Phat Dat

I live around the corner and this is my go-​to place when I don’t feel like cooking.
I can vouch for the combo fried rice, wonton noodle soup, fried calamari, cube steak and rice and chicken rice porridge.
Service and experience with employees has always been good and every time I attend its not too crowded.

WHY GOD WHY. WHY DID YOU CLOSE THIS PLACE DOWN. It’s so good that I’m actually writing a review 6 months after it’s been closed. Everything was good and ridiculously cheap.
Please reopen
or email me the red rice recipe
seriously though, pm it to me

Comte Com for me and. Ga nuong for the rest. I was going to really praise this place too bad they closed. Aaah.

It appears to be out of business with big azz «close» tag on the front window. Welcome to world of the $ 5 bowl of Phở. Rule of thumb: price of a dish on the menu should be 3x of material cost of a dish itself to make profit.

$ 5 phở
Decent to large sized portion
Good amount of meat/​noodles
Solid broth
Clean restaurant
Thumbs up
The only part that threw me off is that the waiter wasn’t standing there ready to take my order 5 seconds after I sat down and my phở didn’t come out 2 minutes after the waiter took my order (most phở places operate at supersonic speeds). It wasn’t a big deal, but it took longer than usual for someone to take our order (and there wasn’t even that many customers).

The posted picture hours are incorrect. They are now closed on Tuesdays.
I have to shake my head at the 2-​star review of the phở I see posted. There’s only one beef phở on the menu, Phở Dac Biet (I don’t count Phở Bo Kho, the beef stew). Obviously she didn’t know what she was ordering and probably should have asked what the list of ingredients was in the Phở Dac Biet (Special Phở, which is sold for the astonishingly low price of $ 5!) and asked to remove some of the less. .. mainstream ingredients.
Her: «there was so much fat on the meat that I couldn’t eat it. There was even a long gelatinous cube of fat and something else unidentifiable that almost made me lose my appetite.»
I had to see what the fuss was about so got myself to Phat Dat and ordered a Phở Dac Biet and Ca Phao Mam Tom (Thai green eggplants quartered and marinated in a garlic, chili fish sauce and served with fermented shrimp paste dipping sauce (
)
For the record, the Phở Dac Biet (
) has listed on the menu the following:
— tai (sliced rare steak)
— nam (flank)
— gau (fatty brisket) — probably her fatty meat. didn’t take a picture, but it was gloriously fatty, *as advertised*.
— gan (tendon) — guessing this was the «long gelatinous cube of fat»? btw, that’s collagen (protein), not fat
— sach (tripe) — probably the unidentifiable thing that impacted her appetite
— bo vien (beef meatballs) You can see the tripe, tendon and beef ball here (
)
Sounds like she 1) got exactly what she ordered, 2) didn’t know what she was eating, 3) got grossed out, and 4) panned it here on Unilocal.Oh well.
As you can see, I hated it (
) ;-) I thought it was well above average and great value for $ 5.
Ca Phao Mam Tom is not for the faint of palate. There was *a lot* of garlic in the marinade (
) and the dipping sauce with fermented shrimp is *very* pungent. The eggplants in marinade by themselves smelled like cucumber kimchi, but the similarities end with the satisfying crunch while biting into one.
Funnily, it’s translated on the menu as «Steamed Clams» (not my pic
). When I ordered it, the waiter said «The menu is wrong. If you want clams, order this dish» pointing at the menu. If you know the menu is wrong, why leave it?
Anyway, I’d give Phat Dat 4 stars, but putting in 5 to counteract the 2 star review that didn’t know what she was ordering or eating. Sorry, not all phở is lean cuts of beef.

I tried a couple of dishes including the phở with oxtail. It is great for this cold weather. The beef was nice and tender in the broth. I prefer the phở over eating family style since my time is limited during the day. I only have an hour for lunch so it is important that I am in and out. I still prefer Phở Y though. Hopefully, they wont raise the price like they have done with their calamari and deep fried fish dishes. I came back a couple of weeks and had fried fish with rice with my friend. It was undercooked again.
They have a soda special with phở for $ 5.50. I wonder how they survive charging so little for the phở. I would definitely come back for the phở because it is so cheap.

This place really is as good as everyone says it is!
So far, I’ve tried:
Phở: At $ 5 this is more than big and good enough.
Mackerel in Sugarcane Sauce: This was so good, the mackerel is tender (including the bones) and full of flavor. It isn’t sweet at all either.
Water Spinach with Fermented Tofu: Yum.
Crispy Fried Tilapia: Technically a Thai dish, but they do it well here! My mom loved it.
Banh Knot: OMG, the best Banh Knot I’ve ever had. Now I see why it was sold out the first few times I tried to order it. Just how banh knot should be, crispy and golden on the outside, chewy on the inside, with a small shrimp on top. Here they put coconut crème in it, which was a complete surprise, with a little bit of coconut milk on top too, but it’s still not too sweet, and I like coconut, so that made it even better.
I was going to try the Veal (Goat) salad, but the waitress dissuaded me from ordering it because it was raw and I wasn’t drunk enough, and cooking it will throw the flavor off. The wait staff is very nice and helpful and will be happy to tell you about any of the items on their extensive menu.
Also, I’ve been here a few times on Friday and Saturday nights where they have live music (Vietnamese Karaōke? But there’s a real person playing the music!) Sometimes when this runs it’s open past 10.

