Mint & Basil

This is Lang Chay at a new location. Nice interior design, good customer service and good food presentation. We ordered 6 different courses and everything taste alright. Im not a spicy person so the foodd is a little too spicy for me. Over all, everything was good. Will come again to try different courses!!!

We ordered delivery from here, i believe it was through try caviar. The food was not that great.
We had:
All seasons rolls — fine but just not that fresh. Wrapper was a bit dry, same with fillings. It was about 50% lettuce.
Eggplant — was fine, no real complaints.
Malaysian noodles — not good. Tasted like some weird un-​asian tomato basted sauce with odd textured overcooked noodles. Not good at all.
Vegetarian House downtown is much better, go there or order their delivery thorugh doordash.

I liked this place from the moment I heard of it! I found it on Unilocal a couple weeks ago, and made a reservation with my boyfriend the past Saturday night.
The location itself was pretty tricky; it took me a while to realize it was in the very back of Vietnam Town. Alas, we found the restaurant and was amazed at how nice the décor and ambiance of the whole place was. It was very clean – even the bathroom was spotless!
The service was extraordinary, I never caught any of the waiter’s or waitress’s names but they were all very welcoming and helpful. A man, who ended up being our main server of the night, seated us at our little table in the back corner. There was a small paper sign saying «Mint & Basil welcomes our guest Hannah and her party of 2». It seemed a little unnecessary but I thought it was really cute! A lady then took our order for drinks and appetizers. But the guy came by and handled the rest. He stopped at my table plenty of times to make sure everything was alright and we had everything we needed. 5 stars just for the service itself!
Now time for the food: one of the best vegan restaurants I have ever been to. This one is new to me, as I’ve never been to a Vietnamese-​cuisine vegetarian restaurant, but I loved it! We ordered 4 dishes: the crispy tofu, the combination fried rice, sautéed edamame, and Thai Spicy Tofu. The crispy tofu was amazing. Who knew something so simple as fried tofu would taste so good?! It came with soy sauce, their homemade mango and strawberry sauces, and peanut sauce. It captured a very sweet taste and I loved it. The portion was very big too! The sautéed edamame was very both sweet and savory, and the garlic sauce was to die for. The combination rice surprisingly had a lot of flavor for just a rice dish. I love how the imitation vegan shrimp and pork did not seem too different from its actual counterparts. The chefs really did encapsulate all flavors accordingly. My favorite dish was the Thai Spicy Tofu which was a fish full of pineapple and tofu that was cooked in Thai spice sauce. The sauce has a great kick to it, and the texture of the food was surprisingly pleasing. Tofu drenched in sauce doesn’t always sound appetizing but with the right ingredients (nice touch of pineapples, really made the dish flavorful) the whole plate executed with a fresh, smooth feel. Along with this, we ordered their homemade mango garden soda and Thai tea – which I of course recommend!
If you check in on Unilocal,Facebook, or Instagram they give you 10% off your whole order, so make sure to take advantage of that! Overall, for four large dishes, the cost was about $ 42 with the discount. So the price was decent, the food is largely portioned and delightful, the service is great, and the atmosphere of the whole place is nice. Why wouldn’t you want to go here?!
I’ll be sure to be back, and hope to try the Milpitas location as well.

love love love love LOVE this place — I have only gotten the food from doordash, we have had them about 4 times now. They do package almost everything individually to-​go so you get A LOT of bags lol.
The flavors are great, the texture on their tofu/​faux proteins are great and I love it ALL.
That being said, hahaha, I will never try the faux seafood items and the terriyaki chicken was too weird of a texture for me — but the flavors are all there. I just can’t do certain flavor profiles and my turn off is seafood. My husband who is a carnivore hasn’t tried the faux seafood yet, but he’s really enjoyed all the other «meat»
The rock-​n-​roll «beef» is sUpEr tasty — its my favorite thing ever. I also like the «sausage» banh mi sandwich, and the ginger «chicken» is super great too. My husband loves their spicy eggplant dish. The ginger phở is great too.
I also got the curry fried rice and spicy green beans another time, and those were mega delicious too.
We have tried a few of their drinks, the strawberry and mango ones and those were very nice. Kind of overly sweet, but good too.
I also feel very satisfied and clean after eating here, I believe that the integrity of the food is quite high. Left over flavors are super great too, though when we get food with any kind of texturing on it we try to eat it because those don’t reheat as well.
The first time I ordered here I had to triple check it was completely vegetarian because they don’t keep the «meat’ in pretense, its just beef X or Chicken X or Pork X or Fish X and I got mega confused the first time — «its not really beef, right???» so keep that in mind, its **NOT** meat ^_​^
All in all, if you are a vegetarian or NOT, this place is a fabulous foodie experience and I hope you definitely try it out. I am so terribly happy they exist, because its so hard to get vegetarian asian foods in this genre you can fully trust to be completely free of any kind of animal product.
I will be a customer for a very long time!

