Top Vietnamese Restaurant in Santa Cruz
North Seasonal Vietnamese Cuisine & Bar
133 N Santa Cruz Ave, Los Gatos, CA 95030, United States
My Bestie and I walked from her place to downtown Los Gatos in search of a new restaurant to try, we wanted spring rolls so we googled it and found North Seasonal Vietnamese Cuisine and Bar. We ordered the vegetarian spring rolls and the mango papaya salad, incredibly delicious, light and crisp super fresh. They also have really awesome and fun drinks too! Our server, Diego, was THE BEST. Super attentive, and Diego knew the menu well, gave wonderful suggestions and was really fun. We highly recommend this restaurant, and we will definitely be back!
Mariposa Coffee Bar
1010 Pacific Ave Suite E, Santa Cruz, CA 95060, United States
Maripose Coffee Bar is such a special gem to have here in Santa Cruz. Their fusion of Cuban and Vietnamese culture, recipes, and vibes elevate this place to a whole other level. You can just feel the love that's put into everything they do. Watching this start as a little pop up and turn into the dreamy, peaceful, community full place it is today has been such a wonderful journey to be apart of. After living in Miami for a few years I was so sad to leave behind the Cuban coffee culture. I am so grateful to now be able to walk downtown and get my fix ! Cuban coffee is so special and I wish people would take more time to learn what it actually is. The staff at mariposa is very knowledgeable and always crafting these special coffees to perfection. I love all the new things they come out with and am always so excited to try them. Don't even get me started on the food ! Ever since I had my first spring roll I was hooked ! All the ingredients are so fresh and seem to be made to order. Nothings premade and sitting around all day. Mariposa coffee bar reminds me to relax, take a breather, and just be in the moment. It's always one of my more favorite parts of the week to walk and see all their friendly faces and get my coffee fix ! Thank you for all that you bring and do for this community! Emoji and I will always be your biggest fans ! ?☕️
Hanna - Asian Noodle Bar (Downtown)
155 N Santa Cruz Ave, Los Gatos, CA 95030, United States
So disappointed. Really was hoping this would be decent, at least? Brand new location, we ate at the original Hana on Los Gatos Blvd when they first opened, disappointing, and havent been back since. We were hopeful this new spot would be different. The menu was different, good. Good location. Nice decor. Ate outside. Servers were friendly.But the main reason we go out to eat is the food, right? We had the beef Pho, and the Tonkotsu Ramen. No appetizers.The Pho broth was clear and hot, which is good. No Pho smell though, and super salty. The Tai meat was ok, at least it was soft. The other meat was tired, discolored, very over cooked, and difficult to bite- like hard cardboard, if i am being honest.We ate @ 6:15 on Friday evening, so it wasnt the end of the night, getting rid of whats left-?The Tonkotsu Ramen... they shouldnt be allowed to use that name, was really bad. To make good Tonkotsu broth you have to slow cook the pork which extracts the Umami, and gives you that rich, creamy Tonkotsu flavor- The pork seemed like it had been air fried? It was so dry and hard it was difficult to even bite? No flavor whatsoever in the pork- not edible, just stacked it on another plate, with the meat from the Pho. The soup was warm, not hot. At least it wasnt salty like the Pho broth. The soft boiled egg was ok too.The service was good. Our waitress was kind and apologetic for the food quality. We explained it wasnt her fault. Recommended the chef go try decent Pho at Pho Hanoi in Vietnam Town in San Jose and excellent ramen in Mountain View at Yugen Ramen... even showed her pictures of what good Tonkotsu should look like, since by her own admission, she had never had Tonkotsu Ramen.Los Gatos could really use a good Vietnamese restaurant, in my humble opinion. I do hope Hana is able to take this feedback as an honest critique and change the quality of the 2 dishes we tried and blow us all away with delicious Vietnamese Pho and Japanese Ramen. We dont mind driving to other cities for good food, but it sure would be nice to just drive downtown and enjoy good Pho here in LG.Please, please, please let us know when youre ready for us to try again- we will become your best customers!
