommendations, we ended up ordering some of the restaurant’s favorites: The Bistro Southeast Salad, The BBQ Pork Sandwich, and the Lemongrass Pork Belly Sandwich.
For a huge eater like me, the portions were fantastic for the price. Though I didn’t have too much of the salad and vaguely remember the kinds of greens that went into it, the dressing was absolutely delicious. The menu does it a disservice by simply calling it a Thai peanut dressing. Unlike peanut dressings typically used in other restaurants, this dressing looked more like a vinaigrette. It tasted very refreshing with the hints of peanut to ground the flavor.
As far as the two sandwiches went, Bistro Southeast does well in maintaining traditional Banh Mi sandwich sensibilities. While I’ve never had a Lemongrass Pork Belly in a banh mi sandwich before, it’s quickly become my new favorite. The meat in both the sandwiches were juicy, seasoned well, and topped with an orange sauce. Needless to say, we both left Bistro Southeast quite full, satisfied with the price, and happy with the customer service.
While they may not offer $ 4 or $ 6 banh mi like you’d find in other Vietnamese communities, their prices are still fairly cheap for the Graduate Hospital area. With that said, I highly recommend this place for people who crave Vietnamese food and for newcomers who would like an introduction to the cuisine.

Overall a good experience! My parents and I enjoyed the food and it came out very quickly. We got the shrimp potstickers, tofu spring rolls, thai salad, and a bucket of seafood. My only issue was that there were two different pop songs playing at the same time in different parts of the restaurant which made it hard to have a conversation at times. I was also a little disappointed that their menu is different for dinner and lunch, I really wanted to try some of their bun dishes!