I dropped by for a quick dinner on a Saturday night. I love this place. Decoration is simple with green color of walls and chairs, but very fancy, and very cute with the sunflowers on every table. Service is very friendly. I love the vegetarian food here. Very delicious! They have a great variety of food on the menu.
Malaysian Noodles: the flavor is sooo goood and rich. The dish is quite large and comes with many veggies and mock meats with rice noodles. The noodles doesn’t stick in a huge pile.
Thaibinh curry: amazingly delicious, coconut cream that’s perfectly spiced (slight kick), comes with green bell peppers, tofu, and egg plant. I’ll definitely come back for this mouth-​watering curry.
I would give them 5 stars if they put something like chili flakes, satay sauce, and soy sauce on the table. Actually, I had to ask the server to bring these for me.

I’ve never been to a Vegetarian restaurant before so I decided to give it a try.
Mint & Basil is close to Sweet Corner in the back of Vietnam Town. Service was quick and all the workers were extremely friendly. We never had to ask for water because someone would come by to fill our cups.
We ordered The All Seasons Sampler, Rock-​N-​Roll Beef Salad, and Spicy Lemongrass Tofu. My favorite was The All Seasons Sampler. There were three different sauces for the rolls. My favorite sauce was the mango because it’s different from what I normally dip my rolls in. The Rock-​N-​Roll Beef Salad had a unique flavor which was pretty good. As for the Spicy Lemongrass Tofu, I wasn’t a big fan since I can’t really eat spicy foods.
I’ll definitely come back here again in the future to try some other items on the menu. Minus one star because they were out of a few items on their menu when I visited.

Mint & Basil is such a cute restaurant! When I walked in I was a bit surprised because the seats are so close together, but I guess it’s because I was looking for a more formal restaurant. The decorations are super cute though; perfect for a chill lunch or dinner.
My family and I actually had no idea it was 100% vegetarian, so we ordered «beef», fried tofu, curry, and pad Thai! Considering it’s not real meat, we were all soooo surprised when we asked and they told us it was made of soy beans or something! It tasted SO MUCH like real beef… The other meats were obviously fake though, but was still okay. I’d recommend the tofu and the curry (curry with eggplant was SO SO GOOD.) My sister and I are obsessed with pad Thai so we got that but it wasn’t great… You can get better at places walking distance from here.
Also, I didn’t know about the fake meat thing so I just ate the side salad on the dishes… Which was fine because the dressing was amazing! I was eating it so fast. I think the magic touch was strawberry sauce or something…
My New Years resolution is to become pesceterian so I was so happy when I could actually try the other foods! I think the reason why I gave it 4 stars is because the restaurant was so cute and it was vegetarian– would love to come back to encourage my friends to take on eating less meat :)

Stopped by to try this place out on a Wednesday afternoon. It wasn’t pack. The décor and ambiance of the spot was relaxing.
Customer service: ⁵⁄₅
–greeted upon entering.
–waiter asked what I wanted to drink once seated. Gave me time to look over the menu.
–fixed my check after they made a slight mistake (10% off check in)
–diverse set of workers
Food: 4.5÷5
1) sampler
–consisted of all season egg rolls; Autumn, winter, spring, and summer. This included egg rolls on the side with a designated dipping sauce.
2) Savory Stir Fried Eggplant (V/​GF)
3) ThaiBinh curry w/​roti
Con:
–all the way in the back of «Viet Nam» town. But this isn’t much of a problem.
–saw the worker drop some of the Togo boxes/​containers and put it back on the pushing cart before wiping it. (I don’t blame him though, it should be elsewhere).
Overall ⁵⁄₅
–everything taste well, excellent costumer service, and good vibe. Will be back for other items!

I’ve been to the first location in Milpitas, so I figured why not check the San Jose location out?! It’s a bit tricky to find since it’s literally all the way in the back of the new and growing Vietnam-​town area. The ambiance gives me a very Vietnamese-​French colonial modern fusion vibe. Anyway, my friend and I got to the restaurant at around 11 am on a Tuesday. It was empty since we wanted to beat the lunch rush.
Overall, the location’s décor and ambiance is a bit more on the upscale and fancy side than its original sister location. Not that it’s a bad or good thing– it depends on your personal preference. You get more of a laid back shabby-​chic from the Milpitas location.
But most importantly! The food is just as consistently good as the original location. As is the service. I haven’t disliked anything that I’ve had here yet. And I can’t foresee that I ever will. I can’t vouch for the wait on a weekend, or during lunch or dinner rushes. But the food is so flavorful, fresh, and consistently delicious. I’m an avid carnivore but this place is pretty darn good. I also like to think that I have a discerning palette for what good Vietnamese food should taste like. I think my favorite thing about the food is that you don’t get that nasty, overstuffed feeling after you eat the food since it’s not meat. Which is really fantastic because I love to eat.

