Fish Sauce

SERVICE:
Stellar! I made reservations for a large party, which I knew can be chaotic in terms of getting served promptly and everything going smoothly. But we had no issues at all. The owner was so prompt and accommodating with communicating to me about my reservation request. Our waitresses and bartender were fabulous. And we even got to meet the owner’s mother, who is the cutest little Vietnamese lady ever!
FOOD:
My husband knows how to make phở, so he’s quite picky about going out to eat phở, but he loved the phở here and that says a lot. Fish sauce uses quality ingredients, including filet mignon for the meat in the phở, which is why it’s so good. I had their mussels and loved the coconut flavor.
DRINKS:
I ordered a Manhattan and loved it. The bartender made us another drink later that was so good — I forget what it was called — but even out non-​alcoholic drinkers loved it when they tried it.
AMBIENCE & DECOR
Love the mason jar lights, the wood features, and the intimate, cozy, rustic-​chic type of décor.
I love that I can go to a place for Vietnamese food that doesn’t look like your typical hole in the wall or ostentatiously decorated Vietnamese restaurant, but still have great Vietnamese food, respectable cocktails, and really thoughtful, wonderful service on top of that. We had such a great experience.

Really good phở. The broth is a great flavor so you don’t have to add tons of other sauces. The bahn mi sandwiches are also delicious! I recommend going during happy hour

This is a review for the Happy Hour menu– so it may or may not be representative of the dinner time experience. We came in right before 6, and decided to go for a light dinner of some small plates. We went with the grilled mussels, crispy rolls, and some phở. Grilled mussels were good (if you like mussels of course, they had a little too much coconut for me, but my husband loved them). The crispy pork roll was good, but the portion was ridiculous. I realize it’s happy hour, but $ 5 for one roll is crazy. Lastly we each got phở, I got the chicken, and my husband ordered the beef combo. The portion was actually perfect on these. Smaller than what I’d usually get, but perfect for lunch or a light dinner. The broth was so good, it was hot, gingery, and had deep flavor. The chicken in mine was generous– big slices of breast meat and not dry either. Noodles were also good. A plus on the phở. Lack of star is for the app portions and for the service. Our waiter was pretty neglectful. He was also the bartender, so I get that he was busy, but he didn’t fill our water the entire time we were there and it took forever to get his attention to ask a question or bring us our check. With a restaurant that small and with two servers, it shouldn’t be that hard to attend customers when there are so few there. Overall though, it was a good value, and not too expensive either. We ended up with a bill less than $ 25 for the both of us and pretty satisfied.

We got seated in the long communal table in the center of the room. Our appetizers were the crispy rolls and the beef rolls. Beef was pretty dry and the crispy rolls were not what I expected (the usual fried spring rolls). It took a really long time for our dishes to come out. I had the kalbi bahn mi. It was fine but didn’t really care for the bread. The sandwich also came with sweet potato fries which was nice because it wasn’t the usual orange sweet potato but the yellow kind.
No plans to come back. Food wasn’t that great and it took awhile to come out, the whole restaurant was almost full when we came in but nearly empty by the time we got our food.

Really cool place! Love the inside but a little small and gets crowded (not that that is their fault) so might be hard to get a seat around the lunch rush hour.
Went for lunch with a friend in a Thursday and it was packed! Got the phở, it came with brisket and meatballs. Not really sure why meatballs??? The brisket was great and phở itself was good too but the meatballs threw me off, they weren’t the best either.
I forget what my friend got, something soup based as well. It was really good but her drink might have been even better! I had a red ale they had on tap (that’s all it said on the menu so can’t tell you what brewery it was) that was really tasty.
All in all a great lunch that didn’t break the bank (mildly expensive for lunch though).

This place has been around for a Lil over 3 years now (I think). The food has always been consistent and the quality is superb. I have never had a bad experience when dining here. The people here are extremely friendly and helpful.
Today, my friend and I snacked on a few items… we had the chicken wings, bo luc lac, and a special requested item that wasn’t on the menu — bo tai chanh (rare beef cooked with lime juice… almost like a Vietnamese version of a beef carpaccio). The flavors and taste of the food were great. We washed the fo I don’t down with a fresh drink called the New York Sour.

I like their outdoor seating area, and everything we tried was decent. However, it’s a similar concept to Luc Lac, but I find Luc Lac’s food to be much more flavorful.
However, Fish Sauce doesn’t have a crazy line and a nice outdoor seating area, which is always a plus in my book.

Great food. Large portions that play on the classics. They make ginger beer per order — excellent! Nice interior, would go back.

Very hipster vibe with the mason jars, chalk board wall and pallet/​wood everywhere… with an industrial splash. I love having the full carafe of water at the table. Service was good and the food was very good. My wife had the Kalbi and I had the Bun. She said hers was tender and very tasty and mine was average for a Bun. Overall this was a good experience.

Good but not great. For bragging no MSG, the chicken phở was extremely salty.
Beyond being really slow, the server only refilled our water after we paid at the end, which was kinda torturous considering the aforementioned saltiness.
Meh. Not worth the price.

Came here on Monday night and it was surprisingly crowed, which was a good sign. We got seated quickly by requesting to get a table outside.
Outside seating: our table hadn’t been cleaned with many sticky spots on it. I can’t blame the waitress since it was too dark out there. But we asked to seat outside so I’m okay with that.
Since this was my third time there, I ordered the same stuff that I had last time because I loved it so much. I wish I would’ve ordered different ones. The shaken steaks were juicy but not flavorful. The sauce that they put on it has changed (I assumed) or not enough to make the steaks taste good. Grilled muscles was also a bad choice. I don’t know how to describe but it wasn’t the same at all.
Prices: very high with small portions of food. It might be reasonable if compares with fancy restaurant but not to other Vietnamese restaurants. I was happy to pay that high my last two times visited but the food actually made me happy to pay, not this time.
I have no problem with the service when she was very nice and attentive. I’m just not gonna come back here for a while.

