Vina Restaurant

My husband said, «Add this one to our regular rotation!» and I agree!
After having my first phở experience recently I’d been craving it again and was happy to find a place in Highland Park.
We got the appetizer combo which had 4 fried delectables: Chicken wings coated in a batter unlike what I’ve had before but very good; Fried Shrimp with the thicker, almost fluffy batter; Cream Cheese Wontons that I have no complaints about (perfection!); and a cabbagey egg roll I would normally shy away from but dug into after tasting yet another new batter and the sweet vinagery dipping sauce that came with it (not sure what it was).
I don’t know what husband ordered for a main course (except for the potato chip I tried which was very tasty!) because I was grubbing heartily on my Phở Dac Biet (rice noodles in beef broth with beef, «meatballs» — these are like sliced sausages, and shrimp). My craving was satisfied and there was way more than enough to sate me.

My daughter and I stopped in around supper time to eat prior to an event at St. Cates. First visit for me. Fantastically good service throughout even as the restaurant started filling up quickly with additional customers. I ordered a beef and broccoli dish. We also had the fried egg rolls and fried wontons. Every bite was delicious. A lovely dining experience that I highly recommend!

«I really liked it» says one of us. «It was delicious» says another. Myself, we’ll see my photos. For starters the cold Vietnamese coffee is terrific! And the food portions are just right. Not super big American sized but just right. The beef salad was tender and flavorful especially with a little Sriracha for kick. I’m a fan of spring rolls and these are wonderful (I had the shrimp)
Servers are fast and pretty cute too :-)
I’d recommend for sure if in the highland park area and I’d add make the drive if you’re in another part of town. A solid 4-​Stars with a very fair pricing.

My favorite restaurant in highland. The staff is always so welcoming. The food is always fresh and authentic. The phở and garlic tofu are my go to dishes.

Vina’s atmosphere is very nice, and the food is just fine. This is a good place to go if you’re in Highland Park and killing time before a movie. But if you’re looking for phở and not married to Highland Park, go to On’s in the Midway.

Bleh. Very very disappointing Vietnamese place. My mother in law insisted we go here. That should have been the primary warning sign. Everything was bland, gloopy, and greasy. It reminds me of bad Chinese take out places in 70s and 80s. Americanized crap.
The bathrooms are through the kitchen and down in the dank basement.
Avoid.

Husband and I moved to neighborhood and we were excited to try this restaurant. I had the dinner combo with spicy chicken and he had black bean beef. Mine was suppose to be medium spice. It was so bland and salty I could not eat it. One bite was it. His was okay. So disappointed. Won’t be going back. Egg rolls and soup were yummy. Too bad.

Everything was outstanding! Great egg rolls! Good prices! Can’t go wrong! I had the dinner combo for 8.99 and I still have food left over for lunch!

Below average Vietnamese. Phở broth is not great and the noodles are sub par. Egg Rolls were very good but everything else was average.

We’ve only had delivery so this concerns only the food.
Vina serves what I call «fast-​food» Chinese rather than «gourmet» Chinese and it is very good. Our favorites are the Sesame Chicken and Black Bean stir-​fry. Not only delicious but a big pile of food for the price. Not really a complaint but I have to say their Orange Chicken is not very orange-​y. (You may like it that way)
They’re also fast. If you live in Highland Park Bitesquad will have it there in about 30 minutes.

Love the beef and potatoes! Egg rolls are a must. All the food is great.

My absolute favorite restaurant in the twin cities! A family owned and local secret… I bring all my out of town friends here and everyone raves about it.
My personal favorites are the vegetarian egg rolls, egg roll salad and sesame seed chicken. But everything is prepared with such love and care that I’ve never had a bad meal here.
The staff is amazing. They always remember me even after being out of state for a few years and are more than willing to accommodate menu changes and the occasional catering event. They almost seem like family now!
If you are looking for a secret gem with amazing food and even better service look no further than Vina in St. Paul… It keeps me coming back even when I’m states away!

It is amazing the extent to which the one curry dish at many Vietnamese and Chinese restaurants all taste exactly the same. Not like any Indian and Thai style curry, more pasty and «brown.»
It is crucial that an East Asian restaurant make very good egg roles. It is the kiss of death to have those soggy, doughy, mealy ones that you sometimes find at reasonably priced places. These were crispy and flavorful, without too much vegetable-​ness. But like everything, could use garlic and more zing.
Rice — standard. Cream Cheese puffs — standard.
Potato & Beef entrée. I love the sliced, fried potato you find in East Asian places, and while I am leery of ordering beef at them, the beef here was OK (which is better than most affordable East Asian restaurants).
I watched The Chef movie last night, about cuisine and food critics, so I’m all food critic-​y today.

lovely family run place, the service is great, and the food is wonderful. i highly recommend the phở, egg roll, pot stickers, and chow fun!