If you like spicy food Get the Malaysian noodles wow!
The pad Thai was a little dry this time around but maybe it was a 1 time thing so I’ll leave my rating at 5 stars as it was perfecto last time and seriously those Malaysian noodles were fantastic!
FYI, you can order your food over the phone however their English is limited so your special requests might not make it through.
IF YOU ARE GLUTEN SENSITIVE READ THIS: I feel like I might have been sensitive to the food here however, my husband (not gluten sensitive) was completely fine. It was still worth it though! Might have just been too spicy for me who knows I am still figuring out my food sensitivities ugh. Tasted great though lol

I loved the location in Milpitas but this location in Little Saigon is 10 minutes away from me & I love it even more! The customer service is great! No complains about that. I’ve been waiting to do a review on this location since the first month is always hectic but now they finally got the flow going! This place does get packed during lunch, but the wait is never too long. If you don’t mind sitting outside, there’s no wait at all. They have heaters outside, so don’t worry about the breeze.
The Malaysian noodles, crispy tofu & Ginger chicken!!! My favorite dishes on their whole menu. I love how large their portions are! Their Thai flavored hot pot is really delicious if you want something hot! The crispy tofu comes with three sauces: peanut, soy sauce and a sweet tangy sauce. I prefer to mix my sauces so I can get both sweet and salty! The ginger chicken does not come with a side of rice, so I would say order a small bowl! Since the portions are large, family style is the way to go here!

So, I’m going vegetarian for two weeks and wanted to Unilocal around and find a local vegan/​vegetarian place to eat at.
Found it!!!
Beautiful décor!
tasty vegan dishes
clean inside
manager is super friendly and informative about the dishes
water is included with limes and cucumber
Unilocal elites get 15% off!
I’m coming back for sure, new fav place to eat.

I loveeee vegetarian food! I sometimes prefer it over the ‘real’ meat! I like the texture and the taste of it! Who says vegetarian has to be boring?! They do a good job at imitating the food!
I tried the orange chicken rice place! It comes with a good size! And it’s about $ 10 – 11 for it!
Super tasty; it’s not crunchy like the orange chicken at Panda Express but it has that orange sweetness zing to it!
The ginger chicken is also similar to it; but has a more ginger taste. Id prefer the orange chicken instead of the ginger one!
The Thai Curry (also pictured on their menu) is DELICIOUS! I’m not too big a fan of curry; but I wanted to try it! It’s kinda spicy… But yummy! I had it with the noodles and it’s so delicious!
I also tried the crunchy chow mein; and it was also delicious with the combination of different veggie meat!
The rock n roll beef is also pretty delicious! It is served with salad and rice plates! Very tasty! I love this veggie place! I like the layout of this restaurant compared to the one in Milpitas! The location is kinda hard to find as its all the way in the back left corner of Vietnam town!

Love their food and good services!
My parents love all the foods. Will definitely come back.

I was a fan of Lang Chay, so of course I was thrilled to know that they’ll be moving into a less cramped spot and hopefully improve a little in aesthetic to be more appealing. However, I feel like I don’t enjoy the food/​experiences here as much.
The food is okay. I mean there was some star platers, but some fell short and unimpressive. Their all season sampler plate is a good way to start your meal here. Their thai hot pot is also something you should try. I’m not much of the fat noodles for the phở, it’s very hard to eat actually. They’re not actually like bigger noodles, they’re like rice sheets that aren’t cut at all. It was hard to enjoy the phở in my opinion since it wasn’t really noodles… I think their curry is notable. The claypot fish was okay, although you can get a little tired of it pretty easily. Orange chicken rice plate was good too. Overall, I don’t know how I feel about imitation meats… I’m not a huge fan.
Their service was alright as well. We always had to get the attention of the servers/​waiters and they weren’t as attentive. Overall, okay dining experience for a vegetarian.

1. Someone crossed off our name and skipped over us. We were standing by the «Please Wait to Be Seated» sign and our name was not called.
2. We were given 3 glasses of water for 4ppl. Then we were given 3pcs of napkin again for 4ppl. Someone needs to go back to school and learn how to count.
3. Waited over an hour for our food. Mine came within 25mins. Another 20mins later came my sister’s food. We had to ask where my parents food was only for them to tell us that they ran out. Seriously?! 40mins later only to tell us that they ran out of the dish. If we never asked, no one would’ve told us and we would’ve sat there until our hair turned grey. Total we waited over an hour for everyone’s dishes… ridiculous!
Food:
— Rock-​N-​Roll Tofu: not entirely sure what Rock-​N-​Roll meant but the dish was good. The salad was very lightly dressed with a vinaigrette and the tofu was very firm but still silky.
— Winter Roll: this was the roll they supposedly ran out of
— Combo Vermicelli Bowl: my mom really liked this. Everything was fresh and egg rolls were good
— Yellow Noodle Bowl: bland
Conclusion: The food was good but the restaurant was so unorganized. Servers didn’t know which table the dishes were ordered. They need a better system. They took 15% off our bill for inconvenience but I didn’t care for it because as an Elite member, you normally get 15% off.
Better to wait for this business for a good 6−9mos before returning since they are fairly new.

