Ben Thanh Restaurant

My boyfriend and i are obsessed with this place we would eat here 7 days a week if we could. we are here at least 1 or 2 times a week.
The Staff is always friendly, the lady that works there knows what we order, we don’t have to tell her anything and she brings our food out to us just the way we always get it. yes the food takes a few min to make but its worth the wait because you know its being made to order and its always fresh. we always get #50 spicy beef with lemongrass soup it is to die for i dream about this soup when im not there eating it. i will say this is it for me i don’t need to try any other place ever again.

Certainly one of my favorite restaurants in all of Pinellas County. Top notch phở, bun, rolls and whatever else you might order. The beef stew is a favorite of our family. Staff is very friendly and helpful if help ordering is needed. Ingredients are always fresh and tasty.
Never disappointed here and the prices are more than reasonable. Atmosphere is clean and casual.

Always give the best service and so kind to my child. It’s so hard to take 2 year old out to eat but I am comfortable to bring him here :) best phở in town !!! I would come eat phở everyday if I could haha

I dream about #1, the chili spring rolls, love the phở too#23, I go every couple weeks. My favorite st Pete restaurant right now

Really good Phở here. It is hard for me to not order the Phở every time I come. I get the beef all the way and super size it so I can take home another meal. I did try a few other dishes, but stuck on the beef Phở.

I have no idea how this place has such good reviews. The service was horrible and I felt like I was inconveniencing the server by being there. The food was okay but it took forever for two dishes. I will not be returning.

This is probably the best Vietnamese restaurant in the Tampa Bay Area. Food and service has always been great. If it was in a nicer location and they had tablecloths and they raised the prices it would be a five star restaurant. But if you want great food that’s affordable, then this is the place.

Probably the best place for phở in the st petersburg area! We had some gio cuon and phở bo vien for my wife and regular phở tai sach for me. The portion was perfect for my wife and for me it was alright, but for 2 bucks extra they’ll add extra noodles which isn’t bad considering a bowl is only 5.50. The waiter was really cool, the gio cuon was really amazing and my wife loved it even though she doesn’t eat vegetables unless it was cooked. I would definitely recommend anyone going here for phở! If you want bang for yourand good phở but don’t mind waiting 15 minutes at the most for everything to come out, this is the place. I read the other reviews and that person probably over exaggerated on how long they waited. Me and my wife was traveling from nc, sc, ga, fl, mi, la, tx, and az and compared to all the phở places that we went to. They had the best phở. So that’s saying a lot.

I simply cannot give a place 3 or more stars based on just the food. It has to be presented within a timely fashion, the place has to be clean, and the service has to be attentive. In this case, our appetizers (party of 8) came out 1 hour 20 minutes after we sat down. We had drinks, and those were served with a touch of attitude. Never were offered another drink or routinely waited on in the entire 2 hours we were there. There were only about 4 other tables of 2 occupying the restaurant. Several people seemed to know each other.
The bathrooms need to be freshened up. Really, I expect spotless and scrubbed. If you like less than that, you might not be bothered.
So was the food good? Yes. I had the fish soup, which had nice flavors and was something different than I typically see. I also had an omlette with bean sprouts that you wrap in lettuce leaves and dip into sweetened fish sauce. That was also different, and I liked the flavors.
Will I go back? I doubt it. There are other Vietnamese restaurants much closer to me that don’t have the extremely long wait time, the attitude, and the lack of service. I’ll check back here periodically to see if Ben Thanh has hired a few kids to keep the water glasses filled and show up at the tables in case the waiter needs to be summoned. Until then, I’ll either order it to go (unlikely) or just go elsewhere.

Truly the best Vietnamese food I’ve ever tasted! Definitely worth trying! You’ll love the food! Freshest ingredients, delicious flavor and the best atmosphere!

I discovered Ben Thanh back in the late 90’s when they were on 34^th Street North and I have been addicted to this place ever since. I was so happy when they reopened in 2008 and I will be a patron as long as they are in business. Their food is so fresh and the staff is extremely helpful and friendly. Yes, at times the service can be a bit slow. But, every meal is prepared to order, so I am willing to wait to exceptionally prepared food. I’ve been to other Vietnamese restaurants (when Ben Thanh’s has been closed), but none match this place.

Awful experience been there a lot but one time this bad I’ll never go back! Asked for simple veggies and garlic they told me they don’t stir fry they are getting away from it? Who says that at an Asian restaurant? Gave me cold veggies with hot garlic on top of it? Confused why they didn’t get mixed together? Husbands food was awful looked like a dog bowl put together. Worst of all I told the owner my vegetables were cold she said no they weren’t and your so difficult you come here every time and your so difficult why do you come here? Omg I was heartbroken! Never going back!

My fave go to for Phở and noodles. And it’s still very reasonably priced. Bo tai Chanh appetizer is my regular. And old school Viet music as well, makes me feel at home. Love this place.

My boyfriend and I are so obsessed with this place. It really isn’t much in terms of location or ambiance (some hole in the wall in a dying shopping strip), but ohmygodthefood. I swear by the Phở, all of the soups, and the rice dishes. I never had anything to eat here that wasn’t delicious and incredibly fresh. We have gone to a lot of Vietnamese restaurants in the area, but never tried another one after we found this place.
I should also mention that the prices are the lowest you will find, especially considering the high quality.

I came in here today after a bad experience @ a nearby viet restaurant and the visit turned my whole day around. The lady that took my order and made my food was sooooo nice. she took time to make me and other patrons feel so at home by offering us new years candy and provided us with excellent food and service. this is such a great mom and pop place.

