Dong-A

This was my go-​to place near work. Drove by a couple weeks ago and saw a sign up that they were closed. Sad to find that. The menu said «Lemon Sauce» everywhere it was supposed to say «Fish Sauce» but when you said that you wanted extra «Lemon Sauce» they didn’t know what you were talking about. Maybe that term scares away the uninitiated. Uh, just give me fish sauce with my spring rolls please. The BBQ pork was good, but they were often out of at lunch time. Maybe they were going broke and didn’t have the funds to properly stock the kitchen. It was good and I’m sorry if they’re gone for good.

Poor service and the food is full of MSG, my tongue cannot feel anything after eating there!!!

Good place for lunch. The lunch combos are pretty decently prices… With tax and tip $ 9. You get your choice of entrée (I chose beef and broccoli) a bowl of wonton soup, a spring roll, and a cream cheese wonton. Plus rice. It is a lot of food for the price and everything was delicious. The only awkward thing is the guy stood over our shoulder as we were signing our bill and leaving a tip.

I was recommended this place, and I hate to say it but I had higher expectations. I had the Phở, with rare beef and tendon, and it was not all that great. My girlfriend had the pan fried noodles with vegetables, which was not too bad.

So I have really mixed feelings about this place. I went in on a sunday evening for dinner, the place was dead. When we walked in there were two owners/​workers (an older man and a woman) sitting at a table. The woman greeted us and asked us where we wanted to sit. We sat and she provided menus and took our drink orders. I ordered I believe the number 4, it was phở with rare beef and tendon (they didn’t have a phở dac bit like most places). My BF order the bun thit. While waiting for our food we couldn’t help but notice the dirty condiment containers on our table, but not THAT big of a deal. My BF got his food first, it took them a good 2 – 3 mins before mine came out. The phở broth was VERY tasty it had a more beefy flavor than most I have tried. The rare beef wasn’t rare and was more like chunks of beef vs. thin slices but it was still good. The tendon on the other hand was VERY chewy, tendon should just melt in your mouth if cooked properly. I think my BIGGEST issue with this place is that we both felt like we were being watched the whole time by the older man sitting in the room (not a customer). He SEEMED to be looking out the window but I felt it was a little rude… I was not comfortable in there and eating phở isn’t exactly the most sophisticated task and to be watched while slurping up noodles isn’t comforting. Anyways, I will probably be back but only for take out and I will avoid the tendon…

One thing I must emphasize is this restaurant’s goi cuon (shrimp, pork and lettuce with rice noodles wrapped in rice paper). They make the best ones I’ve had to date: they’re larger than most places and, most importantly, they use the more expensive, thinner rice paper. Why is that important? The thicker rice paper used in most of the other restaurants are not only cheaper, but much easier to roll. The thinner cut is much harder to roll, because if you’re not fast, the paper sticks to itself. From a visual outlook, the thinner ones are much clearer and you cannot only see the contents more clearly, it gives a «fresher» appearance to the rolls. But most important is the taste: much less «crunchy» than with thicker skins and you taste much more of the contents than in other rolls, where the thick skin steals some of the taste by «overpowering» the shrimp, pork, etc. The real test comes with what I call the «refrigerator test». As I live quite a ways from this restaurant, I usually order an extra 5 of these rolls to take home and have for breakfast during the week. Now, refrigerators are not a friend of these rolls, no matter who makes it. However, other restaurants’ rolls get crunchy and stale by the very next morning. In contrast, the rolls from Dong A tend to take a much longer time to «deteriorate» (the skin doesn’t get tough, but the shrimp starts to «go» and there’s a slimy feeling to the roll). Since we’re talking about a sitting time of five days or so, it is naturally very desirable to have something that won’t taste like you’re eating shrimp in an old newspaper.

I’ve been eating here for 15 – 16 years, on a weekly basis for most of that time.
It’s the longest relationship I’ve ever had, and there’s a reason for that.
The food is phenomenal!
This is the quintessential hidden gem hole in the wall. Dong A is a family owned and operated restaurant. Everything is made fresh each day, from fresh ingredients.
Really, I’ve tried almost everything on the menu except for the catfish and the duck (not a fan of either). NOTHING disappoints!
Some of my biggest favorites:
#45 Beef cubes sautéed with garlic.
#59 Phat Tai. Noodles, egg, chicken, shrimp and vegetables in dark soy gravy.
#30 Marinated Pork and Shrimp in special sauce, over rice. WOW, Just WOW!
and, the Beef Phở. Just wholesome goodness!
Remember, this is a «mom and pop», so sometimes service can be a tad slow if they’re busy, but you’ll get taken care of, and the food is so very worth it!

Great place, I used to work down the street and never came in, boy have I missed out. I love their #42, just greasy vegetable noodles, but they are AMAZING! It’s a small hole in the wall place, but service and food are great. Try it out!

