Quan Thanh

I like this place very much.
Good food. Good price.
Pork chop is always juice and well seasoned

— Locale Destination —
It’s on S Harbor Blvd and W 1^st St in Santa Ana.
***** The name is «Thanh» now due to the new ownership *****
It’s in a small corner shopping plaza. You see Vietnamese restaurants here and there around this more likely Mexican area ;p
The establishment has a decent size — roomy, casual, simple décor with lots of picture menus on the wall! Good for Vietnamese food novice: p Plenty of parking. I’m not sure about credit card usage since I paid with cash. Bring cash just in case. Plenty of parking. The staff were friendly.
— Gluttony Expedition —
BBQ pork, quiche, and shrimp paste com tam (broken rice): I hate «pork julienne» (Pork skin or something. It’s very dry — it makes me so thirsty — and a bit stinky. It often comes with Com Tam.), so I always substitute with something else. So I got a shrimp paste/​cake (Tau Hu Ky) wrapped with soy curd (Deep fried). The shrimp cake was sorta bland in flavors but had a tender texture. The quiche (Egg with noodle and meats) was tasty surprisingly. BBQ pork was tasty but a bit overcooked. Cheap & good!
— Conqueror’s Deduction —
It seems like they got a new ownership lately. I don’t know the old one.
The new owner?! (WHITE LADY — I’ve NEVER seen any white worker in Vietnamese restaurants, though I often eat at Vietnamese restaurants in OC) said they were in Irvine for 10 years before they moved here. Why should I mention Irvine?! You can rarely find good restaurants in Irvine — even Asian restaurants despite of the big Chinese population in Irvine. It’s kinda like Newport Beach. I rarely go to those locations — it’s a waste of my time and money ;p
She reminded me of my favorite WHITE Unilocaler Hannah «Hey You Up There» E (wow, she moved to LA now!) who knows about Vietnamese foods a lot more than Asians ! I do trust her reviews on Asian foods.
This place is totally a hidden gem. You’ll get a better and cheaper com tam (broken rice dish) than many places in Little Saigon. I always go to «Com Tam Tran Quy Cap» on the same Harbor Blvd (Fountain Valley) for Com Tam, but this is also good! It’s a bit cheaper. I wanna try more! I like here.

Went with my family on a Sunday night and no one was there the whole time we were eating. They have a soda fountain inside! Usually at Vietnamese restaurants they give you a cup of ice and a soda can…
What I got:
Com Tam Bi Cha Thit Nuong ($ 6.75): broken rice with shredded pork meat and skin, steamed egg cake, and grilled pork. It also had pieced of fried pork fat on top! There’s also a side of soup that comes with it. Soup was average, but got cold pretty fast. The taste of the grilled pork was pretty good. It wasn’t dry and didn’t have any of that burnt stuff on it. As for the shredded pork meat and skin… well there was more of the pork meat than the skin and it was flavorless. They don’t seem to give as much as other restaurants either. For the steamed cake, it was a little too hard and didn’t have much flavor either after pouring the fish sauce all over it. This place seems to give less compared to other Com Tam places too. I usually take the leftovers home, but this time I finished it all!
Service:
The guy that took our order was very nice and kept smiling while we were still deciding what we wanted to order. Drinks were brought out fairly quickly and same with the food.

It looks like this place is under new management. The old couple that used to run it is gone and they’ve remodeled. The food looks similar but the menu and pricing has changed.
Also, you have to order at the counter and then sit down which is odd.

My friend the chicken fan salesman introduced me to this place. Yes, I said chicken fan salesman. Someone has to provide those poor hot chickens a fan to cool off. The chicken fan salesman wanted to treat me to lunch and told me that this place had the best com tam. Since then, I have been here a handful of times
I don’t know what it is about com tam. I have always liked it. I don’t know how other places make their com tam. But, the chicken fan salesman says that Quan Thanh cooks their com tam with pork fat or pork skin. When you combine the taste of the pork fat with with the broken rice and then add fish sauce, the flavor is wonderful.
The thit nuong, pork chop and shrimp paste are all prepared in advance. The food is always ready in less than 120 seconds. There is no way possible that you can cook it that fast. I guess they cook it earlier in the day and scoop it as orders come in. Even though it was prepared earlier in the day, it still tasted very good. I just can’t see giving this place more than 3 stars. This place is good, but, there is no way it belongs in the 4 or 5 star category. Oh… and like all other Asian places, the pork chop is not a pork chop. It is a thinly sliced piece of pork steak.
The interior of the place is a little dated. I don’t think it would pass the wife’s clean seat test. I know it would not pass her cleanliness test. However, it does pass my cheap and good test. Translation — The wife won’t be coming here with me. Where is the chicken fan salesman? I need him to by me lunch again! I need to make the chicken fan salesman buy me a more expensive lunch!

This is a small mom and pop restaurant but still spacey inside. Went there for Bun rieu and com tam. The Bun Rieu with abalone was good and flavorful… reminds me of my moms cooking when i was a child… but the abalone was unnecessarily flavor in the soup. It didnt compliment it… but the ingredient was fresh though. the com tam was alright. The one in my area is still the best so far =]

Eat Com Tam Here!
Crazy. I was driving down Harbor and I saw the plaza and had a flash back of a place I ate years ago. Plaza is remodeled but Quan Thanh is still here.
When I was a kid, there was no such thing as «Little Saigon.» There was only «Bolsa.» In fact, Bolsa was a newer word also. Before «Bolsa» most of the Vietnamese places were further east where Bolsa turns into First Street in Santa Ana. This is where this place sits. This family owned restaurant opened its doors in the mid 80’s. Same family runs it. In fact, same tables and chairs. The circular bar is gone from the middle of the restaurant. That is the only difference.
Well, of course I ordered com tam and bo kho. The little one ordered rice noodle (beef ball soup) with the thick noodle. We both had soda chanh. The stew was eh AOK. The broth of the soup was AOK. However, the rice noodle was pretty yummy. They used the fat noodle. What stood out was the com tam. Perfectly prepared. I would say. the best. I am not a fan of rice, but com tam is different.
This restaurant is old school. Super nice folks running this shop and the food reminded me of the «Bolsa» of the old days. They made us feel like family.
The place actually could use a remodel, but it is super clean. The restroom was super clean also. Parking was easy.
Quan Thanh, First Street at Harbor and «Bolsa»…another reason the OC is the best place to live!

