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SEE
ALSO
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Vietnam
Restaurant lost a Vietnamese food trial versus Cordon
Bleu
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Vietnam
Restaurant
620 Broadway/Columbus
Ave., SF
Map
This Restaurant
Pretrial
hearing at Spec's
11/03/01
McClure
On the
border of China and Italy you'll find Vietnam, the restaurant that is.
Just a few paces from the fun of North Beach and the exotic flavors of
Chinatown. Vietnam is your basic hole in the wall with a most friendly
staff serving up all those Vietnamese delights you enjoy. At least my
favorite. If you've had the pleasure of reading any of my previous reviews
of Vietnamese cuisine then you know what I'm talkin' about. Yup, good
ol' Bun Thit Nuong Cha Gio, the dish that is as much a mouthful to say
as it is to eat. It's a hard dish to pass up, what with the grilled pork,
imperial rolls, and rice noodles. At Vietnam they do a great job of it:
tasty meat, crispy rolls served up in large portions for the amazing low
price of $4.25. Just pour a little of that special sauce over your bowl,
mix it all up, and feast away.
We tried
a couple appetizers and ran into a bit of trouble with the ordering. We
had an order of the imperial rolls ($3.50), same as the ones you get in
the B.T.N.C.G. You can never have enough of those crispy deep fried eggrolls
and that delicious dippin' sauce. The Spring Rolls ($3.50) were so-so,
nothing great but they do come with a nice peanut sauce to drench 'em
in. We thought we ordered pork but ended up with shrimp. I believe that
had to do with us not knowing how to speak Vietnamese and them not speaking
too much English. Anyways I don't think they would have been much better
with the pork.
The service
is quick and the staff serves up the goods with a smile. If you're headed
out for a night on the town and you want something a little different
from the same old Italian/Chinese fare, then stop on by Vietnam and fill
your belly for a reasonable price.
Turner
 Continuing
in our search for fine Vietnamese greasy spoons, we bring you Vietnam
Restaurant. A simple name for a simple Vietnamese grub house. For a quick
and cheap bite before plunging into North Beach for the evening, I recommend
it. Much like Cordon Bleu, the atmosphere is extremely understated and
casual. Nonexistent, perhaps, unless you call dining in someone's kitchen
"atmosphere." But heck, we judges enjoy that kind of thing.
Of course we all had
to get the Bun Thit Whatchamacallit thing, and it was quite decent. Hard
to go wrong with this Viet noodle salad dish, with your grilled pork and
crunchy rolls, veggies, noodles, and whatnot. What can I say, they serve
up a good one fast and cheap while you sit at the tiny counter staring
at cans of Cafe du Monde coffee through plexiglass. Or was that real glass?
They screwed up one
of our appetizer orders and brought us those fresh spring roll things,
with shrimp. Of course fried is better, but these weren't bad. A lot of
mint in there, though.
All in all a nice
addition to the Vietnamese hole-in-the-wall dining resource list. And
if you're looking for a cheap no-frills Bun Cha Gio Thit Nuong (and who
isn't?), then drop on by.
Vardigan
The Bun to the Thit
to the Nuong to the Cha to the Gio. I don't know if it's possible to screw
one of these up. I've never had one I didn't enjoy. Come to think of it,
I've never disliked an imperial roll either. Which is an integral piece
of the B.T.N.C.G. It's the C and the G part. Since we all chose that for
our main course, and had imperials for an appetizer, a satisfying meal
was nearly ensured.
The füd here
doesn't quite hold up against champions like Minh's, but it's solid, and
I'm not sure you can't beat the prices anywhere.
There are a couple
tables in back, and then some counter seating where you can look at rows
of condensed milk cans. Being just off Columbus, Vietnam Restaurant is
a fine choice for cheap eats in North Beach when Italian isn't what you
want.
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