Le Soleil Restaurant

If you’re familiar with Vietnamese restaurants, you’ll know that they’re always very basic, no frills kind of places. If you’re looking for someone to treat you like you’re special, you should probably go somewhere that serves mediocre «authentic» Asian food and pay double the price. Like P.F. Changs.
The Formerly Known as Le Soleil (now Nhu Y) is pretty decent when it comes to authenticity and taste. It’s nothing like my mom would cook (because nothing ever beats home cooking) but this place isn’t too far off.
My husband and I have had the Bo Luc Lac (Shaken Beef), Canh Chua (Hot & Sour soup), Ga Xao Xa Ot (Lemongrass Chicken), Tau Hu Kho To (Claypot Tofu), and the spring rolls. We’ve only had the family-​style dishes so I can’t vouch for the phở or the vermicelli here. Everything we ordered had good flavor but our favorite was probably the plump and juicy morsels of beef, the Bo Luc Lac.
The last time we went, there were only a couple of Vietnamese families there so the mood was a little quiet/​somber for our own taste. Hopefully next time they’ll turn on some music.

Gotta take them down one star for quality decline and slow adequate service. This place has changed it’s name to Nhu Y Restaurant. Same management, but what about owner? I couldn’t get the waitress to explain it to me. They have the same menu though. I asked why the name change and she said they wanted to take the French out of the name and make it more traditional Vietnamese. I said «but you still have the same menu». I have been a regular here off and on for several years. I have been all around the menu and have been satisfied pretty much all the time. The food here always tastes fresh and flavorful. My favorite dishes are the shaken beef, anything with lemon grass, the catfish, and, the hot and sour soup with catfish or shrimp. Speaking of fish, yes, they put out some good seafood dishes. If you like to explore Vietnamese dishes, some with the French influence, you will like this place. They have a large menu. I will warn you to stay clear of the egg rolls and stick to the spring rolls. The ER’s are always over cooked and bland. Back to the hot and sour soup, it is simply amazing. They put bean sprouts, tomato, shrooms and pineapple in it, along with other stuff. You get different flavors throughout the soup from spicy to sweet, and, if you add some soy sauce and red pepper paste, you got a wild party on the taste buds! One more note: The large soup is enough for 2 –3 people.

I came here because I had a groupon that was expiring soon. Since it was warm outside, I didn’t do my usual Phở. Instead, I had the «shaken» beef. The name was weird, but I had read good reviews about it and I wanted to try it. Man, was it good! The beef was nicely flavored (almost had a sesame beef flavor) and it was so well cooked that the beef melted in your mouth. I also had the pork egg roll and it was small but delicious.
The location does suck and the restaurant isn’t anything glam. It’s an old school dive place, but definitely worth the trip out to north for it.
I think I found my new Vietnamese place.

We went tonight and had the fried catfish spring roll. The small is enough for a meal for two people. It was really something out of this world. We haven’t experienced anything quite like it. And you get to make your own spring roll! Lovely experience.

If you are brave enough and have a group of friends you have to try their fried catfish spring roll. They battered and fried the whole catfish and they serve it with spring rolls which you roll yourself. The catfish itself is battered in flour with a hint of honey and curry spice to it. Once when you put some fish on your rice paper and add lettuce to it, it’s the best fried catfish spring rolls you ever tasted. You can also eat it also if you fail not to rolls, but it’s a must try.
If Alaska Crabs are in season you have to try their sauté crabs with garlic sauce. That is also lightly battered tossed with a hint of garlic sauce. The flavorful sauce brings out the crab in them…

Wow… was I just hit by an MSG bomb??? I’m not sure…
The beef with lemongrass vermicelli was outstanding. One of the better examples of this dish in town… Maybe a buck or two more expensive, which likely accounts for the somewhat sparse crowds.
This is not one of your run-​of-​the-​mill phở shops. This place has some fancier options on the menu. The recommended Shaken Beef was realy nice. Need to go back… if I can get over the MSG feeling!
Low end of moderate for lunch but can eat cheap for sure.
Reminds me of Sea Dragon minus the Chinese, need to check out the freshness of the phở… I will. Definitely a return trip to experience the taste but I will bring a pillow next time.

