Huong Tra

I’ve been trying to search for good restaurants around the Richmond area since I work out here now. I’ve definitely been spoiled by the best food spots in Richmond’s neighboring city, Oakland.
After getting off work early one day, I decided to check out this spot with one of my co-​workers. We saw the reviews and thought we should give it a shot.
It was a Wednesday late afternoon so it was pretty empty and we got to pick where we wanted to sit. My friend and I ordered the Nem Nuong Cuon, Bun Bo Hue, and Phở Tai.
Our noodles came within 5 minutes. Both the Bun Bo Hue and the Phở Tai was decent. I guess it’s hard to compare when I know that if I drove home, I would go to my favorite phở spot, reassuring myself that I will get quality AND quality. For $ 8, the noodles were definitely not fulfilling. You get a medium bowl with 75% soup and hella little noodles and meat. I also felt a load of MSG, contributing to my sluggish feeling after the meal.
Also, we never got our Nem Nuong Cuon. After we were done with our noodles, we were still waiting for it. We finally flagged down the waitress to ask her. She said it was coming. She went back to the kitchen and came back a few minutes later to say they «ran out». Why didn’t you tell us when we ordered or when you realized that your restaurant ran out? That’s basic courtesy.
I wouldn’t come here again. I’ll save my appetite for phở when I’m in Oakland or San Jose.

I am happy that I have found a supplement to my normal phở location! So there are two decent spots in the Richmond area. Apparently they have recently renovated and expanded the restaurant. It looks like they have been in the whole location for quite some time… so not sure what exactly has changed. I will take other Unilocalers word on that one.
Customer service is a bit lacking. The kids running the front shop don’t quite have the proper etiquette down that. the customer standing in front of you holds priority over the phones ringing etc. Phones should be picked up and placed on hold. Or designate tasks and just have one person answering phones, one filling bags for orders, and one taking customers in the line.
Since phone is priority for them, I recommend calling ahead and submitting your order. So it is ready or close to ready by the time you get there.
The price is definitely right and portions are decent! I am looking forward to exploring their menu more and expanding my review on specific dishes!

We spent the entire afternoon house-​moving thus really want a big meal to reward ourselves. My friends have been frequent customers for this place there we went up here.
The food is fair: they taste good and the size was big. We had one rice (seafood), one spicy
beef soup noodle and one beef chow fen. My favorite one is the the soup noodle, as it came with several slices of quality beef and the spicy base was tasty.
However, I thought the flavor could be stronger. All the dishes can be more salty or sour. I am not sure whether this comment was fair as I just came back from China thus might have a much pickier mouth. Also the service was not satisfied. We had to call the waitress twice for the check and for taking the credit card. They were doing nothing but rolling the washed utensils into tissues. Therefore I could have given four stars due to their food quality but end up with 3 as to the service.

The best phở in the east bay & cheap. They recently renovated & expanded their restaurant which was way overdue. There’s a lot of things to try, but I’ve stuck to the veggie tofu phở with chicken broth & when I’m sick the chicken noodle soup is a must.
Excellent customer service too :)

My boyfriend and I always go to Phở Saigon Noodle & Grill 2 off of Appian Way for our Vietnamese fix but had yet to try Huong Tra because they don’t open on Sundays, so we finally got to try it out on a Friday. The first time we went here, we got a half order of the papaya salad, bun xeo, and the cube steak on yellow rice. My boyfriend also ordered a combination egg noodle soup bowl and I had the same thing but with the broth on the side. We were pretty much mind blown because everything was so good. Plus compared to Phở Saigon Noodle, Huong Tra has way more items on the menu to choice from. The papaya salad was pretty bomb. I’m not going to lie, but we devoured that dish. It was pretty perfect. The only thing we didn’t like was the bun xeo. It tasted very thickly of batter and was on the sweeter side, which we didn’t like at all.
The second time we went here, we ordered a half order of papaya salad, again, and the nam nuong rolls. This time he ordered combination chow fun and I ordered a chicken vermicelli bowl with egg rolls. I didn’t really like the vermicelli bowl. The chicken was too salty and the egg rolls were too oily. Also the nam nuong rolls were a miss for me as well. They were sloppily made and falling apart. The combination chow fun was good but had too much onions and not enough noodles. Overall, our second visit wasn’t as great as our first visit, but that’s not going to stop me from coming back. Our first visit was so good that I’m pretty sure they were just having an off day.