Hai Yen Restaurant

One of my all time fav phở places. Great ingredients and service. Also they serve liquor & beer. Can’t go wrong. The combo phở is pure bliss.

Bo la lot is really excellent but others on the menu are not good.
The service was really bad.

Okay, I hate to do this, but this deserves one star.
I go into restaurant around 7pm on a Sunday. I understand that this is probably a peak hour for service. However, I didn’t expect to be standing for 10 minutes waiting for them just to seat me. I’m not talking about waiting for a seat. I mean I actually just stood there, looked at the 4 – 5 tables that were open, and still had to wait. Finally, one of the ladies in the back realized I was there and motioned me to sit at an open table.
Of course, I sit down at the table and notice that it still hasn’t been wiped. Okay, I thought, they’ll clean it up and then I’ll be able to look at the menu (that they didn’t provide) and start ordering. Nope. I watch as multiple waiters and waitresses clean up other tables, get menus for another party, and walk around the vicinity of my table. They did absolutely nothing to even acknowledge me. What made it worse was that one waitress came by to my table to take a condiment bottle from my table and then disappeared as if I wasn’t even sitting there.
By now it had been 20 minutes (on top of the initial 10) and I finally had enough and flagged a waiter and told him I wanted a menu and my table cleaned. He gave the most half-​assed apology I’ve ever received. By now you would think that since they’ve apologized, they’d be more attentive to me. Absolutely not. In fact, I actually saw a party that came before me get seated, have the waiter take their order and the food come in ALL BEFORE I even got to order.
Or rather, I would say if I had got the opportunity to order. I’ve had bad service but this honest to god was the worst I’ve ever received. No hyperbole here.
You know what the problem was? I think I had it figured out: I came alone. I saw other groups get inexplicably faster service even though they came much later than I did. This is unacceptable on all fronts.
In the end. I walked out. Normally I wouldn’t even write a review without tasting the food… but I wasted at least 45 minutes just waiting for them to get their act together. You could argue that I should have flagged them down earlier (keep in mind, I DID DO SO at the halfway point) and that I should have taken more initiative, but I disagree. The overall response I got was of indifference even after I expressed disappointment for the lack of service.
No, screw that. This deserves the lowest rating I can give. I don’t care how good the food is supposed to be. I felt outright disrespected.

They have great food but I’m giving it three stars because ever since the beginning of time the service sucks. I keep coming here because the bo la lot is out of this world and the food in general is pretty damn good but the service is sooooooo slow. They have one waitress which is the bus person too. I get it, I sympathize with her but hire more staff!

Good food. Good service. Good atmosphere. Even hipsters enjoy this place.
We ordered the BANH BOT LOC (chewy tapioca dumplings stuffed wth pork & shrimp), CANH GA (crisp chicken wings finished with salt/​pepper with sweet & sour sauce), BUN HEO NUONG (vermicelli noodles with lemongrass pork), and PHO DAC BIET (combo phở).

Amazing phở. Broth was rich and flavorful and aromatic. Beef was tender, tendons were soft. Herbs were fresh. I actually think their phở is better than Tank and Phở 888.
Reasons why I’m not giving it 5 stars: service was sub par; long wait to get our order taken and get water. I also didn’t love that there were no sauces or spices on the table. the phở came with a plate of herbs and a small bowl of sauce, but I love adding a lot to my phở and it wasn’t enough. It also took quite a while to get more sauce when I asked. Tank has about ⁴⁄₅ different sauces and spices to add on their tables.
All in all, this phở was ridiculously good and the spotty service will not be a deterrent to me coming back!

One of my argyle favorites. Their food has consistently impressed, and I would say that the quality of the seafood is (slightly) better than at most other spots on the strip. It is definitely worth a try if you are looking to go beyond Tank Noodle and try some other spots!
My go-​to here is the Hu Teiu with the broth on the side. The bo la lot appetizer is also quite good. Their phở and bun reiu are solid. The atmosphere is pleasant.

Still the best! every time I have family come in, they want to go here. That says something about this place!!!