Small cozy place — perfect meal for beginning a night of drinking or perfect cure after a night of drinking. Its not too loud so you can have a decent conversation with your friends without having to put your head 2 inches away from their mouth.
Serving size is perfect — you don’t feel overly stuffed after but you’re not left still hungry either.
Food itself tastes fresh — it doesn’t taste like its been kept in a freezer or anything.
Only downside is
CASH ONLY
but that can be overlooked since its already relatively cheap

I definitely recommend coming here if you need a quick com tam fix or actually, anything vietnamese for that matter. All the prices here are DIRT cheap. For most dishes theyre around 5 bucks! I usually get the com tam bi thit nuong which is only 4.50. If you go to nearby places down the street the dishes can cost around 7 – 8 bucks. The portions here are good for the price and the couple who own this restaurant are so cute!
Definitely a gem! Highly recommend!

Seven reviews!!! What an injustice. I can’t understand how a place like this can be nearly invisible on Unilocal.
This gem of an establishment sits on 1^st & Harbor, amidst the traffic and plethora of eateries in any which direction. In my four visits in the past month, I’ve only went with option #100 for lunch. A bowl of hot noodles (half flat rice noodles, half egg noodles), chunks of fish, a few shrimps, and pieces of dark meat chicken swimming around in an amazing broth. To top it all of they throw a fist full of diced fried pork skin into the mix. It’s like like a pork cherry on top of Vietnamese-​flavored ice cream. I’ve reached that next stage in my life and now request an extra bowl of pork cherries to help prolong the end of my meal. I am a disgusting pig, just as Mom has always said.
Pricing is an absolute steal. Service is great and food comes out rather quickly, even when busy. Cleanliness levels are at normal. Pork levels exceed any and all expectations.
Be a pig, be a pig!

I love this family own restaurant! Whenever I come here, I always order #59
Their foods are big portion and they’re goood too! Prices for the meal are right, not overly expensive like those restaurants in the bolsa and westminster.
Highly recommended! :)
Oh and lets not forget its CASH ONLY!

Been here for years and still same great food.
Authentic Vietnamese Rice dishes with reasonable prices.
Highly recommend coming back all the time for breakfast, lunch or dinner.

I’m Glad to have rediscovered an old classic, It’s a really nice relief from the endless «new» Vietnamese restaurants popping up around Garden Grove that don’t taste any «new» at all… Sure they look nicer but who the hell cares, they all taste alike — bland and boring.
I came with a friend and we shared a broken rice with pork chop and shrimp cake, and a dry egg noodle with grilled pork. It was the BEST Tau Hu Ky (shrimp cake) I’ve had in a LONG time… Possibly the best i’ve ever had. The egg noodles were also good, very thin with a nice consistency, not too stretchy or brittle. The grilled pork chop was okay but the regular grilled pork (thit nuong) was deelish! Slightly crispy but tender inside as well. Prices are super fair and while portions could be a little bigger and the rice was just a tad overcooked, I loved it.
1. Faded forest themed wraparound panoramic wallpaper — check
2. Same red chairs and tables I remember from when I was 5 — check
3. Disgusting Bathroom — check
4. Horrible fish sauce scent that I forced myself to get used to unless I’d throw up — check!
5. Barely visibly located in a dingy Santa Ana plaza with Banh Mi Cali and Tacos Mexico — check
It’s a clear winner in my eyes :)

A very simple place for a quick meal before a night out of drinking and other things we don’t need to mention here…
Got their pork chop and shrimp roll broken rice dish and yeah, it was yummy and cheap. What more could you ask for, right?
Nice that it’s a mom-​and-​pop place…

Review #2
One of the first Com Tam places ever in Little Saigon. I remember coming here when my family would visit California in the early 1990s.
I haven’t had the noodles but the Com Tam is stellar and made fresh and surpasses Thuan Kieu, De Nhat or Tran Quy Cap.

I came here to try some noodles … my fave Vietnamese noodles are mi or phở, but I was in the mood for mi, so I ordered the combination mi (#101). They don’t speak English well here so I had a hard time trying to figure out what I wanted and even with the help of who I assume to be the owner, it was still difficult.
The noodles came quickly, piping hot, which was nice. They were generous with the toppings but most of it was tasteless. On top of that, the only chili sauce they had was sriracha and the other red boring one. I was wanting the lemongrass chili but they didn’t have any.
I thought the mi was okay … there was too much MSG though so I spent the rest of the day just having funky tongue syndrome. Even though I ordered a soda chanh and was drinking it profusely, it didn’t help. The funky MSG tongue and lethargy lasted until evening.

This is my fave com tam place. I’ve been going to this location for the past 10 years. I usually get their com tam thit nuong (broken rice with char-​grilled pork) and it comes with a small bowl of soup. The com tam also has some crispy/​fried pieces of fat which makes it taste so good, but not so healthy to eat.
I haven’t tried their noodles cuz whenever I go, all I want is the com tam there. But I’ll try it out next time, hopefully.