Thanks to Coty S. I found Ben Thanh. She said it was probably the best Vietnamese in the area and I think she might be right. I was looking to find the best Phở for a friend of mine who has a specific version in mind. I was told to head to Hillsborough for Phở Quyen, but this left us satisfied.
I tried the pork bun and it had fantastic flavors and it felt very fresh. The veggies were crunchy and the noddles weren’t soggy or gummy. Also it was dirt cheap which makes it even better. My friend said the phở wasn’t quite as good as «the other place back home» but it was good enough to stop looking.
The inside isn’t really decorated much and the service isn’t the friendliest, but it was still polite. This place is definitely on my re-​visit list!

My go to Vietnamese neighborhood restaurant. Don’t let the plaza this restaurant is located in fool you. The food (and prices) are great! The owners are absolute wonderful people and probably see me more than my own family does.
When I bring my friends who aren’t familiar with Viet cuisine they always love the grilled pork over rice, the won ton soup and of course the phở.
Everything is super fresh and the portion sizes are great. My go-​tos are the phở and the beef fondue.
Closed on Mondays (which still makes me sad)

$ 5.50 for a bowl of Phở?! Yes please!
Like others have mentioned, this place is small. I was a little worried going with a group of 6 of us total (one small child) on a Friday night, but at 6:30 p.m. there was definitely room. (I actually hopes this changes, because they deserve more business).
This place can be hard to find. My friends and I were at the Starbucks at The Shoppes at Park Place, which is literally 3 minutes away, yet all of us got lost trying to find Ben Thanh. It is not difficult to find once you know where you are going. However, there are a lot of dark rows of what appears to be shops up and down 62^nd Ave. N, so keep your eyes out for 42^nd St if you’re going for the first time at night!
This is definitely a family owned and operated place. You have to flag down your server to get any service. That being said, don’t be scared or hesitant to call out for anything. You will enjoy this place immensely more if you go with people you like to chat for hours with. You will never feel rushed to leave and can talk to your heart’s content.
We started out with kim chi, which is not on the menu. This is not your traditional Korean kim chi. It was not super spicy (which I like) and tasted of ginger. Sometimes I actually hit a huge pocket of ginger. If you like ginger, this is your dish. I like ginger in little doses, but I still enjoyed it.
I got the bowl of Phở with beef balls. It was delicious. Great price, great beef balls, great size, it was perfect, since it was a cold outside. My only complaint is the broth was almost too flavorful. It got to be a bit much at the end when I had just the broth. I’ve had phở where I have absolutely devoured the broth, which is why I’m giving this place 4 stars.
I would definitely suggest trying this place. It’s a little out of the way, but it is worth it.

Ben Thanh is currently my favorite Vietnamese restaurant in the Tampa Bay area. Mostly because I have yet to discover all of the treasures that the menu has to offer. And, each time we visit, I try something new— and it has been consistently delicious.
Located in an outdated shopping center, down a road of old warehouses and strange apartment buildings, is a completely blacked-​out storefront window with the small words «Ben Thanh» on the front. This location is away from the Vietnamese Restaurant row in Pinellas Park, yet just around the corner from Halong Bay. Since you cannot see inside the restaurant from the outside of the building, there is no telling what lies within before you open the door.
When you do enter, you will get stared at by everyone in the place. No avoiding it.
If there is a place to sit down, take a seat and let the food adventure begin…
I thought I knew what Vietnamese food was like until I went to Ben Thanh. I thought that all places were the same and that each restaurant would always have the same dishes available, just in different qualities from place to place. Ben Thanh proved me wrong.
What is my favorite appetizer? Well, it would be the Goi Cuon— but, it is done quite differently. There is a very thin slice of pork sausage as the meat component, and also a thin sliced chili pepper inside. The taste is unexpected and phenomenal. I really enjoy ordering just appetizers as my meal like the Bun Xeo and Chicken Salad. Wrapping the crispy Bun Xeo in fresh lettuce leaves with mint starts my day off with a smile. All of the produce is so fresh that you cannot go wrong with any of the dishes. An early lunch/​brunch from here does not make me feel weighed down, like some other places.
What is my favorite entrée? I have yet to find that out because I order something different and new each time I visit. The most interesting is the BT version of Mi Quang, which is a wet noodle pork based dish covered in seafood and rice crackers.
Dessert? I usually will order the Che Ba Mau (mixed bean and jelly in coconut milk), or go to Seasons for shaved ice, or Thuy for bubble tea.
So, why only 4 stars instead of 5 stars? It is a family owned and operated place, with what I would guess is a mother and son doing all of the prep-​work and waiting tables. The service is barely there, and I have often just been ignored until the waiter/​waitress is done eating their lunch or finishing what they are doing to even look in my direction. Normally, this sort of service does not bother me, but at Ben Thanh, it is to the point of being rude.
United Market is on the same road, so we usually stop there after lunch to get groceries for the rest of the week.
Now that the Ben Thanh secret is out, the service will probably get even worse. Don’t crowd the place, ok guise?

Top notch Phở with super-​fresh ingredients… one of the best in the area (I’ve tried a LOT of Phở)…other dishes (fried rice, spring rolls, etc) are also of top quality, and made with fresh ingredients (it makes a big difference!)
Small, clean place with very friendly service compared to some of the Vietnamese places around town.
It’s easy to miss this place when driving by — with almost no discernable signage. It thrives on word-​of-​mouth. I was introduced to it by a Vietnamese friend when I asked where her favorite Phở place was.