Bamboozle Cafe

I feel the need to deduct stars as my online orders are not consistently correct. And I order almost once a week.
But the food is great — try the chicken phở with cilantro and a little bit of jalepeno.
Tip: You can order online and pickup if you prefer to skip the long lunch lines.

This was a really nice experience. The food was delicious. This is a nice little hidden gem. I can’t wait to return.

Just came in for lunch. I was the only person in line until someone come up behind me. The person came in and started to serve them first. Racist f@cks because. Maybe it was a friend. Never going there again

I went to Bamboozle Café after a friend suggested it — though I’m not a fan of phở. Fortunately, the drink and dinner list had many options. I definitely recommend the sake mojito which was made perfectly. For the main course I went and ordered the Chili Garlic Chicken which I was expecting to be super spicy but it was not. Nonetheless it was a good meal and the atmosphere was lovely. We had made reservations so there was no wait.

Amazing, delicious, mouth watering!
Bamboozle defines perfection of the Vietnamese fresh roll, with flavorful sauces that perfectly complement each one. The menu is large and tempting, but the rolls are so unique, vibrant, fresh and exploding with flavor that we have to advise against deviating from the rolls (though their phở is dynamite, too). You can taste the owner’s passion and love in every bite.

Birthday phở and fresh rolls with the bestie! They were so accommodating and helped choose ingredients. Phở was great. Interesting sauces at condiment bar. Great fresh jasmine and green iced tea. I checked into Unilocal and got a free homemade coffee cupcake that we split. Amazing!!! Happy birthday to us (3 days apart) great earthy vibe, love the rotating artwork. Yum. Great local business!

I decided to visit Bamboozle Café for dinner on Saturday after hearing a lot of hype about it. I’ve tried Vietnamese food just once before and to be honest, I wasn’t a huge fan of it. I was hoping Bamboozle Café would change my opinion.
The ambiance of the place is very cozy and we were seated immediately since we’d made a reservation. Our server was very friendly and gave us suggestions on what to order. He recommended trying the Sake Mojito which my friends and I ordered and we all thought it was excellent. We also ordered some appetizers for the table — the chili chicken fried spring rolls & the crab Rangoon which were both very crispy and tasted great!
I decided to go the non traditional route and order the Chili Garlic Chicken with jasmine rice instead of Phở. My friends ordered the Phở Ga & the Phở Short Ribs (which the server recommended). The presentation of the food was very nice and the service was quick. However, none of us were super impressed with the taste of the food. I was expecting a slightly spicy dish but the Chili Garlic Chicken didn’t pack too much of a kick, even after the addition of extra chili aioli. My friend mentioned that his Phở Ga was also not super impressive. Overall, the service, ambiance, presentation & portion sizes were great but the food we tried lacked the flavor I was expecting.
I will probably make a trip there at some point again because they do have an extensive menu with many other entrees, Banh Mi and curries. I’m not writing them off yet but I hope to be more impressed the next time I’m there with the taste of the food.

The service I received from this place was very lack luster. It’s like they totally forgot about me as soon as I sat down. It’s also a very small place with no waiting area at all.
Having said that, I really enjoyed the food. Their concept of spring rolls is really interesting. They have about 10 – 12 different spring rolls you can choose from or you can make your own. I enjoy how health conscious their food choices are and how fresh the actual food tastes.
I have not dined in since I went the first time but I have ordered food to go a couple of times.

Rating based on service and quality of phở. Ordered the phở Bo and duck roll. Walked in and rather than dining in I got take out. Phở is near 10.00 and have half the amount of soup and half the amount of noodles to traditional Vietnamese phở. There was no sriracha sauce either which I like adding if the broth isn’t as flavorful for me. Minimal bean sprouts as well. Ordered tea, sat down and rather than telling me they were out while sitting for several minutes I walk up and am not spoken to by anyone. I get to ask someone after two other employees stand in front of me and tap away at the screen and then walk away without a word. Spring roll was ok, I’m used to seeing a sauce on the side for it. Price was high for those two sizes. Just not the right place to get Vietnamese food, maybe something else is better.

After a few hours of rock climbing, we stopped in to have dinner with 30 minutes before closing. Our group was not rushed to order or eat. I had the sesame glass noodles with roast pork.
This filling bowl of noodly goodness hit the spot.
My colleagues had the yellow curry plate, fresh roll and phở.
We all left filled and happy. No need to filibuster. I would’ve given this restaurant 5 stars but we were in a rush and didn’t have a chance to experience everything.
Large portions, friendly waitress, well done!
2 napkins up

I had the Gluten Free Kick’n Chick’n with Chicken phở …
I usually order Shrimp Phở, because I had been scarred elsewhere having Chicken phở. I still feel that phở is better with shrimp… However since this was a fusion place I decided to have chicken, and I’m glad I did. This phở was off the chain, and I have had phở all over Tampa and in NYC.
My number one is still Phở Hoang in Brandon, for shrimp phở. However, the chicken phở here is probably my number 1 pick in that category. The Kick’n Chick’n was fantastic with a side of sweet chili .
The presentation spectacular and it’s a great evening date location. Bravo !

