Quan Bun Ban Mai

Dirty restaurant, bad customer service. The food is not that good. Health Department should give this place a warning.

Super cheap hole in the wall. Most of their regular dishes are under $ 6. You pretty much get what you paid for. Edible but not great. I prefer to pay more for something more satisfying.

From L.A., my family we always have to stop by for
lunch hours over the weekend. We all love the foods!!!

I have been coming here for years with my Mom. The Bun Rieu, Bun Thang and Bun Bo Hue. The food is of high quality, the service is always excellent and there’s always something new to try. The restaurant only accepts cash and is situated within a strip mall area with many great stores within walking distance. Definitely give it a try– it will soon become one of your favorite spots!

Consistently quality food for very low price. Some people I know get scared away from the smell when you walk in but it’s just the shrimp paste. The place doesn’t look like much but the food is good. They are known for their Cam Bun which has noodles, veggies, snails, tofu, rieu (minced crab) and pigs blood if you want. I usually get the Bum Rieu or the Bum Cha Gio thit bo nuong (#34 I think) it has rice vermicelli, bean sprouts, other veggies, egg rolls and beef. It’s especially good of add some chile to the fish sauce that you pour over the top.

Okay, I should already know that hole in the wall Vietnamese restaurants are either hit or misses, but come on.
Prices are very average but on the lower end for this noodle soup restaurant, however quality is very subpar. I ordered the banh canh, my parents got the canh bun and to be honest, there’s not many positive things to say.
Sure food came out quickly, but taste was bland, portion sizes are horrendous; how can you call it a large when you add like 3 oz of noodles and mostly all soup?
Overall, just another poor Vietnamese restaurant you can avoid. But if you’re hungry, I guess try it?
Eat well and prosper.

My friend was in charge of finding a soup place for our OC trip and wanted to eat here. Everyone else has been to this eatery before except me. I ordered the canh bun and the small bowl was really big. The soup broth was really tasty and had lots of water spinach, which is what this soup is supposed to have a lot of. Don’t forget to bring cash since this place doesn’t take cards.

Their special noodle is ok. It comes with thick rice noodles, some green vegetable, fish paste, crab meat, sea snails and pork blood. It’s not as good as I would imagine it would be.
The restaurant inside is dirty and everything is sticky (table and chairs). This place look run down and needs some serious cleaning.

This is truly a family restaurant ran by a real family. The moment you step in you can see all three generations running the joint. The service is very organize seeing how busy it is. That being said, i had two of their dishes
Bun dau oc huyet: if you like (or daring enough to try) shrimp paste, snail and pig blood, this is the place for to you. Favorful and made with no substitution.
Canh bun due oc huyet: i have to admit the canh bun and bun have totally differant favor, which is good because you know they did not just place the same soup base in both dishes.
Overall the food is good and tast like home

The food is decent; it’s good but not great in my taste. It had all the components but was just lacking some flavor to push it to the next level. Overall, it’s a nice restaurant with good food and service, but could benefit from some tidying up.

My go to place for Bun Rieu! Cheap, Vietnamese home food.
Located in the busy ABC supermarket plaza, closer to Bank of America. Parking can get a bit wild here, but come at a off time and you’ll be fine.
Definitely a hole in the wall place with typical Asian service, but I still always enjoy my meal here. I get the Bun Rieu with tofu, blood cubes, escargot (I think this is the combination or the one with everything, my mom refuses to let me order on my own even after 24 years.)
I love putting the shrimp paste (mam) in my soup! My mom always goes, «don’t put too much or it’ll get too salty.» Every. Single. Time.
Not a place for the faint of heart or anyone that doesn’t like smelly things. The shrimp paste lingers in the air here. I believe it’s only $ 5.99 or $ 6.99 for a hearty bowl of soup here! Awesome.
Come in and enjoy some authentic Vietnamese food!

If you’re looking for AUTHENTIC northern VN dishes look no further. This tiny hole in the wall restaurant has the best rice noodle dishes. I highly recommend Canh bun thap cam (rice noodle soup with crab paste, fried tofu chunks, fish cake, escargot, steamed ong choy, and pork blood optional). I know it sounds overwhelming because of the ingredients but once you’ve tried it, you’ll keep coming for more.
I also like the bun cha ha noi (grilled pork, meatballs served with fish sauce and rice noodles on the side). The meat is very tender and nuoc mam aka fish sauce is on point!
This place is soooooo yummy! It has the flavor of hometown goodness!!! CASH only here.

This review is just for take-​out.
I’ve dined at Mai’s several times & have been semi-​satisfied. However, my last two visits for take-​out were horrible. My first take out order was the bun rie & there was a minuscule amount of the crab.
So, today I was on my way to another restaurant that served Canh Bun. To my saddened surprise, the restaurant was closed. I thought I would give Mai’s another chance. I ordered the Canh Banh with extra ong choy. I received a big container of broth with a sparse amount of crab, tofu, ong choy & extra tofu. Basically, I received some broth, tofu, noodles & VERY little crab. Totally disappointing for $ 8.00 + tax.
I won’t be returning.