So sad to see Lang Chay go, but they had a move & a rename so it’s all good! Tucked away in the back left corner of Vietnam Town, fairly easy to spot. If you check in, you get a 10% discount. Elite get 15%, yee!
Water is spa water with a slice of lemon & cucumber, refreshing. I have tried the Malaysian noodles & they are the bomb! Just enough spice & quite flavorful sauce for the noodles, veggies & «meat.» Also had an order of eggplant that was cooked to perfection as well, yum! Hubs had the pad thai & that wasn’t bad either. Can’t wait to try more food here as nothing has been subpar yet.
Staff is attentive as well. They come to check on you multiple times & refill your water as needed. All with a smile on!
Even if you swear by meat, I highly suggest you give Mint & Basil a shot! You may have a change in your ways & your body & tastebuds shall thank you :)

I was feeling down in the dumps and my friend suggested we check this place out because her and her bf have been eating a lot of vegan food lately. Since new food places cheers me up, I decided to go. The place was a bit hidden to find, but their was a poster on the fence that pointed to where it’s at. You will see The Sweet Corner on your right and Mint & Basil on your left. Don’t be discouraged if you can’t find it, it’s worth looking around. Anyways, she ordered Thai fried rice and I had ordered autumn rolls with peanut sauce and fried tofu. The rolls had a nice crunch factor because they also include sliced apple, which gave it a nice sweet factor. The fried tofu was more than plentiful for the both of us, which was nice Because I had some leftover to take home and munch on. The Thai fried rice was on point and had a bit of a spicy kick, which I loved. The service was delightful and the food was
! Will be returning soon =)

When I pulled up to the old location and didn’t see the Lang Chay sign up, I nearly had a heart attack! Thank god for Unilocal bringing me back off the ledge by informing me of their new location, and name, just down the street. (:
I’ve been a long time fan of Lang Chay’s food since day 1 back when the hot pots were only $ 14!!! (5 years ago) Fast forward now and I’ve never been disappointed with the food. The hot pots are still an amazing deal ($ 21) and so tasty.
My order is always Thai Hot Pot extra spicy with the nem nuong cuon (autumn rolls). I almost like the veggie nem nuong cuon more than the real thing… Almost! The sauce is very flavorful and I am not even a sauce person. One of the best appetizers on the menu.
I’ve been here with many people who’ve had other dishes, they’re all fantastic. The owners take so much pride in their restaurant and it shows through the quality of the food and the great service. I got the great fortune of talking to them during dinner today — splendid individuals. Great food is always a plus, but the bonus is getting to support a business that deserves to succeed.
Two locations: SJ and Milpitas! And Eliters get 15% off right now. (10% for just checking in)
Even if you’re a meat eater, trust me, give this place a go — you will not be disappointed!

Duuude. This place is pretty bomb. I ordered the sampler rolls and the rocking roll beef rice plate it tasted soo freaking good! Workers were very nice and friendly. Service was amazingly fast. Also saved 10% on the meals just by checking in! I will definitely come back. Lots of parking space. Restaurant is located in vietnam town plaza all the way in the back.

Delicious food! I would give 4 stars but for the price.
Curry dish was lovely but for $ 12 we would hope for something more than the common ingredients used .
Chef: please consider less tofu /​bell peppers and maybe add oyster mushroom and more yummy ‘cha.‘
Phở ap chao was more reasonably priced $ 10 and super tasty, best around.
Excellent service. We had to exchange one not thoroughly cleaned fork.

Stopped by to try since I’ve always liked trying vegan restaurants. Overall, the food was tasty and filling, but I probably wouldn’t get the Malaysian Noodle dish again simply because I couldn’t handle the lingering spiciness of the noodles. The waiter did mention it was very spicy, so I was aware, yet still ordered it with less spiciness. So, my only comment there for others would be to take the spiciness seriously. It is actually pretty hot. Also, VERY filling. It was enough to fill up probably 2 – 3 adults. So +1 for big portions.
Also, I would return here to try the mushroom hot pot dish or the mushroom and tofu phở, but probably in another month or two. This branch just opened this year, so I understand that the staff and business itself are still adjusting in that location.
I knocked off a star this time because of what felt like a 30 minute wait for my dish to come out of the kitchen, when my boyfriend’s dish came within 15 – 20. The waiter apologized, apparently my dish went to another table. As said earlier, I know they’re new in this location, so I let it go. It happens.
When we visited, a lot of people were ordering phở dishes, perhaps that’s the dish getting most word of mouth lately?
Nice ambiance, interesting waiters with latex gloves on and walkie talkies, but aside from that, I think the establishment will find its way to settling in and locking in a healthy bunch of loyal customers soon.

I loooooove Mint & Basil but this location really falls short for me, which is so sad because it’s closer to home!
On our first visit, I made a reservation for 4 at 6:30 on a Friday? night when they just opened. Our table was so close to the neighboring table that we couldn’t even squeeze in to sit! The couple graciously offered to scoot their table back a bit so we could have some more room.
Service was attentive because it wasn’t packed until later. The rock n roll beef salad is always super flavorful & enjoyable. The Malaysian noodles were extra spicy that night! My mouth was on fire! The eggplant was really good as usual. I ordered the mango tea lemonade but was given the mango soda. I wasn’t fond of it.
Second visit (today) was at lunch & it was sooo packed we waited nearly 30 mins for a table. Honestly this place is way too small for the business they get. We kept being bumped into by employees as we waited for a table because there’s very little space to wait. Also, it’s REALLY cold when the door is left open for patrons who sit close to the door. The employees didn’t seem to even notice their shivering patrons.
Service was a huge miss today and left me disappointed. I ordered the combination vermicelli bowl which looks really good but doesn’t taste as great. I felt like it was pretty bland and the noodles weren’t cooked long enough so it wasn’t enjoyable. There was also A LOT of bean sprouts. The bowls are not big enough to compensate the mixing that needs to be done… And I realized the rock n roll beef plate is not big enough either. So much of our salad fell as we mixed it all up to distribute the mango vinaigrette. The salad was not cut up properly, they were huge pieces which made it even more difficult to mix :(
I feel like the next time I want some mint & basil, I will need to order to go. Long waits, cramped space & mediocre service = unhappy camper. Btw, they’re running a 10% off checkin promo but elites get 15% off. It was aggravating trying to tell the woman we’re Elites and already checked in because she obviously didn’t know how to verify it. If you’re going to offer the promo, I would suggest having all employees capable of verifying it.

