Hanoi House

Came here after Lost Society looking for a nightcap and a bowl of phở. Walked into the place, there was no hostess anywhere, so we proceeded to sit down at an empty booth. The place smelled amazing, and the funky décor reminded us of some cool bar in Hoi An, Vietnam. A waitress walked past us on her way to give the check to a table a bit further down. We tried to catch some eye contact, but no such luck. She was in a hurry to get back to the back of the bar to talk about the table she had just served the check to. She walked past us again, on her way to the front of the place, then back. I said «excuse me, may I see a menu?» She said «you can order at the bar,» then walked away. She was too busy doing something. I couldn’t figure out what that was.
So, I went to the bar, hoping to get something to eat and a couple of cocktails. There wasn’t anyone else at the bar ordering anything, so I shouldn’t have to wait to order anything, so I thought. For the next several minutes, two bartenders walked past me, back and forth, seemingly busy with some imaginary customers’ orders. I waited. And waited some more. I must’ve worn my invisible shirt because nobody seemed to have noticed me. They were busy filling invisible orders from other invisible customers. I raised my hand. They avoided eye contact. I said «excuse me.» They pretended to be deaf. OK, weird. For such a slow Saturday night, I thought I wouldn’t have any problem getting a drink and something to eat. But, after what seemed like an eternity at the bar, I gave up and walked back to the booth, feeling defeated.
By some divine intervention, a waiter/​server[?] walked by and delivered 2 waters to our table. Great! Maybe I’ll get to order some food now, so I thought. Silly me, he was there just to deliver the waters and walked away. WTF? We waited for a few more minutes and left after realizing we would have better luck getting food at a homeless shelter.
I got no satisfaction tonight. No food. No drink. No human acknowledgement.
Went home and made myself a bowl of phở with a kombu dashi broth. Yeah, it was definitely on the funky side [as in style, not in taste], but it at least I got my bowl of phở.
If you want real Vietnamese food and service from a real human, take the bus up the street to Phở Viet. Even Phở 14 will have something decent for you to eat. Hanoi House is a cruel joke, and you’re the butt of it.
Note to the owner: fire your current staff and you might have a chance at making some money. If not, I look forward to the next place that will occupy this space a year from now.

Going to bump my original review up to a 4. I’ve come to find I like this place a lot.
First off, Hanoi House has alcohol boba tea. Yes, coconut or passionfruit with rum. Pretty awesome. I recommend the coconut.
Second, late night happy hour. The pork belly banh mi here is good. My friend who had the steak commented on how he liked it.
Third, you can catch Eric Hilton every once in a while DJing on a Friday evening. Saturday nights here are fun too.
Also, my favorite former bartender from the Gibson works the bar here and probably makes one of my favorite Old Fashions in the city. Although I wish they still had the Arvin Rifle still in rotation, which was basically an alcoholic Vietnamese coffee. My friend Sam had one of the new cocktails (can’t remember what it was) but she said she loved it. If you want to get drunk on the cheap (if you’re in a group), the scorpion bowl feeds up to four people and makes for an interesting night.
I probably wouldn’t order any of the other food options other than the happy hour banh mi’s, however as a bar Hanoi House is one of my favorite places to go to along U Street.

I really only came to drink and sing, which sounds less crazy when you realize this is a karaōke bar at night. You can get real cheap beer 33s here and there aren’t that many people singing so you can get your songs in faster.

This place was simply amazing. My wife and I came to DC for our honeymoon and wanted a nice place to eat for dinner. We made a reservation and they treated us SO remarkably well. Honestly, I only wish I could get this level of service everywhere. I loved the décor and aesthetic of this place. The people were truly wonderful, and it didn’t feel forced or fake. And the food. Holy hell. The food was tremendous. I had the special which was a pork belly in a chili-​garlic sauce with a poached egg on top. Simply incredible.
If you are ever in the U street district, I HIGHLY recommend this place. It’s the total package. Great People. Great Atmosphere. Great Food. And if you’re interested in a having an insanely good cocktail afterward, go next door to The Gibson. Same owners, same level of service and atmosphere.