Instead of going to a stranger’s home to eat some old haggard belly fat over black bean sauce and bok choy for dinner. Crystal and I decided to come to Phat Dat for a 3 course meal family style. Here, Crystal and I are treated like VIP since she comes here on a weekly basis. but I think if we went with our other choice. actually I don’t wanna imagine what would happen.
It seems like the majority of the reviews here is for their cheap and delicious $ 5 bowl of Phở. but the food that they offer here are just as delicious and also pretty cheap if you compared it other Vietnamese restaurant. If you’re looking to try some traditional Vietnamese food then this is the place to go to.
We got what Crystal usually get which is the spinach and squash soup. I highly recommend this. Unfortunately for me they were out of ca phao (egg plants) so I couldn’t try it with the soup. But then that just gives me a reason to come back here again… not that I would need one since I will be definitely coming back here. I also tried their burnt rice. which I also absolutely loved… I usually don’t eat this but I will be coming back here for more. We also had the caramelized pork. which I thought was okay but Crystal said it just wasn’t right. after all she’s their biggest critic there. We also had rau muon sao chao which I thought was good too. I usually don’t eat that much for dinner. but I surely ate like 2 days worth of rice for me in one sitting. I love this restaurant and will definitely be back.
I was also fortunate enough to try their jasmine milk which the owner was working on. it wasn’t perfect but I am sure he will get there. Our meal came out cheaper than it’s suppose to be. maybe it’s a mistake on his part or maybe he just gave his biggest supporter a discount since she didn’t like one of the dish. I will definitely be back here though. since I know the food here last night wasn’t at its best since the main cook was off for the day. But like always, no matter how good the food is, it won’t be perfect without good company and I had the best dinner date there with me last night.

I agree with most of the other reviewers — Phat Dat offers good phở for $ 5. The restaurant is fairly new (I believe) and is clean. Sometimes the service or the wait time between ordering and receiving your food is a little too long for a phở restaurant, but its $ 5 and a clean restaurant. Can’t win them all.
Came here around 9PM on a Saturday night and I am not sure if they were hosting a family party but they had people singing — not sure if it was a free for all or just limited to the families.
They close at 10PM which is better than other soup noodle restaurants in the area.

This place gets awesome reviews, so I had to try it. Plus, the phở is only $ 5.
Well, I came, I ate and I won’t be back. I had the #31 and there was so much fat on the meat that I couldn’t eat it. There was even a long gelatinous cube of fat and something else unidentifiable that almost made me lose my appetite.
Needless to say, after removing all things meat from my soup, I did enjoy my noodles, broth and bean sprouts.
Sorry all you Phat Dat lovers, but I just don’t see what’s so great about the phở here except for the $ 5 price.

As other reviewers have pointed out, the $ 5 phở is a steal! The portion size was smaller than I expected but at this price point it’s good value already. Everything else about the noodle soup was great. There could also be more meat in the soup but that’s okay.
The service was alright. There is a bit of a language barrier here unless you speak Vietnamese so keep that in mind before you come here. Just make sure you know what’s expected and everything will be fine. Location is close to SJSU and that’s always great for students.

Good and cheap Vietnamese food by SJSU campus. Finally a place by campus where I can order porridge! I tried the pork porridge and it tasted pretty good (the porridge itself had minced meat, cilantro, onions, and fried garlic on top). I was a little thrown off by the char-​siu (bbq) pork they had in the porridge but it’s all good. Thankfully, this place accepts credit card and there isn’t a minimum charge (rare for an Asian restaurant like this).
The crab fried rice is pretty good too! Big portions. This will be my regular ‘go-​to’ Vietnamese restaurant now :)

$ 5.00 for a big bowl of phở with plenty of beef.
In addition to that splendid deal, the prices are certainly within a students’ budget. There was plenty of meat in my bowl of noodle soup, and the broth was on par with those $ 7 – 8 bowls at nearby places. I could still taste it after an hour or two.
On top of that, service was quick and humble. I’m still blown away by the 10-​years-​ago prices.
Update (12÷2÷2011): Today I ordered the same thing, but to-​go instead. Takeout orders are charged an extra 50 cents, and the total landed at a long-​time-​no-​see $ 5.95. Everything was placed nicely inside the package: garnishes in one bag, noodles and beef in a Styrofoam box, and hot soup with beef balls in a cup container. In fact, everything was laid out so perfectly that it was easier to assemble this meal than a two-​piece chair from IKEA. Today’s broth tasted exquisite, thanks to the strong beef flavor.
Great food/​service, inexpensive, and fast — Phat Dat is one of the few businesses that accentuate all three qualities. As long as they keep it up, I will keep returning! ^_​_​^