Anyone who knows me knows that making plans are my kind of thing. I like to choose where to eat and if I can’t choose, I’m a little skeptical about the place. This was one of those times. I wasn’t in a planning kind of mood so I went along with whatever my friends choose. Aparently they are big fans of their original location in Milpitas, so they wanted to check this place out since it’s closer to home. After eating here… It makes me sad that this great place is extremely hidden! My friends told me to just park at sweet corner in the Vietnam town plaza and that I would see it. But it’s so well tucked that I still couldn’t find it. After finding it, I walked into a restaurant in all whites and pops of green that I could only describe as being really fresh.
The theme of bright and fresh continues even into their food. Everything tasted and looked fresh and beautiful. After being warmly greeted and having a really helpful server, we ordered the autumn rolls, rock n roll beef salad, Hawaiian delight mango pineapple tofu, and spicy lemongrass chicken. Those autumn rolls are a must when coming here-​I don’t care what else you get, you have to at least get those. I am not a fan of spring rolls and that grassy flavor, but these had vegan sausage, lettuce, crispy rolls, apples, rolled in a rice paper. The crispy rolls in this was my favorite part because it gave the appetizer a surprising crunch. I also like the apples in this too because it gave a nice amount of sweetness and made it even more refreshing to eat. The lemongrass chicken had a perfect balance between sour and spicy. The mango went well with the tofu and was really enjoyable. The rock n roll beef was nicely marinated and tasted exactly like a dish my family makes at home.
After eating the amazing meal, I had to ask one more time, «Was everything I ate seriously vegan/​vegetarian? Because the „meats“ in every dish tasted so real.» And our waiter laughed a yes. Even if you didn’t know that this place was vegetarian, I think the dishes are exeptional on their own. Then finding out that there is actually no meat just makes it that much more amazing.

Came here with my sister for lunch and when we walked in I was automatically greeted. All the waiters here are super friendly and attentive. The owner, Cindy came up to me to talk to me as well as Minh, one of the waiters. They make you feel like family. We ordered the Autumn Rolls, Quang Style Noodles, and the Crispy Chow Mien. The food came out right away. All the food was super tasty and EVERYTHING WAS VEGETARIAN. The «shrimp, beef, and chicken» are all soy, wheat, or plant based. They tasted like real meat and my sister had to double check with me if the food was actually vegetarian. I am definitely in love with this vegetarian restaurant and I will be coming back to try more items on the menu.

Is this place VEGAN or VEGETARIAN? It’s weird as the menu says «our food is vegan or vegetarian». It did not say and, it said or. Very confusing! I will assume it’s vegan and vegetarian, and a typo on their takeout menu.
For the price and food quality, I’ll give them 5 stars. However, staff needs to brush up on knowledge of gluten free as I had to ask a second person to clarify how they make food gluten free. Essentially, they take out the meat substitutes and replace it with tofu. Given this, the fried rice dish was just «ok» and the eggplant was nice but a little too oily to finish. However, mixing both of those dishes together was pretty good!
My absolute fav dish was the pad thai!
I also ordered it gluten free. It’s been almost 12 hours since I ate it and I feel great so I will assume they really are gluten free!
I love how they add a foil insert to keep the food warm. This also prevents my food from getting leeched plastic in it.
FYI– the wait for takeout was pretty long. This might just be due to them being new and figuring things out.
I also love how they have an Indian guy working there! Just funny since all the other staff is Vietnamese.
PPS– I sat in the waiting area long enough to notice that 2 of your ceiling lights are slightly flickering. You might want to check on that. things like that annoy me but it’s so subtle most people probably won’t notice.

I love this place for their phở. Very few places make good vegan dishes or vegan phở but, this place is among the best. Servers are friendly and kind. Only thing that I wasn’t much impressed with was the Ginger Orange chicken, it lacked flavors but other than that, a very decent lovely place to have great healty meals.

