Le Soleil

We walked yesterday with our little girl to the farmers market on clement street and after that we looked for a quick, yummy place to eat lunch.
This restaurant is on the same street as the market and we both like vietnamese food so we checked it out.
First the helped us with the stroller and removed a chair to park it at the table.
Also other families with small children enjoyed there lunch here so it’s a «children friendly» place.
We both ordered a «lunch special beef bowl» what comes with a soup and a imperial roll for 12 $ per person. You can choose from 3 lunch special options (beef, chicken or tofu), but the also have other normal dishes you can order.
10 minutes later we had a yummy meal! Everything was fresh and light. Perfect for a healthy lunch: D
If you go next time to the farmers market (every Sunday) check out this place. It’s worth it!!!

We were in SF with our friends, and we were craving for Vietnamese food. We found Le Soleil via Unilocal so we gave it a try. It turned out to be a perfect choice… love the décor, very intimate ambiance, and most of all, their food. We had flaming quail, beef carpaccio, crab with garlic noodle, bun rieu, caramelized sea bass, and a new beef stew dish recommended by the owner. For dessert, we had fried banana, and this dessert is a killer, complete our evening of wonderful food. Servers are very tentative, and well trained. The executive chef came out & checked on customers… that shows the caring for customers. We will definitely come back to Le Soleil whenever we are in town.

Came here for lunch with a friend at 2:40 (they close at 3) and asked the waitress if they could still seat us for lunch (was trying to be considerate because we came in pretty late). She rudely answered «we close at 3» then walked away to tend to other tables without seating us. When we finally got seated, my friend and I quickly decided what we wanted to eat and decided to flag down a waitress (only two were working). The same waitress from before made eye contact with me and I mouthed that we were ready to order. Right as she was about to walk over, the other waitress handed her something to be delivered to another table. Understandable. But after dropping off that plate, she went around and cleared plates off of several tables, refilled water, and even took the order of another table that came after us. PRIORITIES, lady, priorities. I was pretty hangry by the time she came around to us and just wanted to get this entire experience over with.
I (finally) ordered the five spice chicken plate, and my friend ordered some sort of soup (forgot the name). I got my dish with a soup on the side which I was initially excited for, but turned out to be a weirdly flavored, sour mess. The skin on the chicken was NOT crispy and the rice was soggy and gross. The only part I liked about my dish was the cabbage salad. Sad. My friend’s dish came out literally 10 – 15 minutes after mine did so we did the «should I eat, should I not eat» dance and I just awkwardly picked at my food. To my surprise, my friend’s dish (once it finally came) was actually pretty delicious, so there’s that. But it was overall a pretty disappointing experience.
tl;dr the service was bad and the food mediocre so def would not return. Sorry not sorry.

We had Laksa Noodle Soup, Chicken Noodle Soup & Traditional Noodle Soup and all were delicious. We all agreed we will come back.

The food is the best food in SF and their service is friendly and fast, they treat u like family.

Second time to this wonderful restaurant and it reminds me of why I love SF. It’s Vietnamese fusion and every dish we ordered was delicious. There’s certainly some dishes that stand out more than others.
Appetizers:
Duck spring rolls: very good. Wish there were more pieces to go around. Good amount of duck.
Soft shell crab: very crispy and not to oily, but portion again, was on the small side.
Lolipop chicken: this was really really good. Juicy and tender chicken lightly fried.
Lotus salad: my favorite salad. Basil, beef, and a tang of sweet and sour.
Papaya salad: taste similar to the lotus salad but with papaya and shrimp
Entrée:
Sea bass: omg this fish melted in my mouth. Crispy on the out side and soft and yummy on the inside. Love it
Shaken beef: this is s must try! The tenderest beef ever! Wish I had a whole pot of this sitting around.
Lamb chops: this was good but lacked a bit of flavor. Meat was tender but didn’t care too much for the messages potatoes.
Five spice chicken: if you are hungry, then look no further than this dish. Very yummy chicken and big portions.
Prawns with garlic noodles: All I can say is WOW when it came out. Huge plate of food and prawns were gigantic. They don’t skimp on portion size this time.
Catfish clay pot: good but a bit too sweet for my taste. Maybe at this point, I’ve had so many good dishes that I was not too impressed.
Overall wonderful experience. Definitely will come back again if I’m in the area.