This place used t be Blackbyrd — which I liked, and was sad to see go, although as a friend pointed out it was slightly confused about what it wanted to be. Anyway, the first thing that you notice — or rather smell when you walk into Hanoi House is Vietnamese, and it only made me more hungry.
The décor transformed from the metal shiny siding to a dark wood interior that gives off an opium den sort of feel, but the tables were well lighted.
The vegetarian buns were alright, but I was mostly thankful for the late night bowl of phở, which although not the best I’ve had, did the job that night.
I would go back to check out the other things on the menu and just grab one of their interesting looking cocktails.

Chuoi Chien Dot Ruou $ 7 (⁵⁄₅ NOMs)
OMG ITS ON FIRE!!! Holy bananas can you see? Its actually on fire! Love this fire goodness. Best presentation ever, served not just sizzling, but actually on fire. You got to blow it out. Love these bananas fritters flambé, caramel sauce with very nomnom vanilla ice cream. Mix the fire goodness with cold soft smoothness. Great dessert you just have to order and experienc.
Phở Bo $ 9 (³⁄₅ NOMs)
Phở-​ing around. New phở place in town and we just had to check it out. Broth tasted a bit weak and needed more flavor. I wanted to try all their meats and order all the extras they had. I was expecting it would just be overflowing with meat goodness, but they barely put any there. Ate all the meat in no time. Its a new place and I will be back in a few month to try it again.
Bahn Tom Co Ngu Hanoi $ 9 (⁴⁄₅ NOMs)
New place in town and we start it pancake style. Every Vietnamese nomnom adventure should include this Shrimp multi layer dish in some form. Hanoi-​style shrimp cake and Japanese sweet potatoes. Love the crispy out of shell with so many goodies on the inside. It comes with very nomnom veggies. Its an entrée but we ordered it as our starter. Great dish to share for a group.

Hanoi House is a beautiful, beautiful room. The drinks are tasty. The phở is pretty good. The appetizers not so much.
My dining partner and I have been here three times over the past month. I’m tired of eating phở in some kind of glorified cafeteria setting. Hanoi House makes you feel like you are in an opium den. The drinks are appropriately tasty and strong, the beer perfectly icy cold. Above average phở in a sexy setting can’t be beat; I can’t emphasize enough that THIS is why this place gets three stars. The broth is rich and complex. Not the best of the best, but the best of what I’ve had in DC. I prefer their chicken phở, my dining partner the eye of round. Standard bean sprouts basil lime jalapeño add in plate.
The appetizers are below average. Small expensive greasy helpings of spring rolls. Bland summer rolls. Bland rice crepes.
Service is glamorous hipster gracious.
Another reviewer said the phở was expensive. I disagree. The phở is above average and served in a lovely setting, it is well worth the price charged.
To summarize, Hanoi House serves up tasty phở in a sexy setting in the District. We’ll be back again. And again.

Wanted to try a new place since I am basically paying rent at Phở 14.
The atmosphere is pretty cute and trendy, I like how dim it is and the décor. Location is central to all. Our server was a bit of chatty Cathy, we asked him maybe two questions and he decided to recite the menu, how everything is made, where the ingredients are from, what his impressions were the first time he tasted each dish, how we should eat each dish, what most people order, and so on. It was funny.
I was feeling like trying a specialty drink so I went with his recommendation, don’t remember what it was called. All I know is that it was pink, mojito-​like, and not worth 10 $. It had a gigantic garnish growing out of the cup like a tree. Too much basil/​mint and not enough juice, definitely not enough alcohol. Gross disappointment. Stay away from those if you can and just go with beer/​wine.
I ordered garden spring rolls, for $ 6 they were all mint/​leaves of some sort and not enough of actual roll. Not impressed. For my main course I ordered a vermicelli chicken bowl. The portion was pretty small. After eating the rolls and the bowl I was still a little hungry. The bowl was basically a bunch of salad with like 5 thin noodles and a couple of pieces of chicken. It tasted ok, just not enough meat/​noodles. My friend ordered Phở and said it was ok, good portion, nothing special.
So my take away is that there is too much salad/​grass/​basil/​mint/​fillers in everything, and that I should go to Phở 14.