Mint & Basil is another latest addition to the rapidly growing commercial plaza-​Vietnam Town, situated in the San Jose area! It’s the newest among the trending Vegetarian restaurants of the area too!
Location tip: Soon after entering the plaza, please take the last right and proceed all the way further to the end of the road, there you see this bright & green themed M&B at the corner. Finding a good parking space shouldn’t be a big problem here, has plentiful parking spots in the lot!
Came here with the Hubby couple of days ago, dined for dinner, the day we visited was just a week since they had opened the facility. Well, the place is very compact inside, can overlook the entire restaurant from the entrance point. Indoor seats can accommodate around 15 families at a time. And, they do’ve ample seating area with enough heating lamps outside, but who cares? it’s freaking cold winter now!!!
We comfortably occupied a corner seat inside and just couldn’t wait to make our first order the moment we were given their alluring Menu! Definitely, this place commits to give you the BEST, HEALTHY & TASTY FOOD EVER, I say again, EVERRRR, but on the flip side, it slightly stumbles on providing an efficient waiter service in particular. Too many waiters serving 1 single table, and neither of them don’t know the status of order, just kept handing over the check to us (in fact it happened twice when we just made an order of 1 item, before we even asked for and also, the restaurant was not that crowded to hurry us up). Don’t wanna be too finicky, but one of the attendant was not helpful when asked for suggestions too. Also, their Desserts menu weren’t ready entirely for that night, they had only 1 flavor-​coconut. Thank Goodness! Marco Polo Gelato shop came to our rescue (located in the same town) & we had our unregretful delicious picks!!! (Will wait for some more time to check their service at a later point in time, as this is still a budding business).
Our Order,
1. The All Seasons Sampler ($ 14), from their Customer Favorites Appetizers — Totally fell in love with this plate! It goes true with the name!!! This is a combo of Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter rolls with extra egg rolls on the platter. Comes with 3 different tasty sauces for each rolls. Peanut sauce for Spring and Winter rolls, Fish sauce for Summer & Egg rolls and Mung Bean sauce for Autumn rolls. All the rolls were wrapped tight, the rolls and the sauce combo worked out great. Especially, the rolls with the sweetish peanut sauce was Super YUM! On the whole, this is a Great Value for Money!!!
2. Spicy Lemongrass Fish ($ 10), from their Customer Favorites Speciality Dishes — Guess if am not mistaken, this is tofu made to look like fish (although it looked like aubergine for me), sauteed in spicy lemongrass sauce. This was another welcoming choice (I’m sure you won’t regret it), tasted very flavorful and satisfying!
3. Drinks — Homemade Mango Lemonade Iced Tea ($ 4) — Too Sweet for me! & Cup of Hot Tea ($ 1) — Soothingly Good!
OVERALL — «4 Stars only for Food»
Impressive menu with great dishes and ingredients, generous portion sizes, top notch quality and taste. Although, the service could’ve been better. They Accept Credit Cards, but NOT AMEX!
Rock N Roll Beef Salad, Thai Binh Curry, Thai Fried Rice, Mushroom Hot Pot, OMG! gotta try lot more!!! Will be glad to come back soon to grab one of these enticing looking dishes!!!

I’m not super into vegetarian food but I love this place. The food is super delicious and packed with flavor. So even if you love meat, give this place a try, it’s that good!
If anyone’s having trouble finding the restaurant, it’s in the back left hand side of the Vietnam Town plaza.

Mint & Basil is so worthy of my first official review on Unilocal,even though I’ve been using Unilocal for years! Honestly, I’ve never even touched vegetarian food until I’ve tried Mint & Basil. The magic they work in the kitchen is amazing and if every food were to taste like this, I would easily become a vegetarian.
The Autumn Rolls are a MUST try and the vegan sausage is actually HOMEMADE! Served with a house sauce with a mung bean base and a side of chili paste, it’s pretty much perfection. I also loved the Rock n Roll Beef Salad! If you’re looking for something light, yet flavorful, this is exactly that. The salad is fresh and the flavors tie in together to leave you happy and you don’t feel heavy at all! My absolutely favorite though is the ThaiBinh Curry! It’s so rich and the coconut base is so creamy. Personally, I’m not a fan of mushrooms and I love that I can request the dish without it and they will gladly substitute it for more veggies or tofu.
All in all, you have to try Mint & Basil. The experiences I have here is always great and the ambiance and environment makes you feel so comfortable that you can sit there for hours and chat with your friends without even realizing it!

I LOVE VEGETARIAN FOOD! While growing up, I was introduced to vegetarian food at a very early age by my family, which I am very thankful for because vegetarian food is amazing not only in taste but in the way it was produce, almost as if it was an art form.
Before Mint & Basil opened up in San Jose, there was a small vietnamese restaurant that was also serving up great vegetarian food, but due to it being so popular in such a small and cramped area it had to expand. With that in mind I assumed it merged with a bigger name vegetarian restaurant, Mint & Basil.
Upon the big day of actually trying out the food, my experience was quite pleasant. The décor of the restaurant had a calm and soothing vibe, which I believe compliments vegetarian cuisine just because it involves creating a master piece from nature without harming it. The food was very good, flavorful, and light which it ought to be.
Overall, I would definitely recommend this place to vegetarians, vegans, people who love both vegetarian and meat dishes, and anyone willing to try vegetarian food. It can be pretty amazing with how bean curd can look and taste like strips of beef.