I FOUND A ROCK IN MY FOOD.
When we walked in, it smelled like a toilet. The place was empty and the décor was… dirty. I thought, «hey, maybe it’s going to be very authentic, delicious food!» The menu is extensive, but nothing we ordered was good. I had the chicken vermicelli and it came with fried egg rolls on it. My boyfriend ate one and he spit out a rock. Yes, a rock! It looked like granite to be exact. The fresh spring rolls tasted… fishy. They had shrimp and a strip of pork, which wasn’t mentioned on the menu.
AVOID THIS PLACE. I’m not sure how others had edible food from here.

I went here with my girlfriend on a Sunday afternoon using a Google Offers coupon.
Now, I know that in a 3.5 average rating restaurant, a 5-​star rating sort of sticks out. Also, since I’m currently a Unilocaler noob, with this being only my 3^rd review, my review might be casted aside as the insignificant outlier. But please, hear me out for a bit.
The Roasted Quail is advertised as «marinated quails roasted to perfection» on their menu. And perfection it achieved. It wasn’t that the quail was an out-​of-​this-​world exotic flavor that made my tongue cry for the injustice that it’s been missing out on.
The quail was simply perfect. Emphasis on the world «simply». And «perfect». The marinade gave it a mildly sweet taste that started a nice party in my mouth. Not the kind of parties where everybody gets drunk and there’s loud thumping music that deafens you halfway. This kind of party was the kind with chill music as people simply enjoyed each other’s company while drinking a few drinks, playing a few games, and exchanging a few laughs. The texture, the flavor, the color, the sauce — everything fell into place.
I also ordered the Beef Spicy Lemon Grass (seriously, who chose this word order). It was nothing too special, but it was a good solid dish. However, every time I would go back to eating the quail after eating the beef, the party in my mouth got even better. The law of diminishing returns didn’t apply to this quail.
Conclusion: The quail was simply perfect, and the beef spicy lemongrass was solid. I give it 4.51 stars, which rounds to 5.

You know it will be good when the clientele are mostly Asian. I always want to just say «we’ll have what they’re having,» because I know they will have the most authentic and delicious dishes. And I can’t tell by looking what everything is. But I know I’ll get that whole catfish one of these times. It looks incredible.
We’ve been a couple of times, and while I’ve never had a chance to try the sea bass Michelle C. recommended (they’re always out!), tonight they offered us the escolar steak instead, prepared the same way. It’s a little more expensive, but OH SO GOOD! Crispy and succulent, full of flavor. We also had the pepper shrimp, which was fantastic. The caramel pork rips were served spitting hot (literally), and had a delicious tangy, spicy sauce. They were really good over rice.
I have ordered two different noodle dishes here (flat rice noodles and this time egg noodles), and both times felt the dish was just a bit bland. Probably won’t get noodles again.
Last time we had the build-​your-​own springrolls with sugarcane shrimp (or something like that) and they were a lot of fun, although messy if you don’t know what you’re doing. I think we also tried the shaken beef, and I think it was pretty good.
The menu is so huge that it can be overwhelming. Maybe next time I’ll just ask the server for recommendations. She recommended the escolar and it was terrific.
Yeah, it’s in a strip mall, and is lacking in ambience. But I’ll take taste over ambience any day.

Le Soleil is dang far up north. I trekked up here to see how Le Soleil is able to claim all of its fame. Did it hold up? Not quite. The grub was good, but perhaps the menu was a little too large. They should sit down and specialize in a strong handful of items, and cook regionally, as they do in the actual homeland of the fare.
I had my first American banh xeo here. Sure it was not a crêpe the size of a hubcap, as they offer in Vietnam, for $ 1, nonetheless… but this crispy crêpe-​style appetizer certainly hit the spot. It was hearty and boasted lots of shrimp and bean sprouts inside. Fresh vegetables to accompany! You take large lettuce leaves, break some crêpe and put it inside, throw in a few herbs, give a dip in fish sauce and voila! You have a salty, eggy, herby lettuce wrap. Weird, but fantastic.
The banh xeo would have won me over, but the phở was quite mediocre and affected my experience negatively. The meat was very tough, and the broth was boring.
The spring roll was as expected; you cannot really mess them up, though I will say that these were subpar… even for these simple Vietnamese offerings. On the «roll» note, I will also say that the fried eggroll was OK. Nothing special, but chock full of meat, at least. And crispy.
All in all, this Vietnamese establishment cranks out acceptable fare. Nothing to right home amount, but I was just not impressed. They say «reservations recommended.» Hogwash. It was empty when I went in.

