Vina Cafe

This place is amazing. Prices are very reasonable and even cheap. Food was amazing. It’s what I’d imagine eating at a Vietnamese friends’ house would be like. Had the spring rolls and one of the vermicelli noodle bowls and it was out of this world. Great portion sizes too! Had enough leftover to save for lunch for the next day. Will definitely be back!!!

Authentic and good
I go there very often … As in once a week if I can.
Never been disappointed.
Only thing I worry is if I give a great review, more people would start going and their underpriced food might just become reasonably priced and the wait might be longer.
Yet to try their bubble tea.

This was my first time at the restaurant. The food was really good, especially their grilled pork chop, egg, and broken rice is very good. In addition, my mom is very picky with her food but she really like her dish. Definitely would come back if I have the opportunity.
People! Please do not expect this restaurant to be fancy because it is not. It’s a small town!

What a wonderful little restaurant. My wife and I visited this evening for the first time. She and I have been Phở afficionados for 30+ years, having first discovered it in the Washington, D.C. area. I can confidently declare that Vina Café has, by far, the best Phở in Roanoke. The cook, and I presume owner, learned his Phở from Vietnamese chefs in Northern Virginia, and it shows. This is genuine Phở. I won’t say it’s the best I have ever had, but it’s certainly the best Roanoke has to offer.
The spring rolls were good. I look forward to trying other items on the menu.

Awesome food! I tried the Round steak, meatball and noodle soup and the Shrimp spring rolls. The soup broth was so flavorful and the large size was more than enough. Not a date night place but great for a quick lunch or take out. Will return soon!

My favorite phở out of any other place in Roanoke. Excellent fried rice. Great friendly staff.

Was finally able to get back here again after a long absence. It is still awesome! The phở is really tasty, the service is fast, friendly and helpful. The place has a warm and comfortable vibe that makes eating there nice and relaxing. At some point I will try the durian smoothie that they offer since I have never seen that on a menu at other Vietnamese restaurants. This is a great little place that you need to check out.

We were staying at the Sheraton and this place is right across the street. It’s a little hole-​in-​the-​wall place but the food was so good. I had vermicelli with pork and my husband had the chicken with rice. Mine was fresh and delicious. The broth was so flavorful with a slight hint of heat. The pork had a great flavor and was not dry. My husband’s chicken was so juicy. It was also a lot of food for not a lot of money. We left feeling full but not weighed down. If we had eaten in the hotel it would have cost twice as much and been heavy and greasy.
The service was good. Our waitress was very friendly and made sure we had everything we needed.
If you aren’t familiar with Vietnamese food, it’s very light and fresh with a lot of cucumber, fresh mint and basil, and fresh vegetables. It’s more similar to Japanese food than Chinese or Thai. You will be pleasantly surprised if you try it.
Support a small family place instead of a big chain.

I’m from LA visiting family and this place rivals most family joints there. Authentic, fresh, super flavorful. The spring rolls really burst with basil flavor. I had the H3 egg noodles with seafood, and they got it right… not greasy or too mushy. Highly recommended over the chains at Valley View.

Best phở place in roanoke because it is the only phở place that doesn’t have roaches found in their food. So please please PLEASE stay bug free or i am shit out of luck on getting phở in roanoke. But anywho, soup is very flavorful, lots of meat, and price is on point. I love vina café!

In my search for the best Bún Bò Huê in town, this was my third stop. Service was very fast and friendly. Everything we ate was acceptable.
On the topic of the bún bò huê, their version is by far the meatiest in town but the soup itself was quite lacking in flavor. The broth was close to clear when they brought it out and not spicy as it should be, even for my 8 year old. The broth did not have that deep rich beefy flavor that I have had in other restaurants.
I will still visit because pricing is excellent and portions are generous. Can’t really go wrong on this side of town for cheap eats.

Great hole in the wall! I had the bowl of noodle that included beef meat balls, tribe, flank, and tendon. It has been outstanding each time I’ve gone. Vina Café is one of the places we consider whenever we want our fill of ethnic cuisine.

This popped up on Unilocal search for place near hotel. Looked liked a little dive restaurant so I was encouraged. Well turned out pretty good. The spring rolls were light and packed and peanut sauce was tasty compliment. I had seafood and rice noodles. Really clean, tasty broth. Good portions if shrimp, fish balls, crab, and calamari.

The Vietnamese food here is just okay. It felt like an oven inside the restaurant because they have a small window AC for a large area. It did not help with eating the steaming hot phở. I probably won’t come back as the phở soup base was oily and flavorless.

