Tay Ho Restaurant & Bar

4 stars before they changed the menu. Now I’d give 3.5. Love the nuoc mam wings and salted fish fried rice.

I came here with a craving for banh cuon, I’ve been doing my research the past couple of days and found this place to be popular for their banh cuon dish so I decided to come check it out.
I put in a phone order for the banh cuon dac biet and was told it would take about 15 minutes. I showed up sooner and the food was ready which was nice. The restaurant was pretty busy and appeared clean with a nice ambiance. I felt for Vietnamese food, it was on the pricey side.
I get in the car and couldn’t wait to get home to try the food, I grabbed the fried sweet potato fritter thinking it would be freshly fried and hot only to have it be cold, that being said, it still had some crunch to it. I get home and open the container only to find 4 measly pieces of banh cuon that had barely any filling and noodle wrap that was too thick to what it traditionally should be. (I grew up to my mom and grandma making this dish from scratch so I am a harsh critic) I could’ve done without that weird doughy fried shrimp ball, cha gio was small but ok.
Needless to say, I’m still on the hunt for a legit banh cuon place. I had high expectations for this place.

Delicious curried chicken with rice. Nice atmosphere and décor. Can’t wait to go back to try more dishes.

I’m disappointed in my folks, not literally speaking. The portion size doesn’t match the quality or the quantity of the price. There were more ice in my ice coffee than there were actual coffee!!! So so. The positive side is the Banh Cuon tasted good and not too greasy. Judge it for yourself, but it seems the jury is out already.

The service here is great and the restaurant interior is beautiful. The food is good but I wouldn’t say great Vietnamese food. If you want a nice Americanized Vietnamese restaurant, I would recommend Tay Ho. They even have a bar here. But if you want really rich authentic home style Vietnamese food, this is not the place.

Meh. I had the vegetarian banh cuon and no where close to what I can get in Westminster. It’s a nice place for lunch though — well decorated, casual, and obviously busy from the offices nearby. I would rather get Chinese food nearby.

This place is ok. I like the Tay Ho in San Jose much better. Portions at the oakland location was very small & the quality & the taste wasn’t the same as the one in San Jose. Felt the food at the San Jose was more authentic than the one in Oakland. we’ll think twice about coming back since you’re paying more for less.

My first experience was great! My second wasn’t. I ordered bun rieu with escargot. Keep in mind that bun rieu does not automatically come with escargot, totally different dish. We did not know that, so we got the regular one the second time we were here.
My first visit:
My boyfriend got BBH, he said it was okay. Better than most places. I got the bun rieu with escargot. He liked mine a lot more. Very flavorful and I loved everything about it!
My second visit:
We both ordered bun rieu thinking it came with escargot. It wasnt spicy like the first time and less flavorful. It was mediocre.
Will be back, but I’ll be sure to order the correct item next time –_–

OK, so this place is actually very difficult to write a review for so i will try to break it down for you as much as possible.
When it comes to the taste, the food here is pretty on par. Their broth for their phở and their Bun Bo Hue is pretty impressive. It may not be the best but the flavor profiles are all there with addition to the quality of their meat. That should amount for something. In addition, they have a good amount of cocktails and beer. Who every had a cocktail or IPA with their phở? Definitely a pretty awesome experience.
On the other hand, however, their portions for everything was a joke. What stood out to me the most was when i ordered a Vietnamese Iced Coffee. If you know me, you would know I’m a fiend for Viet Ice Coffee. I like to think I’m sort of a connoisseur. With that said, you can imagine the amount of disrespect i felt when they put a glass in front of me filled to the brim with ice and ¹⁄₃ filled with coffee. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! THE AUDACITY. I would show you a picture of it but offending you is not on my agenda today. The portions for all their other dishes are also a joke. You would think that the recession hit them a lot harder than it did other people.
With all that said, i really want to give them a final grade of 3 stars. What brings it down to 2 stars is their price. Not too sure if they realize they are located in Oakland but correct me if I’m wrong, but this is OAKLAND. Oakland is known for Quality, Good Sized Portions all at an affordable price. $ 9 for a Bahn Mi?! FOH! Are you smoking crack from the crack head chilling down the street? How dare you charge $ 9 for a Bahn Mi!
I’m sorry, i have a lot more to tell you about this place but I’m still baffled at the price they want to charge for over-​priced, not-​so-​authentic Vietnamese food. So baffled I keep on losing my train of thought and what i want to say… FUCKING $ 9 for a BAHN MI??? SMH

If you come here, get what they’re known for: banh cuon. Look at pictures to familiarize yourself with this different versions they offer. Any one you get will be good because the rice sheet is so fresh. It’s a night-​and-​day difference compared to restaurants who make it from the package.
Another item I loved was the Mee Kong (Poor Boy) Noodle which consists of round rice noodles, raw veggies, shredded pork, and pork skin with warm coconut milk to mix in. It’s the perfect marriage of a comforting yet refreshing dish for the summer. Flavorful as is but you can add fish sauce and chili to it for more umph.
The worst item was the phở. Bland broth and well… just don’t order this! There are plenty of other delicious dishes here. Cool vibe too with the bar which will attract hipsters who want to get near, but not into, Chinatown.

