Duc Huong

You come here for the quality of food, not anything else!
1/​Services: CASH ONLY — it says everything here. don’t expect to be treated as if you’re at a restaurant. This mom and pop shop is like all the best authentic places in the world. It has it own rule and its own attitude. I’ve been coming here since 2007 and for sure the couple owners were judging me on my Northern Vietnamese accent. So don’t get offended if you speak English. They are just simple people who run a very delicious consistently quality Vietnamese food with an unbeatable price. The later time when I come, they started to get more amused as I’m making some light jokes with them. As years come by, they remember me and finally I had some smirk from them as an approval! So there, try to get a smirk and that is mission accomplished.
2/​Food: I must say with my travel every 6 weeks to Saigon, this place comes as a best replacement of all the best place in Saigon:
— Bánh mì: comparable to Bánh Mì Hng Hoa (lesbian bánh Mì in Saigon) although Duc Huong’s bread is slightly thicker.
— Bánh giò, ch giò, ch qu, bánh giày giò: same as ch giò Minh Châu on Lý T Trng and slightly better than Nh Lan. Although this bánh giò is nowhere close to the softness you’ll see in any street bánh giò in Hanoi. If they can make the outside of bánh giò thinner, i’ll pay at double the current price
— Other sweet and savories snacks: Cm cháy, bánh bò, bò khô (beef jerky) are delicious, it’s hard not to spend over $ 100 here for me
— Drink: so so. I wouldn’t pick those up as it’s a bit too sweet for my taste
3/​When to come: Everytime you really want to have authentic Vietnamese food taste. Just know what you like and get it first before exploring to other options.
It’s 6am and I can’t wait for this one to open.

if you come here and expect for good service then you might as well go next door to Subway. The lady at the counter was rude. Instead of handling me my change, she literally threw on the counter and not even a word of thank you. I’m also Asian so I cannot imagine what level service a guy dude would get when he come. The only time I come is to buy few Cha Lua and that is only when I have no other options. Otherwise I rather donate my money elsewhere. These old school Vietnamese cats has no fuckin customer service.

This place has the highest quality Viet snack and sandwiches in the area, especially if you come in the morning. In fact, you should come at 9AM, when everything is just delivered!
Steamy hot Banh Gio, the best Casava (Khoai Mi Nuong) – not eggy like at Lee’s Sandwiches, not chunky and loaded with sugar like at Thanh Huong or Hien Khanh, and Sticky Rice Cake (Xoi Vi nhan Dau Xanh), not too sweet and unnaturally green like at Thanh Huong or Lee’s Sandwiches, even their Banh Bo (Rice flour cake) is better than the above mentioned delis.
Trust me, I love Viet snacks and I’ve been to a lot of Viet delis. Duc Huong carries the best quality snack, albeit they lack in variety.
But of course, you will only get the best if you COME EARLY. Not too early though, at least an hour after opening hour (the food is usually delivered within the first hour of opening).

Never coming here again! This place actually pissed me off today and I hardly ever get pissed.
I’ve always loved the Cha here but today I got their combo sandwich and it was horrible. They give you three thin slices of meat with barely any veggies. How much does it cost you to put some more ingredients in? The Cha slice was actually half of its normal size. Why would you do that? It’s not a free sandwich nor on sale… I paid full price! Is this a joke?
Bun cuon was bleh. Mint leaves were not fresh at all and barely any meat.
Cha is the best here BUT I now question if they are so cheap on their ingredients then what the hell do they use for the Cha? Cheapest meat and ingredients plus some MSG? I don’t doubt it!

The banh mi here is yummy! The bread taste fresh and soft. I also like th we banh goi. It’s a hole in the wall type of joint. The prices are great as a well.

i love the banh canh coun here. sooo good.

This review is just for the Banh Gio, it is DELICIOUS!!! The Banh Gio (rice flour with minced pork and mushrooms, wrapped in banana leaf) here is the best in San Jose, hands down. For only $ 2 you get a fresh, blazing hot mini meal that just melts in your mouth. These things are so fresh, they are way too hot to even hold in your hand for 10 secs.
Here’s the trick: Pay the guy FIRST, he’ll give you a plastic bag and pop those suckers in the baggie on your way out.
I like to sprinkle a little Maggi on mine sometimes, but seriously, these things are so yummy you don’t even need it!

