Viet Bistro Reviews
Submitted by Jenny Ng on 02/18/2022
Jenny Ng 5 stars rating.
The barbecue pork banh mi was INCREDIBLE! The bread was crusty yet soft, and the pork was perfectly seasoned, savory and with a hint of sweetness. Highly recommend!! And also, the prices are so reasonable! Really friendly service. So impressed and wish it were closer to me so I could eat here for lunch everyday
Van Huynh 4 stars rating.
Absolutely affordable and love supporting small businesses! Where else can you find a large stuffed banh mi for about $6?! I went here when I was in a pinch for dinner and the pho place I had in mind was closing, so when I saw cheap banh mi, I bought some right away! It took some time to get it but when it was finished, I received the chicken peppery banh mi and pork one. Both were great and I’d definitely want to try the banh mi dac biet or pho next!
Submitted by Van Huynh on 08/22/2022
Jordan Konell 5 stars rating.
The food here is awesome. The banh mi is one of the—if not the—best in Philly and you simply cannot beat the price. The bbq pork and tofu are mouth watering.
Submitted by Jordan Konell on 07/22/2022
Jessica Sellers 5 stars rating.
Ordered the tofu banh mi. It was perfect. The bread was crispy and not soggy. Nice small pieces of carrot/cucumber/cilantro that don't slide out. It was so perfect!
And I got a taro iced smoothie and was amazed that it tasted like real taro and wasn't overly sweet (unlike every other time I order a taro drink anywhere)! I'm trying to cut sugar, so this was a really nice surprise.
Submitted by Jessica Sellers on 04/20/2022
D 23 5 stars rating.
Love this place because they prepared all my items fresh and every one of them was exactly what I wanted. I love finding delicious vegan options at a spot NOT specifically advertised as being vegan. Simple items prepared without any fuss. Tofu summer rolls and Tofu bahn mi equal a #WinWinSituation ????✌????
F.Y.I. I ate at this place three days in a row. Yes. It's that good.
Submitted by D 23 on 04/01/2022
Tiffany Cheung 5 stars rating.
I love places like this. Small, divey, unpretentious and so good. Will be coming back regularly.
Submitted by Tiffany Cheung on 03/23/2022
Tricia Tomaszewski (trishinboots) 4 stars rating.
It was a rainy day last night, so we had a hankering for something warm and cozy and pho is perfect for that! We ordered spring rolls, beef ball pho, and steak/beef ball pho over the phone for pickup. We were told 15 minutes so we waited 5-10 minutes and then walked up. When we got there, the rolls still weren't ready and it took another 10 minutes or so to get them. The place was absolutely dead so it was disappointing to have to wait, but we didn't have anywhere else to be but home, eating, so it wasn't the worst thing in the world. If we knew it would be so empty we might have eaten there. (It was maybe 7pm on a Thursday.)
We finally got everything home and it really hit the spot. For each order of pho, you receive a quart of broth, a giant bowl of noodles/meat, and a side bag of the bean sprouts, jalapenos, lime wedges, and (we think?) Thai basil and hoisin (spicy!) sauce. I don't know if I've ever taken pho to-go before and I thought it was nice that everything was portioned out that way so you can prepare it to your liking (i.e. no jalapenos and very little spicy sauce for me, and I wasn't feeling the basil tonight so I skipped it.)
Couple comments for being relatively new to vietnamese:
- "Spring" rolls means fried egg rolls. We were wondering why they took so long as we were expecting the cold kind. Haha, woops. They were still delicious and on a cold rainy day, they were probably more appropriate than getting "summer" rolls (what we now know is what we intended to order).
- My husband had gotten the steak pho, which was new to us, and didn't realize it came with raw steak. (It was in a separate bag so it didn't touch the other things.) We weren't sure if it would cook up fast enough in the broth so he decided to quickly pan fry it to throw it in cooked. Talking to friends later and tip for the future: could have thrown it in directly if you like or don't mind your red meats on the rarer side. Or, cook it up a little bit on the stove or in the microwave in a little broth.
All in all -- everything really hit the spot. There's enough pho for us to eat leftovers for lunch for the next day or so as well, which is always lovely.
Would definitely order from here again, possibly just stopping by to order in person so if it's quiet we can just dine in and get everything quickly as it's ready.
Submitted by Tricia Tomaszewski (trishinboots) on 02/04/2022
Ashley Mitchell 5 stars rating.
I had lunch here yesterday and my BBQ Pork bahn mi was delicious. They also gave me a cup of water to enjoy with my meal (on the house)! The portion sizes here are amazing and everyone is so nice!
This was my second visit - my first visit was in November and I got the same bahn mi and Pho with shrimp. The Pho was amazing and it was so much of it that I took it home and shared it with my partner! Always a great value at this place!
Submitted by Ashley Mitchell on 12/10/2021
Diana DiPretoro 5 stars rating.
Wow!!! Great pho, broth tastes authentic - haven’t had it this good since Hanoi. Love it! They have milk tea, Vietnamese coffee, and Thai milk tea too. Will be ordering here probably once a week this winter. So glad you guys opened :)
Submitted by Diana Dipretoro on 11/07/2021
Sarah Auerbach 5 stars rating.
Have been waiting for Viet Bistro to open for a while now, so was very excited when it suddenly had a "Grand Opening" banner up and quickly called some foodie friends to join me for lunch so we could try many of its offerings!
As regulars at Huong Tram in the former Hoa Binh Plaza, we've been longing for a great phở spot to open closer than 6th and 11th Streets on Washington Avenue (also great), and Viet Bistro did not disappoint. (Additionally, as Melissa P. noted, we recognized some familiar faces in the kitchen!)
We ordered a couple appetizers: Egg Rolls (cha gio), which were what we usually think of as "spring rolls," and Spring Rolls, which were what we usually think of as "summer rolls," both of which were tasty.
We ordered a couple types of phở and soup, and some extra bowls: Phở Tai Nam (flank, steak), Viet Bistro Special Phở (flank, steak, tripe, beef ball), Hu Tieu Do Bien (seafood noodle soup), all of which were hot and delicious. (The broth was good, but the consensus was that we expect it to have even more depth of flavor next time we visit, because the restaurant was literally in a prepping-to-open frenzy late last night!)
We ordered a couple other dishes to share: Bánh Mì Thit Nurong (Barbecue Pork)--the bread was perfection--and Bun Bo Xao Sa (rice vermicelli with lemongrass beef and mixed vegetable), both of which had terrific flavor. And sampled the delicious Vietnamese iced coffee with condensed milk--note, they have bubble tea!
Overall, service was friendly and timely, the price was just right ($15.00 minimum credit card), and, at least for now, it's BYOB! We did initially receive the wrong bánh mì and Phở Tai instead of Phở Tai Nam, but the mistakes were quickly corrected and didn't take away from our experience.
Welcome to the neighborhood, Viet Bistro!
Submitted by Sarah Auerbach on 10/28/2021