SERVICE IS HORRIBLE!!! Restaurant was not that full but we sat and waited for two phos for one HOUR. We had to ask to check the status of our order twice before they seemed to start hustling. And when they came out with one of the phos, no explanation or apologies were given. All the waitress said was «We go by the tickets.» The table on our left sat down with us at the same time and got food before us. The table to our right never ended up getting one of their dishes! The poor girl was so hungry she had her friend go get food for her!
We got the check from them and were in the process of counting out the correct amount of cash. One the servers comes over and starts hovering over me… I obviously don’t expect five start service but that was just plain rude.
The food is DELICIOUS though. But its it worth the hour wait? Nope.

Service wasn’t the greatest.
D R I N KS
Café Sua Da (Vietnamese dripped coffee) (⁴⁄₅ stars)
— it was kinda on the sweeter side but it wasn’t all that bad. Not bitter like most Vietnamese coffee. I normally like that bitter taste.
F O O D
Beef kabobs (¹⁄₅ stars)
— did not look like ANYTHING in the pictures lol FYI.
It was supposed to have veggies on it but when they had brought it out, there wasn’t any. Just one long piece of meat. One order came with like 5 skewers. It was salty and chewy. Wasn’t the best.
#15 Banh Cuon (⁵⁄₅ stars)
— best Banh Cuon I ever had in Oakland. Not too greasy. The wrap was super fresh and soft. Good amount of meat inside. It’s kind of pricy but it’s still good. :)

Located in Chinatown in Oakland. The restaurant isn’t your typical Vietnamese hole in the wall joint in Chinatown; it has a bit more modern atmosphere and the phở tasted «clean». I do like the phở here though, it tastes better than most of the places in Chinatown but not as good as Phở Ao Sen near International.
Phở was about $ 10, $ 12 with large. The regular size was plenty since they were very generous with the noodles portion; I was actually super full at the end. The broth wasn’t too oily and didn’t taste like «dirty» phở. For most phở connoisseurs, the broth may be lacking flavors. My colleague got the vegetarian phở which she thought was disgusting. I didn’t try it so couldn’t speak much to it.
We shared spring rolls appetizer (3 spring rolls for $ 7.95 I think) and we each had a bowl of regular phở. Total with tax and tip came out to $ 15/​person. Quite steep for lunch especially in Chinatown. The phở broth was not convincing enough for me to return on my own will but this place beats most of the phở spots within walking distance of work.

Food looks great in pictures, but that’s about it.
The food here leaves something to be desired. Portions are also on the small side for the price.
I tried the banh cuon combo plate, as well as the combo vermicelli. While both were good in flavor, I was not blown away or impressed by either. The banh cuon also took a long time to come out. Their fish sauce was extremely light/​watery and lacked the taste and authenticity of traditional nuoc nam.
Their Vietnamese iced coffee was not served traditionally in a dripper — it was just ok.
Overall, high prices for mediocre food.

I lived in Oakland for three years and I can’t believe this was just a few blocks away from my old apartment. This might be my new favorite Vietnamese spot. The ambience is nice and inviting. There are a lot of options on the menu. Ordered a few things but the highlight of my dinner would be the garlic noodles. I’m talking chunks of garlic! Loved it! Since eating here, I’ve told all my friends to check this place out. I’m a fan. I actually have it in my calendar to have dinner here next week. I. Can’t. Wait.

Banh Cuon is good. I like that they add fried sweet potatoes on top so you get a bit of crunch and sweetness. My boyfriend and I also liked their pork sausage.
I don’t really get the hype on their bun rieu. While the meatball was really good the broth was pretty watery and not as flavorful as other bun rieus I’ve had.
The waitress helping us was very nice and accommodating. She seemed really prideful in the fact that she makes strong Vietnamese coffee which was also good.
Prices are pretty fair catering to a more middle class price for a modern Vietnamese restaurant environment (both in food and décor).
I’d be down to try some other things here or get some more banh cuon but still prefer the more «dirty» Vietnamese restaurants.