Unassuming little hole in the wall, we were just going to go in to check things out and there was a line almost out of the door. I’m not one to know everything about Vietnamese food but they had everything. They also served Vietnamese sandwiches, but it doesn’t seem like it was something that folks came here for, it was everything else. The leaf wrapped food, the deep fried food, the noodley goodness, and the glutinous flour stuffs. Wow, I’m so descriptive.
We got this fried ball of dough with a small shrimp deep fried to it. It was quite oily but savory and more like a savory muffin. It cost less than $ 2 and could have eaten 2 more but I think my heart would’ve stopped with all that oil. I would love to try their other goods next time as I’m sure I’ll be back here in this area to finally try Phở Kim Long.

My family always buys Duc Huong’s Cha Lua ever since we were a kid at their first store on Tully, then they opened another one at king, and both of those are good. Their cha lua is always hot and fresh, and good service.
But the man at this one has the worst customer service ever. He’s rude, yells, and isn’t friendly at all when you’re trying to ask a question. He talks to you as if you did something bad to him, and he doesn’t want your service.
Their cha lua here is taken from the Tully one, and sold here. But I guess it’s more convenient since its located closer to my house. I believe it’s still fresh, as I heard before that it is delivered daily. But I still prefer to go to their other branches instead of this one… I get cold vibes coming here.

Banh mi was just ok for me. Fast service and pretty cheap, but not my top three best banh mi experiences in San Jose. I heard their cha lua was pretty good, I will have to purchase a loaf and see if it’s true.

I actually ate the banh mi the day after I bought them and heated them up in the oven to make the bread crispier. The bread is not bad actually and I wonder if they make them onsite because I heard other people coming in just to buy them.
The banh mi itself is pretty flavorless. The meats have little flavor, I barely noticed the mayo, the carrots and daikon weren’t pickled enough. It needs a lot of work. The standard #1 didn’t come with pâté which I felt was crucial in creating some excitement.
Each one is about $ 3.25−3.50 so it’s not too bad and it’s pretty big.

I’ve been here three times already and still have not been able to get a sandwich! This last time, before I could even open my mouth, the man behind the counter yelled at me, «NO MORE!»
I understand that Viet places tend not to have the greatest customer service, but this was absolutely rude. He didn’t speak this way to the older woman ahead of me!
I ended buying something anyway, a tray of green mochi cake (bánh da ln). It was all chewy mochi with barely any mung bean in it. It looked like it had a huge layer of mung bean, but that was just yellow-​colored sticky rice.
Maybe I’ll forget about this incident and try again, but for now, I’m still upset about being treated so poorly.

DON’T COME HERE! The sandwiches were so small and super cold! There was no meat on there! Well, maybe two pieces and my meat was blue! WTF?! If you want a super cold sandwich with no meat, well come here! You will pay a cheap price of $ 3.50 for it. Hah who am I kidding? No one wants to pay $ 3.50 for cold bread. Oh did I mention, there was no veggie in my sandwich! What kind of viet sandwich doesn’t have veggie? Worst place ever! I am so livid!

My FAVORITE SPOT for Banh Mi (Vietnamese Sandwiches)! I live in Tracy but I always come here for their Eggrolls, Sandwiches & Café Su Da! Great prices! I haven’t tried everything yet.
#1 is what I order now. It is a combination of all Vietnamese Meats in a toasted bun with juicy cucumber, pickled daikon and carrots, Pâté (liver spread) extra please, Mayo, Soy Sauce & Jalapenos. Oh my goodness best sandwich ever! Way better than Lee Sandwiches!
#3 I used to order all the time only because I LOVE PORK ROLL! I believe the meat is called Gio Lua or Cha Lua anyway it is amazing and it is made in house. You may buy the meat itself for $ 4.25 a loaf but if you buy 3 its $ 12.00.
Fried Eggrolls: I am obsessed with! Way better than Kind Eggroll and only only .65cents each. Make sure you come in early morning while their still warm because they fry everything early and leave out the rest of the day.
Try the Fried Shrimp Cup: its like a bread in the form of a large cup deep fried, crispy with a whole shrimp on top
Café Su Da: I call my crack in a cup. Bitter and strong just the way I like
Service is ok with me because I expect this kind of service in these type of places. If you don’t speak up, or make up your mind, they will skip onto the next customer. Service is pretty fast all the while and busy too.
One of my favorite little gems I go to in San Jose, makes me feel happy.

