Top Southeast Asian Restaurant in San Jose
Nam Vang Restaurant
2477 Alvin Ave, San Jose, CA 95121, United States
I found this on instagram and decided to give it a try. It opens early. We arrived around 11 am. and it is almost full. The restaurant is not that big. Inside is pretty roomy.We got a seat right away and were asked what we wanted to order. Since it is our first time, we have no clue what to order except we heard the combination dry noodle is the most popular one. We ordered combination dry noodles with half rice noodles and half egg noodles. Next, we ordered a combination porridge and chinese doughnut. The meat for noodles and porridge are the same. We also order pork and shrimp roll. I like the porridge the best even though the noodle is the most popular one. The porridge has balance flavor. The combination dry noodle is also yummy, but I think it has too much dark soy sauce. It comes with bone soup. Soup is good and the meat is tender. If I guess it right they have fish sauce in the soup, but somehow it taste on the sweet side. The roll is good, and it comes with peanut sauce. It is good when mix with hoisin sauce. Hand pulled noodles look like a famous dish, too. Only combination dry noodles and hand pulled noodle dishes picture on the wall, so I assume those are popular ones.Overall, it was a good experience. I wish they are more patience. I feel they just want you to sit, order right a way, finish your dishes, pay, and leave. It is cash only
Saigon Kitchen
1111 Story Rd #1005, San Jose, CA 95122, United States
Saturday, 1/20/2024 - Ate at Saigon Kitchen. Address is 1111 Story Rd, Ste 1005, San Jose, CA 95109 (East San Jose). Its located in the Asian plaza. There a little mall here. Plenty of free parking.Pros1) nice staffs2) has table covers. Clean.3) they provide each of us two paper napkins.4) foods are good. We got the medium fried catfish spring roll dish for $60. The escargot soup dish for $22. Kids pho for $14. Tea for 4 people for $10.00.5) clean bathroom.6) theres a fireplace in the middle of restaurant.7) they were very quick to process our tab when we got to the cashier counter.Cons1) our waiter never check in on us. Several times we needed extra items and had to keep looking for a server. Any server. We needed the condiment for the pho, there was none on the table. We needed an extra plate to eat the cat fish, we had to look for a server for help.2) they only provided a little cup with Sriracha sauce and oyster sauce. That was it.3) after we ate, they never brought the tab to us. We had to look for someone to ask for it.4) we had to ask someone for a to-go box to box our cat fish and sides home.ConclusionFried cat fish was good. I like the spring roll items and sauce that goes with it. Escargot soupy dish was good. But.... they dont check in on you. At all. You have to look for the server if you need anything. They dont have any pho condiments like how were use to in Sacramento and Fresno. This place was just okay. Meh. But good. Not bad.
Amarin Thai Cuisine
5205 Prospect Rd #110, San Jose, CA 95129, United States
I have been visiting here off and on for over a decade. Generally, my family has liked the food, it seems to be a mix of Thai, Chinese and Vietnamese items/flavors rather than pure Thai. In any case I quite like some of the food that I had recently. The food seems pretty fresh and flavorful. It is a little on the pricey side.Drinks were good, we had some of the fruit smoothies.Beers available included Singha and Sapporo.Some of the items I particularly liked were the Chili beef plate, Chili green-bean plate.Few areas of improvement would be more server check in, although pleasant staff we felt there could have been more stopping by and checking in. Additionally, there was a vegetarian menu but one of our items for one member of our party was prepared with fish sauce (the mango salad) even though we had advise staff that needed to be completely vegetarian - so one member of our party was unable to eat it. I feel this was due to the restaurant being busy when we visited and an oversight.Overall I would recommend and would come back. Food was pretty good!
Erawan Thai Cuisine
5945 Almaden Expy #150, San Jose, CA 95120, United States
The things I do for good food, including driving down to the deep depths of SJ. But you could say that the food was too en-thai-sing to pass up! (I really cant pass up a good pun)I looovee thai food and my quest for finding great thai food never stops. I was referred by a couple of my friends to try this place and it did not disappoint!Parking: Easy, its located in a strip mall with plenty of parking.Restaurant/Decor: Very traditional feel with a lot of ornate pieces and designs. It was also pretty big in size with plenty of seating and great for large parties!Service: Quick and attentive. I always take note how often my water gets filled because Im not the most patient person so Im very appreciative when the servers fill water without me asking :)Food: I ordered a lottt but some of the highlights were the sizzling duck, yellow curry, papaya salad, and angel wings! All the dishes had great flavor and were cooked perfectly. The duck was crisp and fatty, the yellow curry was rich with a hint of sweetness, the papaya salad was refreshing and spicy, and the angel wings were crunchy and savory.I also tried the banana fritters. The fritters were warm and melted in your mouth and is paired perfectly with pineapple ice cream!Overall I really enjoyed the food and would come back again! Definitely check out if youre in the area and enjoy some appe-thai-zing food!