More frills than substance.
Since last Saturday, the common cold has been kicking my butt. It was so bad that everything tasted like cardboard to me. Yesterday was the first time I saw sunlight in a week. Naturally, I was excited. I got even more excited when I met up with a couple investigator friends for lunch at Tay Ho, a place which I had heard many good things about.
We arrived shortly after noon and the restaurant was already pretty full. Fortunately, there was a bench left in the middle of the restaurant and we set up camp there. As I looked around, the tiny restaurant looked clean and was decorated nicely. There’s a bar behind where I sat. The clientele consisted of working professionals and hipsters. Nothing there reminded me of the Vietnamese restaurants that I frequent.
Water and menus were brought to us by the servers. The menu was quite extensive (more than 60 items to choose from). Prices were definitely a bit higher than your regular Vietnamese restaurants (for example, large combo phở costs $ 13.25). After a few minutes of perusing, we decided on the following:
#23 Phở Tai Bo Vien (round steak and beef ball phở/​$ 9.95 for regular).
#38 Com Bi Suon Cha (grilled pork chop, shredded pork and pork skin, and pork and crab terrine served with rice/​$ 10.95).
#65 Mi Xao Gian Hai San (seafood bird’s nest crispy noodles/​$ 12.50).
The phở was the first to arrive. The broth looked pretty oily at first glance. Beef balls and round steak looked like the run of the mill stuff. My friend told me it tasted okay, nothing extraordinary.
My rice plate was decent. The grilled pork chop was topped with scallion oil. It tasted great but the pork was a little tough. The small block of pork and crab terrine was delicious. The shredded pork was just okay in my opinion. Overall, it was a decent rice plate.
My other friend’s noodle dish was average (he broke down the dish for me). Although it had a nice appearance, the amount of seafood did not justify the price. The dish came with three tiny shrimps, halved fishballs, and calamari. He told me the gravy was on the salty side (it looked dark so maybe they used too much soy?). He told he it was not the best he had ever had.
The service was okay. Although our server was polite, she did not check on us after we got our food. In my opinion, I think this place is overrated. The food we had was average at best. A 3-​star rating is the best I could give this place. Not sure if I’d be back again.

I really enjoy Vietnamese food and this place is da bomb! Went there for lunch with a friend and the place was packed with a sign yourself up waiting list outside. We were lucky as there were larger groups in front of us so we were seated at a communal table pretty quickly.
Several of the folks at the table were Vietnamese, and one guy made some suggestions for us, which was great because the menu was pretty extensive and it had several items I haven’t seen at other places. I tried a spicy seafood stew/​soup with a richly flavored broth, shrimp, mussels, two kinds of pork meat ball, fried tofu, coagulated pig blood, and a good amount of heat. It came with a heaping plate of jalapeño, cilantro, mint, sprouts and cabbage. At about $ 10 I ended up with leftovers for lunch the next day.
My friend had this amazing sampler plate with a variety of dumplings, stuffed rice noodles, pork loaf, pork roast, veggies, meatballs and a mix your own dipping sauce of chili paste and fish sauce. I actually liked that even better than the dish I ordered.
Being a workday lunch I did not order anything from the full bar, but that can wait until a dinner visit.
Service was prompt, friendly and orders up quickly.
I highly recommend this spot — don’t pass it up next time you are in Oakland’s Chinatown area.

Most hip and contemporary Viet restaurant I’ve ever dined at.
Food: Started off with the shrimp & sweet potato appetizer. The portion seemed a bit smaller than what I’m accustomed to, I felt like it was mostly veggies. However, it was really tasty, didn’t feel too fried/​oily/​unhealthy. The sweet potato was a bit softer than usual… possibly due to them using less oil to fry with, but the shrimp was fried to perfection. I ordered a bowl of bun with lemongrass chicken. Great ratio of protein/​veggies/​noodles. The meat was super juicy and delicious, flavor was fresh, light and healthy without being bland. Downside were the noodles, which were a bit overcooked and clumped together. My boyfriend had the banh cuon, I tried a little bit of it and thought it was okay, I felt like they could have given a bit more meat and less sweet potato.
Ambiance: Modern and quaint décor, good music, relaxing/​peaceful ambiance on a Friday evening before the dinner rush.
Service: Friendly, fast and very attentive — not your typical service.
Price: Decently priced, portions were not the largest, but still plenty of food/​good quality for the price.
Overall: Not your average viet restaurant. Expect fresh and healthy food, decent prices and great service.