Great place for affordable dining. Now, just to clarify, the food is super good, but the ambiance is so so… and you are in Little Asiatown, too.
The wait staff is super nice. So, if you are looking for super good food and affordable prices than Dong-​A. Still have to giggle at the name.
If you are looking to impress a date or friends from out of town, than Dong-​A!!! No need to be shallow with your relationships right? IF you have to be pretentious for others than who are you really?

This is the valleys best kept secret for authentic phở. The surrounding area is not that great and it’s kind of a hole in the wall but the food is excellent and the service is great. My favorite dish there is the chicken fried rice but everything I’ve had there is delicious as well.

Service is great food is great, what can you ask for more? Other phở place near by is packed so if you need quick lunch before work, you can probably get in and out .
They do Cambodian style food, everything just has clean flavor so good.

Got the Phở here only went b/​c another place was full and another packed so I said hey let’s try a new one. I didn’t think it tasted looked or smelled like the traditional phở that I’m used to my g/​f had chicken teriyaki and it was too dry, I will just make the drive to a farther next time. On the bright side the soup was ok just not what I wanted. Oh and no sriracha, the straw that broke the camels back.

Decent food at a very good price. Nice old guy served us. Strip mall space but a chill spot none the less. $ 7 including too for lunch. I would recommend.

Still on my Vietnamese food kick this week and my search has brought me to Dong A, a very modest restaurant that looks like it has been there forever. It turns out to be yet another «gem in a rundown strip mall.» You definitely won’t come here for the ambiance, but your taste buds will thank you! I find the flavors here to be a bit bolder than in the other Vietnamese restaurants I’ve tried; this doesn’t make them necessarily better than the others, just different — and in a good way. Good food, low prices, friendly service, and close to where I live … glad I found this place!

Ok so this place has pretty amazing spring rolls but the cook Boyd decides to not make them for me, she told me they ran out. A few minutes later a family comes in to dine in and she makes them spring rolls, like WTF? The PHO broth is awesome but due to the economy they have been using chewy low quality chickens of beef in their PHO yuck! The egg rolls, beef and broccoli, wonton soup, and the chicken fried rice are to die for! And amazing! However, I am giving them only three stars because they have been using low quality meat as of lately and they only make you spring rolls if they like you or feel like it. This is too bad because me and many of my family members and friends would come here at least once a week. I wish they were like they use to be 3yrs ago. Oh well I found Da Vang restaurant to replace their PHO and spring rolls craving.

I had a bad experience here coming in for the first time. The food selection is below average compared to other vietnamese restaurants. I usually drive by and the parking lot is always empty and so was the place when I walked in. Never again! The worse part was the waiter seemed desperate by trying to upsell me the most expensive dish there and saying they ran out of the food for the first two items I randomly chosed. Don’t know if he was lying or not but the way he said it seemed shady. Also, at the end I paid for my meal in cash. As soon as he received the cash by hand, the waiter responded with a «Thank You Very Much» as if he assumed I was letting him keep the change (which was a lot) as tip when in fact I wanted it back. The poor service there definitely did not deserve a large tip!

This place is a great little hole-​in-​the-​wall type of joint where you can go for good food as long as you can stomach the neighborhood and the dive-​ish look and feel of the restaurant.
Seriously though, it is an interesting place. Yes, the tables have glass tops and the place is a run down, re-​purposed looking space that obviously had seen better days, but the food is worth the compromise. As is often said about books, you can’t always judge a restaurant by its outward (or, in this case, even in the interior) appearance. I have been to this location literally dozens of times and I’ve never once gotten bad food, which I imagine cannot be luck at this point.
You can’t go wrong with their Mongolian beef, their chicken dishes or the shrimp vegetable lunch special. Everything is prepared by the family that runs and owns this place and they add a touch of authenticity that you just won’t find anywhere else. The menu is large, but it is well organized and you can find something for just about anyone here, whether you’re looking for Vietnamese or more of a Chinese style dish, they’ll have something to fit your taste.
If you have a chance and a craving, give this place a try and reserve judgment until you’ve tasted the food. I’ve been there with parties large and small and when I worked in the area, my colleagues and I went there almost weekly. In all that time, never a single disappointment and we always left knowing we’d be back in short order.
Great little gem of a restaurant, not so easy on the eyes but definitely one of Phoenix’s better dives. I wish I still worked out that way because if I did, I’d be there much more often than I am these days.

I have been a customer of the restaurant since I was a little kid and my parents would take me here. After just two or three trips, they will remember your name, where you are from, what you like to order, how you want it cooked, and anything else you volunteer to tell them. It’s pretty amazing. The food is fantastic, and much better than any other vietnamese restaurant I have found in phoenix. The bun has a lot more vegtables and substance than most I have tried. The peanut sauce and spring roll sauce are both incredible.
It’s your typical dive asian place. Busted up floor tiles, glass table tops, and next to no atmosphere. It’s all about the food, and the perfect service (assuming they are not busy.) It’s also very inexpensive. A family of 4 can eat dinner for less than 40 bucks including soft drinks. The only downside I can think of is the neighborhood, it is located next to a coin-​op laundry which attracts lots of ghetto types.