After having such a negative experience the last time I went to Hanoi House, I’ve been anxious to actually go and taste the food. To my dismay, I was rather disappointed again.
This time, the service was great. We had a charismatic young lady as our waitress. She was very fun but didn’t sacrifice attentiveness for fun.
My meal is were the disappointment came. I ordered the Phở Bo, which came round eye special vietnamese beef noodle soup. The broth of the phở was the first problem, it just didn’t have the right flavor and was rather unsatisfying. I tried my best to make it more adequate by putting plenty of Sriracha in it. However, I shouldn’t have to put Srircha in it just to make it tasty. It should be delicious on its own then I’ll add Sriracha just for some desired heat.
The second problem was the lack of meat in my phở. Our waitress did recommend that we add one of other meats to it. The choices being beef brisket, beef meatballs, beef eye of round, or tripe. However, each of those would be $ 2 more. $ 12+ for phở is quite ridiculous so I vetoed it. However, I wish I did because there was very little meat in my phở. Quite a disappointment as well. Phở generally comes with several different types of beef in it without paying the $ 2 more for each.
I was so excited for a Vietnamese restaurant opening on 14/​U, blocks away from my house but alas it seems like I will still be trekking to Columbia Heights for my phở desires.

Late night Phở, within a block of basically every bar I frequent. Dream come true?
Almost.
They are obviously getting some of their new-​business kinks out. The higher phở prices are also a little hard to shallow. I understand that they use an old family recipe for the phở broth, but it’s a little too sweet for me to call it the ‘best’ in the city. With all of this, it is pretty awesome to phở it up 10:00 pm on a Thursday, while you pregame for Patty Boom Boom.
Who am I kidding? I’m gonna be a regular here.

Went here last night for dinner with a party of 4. We had reservations and had a good time! Now, my explanation for just the 2 stars:
Location: A+
Décor: A+
Price: A+
Atmosphere: B+
Drinks: B+
Service: B–
Food: D–
I’d give the food category an «F» but our spring and summer rolls as appetizers save the grade in this category. I had the chicken phở and it was completely devoid of any flavor whatsoever. No amount of Sriracha could salvage it, unfortunately. The chicken was rubbery. The temperature was warm at best.
Others in my group said they’d go back (they didn’t have the phở) and I’d probably return for a drink and appetizer at the bar. Won’t go back for the phở, though. Ramen Noodles made at home have more flavor.
Go for happy hour and then head to any of the other delicious restaurants in the neighborhood/​14^th Street.

I always consult my vietnamese wife when I review a vietnamese restaurant. Her opinion: «very good.. . until they took away my NUOC MAM!!» Wow. Quite a response. Overall, a good dining experience. Very fresh vegetables. Clean and neat. Wife had the bun bo nuo. Thumbs up from her for that. I had the fried rice. Really surprised that the prices are so low in this high rent area occupied by high end joints. Anyway, why not pay the same price as other vietnamese places in the city and get a high end dining experience? Not a bad idea.
But, seriously, don’t take away my girl’s nuoc mam (fish sauce). I, like most Americans, like to dump everything on my plate/​bowl and eat it altogether, all at once. Wife is still trying to convince me this is folly, and things must be kept separate and eaten in tandem, the Vietnamese way. It preserves the flavors. Whatever. So, the nuoc mam is taken proportionally and should stay on the table until meal’s end (except for refill). House chili sauce is dynamite. Please turn up the lights. So dark I was tripping and couldn’t hardly find the restroom. Hope I found it, or else I made a mess.

