Bambuza Vietnamese Bistro

This place has good food and that’s why I give it a 2 stars. There customer service is one of the worst I’ve seen. They do not greet customers and make you wait at least 10 mins for just a side order of white rice. I’ve ordered a side of rice at least 3 to 4 times to save me time while I cook but every time it takes them so long to just put rice in a box and give it to me. I’ve finally learned my lesson and will not go back even though they are walking distance from where I live.

It was good but not great. Quick and decent Vietnamese.

Service was great, and phở was delicious. We are here on Christmas Eve and glad they are open

We came here for lunch on a Friday.
It was delicious. I had the Coconut curry with chicken and it was a great size for lunch. Would definitely come back here!

Work at OHSU? Going to the doctor at OHSU? Work or wandering around in the area? Stop in. My food was prepared quickly, which reduced my concern of getting back to work on time, and was incredibly fresh tasting for the little time that passed between ordering and receiving my meal.
Vegetarians – or anyone: Try the wokked green bean and tofu dish! Under $ 10 and the sauce is amazing. It was even good as leftovers!
Bambuza definitely appears to target the lunch crowd from what I gathered in my experience, but I certainly plan to return next time I am in the area. The location is convenient, the employees are friendly, service is quick, food is fresh (and priced right). What more do you need?

I’m really debating whether I should give this 2 or 3 stars but I suppose I should err on the kind side. I’d say the phở was a 2 but the restaurant was a 3.
The restaurant itself is cute and clean with a new Asian-​American vibe. The format is of the order-​and-​sit variety, with a cashier at the back of the restaurant. I generally feel a little neglected with this dining style but in this case, for the food and the prices, it was acceptable.
My husband and I both ordered the beef phở, which was a good portion (for 8.99 I believe).
It took a bit to get to us (I think that was a symptom of the way you have to order), and the whole restaurant was super dark inside so it had a sort of nightclub feel.
My first impression was — unending piles of cilantro. I am very familiar with phở and the traditional cilantro in it but you literally couldn’t dip and withdraw the spoon without it being coated with the overpowering herb. So the first few minutes of dinner were spent picking bits of cilantro out of our food, and then onto the soup itself. The broth was really rather sweet and bland for phở as I’ve experienced it. I suppose that unless you’re eating at a little hole in the wall you shouldn’t really expect a lot, but I was expecting at least somewhat proper phở. The noodles were reeeeeally soft, relatively overcooked.
The members of staff were quite nice, I have no complaints there.
We may be back to try the bahn mi or something else, but will go elsewhere for phở.

Not impressed. $ 8.50 for the spring roll bowl which basically has 5 little spring rolls and a ton of noodles as a filler, which did not have a lot of flavor to them. Seemed like a rip off. Also, only one bathroom, which seemed almost always occupied.

One of those places you can go and try something new and not be disappointed. My go to is the Luc Lac beef, but everything I’ve tried (which really might be everything) hasn’t disappointed. I love the coconut shrimp and crispy veggie spring rolls as well. I would stay away from their «rice platters». A place with so many great choices, they are the only thing I’m not really impressed by.

I hate to be giving only 3 stars in this review, as I’m usually ranting and raving about this place, but it has been a month since eating here and I was sadly disappointed upon our return. Don’t get me wrong, the phở is still super tasty, but eating with a plastic fork and disposable chopsticks is a let down. As I gazed around the room I noticed that all the patrons dining in the restaurant were being served beverages in plastic cups and side phở fixings in paper boats. when I questioned about the changes I learned that management decided to make these changes in order to make things run faster… I’m not sure if bambuza is now trying to be more of a fast food joint or a nice sit down restaurant, because if it is the latter then I suggest you ditch the plastic. It’s not all that attractive, and I’d be pretty embarrassed to bring family or friends here to dine.

My family has been going to Bambuza for years. It is right in our neighborhood within walking distance so it is easy for us. The food is always yummy and consistent. The prices are reasonable and they have a full bar. My favorite is the drunken chicken. So delicious! Service has always been great there for us.