I might have to make it back to Chicago more often… the food here is not just the standard phở and vermicelli dishes. The beef wrapped in Hawaiian leaf is excellent as well as the vietnamese half moon appetizer. They have dishes that aren’t on the linked menu at this site, such as the bun rieu.
I can’t remember the name of my soup, but it had the round thick white noodles and a thicker broth. I’d never tried it, but boy I wish I could find it in my local city.

Went there on Friday night, January 8^th. Had a reservation for 4 at 8 pm. After sitting for 30 minutes with no service at all (not even drinks), we decided to leave. It was semi-​busy, but not totally full. They just didn’t have their act together at all. We asked to order a couple times (very politely), but it didn’t work. I hear the food is pretty good, but man the service was just atrocious.

Took way too long to get my food. There were large groups here and they were took up all the service. The waitresses were nice, but hardly paid attention to us. The food was alright, but not entirely authentic. Phở is phở and if you’re looking for it, you won’t find anything spectacular here. Beware choosing this for your Friday night dinner if it’s crowded — the service will suffer. BEWARE.

Second time here, absolutely delicious! All the food came out fresh and hot. The restaurant was clean and organized. I ordered all vegetarian and everything was perfect!

This is one of my Favorite Restaurant in the Uptown area… i always come here for the Bo La Lot and the 5 course of beef… I think this is the only restaurant in the chicago area for Bo 5 mon… Pretty yummy…

This is my go to Vietnamese restaurant went in Argyle. They have an array of traditional Viet dishes from noodle soups to rice dishes to off the beaten path Vietnamese dishes.
I highly recommend the «Bo La Lot», which is a marinated beef wrapped in piper lolot leaf and grilled over charcoal. It comes with spring roll wrappers, a huge plate of veggies all for your wrapping pleasure. Absolutely phenomenal and without a doubt my favorite item on the menu.
5 stars!

The food is AMAZING. Get the crêpe and the hawaiian leaf-​wrapped sausage.
The service was as horrible as the food was good. We had dishes we didn’t order brought to the table twice, had to flag down someone to get service almost every time, and got one-​word, deadpan answers to most questions. The waitress also didn’t seem to know the menu at all.
But like I said, the food was great. So much so that I will be back, regardless of the service.

The food here was really, really good. I got the specialty phở, spring rolls, and bo lo lot. We also ordered a couple of other dishes, but they gave us the wrong dishes, so when I called to ask they said they gave us better food that was more expensive. We had a certain number of people for this take out and it wasn’t enough despite their mistake. Finally, they had GrubHub deliver it to us.
As stated the food was great, the service was not so great. If they improved their service, they’d be 5 stars. no doubt.

We were in the area for the Argyle Night Market, but the Hai Yen stand was out of food so we just went in the restaurant. We ordered spring rolls, steak phở and the lemongrass beef wraps to share. Three or four groups came in after us ordering the sausage wraps (bo la lot) which looked really delicious, but we don’t understand why they got their food before us!
It was our first time working with DIY wraps, and we struggled through a couple before sort of getting it. We did our best to learn by spying at other tables. The idea is neat, but it was just too much work for two very hungry people. The balance of flavors was never quite right and the beef by itself wasn’t very flavorful. Furthermore, I realize that it was late in the evening, but the phở broth tasted old, and they tried to save it with too much lime juice.
This may be a good place for Vietnamese specialties, not the phở. Service was very slow throughout the night.

It feels like a family-​owned business. The service is nice, but what everyone comes here is for the BO LA LOT. Delicious. Mouthwatering. Ugh, so good. Literally, I can’t explain it in words — JUST GET IT. (Especially in those wraps).
We got the Bun Rieu, and it was mediocre. Good, but it needed some spice.