I recently visited Hanoi House on a chilly winter’s eve, very eager for some veggie Phở. I was so pleased to see not only veggie Phở on the menu (sadly Phở DC doesn’t have veggie Phở anymore?) but also a Veggie Bahn Mi option! As I was ready for some warm liquids, I resisted the urge to try the Bahn Mi and got the Phở. It was not bad, but I though the flavor was lacking somewhat. We did really enjoy the spring rolls we got as appetizers.
The décor is pretty cool, and the service is great. I have to admit I’m excited to go back and try the Bahn Mi!

I was a little nervous about this place after seeing all the wack reviews but after my experience I’m a fan.
I’m vegetarian and I’m used to getting spring rolls with veggies so I was pleasantly surprised to find chunks of tofu inside my spring rolls. For a minute I thought I was eating meat and was happy/​relieved to find it was just tasty chunks of tofu. The sauce that comes with the rolls is so good, I was about to drink it.
I didn’t think good vegetarian phở existed till I came here. First of all I ordered a small and they definitely are generous with the portions because it looked like a large. The broth was full of flavor with tasty veggies and fried tofu.
Couldn’t finish it but the manager offered to box it up for me. They do to go orders btw.
Love the ambience. Its really cozy and beautifully designed. Staff is also very friendly. Good energy in this place.
Will be back soon!

I went there a few days ago and I loved it. The ambiance is great, very dim but not dark with very low lighting, which lends itself to a sexy atmosphere. The walls are painted with murals and other paintings, and the bar looks very elegant as well.
I had the noodles with tofu and herbs and vegetables. It was only $ 8 and very flavorful. It could’ve had a bit more noodles to it, but other than that it was fantastic. Very fresh with lots of herbs. If there were more noodles, I probably would give it 5 stars (I’m a hungry guy). Also they had a good drink menu. I would go back for a few of their coctails.
The service was really great as well. The hostess and our waitress were both very helpful and accomodating, so I think that the managers must’ve read people’s comments about bad service and made the appropriate changes.
To bottom line it: the food, drinks, service, and atmosphere was great. I will definitely be going back.

Some people say Unilocal is useless but I wish I had known about it before coming here.
Blew $ 30 on just some awful food really not properly prepared at all. Sorry but it takes more than a racoon hat to impress me.
Forget about it because it will be closed almost as soon as it opened.
What’s next $ 20 for tacos? Oh wait that’s called Bandolero.
This town is crazy.

I’m a fan. If anyone reads Unilocal anymore? usually most people don’t b/​c there are too many anal detailed people out there on the fringe of being a statistical outler?
However, I liked it. I just ate tonight which was Sunday. I know to not go to a restaurant that has just opened their doors… not going to be perfect, still working out the kniks.
I had the Phở. :-D I asked about the MSG b/​c I’m fairly sensitive to it and they said NO MSG in the Phở or anything in the dishes they serve!!! What! No MSG? That’s Awesome! and they were right, my eyes and face didn’t itch or swell like most of the places I go to. I’m going back just for that as well as the fact that I liked it! I had the fried rice too… very good and better w/​hot chillies… yum. bonus… most Vietnamese places don’t serve wine… let alone beer or cocktails… this place got me what I wanted.
Just saying…
:-D :-D :-D

This place makes me want to kick a hipster. Trendiness does not equate to deliciousness.
We were told the wait would be 30mins but it was actually an hour not including the extra 10mins we sat at the table with no menus waiting for the waiter to appear. He finally showed up at the table across the way but refused to make eye contact with us when he turned around and then shuffled off back to the kitchen. I guess he’s shy. We had to finally get up and request menus from the hostess.
The waiter finally came and took our order but I wish he hadn’t. The crispy spring rolls were so greasy I’m surprised they didn’t just slide out my other end. Gross, I know, but the phở was grosser. How to best describe the broth? Sweat water. And the «beef» slabs floating in my broth had the consistency of a Meat Yule Log.
This place’s only saving grace is the awesome hostess, her raccoon hat, and the super powerful hand dryer in the bathroom.