Not sure how I haven’t reviewed Bamboozle yet. We come here every couple of months and we just got takeout a few days ago.
This isn’t a typical Vietnamese place, it’s more fusion. As a vegetarian this is a great place for both me to find something to eat (yay tofu) as well as my boyfriend. He loves their phở. My usual go to is the red curry with tofu… so good. We usually split a couple of their fresh rolls (peanut sauce. mmm). Perfect.
The reason for not the full 5 stars is because I once ordered the Udon noodles in miso broth. Unfortunately it was like eating a salt lick. I am sure that was enough sodium for 3 days. (Looking back, I should’ve returned it). Also, for some reason they often want to put us at a small table right in the middle of the walkway when they’re much better tables available out of the way. We just started asking if we could have another table. All is good.

Bamboozle is an appropriate name for this restaurant since if you show up expecting real Vietnamese food here you will get just that — bamboozled.
First warning sign is they don’t offer tripe nor tendon for their phở. Their banh mi’s are okay sandwiches but are not banh mi rolls. They don’t know what fish sauce is. They don’t know what a dac biet banh mi is. Etc.
I ordered a «traditional» which I guess is the closest. Which isn’t saying much since it tastes nothing like a real banh mi. Pâté is bad, balance of sandwich is off — not enough cilantro. Texture of pork is wrong.
I guess it’s okay if you want some kind of weird Vietnamese fusion (aka watered down to being bland and boring — abandoning the balance of texture and freshness that exemplifies Vietnamese food). So I suspect many uninitiated will be pleased but please avoid this if you want real Vietnamese food.

Bamboozle Café is a tricky review for me to write.
On the one hand, I love the downtown location, the interior art and the phở broth is quite tasty. In fact, it was the tastiest broth I found while visiting Tampa. So, when I spotted Oxtail phở on the menu, I decided to try it because A) I love oxtails and B) I’ve never seen oxtail phở on any phở menu before.
However, to my severe disappointment, the oxtail meat was bland, tasteless, super fatty and completely untrimmed of the tough skin-​like cartilage that surrounds the meat. I was totally baffled that this seems acceptable to serve to customers. Not to mention the gnarly bone in the middle made it very difficult to eat this as a soup. Too hot to use your fingers to hold it while using your teeth to grab the meat and not quite tender enough to use a fork to tear off the meat from the bone. Also, the size difference between their two phở bowls definitely lends to the term ‘bamboozled’.
Service is kinda Chipotle-​ish and the interior becomes void of natural light the further back into the restaurant you go. Being a person who enjoys natural light, I would have preferred to sit closer to the front of the store but there was no room for our party of nine there. The back dining area had interesting art on the walls, but the dark colored ceilings and lack of windows had me feeling very enclosed and claustrophobic. Sometimes you just can’t put your finger on what bothers you about a business, but for me, the cave-​like interior towards the rear immediately rubbed me wrong. If you want to torture me, put me in a place that has no windows, very little natural light and dark colors.
FINAL THOUGHT
As a reward for using the Unilocal mobile app to check-​in, you will be offered a large cupcake of your choice. It was a nice gesture, but the cupcake itself was just ok. I do believe Bamboozle is a solid place for phở, despite the fact they don’t serve a meatball phở (my favorite). The phở boats are enormous, but I would encourage the owner to braise & season the oxtail meat to help tenderize it and give it more flavor. It would also be nice to trim the fat/​cartilage and debone it to make it easier to eat as a soup.
I brought local Tampa friends with me to try phở for the very first time and they found the broth & noodle phở (no meat) to be pretty fantastic. Reviews seem to give high praise to the sandwiches, so maybe next time I’m in town I will give the Banh Mi or perhaps the seafood phở a try.
Overall — Phở broth (4.5 stars), Oxtail meat and free carrot cupcake (1 star)
²⁰¹⁶⁄₂₆