I’ve been to this place once and have since ordered delivery from Hai Yen. Great food. Pleasant people over the phone and in person.
This is review is only for the delivery: I live around a 10 – 15 min local drive away from the restaurant. Delivery time takes a life time, regardless of time and day. Prepare 2 – 3 hours for the delivery guy to arrive.
Latest scenario: I phoned in to place my order around 5pm. The lady said it’ll take about an hour for them to finish cooking broth for the Bun Bo Hue, so delivery should be around 7pm. I said okay, no problem.
By 7:45pm, no signs of the delivery person. I phoned Hai Yen twice and each time they said the guy should arrive any time. They texted and called the delivery person.
Finally at 7:55pm the delivery person arrived. He even said he picked up the food at 6:30pm. I asked if he had other orders to deliver and he said no. So what really took him so long?
Hai Yen is a great restaurant. But for those who would like to enjoy the food from home, please address the problem with the delivery person.

The ONLY BEST spot to get bo la lot!
The rest of the food here is pretty average and you can get it at any other Vietnamese cuisine. My boyfriend however is obsess with their Hu Tieu and it doesn’t compare to any other spots that we’ve tried so far.
They however need to work on their customer service. It took awhile for our cups of water to be filled up and thats just a big con on my list because that should be the number one thing that should be done right if anything

great tasting food, friendly service a good experience every time. this was my third trip to Hai Yen on a Thursday evening. A good dinner crowd enjoying everything from phở, to more non-​mainstream Vietnamese dishes.
We had a party of 6, were seated right away at a large table and the awesome hostess grabbed a high chair for us right away. We had the bo lo lat «wrapped beef rolls», the Egg crêpe with prawns, aalt and pepper tofu, and some Chinese broccoli. They came out with a huge plate of herbs and fixin’s like mint and basil, jalopenos etc along with rice paper wrapper which was just awesome to fix up like little tacos.
I could literally just have fish sauce and rice and be happy (i actually polished off the rice with fish sauce after we finished all the dishes).
The broccoli was tender and done perfectly, good dressing.
the tofu crunchy on the outside and well seasoned, perfect.
the bo lo lat excellent –savory and each bite new as I experimented with the different herbs.
the egg crêpe with prawns had good texture, a slight crunch and delicious filling.
Hai Yen is THE spot on Argyle. I’d drive from the burbs just to go again.

Meh. There’s a huge abundance of Vietnamese restaurants in the Chicago/​uptown (funk) area, but we decided to visit here on a friend’s recommendation. Here’s my impressions.
Pros:
+Loads of fresh veggies with your beef wrap dish!
+Friend’s boba tea looked bomb af (too bad I didn’t take a picture).
Cons:
–Very short-​staffed. Only 1 waitress for entire place? Owner had to come out and help.
–Waitress doesn’t smile. Can we have a vietnamese place where the waitresses smile please? That would be one of my wishes if I ever found a genie in a bottle.
–4 orders of beef wraps for 9 people only came with –2– dishes of fish sauce? why are you so cheap?!
–Our phở only came with a dish of hoisen sauce and shriacha. Where are the bottles of scriacha that are so common in EVERY vietnamese phở place? I can’t even make it as spicy as I want. I hate you.
–Beef wrap appetizer was meh at best. Needs more salt. If only we had more fish sauce…
–Tip included in bill. Dafuq? I’ve never seen a Vietnamese place that includes tip in their bill. Tip should be based on service, not something I automatically pay for. That’s called sales tax.
–Phở not as good as in Michigan. Broth tasted a little watered-​down.
Honestly, I could’ve asked for more sriachia (how the hell do you spell this word?) or more fish sauce, but why should I have to? Isn’t it common sense? I should give this place 2/​5, but an extra star because they’re Vietnamese. And I’m Vietnamese. And I guess that makes us fam.

This is my favorite Vietnamese restaurant in Chicago. My favorite dish is the Bo La Lot, either with the ban hoi noodles or with the wraps. They are delicious and consistently good whenever we order them. I also enjoy the chao tom appetizers as well as the buon thit nuong main dish.
On a Saturday night, Hai Yen is packed which speaks highly of this restaurant. Love this place!