Hanoi House is lost in the sauce. It’s so gone that the sauce wasn’t even on the plate. Literally.
You know when you’re little and you say you want to eat your meal backwards so you get dessert first? Our meal at Hanoi House was like that. Minus the dessert and minus wanting it to be like that. So essentially it was just ass backwards.
We ordered two cocktails, one app (the fried spring rolls, $ 7) and two meals (one bowl of phở, $ 10 and one banh mi, $ 7). We received my sandwich. Only my sandwich. Awkward. Then 5 – 10 minutes later Justin’s phở came out. We almost didn’t get that since our waiter tried to decline the order shortly after we’d put in for it saying «a phở shop not being able to serve phở, crazy right?» Yeah buddy, that’s crazy, go tell the chef my boyfriend is having phở for dinner. After a little resistance he went back to speak with the chef again who miraculously decided we could have the phở but that it would be a few minutes extra. Dude, we are ordering a meal at a restaurant… everything takes more than a few minutes… we are paying you to cook for us… thus we don’t care if it takes a few extra minutes, but we do care if we’re denied an entire ¹⁄₃ of the menu. Ok, still slightly awkward but at least at this point we both had our meal, right?
Wrong. Mind you at this point we still had not received the appetizer or cocktails we’d ordered. Half way through our dishes — well, half way through the phở and I was nearly through with my meal which I tried to make last by eating super slow — the fried spring rolls came out. With no dipping sauce. We flagged down the waiter to request sauce and requested our cocktails which were yet to arrive. At this point we found out that, though they’d had a very small soft-​opening the night before, not all of the wait staff had attended… and it hadn’t included a dinner seating anyway, so none of the servers had any experience with the menu. Um, yes, that was quite apparent. If the Hilton brothers are so influential in the food scene in the U St. Corridor, how is it they haven’t figured this shit out yet?
The last things presented to us, though we’d ordered all of our items at the same time, were our cocktails. Justin’s Singapore Sling and my Too Beaucoup were ehh. Though there was an abundance of ingredients in each of them, they both tasted like fruit punch (not like a fruit salad with vibrant flavors mixed together in harmony, but like Hi-C)…very amateur considering The Gibson was responsible for creating the menu. Mine would have been passable on a summer day since it was fruity and bubbly but Justin’s $ 12 glass of ice and pineapple wedge was not worth the price given the size, taste or amount of alcohol… and certainly not worth it given all three of those factors.
Our spastic waiter did come back to fill our mini water glasses at one point and Justin brought up that the phở did not have the round eye it came with and the brisket add on. Again the guy was flustered and rushed back to the kitchen to figure out what was going on since he clearly had no idea. He came back and explained that brisket and round eye are the same thing. Errr, actually no, that is not the case. The menu clearly lists them as two separate things but we got one serving of one kind of meat… and were still charged the $ 2 extra.
My banh mi was my favorite part of the meal but at $ 7, when they’re half that price in Eden Center and only $ 5 in yuppity Old Town, it wasn’t that great. I probably could have finished, or at least made a huge dent in a second one, but there’s no way I’m gonna pay $ 14 for two sandwiches when I can pay $ 5 walking distance from my house for one that will fill me up. I left hungry.
This is the kind of experience that I’d like to sum up to it being opening night jitters but this was so bad (plus the food was just average and the cocktails below average) that I don’t see coming back here in the future to give it a chance for redemption. Pretty lamps and a modish black and red setting don’t make restaurants successful; good food and good service make restaurants successful. This meal was so backwards that it shows a complete lack caring from the owners and management. Good luck with the new place, Hilton brothers, your work is cut out for you.

