Bun Rieu 1 Restaurant

A guys-​night-​out kind of place, oh yes it is — have some extra dough as it is easy to ring up a bill on the beers and beer-​foods. The review on ¹⁄₁₅ (
) says all there is needed to be said. Props!
Cute and friendly waitresses, but they’re not patronizing so don’t expect them to just sit and talk with you. It is quite useful if one knows how to flirt and chat (or have at least one person in your party that can). Therefore, do a bit of work and banter about. If not, just eat, drink and be merry. Looking forward to the night I can return. Good times.

Is it Bun Rieu #1 or Quan Huong? The sign outside says Quan Huong, the sign over the entrance says Bun Rieu. The menu says Quan Huong, the business card says Bun Rieu #1.
The SBC boys invited me out again, to meet up here. When I walked in as the only Low Fan (outsider), the suspicious owner asked for my ID, thinking I might be the ABC or the undercover SJPD or minimum some out of place Latino looking dude! (Well, there was an incident here 6 months ago).
I hadn’t eaten lunch and was starving, so I asked her do they have any Bun Rieu? No, but she got me the menu, which was all $ 12 and up group platter dishes. Uh, cheapest thing on the menu was Hot Vin Lon (Balut!) for $ 3 and I wasn’t going to eat some final term egg/​chicken on an empty stomach! Blech! So I ordered Dau Hu Chien Don, or deep fried tofu cubes, for $ 12. Huge platter double stacked.
RL, a regular showed at 7:30, and introduced me to Sandy, the owner, a spunky ball of energy who knows how to work it and provide service. She apologized for the carding, and gave me a free Heineken. Sandy converted this place in March 2009 from restaurant to club.
This is a Quan Nhau (Viet Bar) not a restaurant. They have all kinds of food though, meant to share in a group. Appetizers, Chicken, Beef, even Lau (Hot pot, like Viet Shabu Shabu, $ 35).
Plenty of cute girls, some were customers with friends, but a lot working as waitress. There was the Filipino, the half Vietnamese-​German, the Vietnamese, the Cambodian, and the Mexican-​Native American-​Puerto Rican, They are friendly, lively, and well trained to sit and chat and flirt, then toast you so you guzzle the booze down faster. They imbibe with you, so they get happier as you do and get more playful! One showed us where her Dragon tattoo started near the South China Seas, followed it up the Mekong Delta and went well past her Phnom Penh!
Most of these girls have a day job, so they must have a tough time in the office after boozing every night here with groups of men. Plus, the music is super loud, as in front row concert/​disco loud, so everyone is shouting instead of talking. It does force you to get close and personal to the girls when talking so they can hear you, though, hehe!
Viet Karaōke, lots of flat screens with Top 40 videos, and satellite sports. Very lively and fun, and loud. Good food, beer and great service. 96% Vietnamese.

Oh my god I come here one day and it alots a people so many people they have beautiful gurlss and they call to me ask what I drinking I said coke and vietnAmese noddle and oh my god the gurls laugh I sad so go to M so I won’t get a bullet in my head

great good, great service. I ate the bun rieu and banh canh here and both were pretty good. Would come back again

Tuesday, 01÷12÷09
Place *3/​5
— Not the best location, however it is on it’s own lot. The interior is cute. They have a green/​tan-​bamboo color scheme going on.
Staff *3.5/5
— Friendly. There were 2 working at the time. However they spent most of their night watching ABC The Bachelor.
Banh Canh Cua *3.5/5
— The soup was very flavorful. Noodles weren’t too hard or soft to chew. They gave 3 pieces of crap meat. Well. it was actually 1 leg, but broken into 3 pieces.
Overall: If I could, I would give the place 3.5 stars, but since I can’t. I would give it a 4. I enjoyed my Banh Canh Cua.

I love the dish so I may be bias because there hasn’t really been a time where I was disappointed.
The dish is made properly and presented well. Broth taste very good. Tofu is great when its soaked in the soup. Mmmmm…
They NEVER have escargot even thought they claim its there special. I do have a difficult time ordering because I can not speak Vietnamese. The waiter is VERY nice but I have the hardest time ordering with him (especially when he comes back and tells me they are out of escargot, lucky I’m used to it so I get a sense of what he is saying: P)

To me bun rieu is not a dish I would go outside to buy because it does not take a long time to make it at home. However, on Thursday, the gf had a craving for it and I didn’t feel like making it so we decided to try out this place. I wasn’t really surprised that I didn’t like it. The broth was not memorable, standard noodles & veggies, some fried tofu pieces, a few pork blood cubes and two «crab» meat balls. I put the crab in quotation marks because I could barely taste any. And this was suppose to be the crab bun rieu. The cost is about the same as phở places at $ 6.20 a bowl. Pricey for what you are getting.

I went to Bun Rieu #1 it. I haven’t taste the good one like this resturant.
I was searching craving for bun rieu. I drive by and saw this resturant check it out. It taste good. I takes my time eat slowly and it taste very good. Food I must enjoy and takes my times. I really enjoy the food they serve me. I am happy to find what I want. Hey. I recommend everyone come in and try and remember eat slow enjoy your food. bye. .Each person have different tastes I believe. Hey. try it yourself. Bye Love you all. Enjoy your life make no bad comments and no compare.

BF and I went here for lunch on a Thursday afternoon after my dental appointment. I ordered the seafood banh canh (pictured above) and he ordered the banh hoi.
The banh canh was delicious (5 stars!!!) — the broth was rich, thick, and flavorful. the noodles, altho not homemade, were plump, soft, and chewy. Yum! there isn’t a whole lot of «seafood» in the soup itself, but the dish is so flavorful and filling that you will hardly notice.
BF thought the banh hoi he ordered was okay. We should have tried their signature dish since that’s what they’re named after, so all the more reason to come back another time.

Grabbed lunch here. Place was empty on a Sat. afternoon which was kinda strange. Anyhoo ordered:
2 big ‘ol bowls of bun rieu
goi cuon (fresh spring rolls)
che thai (drink with coconut milk, fruit, and shaved ice – refreshing)
In our quest to find bun rieu as good as my mom’s, this is the tastiest broth I’ve had. Instead of the softer, looser pieces of rieu (crab, meat, seasoning), they form them into firmer balls. It’s still good though. I was impressed with the fresh raw veggies. Atop the pile was a veggie I’d never seen before, but my honey put all of it in his soup, so it musta been good.

I stopped by for lunch because I was looking for El Paisa Taqueria, I heard that El Paisa moved from Senter Rd/​Capitol to somewhere on Story across from Home Depot.
I had the Bun Rieu and it was OK. It is not that salty nor as oily as other Bun Rieu places. The soup was served in a cute green bowl on top of a plate so that the servers do not put their fingers in the soup. The plate of veggies was very fresh. So I would describe it as a healthier version of bun rieu.
I was pretty surprised that this place was almost empty around 1pm on a weekday, possibly because it is on the wrong side of 101.

A co-​worker suggested to give this place a try.
I ordered Banh Canh Cua and the broth was flavorful however, the portion is absurd. There was 2 small shrimps and a piece of crab in the banh canh! Come on guys, are you that FRUGAL??? It was $ 8 for a bowl of flavorful broth with 2 piece of shrimp and a piece of crab. My daughter ordered Bun Rieu and her bowl had 3 piece of meatballs. Shouldn’t the ground pork be broken and soft? Where’s the tomatoes and tofu?
I have a suggestion for Bun Rieu #1, please try My Canh and learn from your experience. My Canh is the best place to have Banh Canh Cua and maybe consider removing #1 because it’s not #1!!!
1 star for the flavorful broth.