The service is pretty darn hit and miss — so be prepared to wait, and or feel like your Vietnamese is well, lacking (I speak none, so that’s probably my fault). It is not, however dirty/​grungy and the food is wonderfully fresh.
The Bo La Lot, either the wraps or noodles, they’re so freaking good I honestly can’t stand it. And moreover, I can’t find them at any other Vietnamese restaurant, so, go even if it’s just for those.
I don’t like almost anything with their pork in it, including the Phở, Spring rolls with pork AND shrimp, and pork skewers. It’s always just too «porky» tasting for me, and always has a strip of fat. I know, it’s supposed to be that way, and I’m just too dang white. I know. But, I can’t seem to help it, so I avoid it.
I did like the clay pot salmon (although it’s quite sweet) and also enjoy the shrimp spring rolls. Be aware that the Vermicelli Rice Noodles bowls don’t come with a sauce –it’s just meat, veg, and noodles. You can add fish sauce and hot sauce, but you might think it’s bland.

Hai Yen is a small, but packed little Vietnamese restaurant very close to the Argyle red line stop that packs a lot of flavor into super affordable dishes really quickly! When I went a week or two ago, I tried their spring rolls and the chicken curry and both dishes were just super fresh and delicious.
The spring rolls were stuffed full of fresh herbs, pork, shrimp, and rice noodles and when paired with the spicy-​peanut dipping sauce, they set my taste buds ablaze. With every bite you could really taste the mint which sometimes can be a rarity, so that left me smiling throughout the entire meal. The shrimp was cooked well, you could still taste the pork, and the lettuce and noodles provided texture so for me it was just the perfect quintessential spring roll. I would probably order them on every visit in the future.
The chicken curry was also pretty good with moist chunks of chicken breast, taro, potato, and carrot in a fatty-​but-​tingling yellow Thai curry broth, but I couldn’t help but feel that the flavor tasted like something out of a jar. Maybe I’m totally off base here but although it did taste good, the sodium content was way off the charts meaning there was either too heavy a hand with the fish sauce (or salt or soy sauce), or there was just something jarred about it.
All that said, I would definitely stop by again if only for their spring rolls. When it comes to raw ingredients and raw flavors, they’ve got it in the bag!

We came here over the weekend for something warm. We ordered the wrap your own spring rolls (wished there was vermicelli noodles), chicken wings (super bland if you eat them without the sauce, over-​fried as well), and phở with tripe, flank, tendon and meatballs (I didn’t order the meatballs so I don’t know why it was included, large portion size, decent broth).
Overall, it was a decent meal. Service was friendly.

We came on a cold winter night. The restaurant was half empty when we arrived early in the night at 6pm, but by the time we left the restaurant had gotten pretty full. I’m guessing everyone was in the mood for some good phở to warm up. They definitely picked a good place!
The menu here is pretty extensive. I had a tough time trying to figure out what to order. I eventually went with the beef phở with strips of beef, beef balls, and tripe. The soup came with tendons but I had asked to not have them in my bowl and they were able to accommodate my request.
We also ordered the papaya salad. It came with crispy chips to eat with. The flavors were really good but the pork in the salad was a bit too fatty for my taste.
We also ordered a pork bbq ban mi. It took the longest to make because it came to our table last but it was worth it. The pork was grilled perfectly, the ingredients in the sandwich tasted great together and the sandwich roll was crispy on the outside and soft on the inside.
The restaurant was very clean and so was the bathroom which is always a good sign. Also as a great plus, I was not thirsty afterwards which is a good indication that they do not use MSG in their soups. Looking forward to coming back, especially to help me get through this long winter!

I came here on a Saturday night around 6 p.m. with my wife and mother. My wife is Vietnamese and my mother loves Vietnamese food. We shared the ba la lot and chao tom. They are two of my favorite dishes and Hai Yen did not disappoint. I got a banh xeo for my main even though it is listed under the appetizer section. It is definitely more of an appetizer size than a main dish, but I always get it here. The reason is that no other Vietnamese restaurant we have come across (and we come to uptown often) does banh xeo as good as Hai Yen.
My wife enjoyed her bun boh nuong while my mother enjoyed her cashew chicken (less oily than the chinese version). The wifey topped it all off with an almond milk tea which she enjoyed.
We were the only table when we arrived but there were no open tables when we left. The clientele was a mixture of locals and westerners. This place and phở lily are the two best vietnamese restaurants in uptown.