Just opened and like any place that just opened, it’s not 100% ready yet. (I wonder if they did a soft opening?)
The menu is quite vast, mainly providing Vietnamese food in a vegan/​vegetarian offering. There’s the usual phở, hot pot, bun noodles, and curries. This is one of 2 – 3 places I know that do this, 1 of which is just around the corner of McLaugh/​Story.
I went for dinner and the place was packed, they offered outside seating with the heat lamps and it was adequate (for a 40-​something degree dinner). Drinks — all they had available was sugarcane.
We ordered the following: thai fried rice, thai binh curry, and mi quang noodles. The majority flavor was spicy. Everything was about a 3? spiciness level (I like spicy food).
Thai fried rice — they either forgot or had problems in the back. We finished our two meals before this came out and we had asked twice where it was, and service never got back to us. I would, however, recommend this dish. Simple thai flavors with mixed «meat». Recommended.
Thai binh curry– They ran out of roti so I got egg noodles instead. The noodles were a bit overcooked and a small serving… at least I thought until I saw someone elses order and they had a ton of noodles. I got jipped of noodles, lame. The curry is quite tasty and would recommend it.
Mi Quang noodles — the broth lack depth other than simple spicy with not much depth.
I would recommend this place for its food, but I think the lack of my noodles and long wait for the thai fried rice rubbed me the wrong way.

Went to the grand opening today, really excited to see the new Mint & Basil.
I’m a big fan of the Lang Chay and Mint & Basil in Milpitas.
Ordered the autumn roll platter because I can’t get enough of this. The crunchy protein, the crispy wafer thing and that dipping sauce is amazing.
Also got rock and roll beef plus the sweet and sour hot pot.
The menu has expanded tremendously, holy cow, half a dozen types of phở, just as many types of hot pot and an entire page of desserts. Homemade ice cream is heaven in the form of vegan coconut vanilla.
So many variations and permutations to try!

This restaurant is located inside Vietnam Town, which is adjacent to Grand Century mall, and as you enter the parking lot, the restaurant is located in the far back left corner. Initially, we actually went around the whole complex because this corner seemed deserted, as I think it’s the only currently occupied spot in that corner.
We arrived around 5:30pm or so, and the place was fairly packed as it was their grand opening day, and they were offering 30% off your whole meal. It’s not the biggest of locations, and the waiting area is a tad bit cramped especially being next to walkway to enter/​exit the kitchen meaning, servers were carrying food out often and had to avoid waiting customers. A hostess directed me to write my name down on the waiting list, but within ten minutes we were given the option of seating outside. Since it’s winter, my parents at first didn’t really want to sit outside, but I told them to check it out anyways, and the restaurant has really nice and strong heating lamps (I think that’s what they’re called) for their outside seating, so we ended up sitting outside. A waiter even moved the heating lamp right next to the table for us.
After ordering our meals, a man, who I assume is the manager, asked us if we’d like to be seated inside as a table opened up, and we gladly jumped at this opportunity. For our meal we ordered the crunchy fish, the lemongrass fish, savory stir fried eggplant, pad thai, and a large order of rice to split between three people. Note that even though these dishes are named fish, it’s not actually fish, as this is a vegetarian/​vegan place.
The food took a bit of time to come out, but I was patient, considering it was opening day, and the place was packed. The first dish to come out was the crunchy fish, which was served with a really yummy dipping sauce. Initially, I had a brain fart and exclaimed to my mom that this fish sauce was quite good, and she looked at me seriously and was like Brendan, how can this be fish sauce, if it’s vegan. Ooh snap. My bad. HAHA. But the sauce for this dish was super good. It had a salty/​savory yet sour note to it. The crunchy fish itself was I think some kind of fake fish tofu that was lightly batter and fried. It had a good crisp and wasn’t oily. Even when we finished the dish, and the waiter came to take our plate away, my dad held onto the sauce to eat with subsequent dishes. There was a lull period where we were just sitting and waiting for our next dish, and when it came out, it was the lemongrass fish. The same kind of fake «fish» was used for this entrée, but this time the fish was stir friend and it was covered in lemongrass and a few chili flakes, but it wasn’t spicy at all. Within five minutes, our next dish the savory stir fried eggplant came out, and my mom was a bit peeved, because she wanted everything to come out relatively the same time, so we asked a nearby waitress, and she said that our dish should be out shortly, but I’m not sure if she actually checked on it or not. However, the eggplant dish was YUM. It had a nice big stalk of basil planted in the middle, which made for a really nice presentation. True to it’s name, the dish was extremely savory and was bursting with basil flavor, which my family enjoys. The eggplant was cooked well, and the dish also had thin piece of fried tofu that weren’t soggy and bell peppers that still had a nice crunch.
Overall the meal went fairly well, but we were finishing up, and still wondering where our pad thai was, so we asked a different waiter about it, and then the manager came to us and said they didn’t realize we had ordered a pad thai. Strange as we definitely had told our waiter when we were still sitting outside, and he had verbally repeated it to us, but we were fairly satiated, so we said it was fine, and just to bring the bill.
I know it was grand opening day, but there are some things that could use improvement. Firstly, the walking area through the restaurant is kind of narrow, so I feel like it’s a potential accident waiting to happen. I was kind of surprised none of the waiters hit each other, but I feel like there were a few close calls. Next, for our drink, my family decided to get hot tea, but the tea that was given to us was sort of lukewarm and I don’t know if this is on purpose, but usually Asian places serve their tea fairly hot. As I pointed out briefly earlier, my mom wished all the dishes would have come out within minutes of each other, since we ordered family style, but there were some big gaps in between the plates. And then of course the forgetting of the pad thai. Nonetheless, we were quite satisfied with the flavors and the fact that there is a Vietnamese vegetarian/​vegan option around. Prices are also fairly affordable, and my dad already wants to come back. There is also quite the variety of dishes, so I feel like anyone could find something to enjoy. 3.5÷5, which rounds to 4 stars