Thai Lovers
1111 Story Rd # 1009, San Jose, CA 95122, United States
Used to be a favorite.This was our standby for quite a few years. Always enjoyed the fried pompano, papaya salad and almost any of their grilled items.It was always delicious.However, they either no longer care about quality or just no longer cared.From them and their sister store, Golden Chicken, we ordered chicken with papaya salad, grilled pork and grilled steak.The papaya salad was way salty. The grilled pork and chicken was charred to the extent that jerkys would be more tender. Some pieces were blackened to almost as dark as charcoal.My rice was extra hard. I think the rice was pre-plate and kept under a heat lamp.Very disappointed. Wont be back.
Straits Restaurant
333 Santana Row #1100, San Jose, CA 95128, United States
A friend who I havent seen in about a year and a half and whom I used to work with was in town and we decided to revisit a regular venue we used to haunt with our friend group back in the day. We decided it was a good place to come sit, talk and order casually. To a large degree it still is, however it isnt the same as it used to be. I believe its still an Asian fusion restaurant of sorts mixed with a sort of nightclub feel. This is even more evident when you see how the waitresses and hosts are dressed. All are wearing shape defining clothes, with some more daring Im attire than others. If you want a moderately upscale dining experience with a bit of female eyecandy. This might just be the place for you. However, it may be that Im getting older, or maybe that Im just becoming an old dad, but the waitresses seem to be getting younger and younger every time I visit this place. So much so that I find the attire to be more daring than necessary. But hey what do I know ? This is a restaurant right? So lets talk about the food.One of the things we came for in the past was the oyster bar. We ordered a set but were disappointed to know they did not have kumamotos. I found the quality of the oysters tonight to be inconsistent. Some tasted very fresh where others tasted a bit on the fishy seafood side. It came with a choice of three different toppings but none of them were horseradish or Tabasco sauce. On top of that the whole restaurant was out of Tabasco sauce. That seems to me to be a crime that should never be allowed to happen in a place that serves fresh oysters. Its a staple for oysters. If you run out, send someone out to the grocery store and grab a bunch of bottles. Its hard for me to imagine that we were the only ones who would find this to be unforgivable or it must be that no one else is ordering fresh oysters from the bar.Everything else we had was perfectly fine. We had garlic noodles with chicken which was pretty good but wasnt outstanding. It was a bit better than what you would expect to get from a Chinese fast food. The beef tartar was good as well. Served with a raw egg in the center and what appeared to be fancy potato chips. On the scale of other beef tartars that Ive had, it was below average in taste above average in presentation. The best, dish we had tonight was a beef dish that was nested in a shrimp chip bowl. Nice presentation, and the taste was satisfying.We topped the night off with some dessert. They had some new dessert items and indicated that their dessert menu is new because of this and we ordered their new items. Im not a dessert person, I dont typically care for cake, but when I do, I prefer carrot cake, so thats what I got. Presentation was interesting. It appeared to be a smaller portion, round, coated with a cream cheese topping, with small chunks of pineapple nested in the center of the round. I would say it tasted more like pineapple cake than carrot cake, but it was definitely a carrot cake. The unfortunate part of dessert was we tried to order coffee with our cakes, but for whatever reason straits does not serve coffee. As in, they just dont have coffee at this place and its not something that you can offer there in and day. They said there was coffee in a mixed drink that they could serve for us if we wanted, but we were good to go with enough alcohol to that point having had wine and beer previously in our meal.Straits visually is a relatively upscale atmosphere, generally dark in lighting. In some spots the restaurant, the walk space is very tight so youll find yourself squeezing between other patrons tables to get out of the way of passing traffic. Business still appears to be good, even though this restaurant has been around for a while, and if youre looking for a degree of elegance without going full fine dining, youll come out of this experience satisfied. Nothing is terrible, nothing is amazing.
Ph H
951 McLaughlin Ave, San Jose, CA 95122, United States
Getting over a cold and was in desperate need of some good pho last night. Just moved back to the East Side after 10 years and a lot has changed. There are TONS of new Vietnamese restaurants, making it hard to choose, so I Yelped it. Pho Ha seemed worth a try. The lady at the counter greeted me upon my approach, was pleasant, very helpful and patient in helping me decipher the menu choices to meet my cravings. After paying, she offered me water, then on second thought, suggested tea, rembering that I mentioned that I was under the wheather. I had asked for togo sauce cups so that I could self pack some condiments. She assured me that everything I would need would be with my order. It was and then some! My togo order of three different phos, came in a timely and well packaged manner. It was absolutely delicious! The kind of delicious that makes you glad to have leftovers for breakfast! I cant wait to visit again. Oh, and it really helped my cold!