I love this wonderful place! I enjoyed my first visit recently and was very impressed with the gracious service, ‘casual/​smart’ décor, tasty dishes (nice use of spices), the caramelized sea bass with brussels sprouts was so exceptional I had difficulty sharing it with my friend!
I subscribe to the James Beard take on food: «Good is good». Le Soleil food and its preparation is wonderful. Good wine list, too.

Great place, bit pricey more usual than average (about 18 – 20 per dish depending on what you get) as the prices rose, but do try the curry short ribs. Its a weird in a good way mix of crunchy and tenderness.
All their dishes are pretty good so try those too.
But try the curry short ribs first

This place was great. I like the décor, food was delicious, and service was excellent.
The Chicken Lollipops $ 9 are a great starter. There were 5 chicken wings accompanied with sriracha aioli. The wings were cooked and seasoned well. It was soo good and great way to start my meal. Next I had the House Fried Rice $ 13. It was a nice portion for the price. The duck wasn’t dry but it was a little tasteless. The fried rice was made perfectly. Although I’m more used to the flavors of King of Thai’s Duck Fried Rice, this is a good choice. I also tried the Garlic noodles. It was good, but I feel that it lacked garlic flavor. It tasted more like a chow mein. For sure will return in the future.

Excellent service and excellent food!
For starters, we totally enjoyed the duck spring rolls — very subtle flavor, but fresh.
Our second app, flambé of quail, was nothing special though.
For our entrée, we had their special fried rice, deep fried sea bass with brussels sprouts and boneless short rib.
I always order sea bass and have never had it with a crunch… Super good!
For dessert we had the fried banana with coconut ice cream.
All that plus two glasses of wine do two people — $ 105.
Before I end, I have to reiterate — excellent service!

This is one of my favorite Vietnamese spots in the city. I come here at least twice a month. The food here is a little modernized, and fused with different cuisines.
My favorite thing on the menu is the beef carpaccio. I ALWAYS get this dish whenever I come, it’s not even a question. It comes with shrimp chips, which soaks all the flavor when you put the beef on top of it.
My go to entrees are the shaking beef and the sea bass. The shaking beef is really flavorful and tender, but has a little Chinese flavor to it. The sea bass is always cooked to perfection and so are the brussel sprouts that come with it.
For lunch, the basil chicken and the five spice chicken lunch special are the best!
I want to give this five stars, but it is pretty pricey for Vietnamese food. I usually never mind the price as long as it’s worth it, but they just raised their prices :(

It is My first time here; family dinner for 7 every dishes that was serve to us are superve in taste and appearance, service is excellent dont need to ask the waiter for stuff they alway anticipate things that you need. The ambiance is great not too noisy architectural design of the place it self is amazing definitely i will come back to this place and recommend it to other friends and family. All in all I will give this place 5 star on every category

Came here to try the garlic noodles and crab. I ordered the small order and so you get half of the crab. It was messy and hard to eat since you had to break the crab yourself. Overall it was good. Portions seem small in some dishes in my opinion.