I’ve wanted to try Mint & Basil for a long time, but still never tried their Milpitas location. However, everything looks clean, healthy and has no MSG! Everything on the menu, despite what most of the dish names say, is vegetarian (said in small print). They even have many vegan and gluten-​free dishes as well.
The most famous dish seems to be the autumn rolls, and they were delicious! We got the sampler as well and I liked everything, and it came with three different sauces.
The Rock-​n-​Roll beef salad is a popular favorite and it was really good. I think I like it equally as much as real beef!
The pad Thai was good but I wish it was spicy.
The Thai Binh curry was the only thing I did not love, it had a weird consistency to me. Maybe it’s the ratio of coconut milk to curry?
I really like this place and it has potential to be better. Some of their sauces are a bit sweet so maybe some salt and spiciness could help it out. The mango garden soda had a really interesting tang to it but I enjoyed it. Not just because the place new, but the place feels and tastes clean. Will be back again!

Unlike my boyfriend, I’m a complete meat lover but Mint & Basil opened my eyes to how many common meat containing dishes can be imitated into vegetarian dishes and still taste delicious or even better! Thanks to my Unilocal friend Sarina, I found out about the Grand Opening and was excited to take my boyfriend to try this place out!
Since it was Grand Opening day, I had an open mind about the service. We came in, got greeted and was seated right away. I loved the interior of the place, the flower centerpiece, and the design of the menus. Service is still a bit disorganized but that’s called for on the first day of grand opening. There were so many options to choose from! My boyfriend and I decided to try something from the options in the «Customer Favorites» section. We ended getting the Malaysian Noodle and the Mi Quang. I’ve only had the meat version of Mi Quang so I was looking forward to try it vegetarian style. Our food came out in about 10 minutes and the presentation of the dishes were beautiful! I noticed that every dish had a nice presentation.
Malaysian Noodle: The dish was huge and tasted really flavorful! It had a little kick to it which I love! I thought it tasted even better than the meat version of it. It had a good amount of vegetables. There was imitation shrimp & imitation beef that tasted like the real thing but I actually liked it more.
Mi Quang: I thought this dish was ok but a little bland. It contained bean sprouts, peanuts, assorted vegetables, tofu, imitation shrimp & ham, imitation pork and 2 black sesame rice crackers with the special Mi Quang sauce. Not sure if I would order this again in the future.
There were so many other dishes that I want to try such as the Autumn rolls and Thai Binh Curry. Will definitely be back again and take my family here to try!

In the wise words of Miss Nicki Minaj, «He can tell I ain’t missing no meals.»
How can he tell? Well, if you have to ask you’ve either never met me in person or you’re really good at never looking below my neck… but he can also tell because when I eat I order and pile a plate like it’s my last day on Earth.
All Seasons Roll Platter — Check!
Crispy Tofu — Check!
Rock & Roll Beef and Rice Plate — Check!
Extra Rock & Roll Beef — Check!
ThaiBinh Curry w/​Rice — Check!
Mushroom Hot Pot for 4 — Check!
And I’m not even a little embarrassed to say that had my dining partner not been here I 100% would have ordered more for myself. That’s the problem with going out to eat with lightweight eaters who can’t hold their own when the menu stakes are high and my belt needs to come off.
I love Mint & Basil’s first restaurant, Lang Chay, and adore their second (Mint & Basil Milpitas) even more because it allowed for more seating and less of a wait for that incredible Rock & Roll Beef. When I heard Mint & Basil was opening a brand new San Jose location I was elated. As a person who frequents San Jose and this area in particular, I’m excited to come here probably every week to get my Mint & Basil on.
There’s probably something close to 100 different vegan menu items and everything I’ve ever had has been outstanding. Not just good, but truly exceptional. They offer kids items, gluten free items, and seem to be very willing to work with allergies.
If you’re unfamiliar with the minds behind Mint & Basil, you’ll often find them in the kitchen or waiting tables at any of their restaurants, meeting guests and ensuring the quality of their signature vegan delights. I encourage you to meet Cindy & ThaiBinh. Cindy’s story and her journey from Vietnam is incredible and everything you need to know about ThaiBinh can be tasted in his signature dish, ThaiBinh Curry… which is perfection.
This new location has come so far from the Lang Chay days. Located in San Jose’s new bustling Vietnam Town, they’re tucked away in a corner of the complex that’s the farthest business from street view but easy to find if you follow your nose towards the tantalizing aromas of savory eggplant dishes and the most flavorful and meat-​like faux meats you’ve ever tasted.
If I had one piece of advice to give diners here beyond ordering everything mentioned above, it’d be to order even more to take home because once you leave you won’t be able to stop thinking about all the other dishes you didn’t get when you were there, and how you can’t wait to come back.