Top other services in Santa Cruz:
Penzeys Spices
771 Santa Cruz Ave, Menlo Park, CA 94025, United States
Rude and arrogant service - I ordered spices from their online store. Unfortunately the quantities I received were not what I had ordered (3 bottles of Chili Spices when I ordered only one). I called this store which is 25 miles away to ask about their return policy and explained politely the situation. Surprisingly the shop person did not know the policy and had to call corporate headquarters. 10 minutes later, I received a call back and was told that if I returned the items to a store, all I could expect was a store credit or exchange. I said fine and told her that it would take me 30 minutes to get to the location but that I expected to arrive before their 3pm closing time. On the way, I experienced a thunderstorm. Realizing that I may not make the 3pm time, I called to alert them of the situation. The shop person responded in a haughty manner reminiscent of a 19th century schoolmarm indicating that if I did not arrive by 3pm, they would not let me in. I was surprised by this doctrinarian response considering that I was trying to solve an error caused by the company, that I had to drive 50 miles round-trip in the pouring rain, and that I was delayed by 10 minutes in my departure because the shop person did not know the return policy. Adding insult to injury, she added with all the arrogance she could muster that I could come back the following day when they opened at 10am. I arrived exactly at 3:03pm and the door was closed. The shop persons could see me outside as they tended to other customers but they refused to open the door. This sort of rigidity in a customer service person is the death knell for any business. It will a long time before I go back to this location.
Dolce Spazio Gelato
221 N Santa Cruz Ave, Los Gatos, CA 95030, United States
Upon first glance it didnt look like Gelato So I asked if it was slow churrned as Gelato is. The employees respond by saying they didnt know. It clearly isnt. We ordered four flavors, each the smallest size for $5!. Each one tasted watery. If you went to Safeway and bought the least expensive ice cream the stuff they serve here would be just below that. Sad, but it does say a lot about what is offered in Los Gatos. We ate food at a Vietnamese restaurant which was very well rated well and it was a thai-chinese definitely not Vietnamese .Glad I dont live in LG .
Mos Dumplings
2301A Mission St, Santa Cruz, CA 95060, United States
My Bf and I stopped by here for dinner. Youre seated and then order from QR code on the table.We got:- Pan fried dumplings (very good, simple)- Mapo Tofu Dumplings (very creamy and tasty! My bf says he wishes it came with vegan cheese option, although I liked it as is since Im not vegan ^.^)- Spicy Korean Dumplings (super delicious and my fave! Soo good!)- Sesame Salad w/ Braised Tofu (it was nice to eat the dumplings with something lighter and fresh, since dumplings can be a bit heavy and filling)- Lastly we also got the Spicy Sichuan Noodle Soup (this was my Bfs favorite, he really liked this one!)Were from out of town so we ordered a lot of food and didnt finish half but all of it was tasty, reasonable price, and it was awesome to have left overs to take home, which lasted another 2.5 meals after.The best part was the service. All the staff members who we spoke to were so cute, sweet, and nice! We really enjoyed our time there. If it was closer, we would def go back! There are so many other items on the menu we wished we could try! Next time were in the area, we plan on stopping by.
Golden Triangle Cuisine
217 N Santa Cruz Ave Suite A, Los Gatos, CA 95030, United States
This little gem is one of the best kept secrets in Los Gatos. While most people think of Golden Triangle as only a Thai restaurant, their extensive menu is heavily influenced by cuisine from throughout Southeast Asia and beyond.Their food presentations are certainly unique. Order the avocado shrimps salad and you’ll be surprised when five small tulip glasses arrive at your table accompanied by Mexican tortilla chips. We like the appetizer plate of fresh sesame rolls (aka spring rolls) topped with grilled shrimp and served with Vietnamese vinaigrette. It’s also available with smoked salmon and Thai peanut sauce. We also like their Japanese style Yakisoba noodles, sautéed in a spicy (adjusted to your taste) garlic-basil-chili sauce with chicken.This may be the only downtown Los Gatos restaurant that doesn’t have a liquor license, so bring your own wine or beer and you won’t pay a corkage fee.Golden Triangle Cuisine is open for both lunch and dinner. The dining room and patio are small but they’ve added extra tables in a temporary “parklet” outside. Service is prompt and friendly, and the servers are all dressed in charming traditional attire.
