Ha Noi Restaurant

They’ll take forever to bring out your orders.
Let me tell you a story. there was a family 3 members ordered some hot noodle soups, they’ve been waiting too longggg so they get frustrated coming to the man at the checkout counter pay everything then go (well they’re rich)
After that when I asked him «why did you let your customer have to leave the restaurant?» he answered «well they was just fastidious «lol service of the year.

was craving for northern style phở and decided to give this place a try.
Pros:
— Eggrolls were really good
— restaurant is clean
Cons:
— HAIR IN MY BOWL OF PHO!!!
— didn’t have the proper utensils
— lady didn’t understand any english,
— false advertisement on menu (i ordered the phở ga dac biet)
— terrible service
I would not be returning here, serving was really small too, my phở barely had any chicken/​meat!

disclaimer: I didn’t actually eat here, my good friend just finished raging to me through text and he wanted me to let people know of his experience eating here. This is what he texted me:
«bro wtf
i paid nine dollars for food, i got one bowl of rice and like 7 cubes of steak– and a shitton of onions like-​they had onions on the cubes
and there was a side of lettuce with no dressing-​there were onions on that too
omfg
i finished it all in 10 minutes and i didnt even try to eat fast
ugh ripoff … my whole family hated it»
he also wanted me to add
«i like chickens»
… thats the end of my friend’s review. thanks for reading!

I got the sizzling bbq fish that is like a do it yourself spring roll. A medium did not fill me up and I wanted to order more, but stopped myself. The spring roll comes with mint leaves, noodles and a crunchy rice cracker you can wrap. Because they don’t give you a decent enough portion for the fish, they over compensate and make the dish look full by putting A LOT of onions. The sauce that came for dipping tasted too fishy for my taste. I would say this dish was average: the fish was too greasy, the food is overpriced, and portions are small.

For the past several years, each time I make a trip to Southern California, I manage to visit Ha Noi restaurant at least one time but sadly the taste of food has declined significantly over the years. Bún ch Ha Noi is their main dish and this one is no longer as good as it used to be. Bánh tôm Co Ngu is just a soggy mess of sweet potato fries, and the rest of the newly additions on the menu were not even memorable. The service is better and more attentive than what it used to be, but it isn’t enough to save the business. I guess it is time for me to move on and try to make another place my favorite.

Very dissappointed with this once great restaurant. Used to come here all the time but the quality of food has gone down dramatically.
Veggies are stale when brought out. Some of the garnishing stuff (tomatoes, cucumber, etc.) are old and dried up **hope they’re not reusing them.
We had the bo tai chanh. The beef wasn’t even fresh!!! It seems pretty much like the beef was frozen and defrosted because it was dark and had freezer burns.
So Long Nuong Mo Hanh was disgusting! ⁷⁄₁₀ of them were borderline rotten.
Ohhh and the flies… 5 – 6 flies were on or napkins as we were eating.
Definitely will not be back.

I usually never post any reviews but I must warn people of this place.
Food is disgusting, over priced with very little portions, rude service, and extremely dirty with flies landing and buzzing in your food.
my diced beef was dry and more chewy then bubble gum. I wish I can give this place negative stars. Anyways never coming back, wish them best of luck cause they will need it.