With as much time as I’ve spent recently in Down Town Tampa, you’d think I’d know the places to eat here. But alas, I don’t. It took my beau to point out this little gem out to me. 7:45 pm on a Friday, Peak time for going out and Bamboozle is no different, it’s crowded, and part of that is because Tampa Theater was running a David Bowie tribute (RIP Mr. Bowie), But since we were a small Party, we were sat quickly.
After a quick perusing of the menu, we settled on our drinks: Jasmine Tea for me and a Vietnamese Coffee (With condensed milk) for him, As hand rolled spring roll and 2 small bowls of Phò, 1 beef, 1 shrimp. We figured this would be quick and easy. We were wrong on the quick part. Seems that the drink took longer than expected since the coffee is basically a drip, and my tea was pretty much cold when it was served.
The spring roll $ 4.00 for one, was delicious, and their peanut sauce was better than any of the other I’ve tasted in the area. I mean, it was decadently good. The small bowls of Phó were JUST the right size, they call it a sample, because the regular size is basically a trough. The broth was good, the noodles and veg were good and of course it was hot. We got our bill early so we could pay it and not have to wait longer since they had a huge party come in while we were there.
Will I come back? Yes. the food was very good. I can’t fault them on their speed because FRIDAY RUSH.

Bamboozle is a really delicious lunch spot… I can guarantee I would frequent it if I worked downtown. The beef phở is tasty… not the most flavorful broth I’ve ever tried, but still hits the spot. They also do basically a Chipotle of summer rolls — pick your fillings from many options and they roll them up for you in rice paper wrappers on the spot. Carrot cake cupcake (free with Unilocal check-​in!) was delicious.
The prices are significantly higher than traditional Vietnamese restaurants, but that is to be expected in a high traffic downtown location. I hear that they can be stingy on portions, particularly when the owner is around. Overall, a solid choice if you are looking for a tasty alternative to traditional lunch fare. I know they are open for dinner also, but I don’t think I’d seek them out for dinner (which is even more expensive than lunch!).

Delicious! I originally sought out a nice tea shop so was a little surprised that Bamboozle Café only offered three iced varieties. Although I must say that the Exotic sweet tea with fresh coconut was very refreshing. I opted to get the fresh spring rolls. I ordered two but honestly one would have been enough for a light lunch. My favorite part of the meal was the sauce bar. I tried them all and can’t even say I have a favorite, they’re all delicious. I highly recommend stopping in for a casual lunch with coworkers or friends. I will be returning.

Nice chicken soup, huge though!
I did not really like their vegetable mini rolls. Props to the dessert, it was an overall nice experience, and it is appreciated that they are open when every other restaurant in the block is closed by 6pm.

Yeap 3 stars!
Great location, situated in downtown Tampa. Parking is a doozy, lots of street parking or park in the Poe garage and walk. Great way to get ready for a yummy lunch.
Spring rolls are awesome here, pick one from their menu or make your own signature roll. Very refreshing, comes with a side of peanut sauce. I usually drench it with Sriracha lol.
Noodle salads are to die for, so freaking good. Marinated beef, vermicelli noodles, cucumbers, pickled daikon and carrots, mint, bean sprouts, roasted peanuts and yummy chilli dressing. One of my best things here.
The only thing I didn’t care for was the beef Phò, not impressed. No flavor, I was surprised by how flavorless it was. The broth made me sad, I was hoping for so much more. Even with all the extra trimmings (Thai basil, bean sprouts, jalapeño, lime AND Sriracha), tasted the same.
Bamboozle has a great menu but not a good phó.

Bamboozle Café was okay but wasn’t as authentic in taste as I was hoping it to be. So yes, I would agree that it is like the Chipotle for Vietnamese food.
We ordered three fresh rolls filled with kickin’ chicken, grilled pork and lemongrass beef (individually), and carrots, cucumbers, bean sprouts and cilantro as our veggies. The kickin’ chicken was rather bland and not spicy. The lemongrass beef was okay. The grilled pork was the best of these three. There was something missing to these rolls though, perhaps some noodles, mint or basil leaves? The peanut sauce helped a bit… and the citrus vinaigrette even more so!
We ordered a chicken phở soup and spring roll that came along with our fresh rolls. The phở was okay. It was a bit watery and did not have enough of the other traditional fixins’ in it. I’ve had better elsewhere. The spring roll was small and underwhelming. The BBQ pork bahn mi my husband ordered was good. Yet again though, something was missing… maybe a fried egg on top (?). Having checked-​in on Unilocal,we received both a carrot cupcake and coffee cupcake. The carrot cupcake was very good, moist and flavorful; whereas the coffee cupcake was too dry to enjoy.
I wouldn’t completely write off Bamboozle Café. I’d be open to trying out other fresh roll fillings (to get the right taste) as well as other menu options. However, I would probably visit a more authentic place to fulfill my Vietnamese cravings rather than choosing Bamboozle Café.