Super great value here at Tay Ho. There can be a wait for lunch, even in the middle of a weekday, but tables clear quickly here.
The menu is very extensive, from phở to banh mi to noodle dishes and rice plates, and many different appetizers and some desserts, too. I went with the #43, grilled chicken that had been cooked in Tay Ho’s house sauce. There were four skewers to an order, garnished with scallions, and a pile of steamed jasmine rice with tomatoes and cucumbers on the side. The chicken was fantastic — that house sauce is damn good, and the chicken was super hot and fresh.
I was sad that the fried bananas and ice cream wasn’t available for dessert that day but it’s honestly just more incentive to come back and try more from the menu. My plate was only $ 9.95 and $ 2 for a can of Coke. Super fast service here, too.

Came here around 1 PM on a Saturday, with my siblings, for my belated birthday and boy were we disappointed.
Since we recently had the banh cuon from Tay Ho in Sacramento, we were really looking forward to enjoying it. Being that this is their first location, I assumed that the food would be just as good, if not, better than their other locations. I was wrong!
We ordered the #6 sweet potato fritters and #7 green bean fried bread as an appetizer while waiting for the rest of our group to arrive. Both items showed up room temperature, so you know they weren’t freshly made. They were not as good as everyone else on Unilocal claimed. I’d rather walk over to Cam Huong for better. There were 10 of us and we couldn’t finish the two items, that’s how bad it was…
I ordered the #15 ground pork banh cuon and it was a little better than the appetizers, but still… if you judge by the pictures, you can tell that the banh cuon was mostly flour and hardly any meat or mushroom to be found. My family even mentioned, driving to Sacramento would’ve been well worth it!
My son had the bun bo hue which was just ok. The rest of my siblings were not impressed with their dishes either.
The service was ok. The male server was attentive, while the female was on the rude side. To top it off, my younger sister ordered a glass of red wine and they charged us $ 44 for a full bottle. We didn’t actually look at the bill line-​by-​line & almost over paid for our meal because we knew they’d already added the 18% gratuity for our group. When we told them about the mistake, the girl was trying to give us a hard time like it was our fault.
Now I know why I didn’t come back here all these years!

A couple friends and I found ourselves in Oakland’s Chinatown during my recent trip to the Bay Area and we were quite hungry. We decided to check out Banh Cuon Tay Ho, upon the recommendation of my friend who had been there previously. Very delicious Vietnamese food! My experience with Vietnamese food in the past has primarily been with Phở (which I absolutely adore) and some banh mi sandwiches and beef garden rolls here and there. I was finally able to enjoy another type of popular Vietnamese dish for the first time at Tay Ho — the delicious vermicelli noodle bowl.
I ordered the vegetarian vermicelli noodle bowl, which came with delicious herbs, rice vermicelli, cucumber, bean sprouts, with a tangy sweet and sour sauce on the side. And some spring rolls, too. SO GOOD! My friends ordered chicken skewers and a seafood combo (with shrimp and fried crab.
Service was decent and we were in and out of there fairly quickly. Parking is tight, but we were able to find some street parking across the street, and there’s a parking lot fairly close as well.
I’m so glad we stopped by! I am definitely going to have to try vermicelli bowls at Vietnamese restaurants I visit in the future (hopefully in DC and Virginia!)

This is an Americanized Vietnamese restaurant. You can definitely distinguish this based on their décor and communal style tables. And it’s cleanest restaurant in China town. With that being said, it lacks authenticity. It’ll fix any cravings you may have but you’ll still have that itch for some real Vietnamese. It’s a good place to introduce someone to a new culture of food without shocking them. The menu is quiet extensive, but I suggest sticking to their popular dishes: ban cuon, phở, and the typically dishes that you recognize. If not, always ask the waitress for suggestion.
Since its décor is modernized and Americanized, be prepared to pay the increased price.
Overall, I would still suggest this place for beginners.

I’m super glad that I took the opportunity to try Tay Ho. From their sign and from the outside, the Restaurant looks like a traditional Vietnamese joint, but when you walk inside, the interior makes it seem like a modern spin on Vietnamese dining.
Aside from the décor, one look at the menu and I knew I was in the right place. Everything they have is genuine, authentic Vietnamese cuisine. From banh canh to banh xeo, they have it all!
My friend and I ordered the banh canh cua rieu because we missed home cooking. After about 10 min, our food came out and what sip of the soup and I was in heaven. Their banh canh tasted just like home cooking and the crab meat was delicious!
I really like Tay Ho because they genuinely know how to make Vietnamese soups. I just wish that their prices were a bit lower, but it makes sense given how rare Vietnamese food is in the Bay. 4 stars all the way!
Eat well and prosper,