I like the canh bun here! I and my bf just came and ordered the canh bun thap cam which is 7.99+tax and the bun suong, thit which is 6.99+tax! I like the canh bun better and the bun suong is nothing special! But we very enjoy it:)

Get the 17!
Tofu, Pig blood, and escargot
Can’t go wrong with all of the above right?
typical Asian service (not bad though)
Soup was authentic as it felt close to home.
Add that purple shrimp paste“mam” for extra oomph! Cheap and honest eats right here ! Be back as soon as the weather changes to cold.

Awesome crab noodle soup (canh bun). The broth and vegetable are definitely delicious. They have a great variety of seafood (crab, shrimp cake, fish cake, c) and fried tofu for you to chose. In case you dont know what to pick, get the «canh bun thap cam» with everything and you will be amazed… like I was

So, I ordered a large Bun Rieu ($ 6.99). And because there’s so many options for Bun Rieu such as Bun Rieu with crab and shrimp, Bun Rieu with tofu and fish cake, etc etc I decided to get just Bun Rieu with the crab paste itself. I thought because I didn’t get other options with different add-​ons, I figured I would get a lot of the crab paste then instead of 50% crab paste and 50% fish cake or something like that in the other Bun Rieu options.
Nope. I barely had any crab paste. There were many bites of vermicelli where I had zero crab paste. It felt like I was just eating vegetables and vermicelli. It was extremely unsatisfying and greatly reduced the taste. This shop is also really dirty and gives off that «dirty street shack» vibe.
On a positive node though, the broth was very delicious and seasoned perfectly to my palate. Not too salty or too bland just full of flavor. I am not sure if I will come back though because I just was not impressed.

This review is for the only 2 items I KILL here which are Canh Bun and Bun Rieu Suong.
If I’m not wrong, it’s the same broth, just different goodies.
Canh Bun has thicker noodles with Rieu (crab and egg mixture in a light patty form), Rau Muon (water spinach), and (ca chua), tomatoes.
Option to add Dau Hu (fried tofu), Huyet (congealed pig’s blood) or Oc (sea snails).
Bun Rieu Suong has thinner noodles with Rieu and Suong (shrimp paste in a form of thick strands) and ca chua. Same option to add extras if you like.
Both comes with fresh greens and herbs.
Add mam rouc (shrimp paste), lime and ot bam (pepper paste).
Stinky soup HEAVEN.
Plentiful but not heavy.
Final thought…
Of course Rieu made by Mom at home is best, however this is the closest you’ll get dining out. Only place I even order Rieu.
Prices are great. About $ 7 a pop for a small bowl. That’s with iced tea.
So if you’re a Rieu lover, give it a go here when Mom’s too busy.

Local hole in the wall where if you’re not a Vietnamese local, you surely would miss out. I found this place through referral of my stylist… sooo good! I’m eating and typing as I go here… I’m having the combination bun vermicelli noodle salad style with BBQ pork, shrimp and egg roll.
Bun tom thit nuong ciao gio… special XL!
Egg roll is crispy and munchy inside, BBQ pork is not overly cooked and has good texture flavoring, and the shrimp is not overly cooked… so rare to find.
The secret must be the portion of veg vs meat, garnishes (green onion, scallions, peanut) and their nuc mum fish sauce that is not over powering the dish.
Seating is average café style, very local homey feel to it since I guess it’s family run. No one speaks much English except the son, but the menu is simple yet they have every thing BUN… I’m not kidding.
Will be back for more.

Hole in the Wall, OG Little Saigon restaurant that offer cheap delicious eats. =)
CASH ONLY
1 of the BEST Bun Rieu that I have tasted ever! =) this stuff transports me back to my travels in Vietnam ;)
I ordered #20 (Bun Rieu Thap Cam) + Extra side of (Suong — Shrimp Paste) Regular size because large side is ginormous & I know I won’t be able to finish it.
I picked #20 because this has the thin noodles versus the thicker noodles =)
Flavor:
Broth has a great balance of veggies & delicious crab flavor =)
If you add the purple paste (fermented shrimp paste) makes it taste even better! =) the smell can get some getting used to but the taste is yummy! ;)
My bowl had: escargot, fried tofu, tomato, blood cubes, fish cake, crab, random vegetables)
This is now 1 of my fave places 2 go for Bun Rieu, which is great to eat on a chilly/​rainy day or when you’re feeling down =)
Value: A+
Food: A
Décor: B (clean decent typical hole in the wall, Viet Restaurant, no frills)