Fish Sauce is fantastic!
They take pride in their ingredients and meats.
I’ve never had a bad meal!
I recommend the Bun bowl — fresh crispy and hearty — always satisfies me without feeling the guilt.

I ordered Fish Sauce for dinner this evening via Postmates and to my horror after unloading the bag, I noticed that they had delivered the wrong item! I tried to reach Postmates to no avail and decided to reach out to Fish Sauce directly (even though it wasn’t their mistake). They were SO nice and accommodating and felt horrible about the mix up and insisted on personally delivering the correct item to my house — mind you, they don’t deliver. 20 minutes later, I was enjoying a delicious Vermicelli bowl… mmmmm.
Unbelievable customer service and food to match. What a great representation of going above and beyond, I will certainly be back!

The restaurant itself is cute — kind of reminds me of Luc Lac. My friend I went with likes Fish Sauce better.
We arrived during happy hour and ordered the hh spring rolls (goi cuon), hh chicken wings, hh phở and the banh chuoi nuong for dessert. The spring roll and peanut sauce were good but pretty pricey in my opinion (it was one spring roll cut in half for $ 3). The chickens wings were pretty bland compared to the infamous Pok Pok wings. The phở bowl was small in comparison to other restaurants I’ve been to with the same pricing — though the noodles were a little over cooked, it did fill me up.

Oh gosh, how do I even begin to describe how much I LOVE Fish Sauce?! I now live on the East Coast and every time I come visit Portland I HAVE to visit this establishment. If there is a way for me to describe the food here is that it is authentic with a modern/​creative flair. There is so much love that is infused with each dish and brings me back to my grandmother’s traditional vietnamese cooking.
Being gluten– free and vegetarian, they are incredibly accommodating. For appetizers, I highly recommend their Bò Bía (jicama rolls) or Gi Cun (salad rolls) and their lettuce wraps.
For their main dishes, their curry always hits the spot on a cold day for me or their Bún vermicelli dish on a warm day. The curry is extremely fragrant and filled w/​hearty veggies and squash! I love the kabocha squash they throw in there! I just love that this establishment offers such a great variety of dishes for both vegetarians and omnivores alike. My father loves their beef phở and Cánh Gà Chiên (fish sauce wings).
Definitely give Fish Sauce a visit if you’re in the area! :) I know I’m looking forward to visiting them again when I return!

My BF and I came here on recommendation from a co-​worker over the holidays when we were craving some Asian food. We got there around 5:30 pm and were glad we did, because it was definitely full with a wait by the time we left. We sat at the bar and drank some delicious cocktails while waiting for our food. Mine were a bit sweet for my liking, but still unique and worth trying. My BF got a mezcal old fashioned that he requested from the bartender and loved it. We started with the salad rolls, which were just as tasty as advertised. I slightly prefer the peanut sauce that we had at Phở King Good in Beaverton, but it was close. We both got the phở with tofu and veggies and it was soooo amazing. The broth had a warming flavor that we had never tried before — it was almost similar to nutmeg. We left with very full bellies, but very happy bellies. :)

Fighting words lie just ahead! You’ve been warned.
In the case of Luc Lac vs. Fish Sauce for upscale, ingredient-​conscious Vietnamese eateries in Portland, I am going to say it: Fish Sauce would win by a sliver. Not by much! But they would win.
The space is tiny, but you won’t wait long for a table. Right when you walk in, you can smell the seared meat and sweetness of Vietnamese broth wafting from the kitchen. Getchur self a bowl of steaming hot phở ga, a young coconut filled with natural juices, and quit your bitchin’. There’s a (fairly) new Vietnamese sherif in town, and they’re serving up all of your familiar fare with a few new faces. I’m in love.

Skip this place before a Timbers game. It’s too crowded and the service is awful. This place kind of sucks. It’s the same Vietnamese food you find at cheaper Vietnamese places with jacked up prices, terrible cocktails, in hipster surroundings.
Unfortunately your Vietnamese options are limited around this area, so I can appreciate the allure of this place. Plus there’s some nice outdoor tables, but really between the overworked waitstaff, who took 40 minutes to bring us drinks, to the mediocre eats, I think you can do better.

I am super picky when it comes to my phở? And the freshness.
This IS My go to spot.
Though they skimp on the cock sauce and hoisin sauce… The soup is well worth having to ask for additional sides.
And the BunMi sandwiches are fantastic!
The atmosphere is really nice. It is very clean and the customer service is great.
again, I have to say that the freshness of the broth really makes this place amazing.
Their appetizers are to die for.
I would definitely recommend the oysters!!!
They also have great mixed drinks!
What’s really cool is that they don’t have a lot of turn over so you always see the same people working.
They really get to know you and what you like to eat So it makes it extra special!
Take your time and enjoy a hot homade bowl of PHO?

sooooo good. Had lunch on weekday and there were only a few people in there. I ended up getting the best Thai iced tea I’ve ever had accompanied by a delicious tofu banh mi! My banh mi came with sweet potato fries and an amazing dipping sauce.
Definitely a great place to stop by in the neighborhood. I know I’ll be back!