Pho Viet Restaurant
2557 N First St, San Jose, CA 95131, United States
First ImpressionsDespite the abundance of pho places around the airport, Pho Viet Restaurant stands out. My daughter and I arrived early, and although it took the staff a while to notice us due to a large order from Uber Eats or DoorDash, once they did, they immediately took care of us.The Dining ExperienceOur Order:I ordered a large Chicken Soup with white (rice) noodles, while my daughter opted for a smaller portion of the same dish. The wait time was around 15 minutes, but it was more than worth it when our bowls arrived. The size of the soup bowl was impressive—pictures just dont do it justice.Service Excellence:My daughter accidentally added too much chili sauce to her bowl, but the staff was incredibly kind and replaced the broth, transferring the noodles to a new bowl without any extra charge. This level of customer service truly enhanced our dining experience.Taste and Quality:The food was excellent. The chicken soup was well-balanced, with a generous amount of chicken complementing the flavorful broth and noodles. The Vietnamese iced coffee was also very good, providing a perfect ending to our meal.Price:The prices are reasonable, with dishes ranging from $15-20 per plate and drinks between $5-10. Considering the quality and portion sizes, its a great value for money.Final ThoughtsIt seemed we were the only customers there, aside from the Uber and DoorDash drivers. I truly wish more people would give this place a shot. The parking was easy, as there wasnt much traffic around this location. My only minor gripe was the wobbling tables, which I hope they fix soon.If youre in the area and craving some delicious Southeast Asian cuisine, I highly recommend checking out Pho Viet Restaurant. Its a hidden gem that deserves more recognition!for more reviews:Twitter: @RealPreciadoBlog: iwashere.blog
SA BY THAI Restaurant
62 W Santa Clara St, San Jose, CA 95113, United States
We ordered take out on a Friday night. We got the Roasted Duck Curry, Pad Thai, Chicken Satay, and Catfish Dern Dong.Service: I was not impressed with the service. I called and placed my order 2 hours before I planned to pick it up. I arrived 15 minutes after the time I requested it to be ready, and still had to wait 15 minutes until my order was ready. However, I will recognize that they were only missing the appetizer and the 15 minutes I was waiting was for them to cook that appetizer. The food was hot when I got it, so I can assume they had the rest ready at the right time. Additionally, I noticed that they only had one person bustling at the front, and a help wanted sign, so Ill also assume they were a bit short of hands. Given the circumstances, being a little late isnt unreasonable, and I was not in a hurry, so it didnt upset me. But overall, I still will say the service was not impressive.Taste: I am not an expert on Thai food. I cannot say whether or not it was authentic. For me, I think the food was pretty good. However, my parents noted that the duck was tough and not fresh. (I personally dont know duck well enough to tell. It tasted like meat to me.) The catfish was good. Our spice tolerance is low, but we were just barely able to tolerate it.Cost: Compared to the amount of food we got, we dont think the cost was worth it. Our 4 orders totaled $62. The duck and catfish dish had little meat and did not compensate for the lack of meat with veggies. Most of it was curry.Overall: We did not feel like the restaurant was bad. However, it is just not for me and my family. Its unlikely we would come here again.
Blue Mango
635 Coleman Ave, San Jose, CA 95110, United States
Awful. I have been here a few times now and every single time it is super slow service. 15minutes to get our iced tea and some waters? But tonight was different... spent two hours in the restaurant. We were the only table in there for about the first hour. Once we were sat by the lady, we sat for 10 minutes... still the only table there... the same lady took our order for drinks... waited another 10 minutes for the drinks to hit the table.... still the only ones there... we order some appetizers and it takes about 20 minutes. We eat we talk and about 20 minutes later a couple other tables were sat. It was about 80 minutes after we initially sat down that we had to call her over to take our meal order and ask for more drinks. Remember we are now at 80 minutes since we sat down. The drinks never came and we had to ask for them after 20 minutes of waiting. Once two hours had passed... YES 2 WHOLE HOURS. We decided we would never see our food. Paid for what was ordered and left. It's a shame because the food here is really good! BUT THE SERVICE IS THE WORST I HAVE EVER HAD IN MY ENTIRE LIFE!!!! We will not be visiting blue mango again and I wouldn't recommend it unless you can sit there all day