I use to frequent this place because I really enjoy their cha ca thang long but I feel after their renovations everything has gone downhill. The food was… average but the reason for the 1 star was multiple things that makes me not want to come back.
Sure, the renovations are nice, but having a nice place with no customers means there is probably something wrong. Back then it was a group of older men working but now it is teenagers behind the counter and helping out in the kitchen. This would not be a problem if service was still good but it took quite awhile just to only have our order taken and food/​water on our table and the restaurant was pretty much empty. And don’t bother to ask your water to be refilled they’ll keep forgetting over and over.
Also with the new décor, the prices have increased, you can notice it while looking at your lovely handled-​by-​many-​people printed menu. I thought they would have replaced these flimsy menus by now but its been a few month so I guess they are sticking to these.
On another note, on one of the tv screens, was Heroes of Newerth. Yes, one of the waiters was using the screen to play his game… which felt odd. I mean cool for him that he gets to play games while working but I don’t think playing your video game on the huge screen is what customers really want to watch. Plus, I mean he had trouble jungling, didn’t even help gank in any of the lanes, his teammates must have been upset with him being randomly afk.
Lastly, and probably the MAIN reason why I would not want to come back: BUGS. We were seated by the window and I already noticed a little bug flying around… I guess that’s normal we were close to the door… but then I glance over and another pretty gross looking bug was crawling around the window. We decide to move to the middle of the room so I could stay calm and not worry about little pests. HOWEVER, FLIES. FLIES EVERYWHERE. Just looking around there were numerous flies all the time, it was pretty annoying eating while swatting flies, I guess they want us to have the feels of the motherland country. UGH, flies. gross.
Oh and there was a guy drilling concrete right outside to accompany our dining experience.
Much flies. So new décor. Many annoyances. SUCH FLIES.
yes, I must emphasize the flies. shuddder

We used to go here frequently for our northern Vietnamese dishes. Came back today totally disappointed. The décor is nicer, the menu change with more ‘đ nhu’. The onion must be on sale as everything was heavily filled with onion. The fried onion was completely burn and also filled all the snail. The only delicious dish was c móng tay nng m hành
1) bò lúc lc: ¹⁄₃ beef, ²⁄₃ onion. Dry steam rice. How do you dried rice?
2) bloody clam: some vampire must suck it dry :). Chewy and dry
3) bún mm: bland no flavor, the noodle was chop into little piece, very little meat.
4) gi xoài mc mt nng: this one is decent except the squid probably been dry by many sun as it is chewy.
5) passion fruit drink: omg this is the worst of them all. For $ 3 you get a wine cup of passion fruit syrup with ice. I am not kidding, you get syrup every time you suck. I have to add water constantly to diluted it out. DO NOT order this.
As for service, they gave our bò lúc lc (the one that my kids eat and they were hungry) to another table. When ask why it didn’t come out yet, that is when they apologize and make it again. Soon they brought another table dish to our table and we told them that is not our. Oh they leave their door wide open, so a fly was circling our table. As for price, it cost way more than other c restaurants. Definitely will not be coming back.

Food is pretty good. But portions are small for what you pay. Their specialty is sizzling BBQ fish. I ordered the large with some rice. That dish was $ 17 and I was hoping to bring some home. But the portion was so small, I ate it pretty quickly.
Good food: Yes
Portions: Small
Price: high (for Vietnamese restaurant)
Value: Low because of high price relative to portions

We came here last night craving the shrimp. Little be known, Everything changed. We ordered banh tom, bun rieu oc, phở ga (for the little one), mussels, and finger long snails (I forgot the real name for these).
My bf and I talked about how we both used to go here a long time ago. How the food was splendid, so came in with high expectations. Boy were we wrong.
The bun were old noodles they put in the soup. If they just «opened» you would assumed they would do everything they can to keep themselves in business and keep customers coming back.
On to the finger snails and mussels. Ugh, save yourself the overcooked and dryness of both of these dishes. I rather go to oc & lau for my finger snails. This place needs to know how to cook these just right. The chewy and over cooked tasted killed it for both of us.
Phở ga special. There is suppose to be an egg if I am not mistaken, but the broth was bland and the chicken was so so. Nothing good about this dish…
Drinks came out after some of the foods.
We were sitting there staring at each other, mind you we had my little one with me waiting for his simple 7-​up. No utensils were brought out, until food came out.
If this place is planning to stay open, I hope they fix their dishes, clean the place (there were ants all over our table, and service.