Very friendly staff, reasonable prices. I actually enjoy the more soupy aspect of the coconut curry, and the obviously freshly cut ingredients they put it in. I received my food very fast as well. Only 4 stars because there was a VERY mature fruit fly at the bottom
Of my spicy margarita (you know, for protein) which I didn’t request. But, brought to the staffs attention, they were apologetic and humorous about it. :)

We came here on a Saturday afternoon and got the tofu and green bean meal, shrimp rolls and the drunken chicken meal. We waited for about 25 minutes before getting our food. Several people behind us had already gotten their food and I had to go up to the counter twice to let them know we were still waiting.
The manager gave me two «there’s nothing I can do explanations» and did nothing about the problem. When we finally did get the food it wasn’t that hot and it tasted like it came from a bag with a bag of sauce included. I will not be returning here any time soon.

I’m so happy, they have revamped their restaurant and its working! You order at the cashier and then get seated, they have fine tuned the menu and added bubble tea! Yay!

We came to this place after a long night. We were hungry and just wanted some good food.
We ordered a few drinks– I don’t exactly recall which but I know one of them was mango and champagne and the others were some sort of cucumber martinis.
For food we ordered chicken phở, chicken skewers, a bowl of noodles with various meats, and the spring rolls.
Honestly everything was delicious! It was all very fresh and our waiter was awesome and so friendly!
We will definitely be coming back here.

I went here for dinner with my brother awhile back. We shared the crispy vegetable rolls as an appetizer, which were pretty standard but good. I ordered the stir fried soba noodles with tofu. It comes in a pineapple soy sauce. I normally like things like pineapple fried rice and sweet and sour tofu — it’s not usually too sweet for me, but this dish was at the top end of my sweet/​savory tolerance range. I’m not sure if there is a way that they could make it just a notch less sweet, but I would’ve liked it a lot more. I think the food here is good though and the portions are big. I would give it another try.

I’m increasing my review by two stars to reflect that fact that the «red headed guy working the counter» took the time to send me a message expressing an interest in improving the service. Like I said in my first review…“he seems like a solid guy” and I hope he is successful.

I hate giving this place a one star, I love their food and some of its employees. I eat here at least 2 times a week, but the management always seems unorganized. The tables are dirty for at least 10 minutes after guest have left, even when it’s dead. Further during the dinner service if you request hot sauce the servers usually point you in the direction to the self service bar, which would be fine if you didn’t have to wait to be seated. I swear the food is amazing and clean but the cleanliness of the place and the unwilling staff make me give them a low score.

I was in there last night to grab some food to take home, and the service was super fast and friendly! Even though they were mostly filled to capacity with dinner service, I was still treated as if I was a staying customer. I ordered the garlic pork loin and the salmon rolls. The garlic pork loin was great — not aggressively seasoned, just right. The cilantro on too was a perfect add on. The menu described it as having avocado which I love, and I’m pretty sure one littlepiece of avocado in my plate shouldn’t constitute it being added to the description like that. Also, my salmon roll had bones in it — the long and soft fish bones. A little forewarning would have been nice, and I don’t think I’ll order those again. But my pork loin with rice was perfect! I’ll be back again!

Really good food, fresh ingredients and modern flair. The prices are good and so is the service.
My only criticism, the restroom needs attention.

Decent food, but I don’t believe it is authentic. They don’t have things listed under what they should be called except for Phở.
I asked the guy for their Bun and he had no idea what I was talking about, I also asked if they had Soda Chanh and he told me I obviously know more about Vietnamese food than he does.
You order your food first and then they bring it out to your table. I had the Noodle Salad Bowl with the combo meats, chicken, pork, fried egg roll (Bun). The meat wasn’t that good, the sauces used on the chicken tasted like a mix of Teriyaki and BBQ sauce.
I had their Spring Rolls which they call Bambuza rolls, they were pretty good, and pretty big, they also have egg roll skin fried up and rolled up in the middle so it gives it a crunch when you eat it. I wasn’t expecting that but it made it interesting.
Soda Chanh was obviously a fail as they had no idea what I was talking about, but they had a Fresh Limeade on the menu, so I ordered that, it tasted like it was made from a normal frozen concentrate limeade.
Food overall was ok, but don’t come here expecting Viet Cuisine.