I have to be honest… I’m a bit conflicted about writing this review. Le Soleil is just a five minute walk from our house, and while it’s getting harder and harder to get a table in this city without a reservation, we’re usually able to walk right in. I have probably been here ten times, and I find it to be a great experience every time. The reason I’m conflicted about writing this review is that I want to praise this place… but I don’t want the secret to get out! I like my minimal wait times for delicious food!
I have never had a dish here that isn’t good. The wait staff is super friendly, and everything has such a unique flavor that I haven’t really seen replicated at other similar restaurants in the bay area. There are lots of good cheap Asian places in the city, and this place isn’t cheap… but it’s also not super expensive. Dishes are in the $ 12 to $ 18 range. They have so many good dishes — I recommend coming here with a group of four and doing family style. With four people, you’ll likely get a table pretty quickly, and you’ll be able to share a lot of things.
If it’s your first visit to the restaurant and you have four people, I would recommend starting with the imperial rolls and shrimp papaya salad. The rolls are fried, but you wrap them in lettuce and dip them in some sauce. The salad is super refreshing. For your main course, make sure to get the shaken beef or grilled pork along with garlic noodles w/​tiger prawns (not on the menu). Then pick something else that sounds good, and that should be a good meal.
There are some places that are good neighborhood spots, and then there are some that you’ll go across town for. I think Le Soleil really is pushing into the latter territory.

Today we came here right when they opened. We ordered the usual, imperial rolls, tomato seafood noodle soup and viet ice coffee. We decided to try their shaking beef because others had great review on it. I would say it’s totally worth it. I’ve been to a lot of places that makes it good but this is one of the best ones I’ve had. I do have to say it’s missing a bit of something to go with it. Maybe tomato? I don’t know exactly but regardless it tastes soo good with rice.
Everything else is also really delicious. The ice coffee felt too little. It was barely even half a cup once it’s done brewing. And that’s with Ice!!! I think they need to fill it a bit more. But it is really good. Not too sweet just perfect.
We really enjoy this place and recommend others to come here to try.

Sweet place for a contemporary take on Vietnamese cuisine. We came for lunch but ordered from the dinner menu because the dishes were much better.
What to order:
Shaken beef: super tender beef cubes with softened onions
Beef carpaccio: came with yummy shrimp chips. Was a smaller portion than usual and a bit too minty for my taste but overall good
Portobello Mushroom: on the dinner menu and comes with three mushrooms and green beans in what tasted like an oyster sauce. Tasty.
Vietnamese ice coffee: standard faire. If you haven’t had it before, Viet coffee always comes with a nice kick and condensed milk ;)
What to think twice about:
Traditional phở — the broth was decent but could have used more of it in the bowl. Decent phở but I believe you can better elsewhere. Go for their more standout dishes!
Service was nothing outstanding. Our server forgot our order of garlic noodles and seemed kind of grumpy. Really enjoyed the dinner entrees.

As I was driving to Le Solei, I joked with my very traditional mother (the one who refuses to eat anything except Vietnamese food) over the phone and told her I was going to eat Vietnamese food made by a European guy. She flipped. «WHY… would you do that? It doesn’t even sound good already. You should only eat Vietnamese food made by Vietnamese people» HELLA JUDGING OR WHAT MAMA N. I told her not to be so judgmental because fusion food can be pretty good sometimes. AND IT IS DEFINITELY GOOD! BTW, the chefs were not European.
Le Solei brings in a modern angle of Vietnamese cuisine paired with French influences. Loved the décor as it consisted of intricate things like the ABACUS on their wall… WHAT? Ahah I thought it was super clever.
Garlic Roasted Dungeness crab (half crab) $ 25: Dungeness crab pan fried in browned butter and garlic with egg noodles. The essence of the crab developed the flavors so well coupled with the delicious noodles that were smothered in browned garlic & butter. I actually quite liked this plate. It came with the crab cracker which was great because I already broke my tooth once biting onto a crab, it aint happenin again.
Luc Lac «Shaken Beef» $ 16: Wok tossed flank steak over rice (more like over a lettuce and a bowl of rice on the side… BUT…) served with lemon pepper butter sauce. LEMME TELL YA… this beef was tender like tender could ever be. Like the cow had a full on body massage and acupuncture or something before it became my food.
Fresh Spring Rolls $ 7: got the pork and shrimp one wrapped with vermicelli and rice paper served with peanut sauce and like some sriracha sauce in the middle? Damn, I died because I cannot handle any type of sauce. But the spring rolls itself were just ok… not super authentic and not very flavorful as the ones I am used to.
All in all, as everyone mentioned, and upscale Vietnamese restaurant with some French influences. A bit pricey, but still affordable.