Out with the old, and out with your cold! As more and more types of noodle shops slowly creep into the areas around my neighborhood my need to descend into the nether reaches of DC’s suburbs to find a palatable bowl of warming broth are theoretically reduced. It seems like not that long ago I was visiting Blackbyrd Warehouse on their opening night and feeling a rather overall meh that apparently resounded with the rest of the crowd to come. I revisited several times, but always felt it wasn’t living up to the potential that I thought it had. Well, the Hilton brothers have unceremoniously, and quietly, scrapped that idea and given it a fresh remake in a French colonial themed (it looks eerily similar to Black Jack) Vietnamese spot that’s straight forward and more affordable than most of their establishments.
The menu items rarely exceed the $ 10 mark here, and when they do it’s just barely. That’s a bit more than you would pay at the average phở shop ($ 10 for a big bowl here, versus $ 7 or $ 8 in most authentic Vietnamese places), but unfortunately, just like in your average real Vietnamese restaurant, the service here leaves a lot to desire. The menu reads relatively true to Vietnamese cuisine, this isn’t any type of fusion stuff, but nothing really delivers remotely close to what you would find by venturing out to Eden Center (or even just up the road in Columbia Heights). The chef’s grandmother is supposedly Vietnamese, but I have a hard time believing she signed off on the phở here, which is supposed to be the staple.
We happened to visit rather coincidentally on Hanoi’s opening night (just a quick 16 months after Blackbyrd opened), mainly for the reason many other folks seek out phở, to mentally ward off the cold, rainy evening that was creeping in tonight. The phở bo was an easy choice for me (note that if you want another other than round eye beef it’s a $ 2 add-​on, but even that will cause serious complications which I will get into later), but since Suzy notoriously hates noodle soups she went with the banh mi (hey, if they’re gonna invoke the French era then we might as well test the pâté). If you want a pretty accurate description of the phở, especially the broth, then I suggest reading Venu N.‘s review of Montserrat House, wherein the same chef did a pop-​up Vietnamese event. I have a feeling it’s not quite as watery as it was then, but it’s not far from it. We also ordered some of the crispy spring rolls, which might have been the best thing we ate, once we finally got them and all their accompaniments.
The cocktail menu is designed by their neighbors over at The Gibson, with obligatory nods to the far East. Both of the two drinks we had, the Singapore Sling Redux and the Too Beaucoup, were good but not memorable, and $ 12 each (some drinks are cheaper). The only serious problem with these drinks is that you’ll likely wind up spending more on booze than you will on food… which is on par with the rest of their places. Incidentally, the beer list is atrocious. It could be called unique, but mainly only because nobody else would ever consider putting this small and frankly not very good combination together.
What really sinks this place for me right now is the service, as it might be the most amateur I’ve ever experienced in an opening, especially when you consider the caliber and reputation of the owners. After waiting half an hour for a table (they do take reservations), we were shown to two barstools at the bar, even though there were 4 empty booths right across from them. I asked if we could sit there and the hostess said «I guess»…thanks. When I inquired whether their version of the Singapore Sling contained alcohol, since it was the only drink on the menu to not list any, I was told that they couldn’t make any non-​alcoholic drinks… yeah dude, you’re missing the point. So after actually reading the menu he went to inquire. The staff seriously does not know whether their drinks contain alcohol. This somehow wound up not being the most shocking part of the evening. While I was in the restroom our waiter informed Suzy that they couldn’t actually make the phở, as they had run out. She advised him that knowing me he should probably find some remedy for this. He then came back and told us he was wrong, they could make it, but it might take a while. Sure, no problem, we had an appetizer coming, right? Errr… So Suzy’s banh mi comes out, by itself, and he’s like «you guys were gonna share this right?» Fail. Eventually my phở comes out with the saddest looking plate of additions I’ve ever seen. We still have no spring rolls or cocktails. Eventually the spring rolls arrive and are left on table, but no dipping sauce is provided, so I have to wait a few minutes and request that as well. When that comes he finally brings the Sriracha and hoisin that should have come with the phở (which also didn’t include the brisket add-​on I request, and an explanation too long to include here).