5 stars? Really??? It’s a dump! Dirty. Extension cords hanging all over the walls. So cold inside that I had to go back to the car to get my coat. Dirty silverware.
The only saving grace was that the Phở was pretty good. Not going back there!

This place never gets old. I was highly disappointed when I came by on bob on a random tuesday, I found out they are closed every tuesday and wednesday I was disappointed but came back next day. And it was well worth the drive to come back.

It’s very a hole in the wall type of place. Wish it was cleaner, the condiments bottles were a little sticky. Very loud TV. I was the only customer on Thursday evening. Very nice owner, he talked to me the whole time. I had phở and spring rolls. They were not terrible, but I will keep looking for better phở while in Roanoke.

Superior Meatball!!! Delicious! This Meatball is NOT to be underestimated! Same flavor as the Meatball at Ben Thanh (Charlotte, NC)!
Great Sandwich Banh Mi! They served the Jalapeño on the side… Nice touch! Never seen this done before and it was nice not to have to dissemble the sandwich!!! More places should do this!
Phở ! Wow! Phenomenal Flavor! Perfekt! Equal to the best Phở I have tasted!
Food was so Fantastik here, the temptation is to ONLY eat Vietnamese here without checking out the other places in town! So Delicious I would choose this place over most of the 5 star experiences (ALL Categories) I have had in Roanoke!
Charming spot with more tables than you would expect, still not crowded with furniture, very comfortable!
Service was Perfekt! Friendly and our order was 100% !

I was in Roanoke for work, and this little place was near my hotel. Since I love Vietnamese I decided I needed to try it!
To me Phở, is ok, but it’s not my favorite food. In fact in all the years I’ve been eating V I think I’ve only ordered Phở once. So I can note speak to their phở here. :D But I loooooove Rice dishes, vermicelli, fresh rolls, v coffee, bahn mi (the sandwich) and avocado smoothies. Since I was by myself I didn’t try all these things, but you better believe I will be back!
Owners/​staff are very friendly. And although there’s not a lot of space inside, it has a home-​y feeling too it.
For my first trip I got the meatball Vermicelli which was excellent. The fish sauce they serve is a bit on the spicey side, however mixed into the vermicelli it adds a nice mild kick. I also got the fresh rolls. I wasn’t a huge fan of the pork that comes in it, so i just pulled it out, but other than that they were fresh and they didn’t skimp on the filling or peanut sauce.
When i go back in a few weeks I will go back here again! Next time i’ll get a sandwich and a smoothie or a coffee… or maybe all 3! ha!
If you are coming from 581 you will have to do a U turn to get there, but it’s worth the stop! They are closed on tuesday and wednesday.

Like the frozen yogurt places and cupcake places, Vietnamese places are the new thing in Roanoke. However, the frozen yogurt craze is over and thankfully, cupcakes never really caught on.
I’ve tried a few things here and the most surprising thing I noticed was the variety. The phở is on par with Phở Vietnam, but they actually serve a large bowl as opposed to the regular sized bowl at Phở Vietnam. The broth isn’t bad, not the best I’ve ever had but one of the better ones that I’ve had in Roanoke (which isn’t saying very much).
In terms of phở, the rankings go
1. Vina Café and Phở Vietnam (tie)
2. Phở Saigon and Viet Sub (tie)…although only small bowls available at Viet Sub
I also had the Mi Dac Biet (egg noodles in broth) and that was pretty good. Throw in some sate sauce and it can fill you up. I’ve tried some of my friend’s Bo Kho (spicy beef noodle soup) and it was decent. The cha gio (egg rolls) were kind of greasy. My friends also had the banh xeo (Saigon pancakes) and they seemed happy with them. They basically carry all the items that Phở Vietnam claims to have but never seem to have when you ask. Bottom line: Nothing here is going to wow a Vietnamese person or anybody who has had Vietnamese food in a larger city, but it is the best you will find in Roanoke.
They also have banh mi sandwiches. The bread isn’t exactly what I’m used to but it still tastes good. I’ll have to try some more before I render final judgement.
The place itself has about 10 tables inside and it looks like the small Vietnamese places I grew up with. They even have the tv (allegedly annoying and large) with Vietnamese videos and the pseudo-​Paris by Night crap that comes with the territory. They have their own parking lot and they take credit cards. However, you have to make a U-​turn on Hershberger if you are getting off 581.
For the time being, this seems to be the best Vietnamese place in Roanoke.