There’s not much more to say other than order the steamed garlic Dungeness crab. It comes with garlic noodles and the most delicious salty brains.
A vampire would risk his own life for the taste!
Such a gem!

Braiiinz.
Garlic Roasted Dungeness Crab Braiiinz.
Overall the food was good, nothing was a super stand-​out and the Dungeness was kind of just aight all things considered, but the garlic noodles served underneath with crab brains mixed in was the absolute highlight and luckily they don’t skimp on that.
I thought the garlic roasted crab itself was just okay– definitely not one of the meatier crab meals I’ve had this season, and the flavor wasn’t as bold as I was hoping, but for the price it wasn’t bad at all.
Our group of 5 got a few dishes all to share and the meal with drinks and minus tip came out to $ 25 a person.
Our dishes:
\\ Garlic Roasted Dungeness Crab — Dungeness crab pan fried in browned & garlic with egg noodles. As mentioned the browned & garlic egg noodles with the crab brains were the table favorite, but the crab itself was just alright.
\\ Shrimp Rice Krispies — Shrimp Cakes with water chestnut, sweet rice crust, served with peanut sauce. I’d 100% get these again.
\\ House Fried Rice — Duck and pineapple stir-​fried rice seasoned with scallions and garlic. Not a huge fan. Was a bit too dry and too salty even for me, a person who would sneak into my grandma’s car to lick the salt block she kept in the trunk to weigh down the back half of the car as a child.
\\ Imperial Rolls — Pork, mushroom, carrots, lightly fried, served with fresh vegetables & fish sauce. Again, these were just ok. A little too dry for my tastes.
\\ Tofu Eggplant — Bean curd, eggplant, bell peppers in soy sauce, served with rice. It was just fine but not a standout dish by any means.
Drink:
\\ Young Coconut — So freaking good. Served in the coconut, so fresh and only $ 4. Def helped cure my hangover from the night before.
If I could give 3.5 stars I would, but I can’t. Based off the dozen or so specialty whole crab dishes I’ve had for my first crab season living in the bay area, I have to say that while this crab wasn’t bad, it so far has been the least impressive, but the price was reasonable, the place is cute, décor is warm, service was fine, and the bathrooms were immaculate and bigger than my apartment.

Le Soleil calls its cuisine New Vietnamese, a blend of Vietnamese and French styles. Its small, modern décor location on Clement St. is a perfect backdrop to showcase this Vietnamese fusion cuisine.
The menu is not a multi-​page listing, but one page with selections of appetizers, salads, soups and entrees. After checking out the menu, we ordered:
Imperial Rolls — the rolls were lightly fried and consisted of pork, mushroom, carrots and served with vermicelli, shredded carrots and dichon and lettuce and mint with fish sauce on the side. Wrap the roll in lettuce with the condiments and drizzle some fish sauce on it for a delicious appetizer. (
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Green Papaya Shrimp salad — shrimp, green papaya, carrots, mint, tamarind sauce. A refreshing salad that has hint of sweetness from the tamarind sauce. (
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House Fried Rice — duck and pineapple stirred fried with scallions and garlic. Tasty fried rice with the minced duck.
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Curry Short Ribs — braised boneless short ribs in yellow curry with potatoes, carrots and lime leaf served with garlic bread. This was my favorite dish. The short ribs were probably lightly fried creating a nice light crust to it. The beef was so tender and tasty with the coconut milk curry sauce. (
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A nice place on Clement for tasty New Vietnamese cuisine in a nice modern décor with friendly service.