For my visit down to San Jose, my sister Cuc Crystal N. designates Phat Dat as a place where we would have our mini family reunion for a special meal for two reasons.
The first, to see each other and celebrate her birthday with her, second to introduce her to a special someone that I will call «friend».
“My sister calls me and says we are going to eat at Phat Dat! I said, «what?» She said, «no worries it’s just like moms cooking.»
How befitting that we eat at a place that reminds us of the foods that our mother would cook on a random night of the week.
I’m so use to fine dining at high class restaurants with my sister. places like Joel Rubachan (know I spelled that wrong), the Ruins, Steak house this, steak house that, and our future plans to go to a silly place like french laundry in the future.
Phat Dat isn’t any special dining venue, or does it serve any fancy special food. The menu consist of simple home style Vietnamese dishes that give you a special warm feeling inside when you eat it.
We ordered 8 dishes for 3 of us. My sister raved about this place so I insisted on over indulgence and ordering more than we could eat.
Well we ate all the food. All of it. All that was left was a few shrimp heads and some broth from our soup that we couldn’t cram into our stomach.
The food here is just like mom’s cooking. I wondered if these people were related to us somehow.
8 dishes, two drinks, still cost us only 76 dollars. Yes, 76 dollars. That was enough food to feed 5 plus people.
Value, taste, and some love… that makes a good restaurant. at least for me, it means more than a fancy name, fancy décor, or a $ 2000.00 dining bill.

Found this place thanks to Unilocal and now I have a new lunch spot in addition to Dalat up the street! :)
Arrived to see that they have their own private parking lot shared with the cleaners! :)
Ordered the $ 5 phở with rare steak on the side. The broth was rich and flavorful. Portion size was decent and the meat quality was good.
The interior was clean and the service was very humble and friendly.
$ 5 for Phở was out the door and they accept credit cards! :)
…I’ll have to come back for dinner to try out all their other dishes!

The place is overall clean looking. However, beware of flies! There’s a few of them flying and they kept bugging me throughout the whole meal.
The phở isn’t bad at all, and it’s at a great price point. I also tried the bun rieu but that isn’t is good. I’d stick with the phở. I also ordered a strawberry smoothie. It tasted very icy and watery so i was a bit disappointed in that.
I think I would only come here for a quick phở run but I don’t think I would come back because I willingly want to.

5 $ Beef phở? Had to give it a try.
I had low expectations for 5 $ phở.
I thought the bowl was going to be small, it wasn’t.
Less meat? no found all the types of meat in it.
Crap noodles? no tasted fine.
And the soup? flavorful
for 5 $ it’s actually quite good. And it’s really close to campus.
Service is a bit slow but maybe they will get it together.

Ok, this is my first review!
So I decided to take my mother and two younger sisters out for some phở last night and i walked away very impressed with this place.
The vibe is very mellow and traditional and the staff who work here are super friendly. The resturaunt is very clean and has a nice décor to it as well. Now, on to the food!
I ordered a small bowl of phở with beef (Tai), my mother got the meatball, and my other sister got chicken. All 3 were excellent! The quality of the beef was much better than other phở places ive tried. It has a better texture as well. This place isnt stingy with their portions either. We all had tons of noodles and meat in our bowls. Now, for me a good bowl of phở has to have good broth or else its no bueno… I will say, this place doesnt have the most complex broth such as other places ive been to (Phở Y, House of Phở) but its just right. It’s not overly salty which leads me to believe there isnt an overload of msg. It has a very clean and hearty flavor! Oh, add some of their vietnamese peppers they have on the table if your in to spicy food. It will kick your ass! haha
For an appetizer, we got an order of egg rolls for the table. The plate came with 8 rolls which is more than other places. They are a bit small but they make up for that in quantity. These are by far the best egg rolls ive had from any phở joint! Hands down! The sauce you get on the side was also the best ive had. Seems like they added something to the normal fish sauce you get.
So in the end, we got 4 bowls of phở and an order of egg rolls and only paid $ 28. Thats damn good in my books. Each bowl of phở was $ 5 which is a steal compared to other spots. I paid over $ 40 at house of Phở for the exact same things! I will definitley be back!
Recap:
+Good service
+Great food
+Great prices
+nice portions (not stingy)
+Clean & mellow place

Just opened 3 days ago! FREE Can of SODA for the first month!
Clean, and business is just starting up.
It’s a Vietnamese cuisine restaurant. Service is a tad bit slow, but Asian restaurants aren’t real key on service, but the food. That’s where the money’s at =]
GOOD Portions! For the price. Most items were in the $ 5-​$ 8 range, and there was enough to fill my stomach and satisfy.
I ordered the $ 5 Phở Dac Biet, the beef and meatballs were good, and I thought the phở noodles had a good consistency. Good bang for my buck!
I also ordered the number 54: Grilled pork skewer rice noodle. Had some egg rolls and a sausage too!
For a drink, I tried the three bean-​rainbow drink, not bad!
The food was real good for the price! I felt the store was a bit unorganized for a new restaurant, but it didn’t really bother me.
They didn’t have a drink I wanted though… the red bean with coconut drink.
They don’t accept credit card yet, as they just opened, but they should be in the next coming weeks.