Being one of the few restaurants that we could find open late on a weekday (they were open until midnight when we went) my friends and I decided to try out this place to get a northern Vietnamese taste.
We tried the Cha Ca Thanh Long, which were like fish places grilled on a sizzling plate with noodles, veggies, crackers etc. My friend also tried then fried shrimp and yam.
Both items were just okay, I feel like I have had better elsewhere. The fish seemed a bit uninspired and the sauce that came with it (the brown one) didn’t have as much to it as I’ve seen at other places, it was kind of just a straightforward fishy taste.
The fried yam and shrimp were also pretty boring, I didn’t find anything particularly noteworthy or special about them. The place kind of was just missing that «wow» factor.
Parking was pretty open at night, there were plenty of spots along the strip mall.

Horrible. My family and I used to come here often for their Cha Ca Thang Long and Bun Cha Ha Noi. Sadly, the quality and quantity of their food has declined a lot. Last week we came here for lunch and ordered our usual (the above mentioned) which took forever to come out because our waitress seemed to have forgotten about us. There were 3 waiters and the place wasn’t even that busy, but they all seemed confused and lost as to what they were supposed to do. Anyhow after a long wait our fish plate came out with 3 measly pieces of over-​marinated tiny fish over a mound of onions to appear like a full plate. The Bun Cha Ha Noi is nothing to rave about either.
Maybe they’ve had a change in ownership or management, since the restaurant itself seems to have had a facelift. I must say it is much nicer and more spacious than it used to be, but that’s the only good thing about this place now.

Got the Cha Ca Thang Long. Large size ($ 17) was kind of small, enough to serve two hungry and small girls. It was mediocre and definitely not worth the price.
Also sampled the Bun Cha Ha Noi, which wasn’t all too great either. Small portions, lazily put together. I’m sorry to say this establishment did not impress me at all.
Would not come back.

Quick Summary: The BEST Cha Ca Thang Long in town. I’ve been here many times with the family and I keep coming back, and everytime I do its for the Cha Ca!
It’s your typical viet restaurant. Not much on the ambiance and décor, but the food… oh the delicious food. All of the dishes come with the correct accoutrements, which depending on the dish can be a whole bunch. But the tables are big and there is plenty of space in the restaurant for a crowd, trust me… with my extended family that gets huge.
They’re pretty quick with the service once you get their attention, which can be a challenge when there are a lot of customers in the space. But a wave to a few people usually gets the job done.
We’ve had a variety of dishes here and they’re all very nicely prepared, but my fave is still the Cha Ca. Dipped in a tumeric sauce and then served sizzling on a very very hot plate… they add on the dill and onions just before brining it out to you so they’re not burnt to a crispy, but nicely wilted and melting their flavors into the fish.
If you’ve never had this dish, here’s a quite description of how to do it:
— Get a bit of vermicelli in your bowl and toss in some crushed peanuts and crackers.
— Tear up some of the raw herb/​veggies that are brought out.
— Depending on your taste you can use the vietnamese fish/​special sauce (nuoc mam) or if you’re bold try the mam tom (shrimp sauce, it’s grey/​purple-​ish and packs an aromatic punch)… put a spoonful in your bowl.
— Grab a few chuncks of the fish dill and onions, toss in the bowl… pour some more sauce in.
— Enjoy!

Bun Cha Ha Noi
— lots of veggies
— meat was over cooked
— the fish sauce of which the meat was in was also extra salty
Fried Sweet Potato and Shrimp
— no flavor and barely any salt
— probably the worst I have had
ENVIRONMENT: typical Vietnamese restaurant set-​up; nothing special. though when you’re in a Vietnamese restaurant when was décor an issue? Otherwise there are plenty of seating and at least everyone is relatively spaced apart.
SERVICE: decent. food came out at an appropriate time.
Overall, wasn’t amazed by the place. Thought the food was sub-​par and probably one of the lower tier quality food I have had. Usually I don’t grade Vietnamese food so low, but it this place is so memorable I don’t think I want to go back.

With a name like Hanoi, I wanted to see what northern Vietnamese cuisine was. Um… The same as any other Vietnamese restaurant. (Btw, our waiter spoke in a southern dialect.)
Everything was over priced so we ordered the baked cat fish. The freshest baked catfish I have ever had. And it comes with free noodles.
Negative, how do you wrong with the sauce? The fermented anchovy sauce was too diluted and the fish sauce was different by being on the sour side but let’s go back to basic and use sugar and not corn syrup. Next time, I’m bringing my own dipping sauce.
Veggies were all fresh. The free noodles were fresh and bouncy. And I love the rice paper dipping bowl.
Let’s clean the grout in the restroom and work on the dipping sauce to get bring this to 5 stars.