The Bywater
532 N Santa Cruz Ave, Los Gatos, CA 95030, United States
The service was great, however, food on my recent visit was not living up to how I remembered it. Last time, I got the special--a whole fish fried served with a Vietnamese-inspired slaw. It was so absolutely delicious, and creative, and unique that I thought it captured a beautiful point about Nola and the influencing cultures in the region. I was curious about other specials, but the most recent night we went there were no specials. Ive had the fried chicken, po boys, and gumbo from The Bywater. Theyre generally good, but a bit one note for me.This night, I ordered fried chicken. The portion sizes dramatically changed. Previously, it was a generous portion with 3 large, whole parts. This time I got 1 medium drumstick and 1 breast tender (not to be confused with a whole breast). I paid $20 for a small cup of beans with bacon and 2 pieces of chicken. Why wasnt this entree $14-$16 for 2 pcs? It was more lunch-sized than dinner-sized. It was fabulously breaded and well-seasoned, but strangely, the drumstick was dry and the chicken tender moist! (I usually like dark meat because it tends to be moist compared to white meat.)The Daves Famous Fried Mortadella sandwich was a hot mess, in a bad way. The bun was some soft bread that fell apart because of all the juices. If the bread was toasted, it needed more toasting. As soon as you picked it up, the bread would fall apart in your hands. I thought each component would be fried and assembled together, but it seemed only one part was pan-fried and the rest of it tasted like a warmed cold cut sandwich. The sandwich came with nothing on the side, not even a pickle spear.Im not sure why the food was so terrible compared to the last two times. Thankfully, The Bywater continues to have good raw oysters that are cheaper than most places (1 dz =$34). The mignonette sauce was a disaster. Do they put bbq rub in a cup of vinegar? Are they trying to cajun-up the mignonette sauce like that? It just tasted like spicy, smokey vinegar that didnt enhance or complement the oysters. Whoever was shucking that night was 9 for 12 for getting shell shards in our oysters. The mignonette sauce was so awful and I was tired of finding shell bits that I didnt want to risk ordering another dozen.If you want stiff drinks, every cocktail Ive had here will knock you hard. Theyre not particularily subtle or complex even though the menu makes them seem that way. The gin fizz here is not the frothy version.Maybe brunch is the way to go or--only dining when they have a blackboard special. I want to love this place and come back often, but there were too many things wrong. It might be a while until I give them a second chance.
Charlie Hong Kong
1141 Soquel Ave, Santa Cruz, CA 95062, United States
This is an interesting spot. The name is deceiving since they serve Thai and Vietnamese food. It’s an interesting, vegan based restaurant with options for adding meat. I did this spicy peanut sauce curry with a beef add; I think I should have added a different meat base but it was good. There are a lot of spots in Santa Cruz, so I would be up for trying other spots.
Hulas Island Grill
221 Cathcart St, Santa Cruz, CA 95060, United States
I love Santa Cruz and its surrounding areas. From the hills to the water every visit here is an adventure.That being said, I understand that eateries in downtown S.C. will be a little costly. And I dont mind spending a little money accordingly. But if Im honest I have to say this place may be overpriced.Twenty dollars per dinner and two starters and few drinks was $170 for four and a half people. And that would have been fine if the food was as memorable as the area.It wasnt.And the place is DARK. I mean, yeah myself and my companions are in our 40-50s but its kinda embarrassing to have to use our phone flashlights to read the menu. But we did it and were able to order without too much trouble.And I want to point out that there was no problem with the service. The staff was nice and attentive (and were tipped accordingly.)But the food was pedestrian and certain items were overcooked. The texture of my pulled pork was that of something boiled in a bag. Not saying it was. But...Anyways, if youre looking for a new place to visit where the food is DECENT and the drinks are tasty, visit Hulus. But youd probably be best ordering apps and drinks.