The best Eggrolls I have ever had. I don’t usually order eggrolls at restaurants, but feel like I have to every time at the Vina. Been going to this place for years and it has always been a favorite of mine. Sad they closed the location in Uptown. Great staff as well!

Vina is exactly what you would expect from an independently owned Vietnamese restaurant… Neon lighting, unhappy owner stalking tables that appear to be close to finishing, bathroom through the kitchen and down some steep concrete stairs into a dark basement… See where I’m going with this? Not great.
My family and I bopped in there for dinner and ordered Phở Tai, Eggrolls, Beef w/​potato, Chicken w/​veggies, and Lo Mein w/​chicken. Phở broth was pretty heavy with the 5 spice, but I could imagine sitting at the table nearest the window with a big bowl of it on a snowy day. Eggrolls tasted like eggrolls, decent. There must’ve been a communication error between myself and the server because when I asked for only chicken and brocolli in the Lo Mein, I didn’t mean ‘hold the sauce’. Literally, boiled noodles, canned chicken, and brocolli, no sauce to speak of! Nothing a little hoisin couldn’t fix. The chicken dish was slimy and tasted like powdered ginger. Yuck! And, then there was the «potato» dish. They use chips… Like Lays or Kettle brand. Soggy in sauce, undercooked onion, and beef. Chips? It baffles me. Whenever I’ve had a potato dish at an Asian restaurant, it’s always been made with REAL potatoes, sautéed. Never chips. It was so gross, we left most of everything on the plates, flagged her down for our check (as she never checked in on us), and left, never, EVER to return.

Vina is my go-​to take out place in Highland Park. Sunday Sister Night means an order of hot & spicy chicken, sesame mock duck, and Vietnamese egg rolls. Most of what we’ve tried has been stellar. Chances are things won’t be spicy enough though… Skip the cream cheese wontons, really not good as take out. The veggie egg rolls were also lackluster. The Vietnamese egg rolls rival some of the best in the cities. Consistently good!

Vina was my introduction to Vietnamese egg rolls in 1986. When I get the opportunity to return, I always do. The beef and potato dish is my favorite, but the eggs rolls make the visit perfect. When Vina first opened the plates and forks were second hand from Northwest Orient airlines. Water was served from a glass coffee pot. Vina had character. I must admit I am a bit dissapointed to see the modern plates. The prices have not changed much in over twenty-​five years. Very resonable. Parking on the street or nearby lot. Staff is always friendly. Food is always excellent. Enjoy!

There are good points, and bad points.
The service was great. It’s a Phở place, or at least that’s how I’m looking at it, which means I don’t really expect much out of service. The service was really good.
The cream cheese wontons were great, too. They came out immediately and were still glistening from the fryer.
It was cheap. A huge bowl of Phở was only $ 7.75, and it had a lot of meat in it.
But…Phở is a broth based soup, the real zing comes with the broth, right?
Sorry, Vina, but your Phở broth has got to be some of the blandest Phở broth I have ever had. Like, ever. I tried it without Hoisen or Siracha. It lacked flavor bigtime. I added the Hoisen and Siracha. That didn’t really do much at all. I’ve never tried to make Phở, I don’t know how it’s done, but I do know that this stuff was really underwhelming.
Not sure what it is, wondering if it’s the neighborhood. I like Highland Park, but it doesn’t strike me as a place where ethnic food can really get away with being authentic. Sorry, Highland Park, I’m calling you out. There wasn’t even an option for tendons or tripe w the Phở. Check.Mate. Despite being a Vietnamese restaurant, had way too many Chinese items on the menu, and had a sign prominently posted on the door saying «We now have Vietnamese sandwich! (Bahn Mi).» Guys, you’ve been open since 1980, you just get that now? How many taco joints don’t have burritos? The place was busy, but most people weren’t ordering Phở.
Sorry, Vina. I tried. If you really want good Phở, go to Frogtown, or Eat Street. This place does not deliver, at all.

The staff made this place for me. It’s your typical, hole-​in-​the-​wall restaurant, with a great location, unremarkable food, and bathrooms stashed in a corner of the basement.
But the waitstaff were incredibly kind and polite, and anticipated our needs (to-​go box, check, check payment, etc) without our having to ask or even look up from our conversation. Totally floored to report that it’s the best service I’ve had in a long time.