Vien Dong

I have been here numerous times, mainly for either their pâté chaud. I believe its family owned but it’s always the same people working. Also, I buy my grandpa lunch here every other day. Different types of homestyle foods, I usually order 6 round containers of food for the next couples days. I can barely order food in vietnamese, I’m not as fluent in speaking but I understand everything. So when I first start ordering food here, it was difficult since no one knew how to speak english even their kids. As time went on after coming back so often, they remember me and I started picking up on what was said the last time. So now I can order in vietnamese. Yay. Or they allow me to just point on what I want.

Best pâté chaud in town hands down! Cash only … Worth the trouble… Payed $ 5.50 for 10 pieces.

I’ve been here numerous time for their pâté chaud, they’re top notch!
My mom suggested I try their 3 item plates whenever I have a home style cooking craving so I finally got around to checking them out for lunch. I was the only customer in the store. The food was set up in steel trays over hot water. You get a choice of carbs (noodles, white or fried rice), veggie dish and meat dish. I chose fried rice (interesting mixture with bits of pork), pork (extremely salty) and a green bean mix (semi salty with small bits of pork and onions). By the end of my meal, I think I drank about a gallon of water.
I wish there were labels so I didn’t have to ask what each dish was and what was in them (for allergy purposes). Pricing was reasonable: $ 5.50 plus tax for each 3 item plate.
Overall, if you like salty food– try their plates. If not, stuck to their pâté chaud.

Vien Dong looked like a fast food eatery with a few pastries, prepped dishes, smoothie, bahn mi on the side.
offerings: lunch specials (rice w/​2 entrees from steam table (5.5), banh mi (3.5), pastries, prepped food
eats: meatball banh mi (3.50)
–one large meatball in a long baguette
–baquette crunchy, fresh,. meat, veggies average, only jalepeno tasted
–interesting that bahn mi maker wanted to know if i wanted veggies on the side (sogginess issue).
–slight sodium taste, 7ish banh mi offerings.
take outs:
–everyone spoke to me in vietnamese today, amazing what cutting a few inches of hair does!
ok, not the coffee shop.
–didn’t understand the entrees, so passed. seen in plain sight, but the taste unkownst to me.

Found a cooked cockroach in our noodles…

Vien Dong (VD [Ha!]) is the sister location to Vien Dong Sugar Cane (VDSC) that’s located just up the road a piece, in the Caribees Shopping Center. Unlike VDSC –which specializes in drinks and their delicious Pâté Chaud– VD serves up baked goods, Asian foods, and Bánh Mì. I stopped by with a couple of cohorts to check it out for lunch and ordered a Grilled Pork Bánh Mì and a cà phê sa đá (Viet Iced Coffee).
#6: Grilled Pork:
Meat– The Pork was really tender, but it had a very strong fish sauce taste and not much «grilled» flavor. After a few bites, my palate got used to the fishy flavor and it was just OK. 2.75*
Veggies– Typical assortment of pickled Daikon, Carrots, Parsley and fresh Jalapeños. Nothing really stood out, but nothing was bad, either. 3.5*
Bread– Pretty unimpressive ±10″ French loaf that was semi-​stale; it didn’t «Cap’n Crunch» my mouth too bad, but left me wanting. 2*
Cà Phê Sa Đá (Viet Iced Coffee) — This was the clear winner here; nice, strong coffee flavor and not too sweet. Not as good as my all-​time favorite at Dakao, but a solid choice, and it has a good price at only $ 3. 4*
Service & Ambiance– VD is located in a Ghetto-​Fabulous shopping center in an industrial part of town. There’s usually a few homeless wandering around asking for money, and some of their clientele leaves much to be desired. The employees were all very nice, but only one person actually spoke English – which is par for the course in these establishments. Service 3.75*/ Ambiance 3*
Value– The sandwiches are all priced at $ 3.50 (which is standard for Bánh Mì), and they charge only 50¢ for extra meat, while most others charge $ 1. As I mentioned before, the cà phê sa đá was value priced at $ 3. 4*
While I was not impressed with VD’s sandwiches, I will definitely be back to feed my occasional craving for Viet coffee. Chúc mùng!