It’s been a long time since I’ve been back here.
In fact it’s BY (Before Unilocal) was the last time I ate here.
It’s still the same after almost 3 years, the waiters, the décor and the food.
Each time we’ve come here, we’ve ordered the #2 Cha Ca Thang Long (Barbecued Fish on sizzling platter). I like ordering this dish because of all the components you get and you can assemble your food any way you wish. You get a sizzling platter that contains the fish on a bed of grilled onions. On top of the fish, you have some fresh dill. The components consist of a plate of Vermicelli noodles, a plate of lettuce & a variety of mints & a shrimp paste sauce. Yes, a Lettuce wrap. I would get a piece of lettuce, put some mint, a piece of fish, some grilled onions, some dill, some noodles and of course the shrimp paste sauce. Bundle and proceed to devour it. It gets very messy, so get those napkins handy, you’re going to need it. A must order dish here.
Warning: the shrimp paste sauce is potent. I would taste it first (if you haven’t tried it yet) before putting it on your wrap. But I have to say, that is what makes this dish so good. Salty, sweet and it does smell a bit, but that’s what shrimp paste is, a bit stinky. lol. you’ve been warned.
We also ordered
#35 Mi Tom Cua (Pork, Shrimp, Crab and Egg Noodle) we ordered it dry, which means they put the soup on the side. This was very good as well. The noodles were thin and just perfectly cooked. The meats were okay (fake crab, ehh). The soup was very very flavorful.
#112 Ga Xao Xa Ot (Chicken Fried w/​Lemon Grass & Pepper) This was a delicious dish. Almost like a curry, you definitely need a lot of rice with this dish.
For Drinks
Chanh Muoi — Salted Lemonade, I’m a very adventurous eater, I asked the waiter what he would recommend for a drink and I got it. OY! no good. yuck. It is what the label said it was, a Salty Lemonade. yuck. sorry, This was not very good. lol
Things to try, They have banners outside and inside touting their large fried catfish. I saw a few tables order this monster of a dish (when they say big it’s big, about 1 ½ feet long and 6 inches wide) this will feed a family of 4,5 or 6. Yikes. It looked so good. Next time for sure.
Service was good
Parking was plentiful
Cleanliness, well not so much. We ask for a booster seat for my son and it was dirty. I tried to clean and disinfect it, but that crud on it was sticky and it would not come out. ewww ewww ewww Ended up asking for a high chair. (minus one star)
The food is still as good as it was the last time I was here.
I’ll definitely be back.

Knock knock.
Who’s there?
Cha ca.
Cha ca, who?
Exactly. Cha ca who??? I’m in love with the chicken phở and sweet potato shrimp thing here.
And she ate happily ever after. The End.

Cha Ca Thang Long (Turmeric Fish with Dill; about $ 12) reminds me the cha ca I ate when I backpacked through Hanoi city in Vietnam. It’s not as oily or greasy or juicy (they literally serve it in a bowl of oil in Vietnam… maybe that’s why it tasted so juicy) as the fish they serve Vietnam, but its pretty darn good.
They fry the fish on a sizzling flat pan on top of onions and a bunch of oil. They place the dill on top, which adds flavor and prevents a lot of oil from exploding everywhere. When it comes out, I suggest mixing the dill up so that it cooks in the oil/​onions to add more flavor and to make the dill super oily and delicious.
Get some noodles, rip up some lettuce and mint, take some fish/​onions/​dill from the frying pan, add peanuts and that stinky brown/​purple sauce (fermented anchovy dipping sauce) on top, and ENJOY. If you can’t handle the fermented anchovy dipping sauce, ask for some fish sauce.
They take visa/​mc/​AMEX (always a plus for me).