There cha Gio is good… it’s what’s they r known for. T
It’s comes in different variety so be sure to ask. Like one has whole peppercorn in it which I hate n another harden up pork skin of some sort n another regular. It’s tie by different color strings. Sandwich I got was bland n bread was hard. Their fried items don’t get, like shrimp cup etc… just left out n it gets stale n hard so no no. But they do have good deals on banh cuon, a big package for $ 5.00. Place is small, not well stock except for their Gio aka the pork thing.

One star for the best Gio they make and 4 stars off for the horrible service. The guy behind the counter is actually the owner and mistreats ALL the customers who come thru his door. He thinks he has the best Gio/​Cha in town so he has the right to treat people like dirt. Even worse, he only sell stuff when he feels like it.

Go here for cha. Recommend getting: Hands down the best cha in the bay. Get any of the flavors based on your taste. They are all good. I usually get the regular ones. Best deal is to get the 3 for $ 12 deal. I usually also get the fried flat ones. Those are yummy, and best in my book. Don’t mistaken the little tube version ones, those are fish, unless you like that.

DUC HUONG
The Bay Area, especially the San Jose area, is dotted with numerous Vietnamese fast-​food establishments, but one particularly stands out: Duc Huong. Aside from the typical Vietnamese sandwiches sold here, they specialize in pork rolls, fried pork rolls, and rice rolls (banh cuon). They actually make their pork rolls here, and you can buy three varieties of them. If you buy one, it’s $ 4.25 each, but if you buy three, it’s $ 12 even. Their banh cuon package is unbelievable. For only $ 5, you get a huge takeout portion that’s enough to feed two hungry people. Service is typically laughable, but then again, it’s a fast-​food joint, so come on in, choose our selection, pay up, and then exit. Make sure you order the banh cuon and pork rolls here!

I discovered this place completely by accident Monday night. I was actually trying to get to Thanh Huong, but pulled into this strip mall thinking that I could just park and walk over to Thanh Huong, not realizing that there was no way to get through the fence separating Thanh Huong and the strip mall. Not wanting to go back out and do a u-​turn at the next stop light to get to Thanh Huong, I saw this place out of the corner of my eye just as I was about to leave the parking lot. I went in on whim just to see if they offered any Vietnamese sandwiches, and sure enough they did. Even though the selection was very small, they at least offered a BBQ pork sandwich.
This place was very small and it was completely empty when I walked in. I had to call out to see if anyone was around. I noticed afterwards that there is a bell located next to a statue by the register. It appeared that there was only one person working in the place. Two other people came in after me and they had to wait until my order was done before they could be taken care of, even though they were only buying pre-​made food.
So I ordered a $ 3 BBQ Pork sandwich and was on my way. I was actually surprised that the sandwich tasted pretty decent. They put in a lot of the shredded and pickled carrots and hicama and also a long sliver of cucumber inside the sandwich. The bread was soft and fresh and the outside had a little crunch to it. This place is a nice alternative to Thanh Huong.

If you like pork roll or fried pork roll then come here. If you like rice rolls (banh cuon) then come here as well! This place makes their pork roll (cha lua /​cha chien)!
This place offers a small selection of deli types of stuff. banh gio, goi cuon, banh day, mi xao, bi, nem even sandwiches too but I have never tried any but the pork roll and rice roll.
Service really sucks but it’s an in-​and-​out place.