«Great Place to try Vietnamese food other than Phở!»
I was pretty torn between giving 3 stars and 4 stars. The place is absolute dive but not in a homey way but in cold and dirty way. and yes the server don’t smile but the food there are absolutely delicious!!!
So I keep going back. The menu is overwhelming and not really helpful if you don’t understand vietnamese and it’s hard to ask questions since the server (maybe he’s the owner) we get is neither nice nor speak decent English. But for me, most important thing about restaurant is food, service and atmosphere count only if the food is great. So yeah, I wish this place was in better neighborhood, had the better service and had a clean, cheerful atmosphere. but for the awesome food, I’m a fan. Cat fish hot pot was divine and I don’t like Cat fish. Beware that Food tends to be rather salty.
+ Food
+ Comes out fast
+ Affordable
— Neighborhood
— Atmosphere
— Service

Not only was this place recommended to me by several friends who are Vietnamese, I went with those who eat here regularly so that I could try all sorts of dishes and their favorites! Unfortunately they ordered everything in Vietnamese and Le Soleil does not have the menu on the website, so I am going to have to come back and add exactly what I had.
The fried fish and shaken beef were by far the most memorable. We had a table of about 10 of us, and ate family style, so we were able to order and try a lot off the menu. (Highly recommended way of eating here!) I never get why some are so stingy with their food. Good food is even better shared! Especially over a Tiger beer!
Now don’t get me wrong, many just won’t «get» this place. The location and ambiance is definitely sub-​par. Sub-​par as in, lock your car doors, hide all your electronics when you go in sort of place. The location would be better suited for a check cashing venue or pawn shop. On the inside, you won’t find much, simple tables, a stage, a few mics, a random disco ball. So basically just pay attention to the food is what I’m saying. After all, isn’t that why you are here?

We came here for lunch yesterday due to a fantastic Groupon that I had purchased last month. The ambiance isn’t great and the restaurant isn’t pretty but seriously… it’s a good mom-​and-​pop shop that isn’t about the frilly crap of ambiance. It’s good food at the right price!
Oh man, what a winner! I had the Combination Pan-​fried Rice Noodle and my boyfriend had the BBQ Pork.
OMG, so good! The man who was our waiter asked if I wanted the noodles pan fried and man, I’m so glad I said yes! What came out was a disc of literally pan fried noodles that was crisp, chewy, and deliciously smothered in a mix of vegetables, meats, and sea food. What a winner! The BBQ pork was not the traditional pink hued Chinese BBQ pork but it was well seasoned, tender, and delicious!
Definitely recommend anyone to this place. Very delicious and right next to Lucky Bakery to boot!
Now…I know this is not a typical place people go to eat and it is in the seedy part of town. Being Vietnamese, I can just make spring rolls or egg rolls for myself and know that anytime I go to a restaurant, it won’t be the same as when I make it. So I don’t order it. I recommend going with someone who recognizes the menu or knows what items to order. I can see it being difficult for someone who’s a newcomer to Vietnamese cuisine.

Le Soleil is definitely a dive. As long as you don’t come in expecting it to be either clean or have great service the food will be worth it.
Dishes I have tried:
Fried egg rolls: good but had been fried a bit too long so was a little blown out, well past crispy
Fresh spring rolls: served with a nice light peanut sauce, mint very prominent
Vietnamese Crêpe: this dish makes a big mess but it is certainly an interesting blend of flavors, the fish sauce really ties it together, if you don’t have enough of that it won’t taste quite right
Combination clay pot: delicious cooked prawns. It also has the traditional clay pot effect where you get delicious charred rice on the sides of the pot.
Catfish clay pot: the best thing I have had here, had a really interesting sauce that had red pepper flakes and what tasted like a mandarin style hoisin sauce.
Sautéed tofu with mixed vegetables — this had an unusual sauce, I thought it was a lot better than the tofu clay pots I have also had here

Le Soleil is haunted.
The dishes are haunted by the souls of the people who ate from them before you did.
You know, they say that if you put baby powder on your Thai tea glass from Le Soleil and put it on the side of the railroad track, little lip-​prints will appear from the shades of the bus-​full of school children who were creamed at that very train crossing as they scoot your drink across to safety with their little etherial mouths!
Well, maybe not, but if you look at your drink glasses you’re likely to see an assortment of lovely lip prints from, as Prince would say, of all the jockeys that were there before you. And that ain’t fly.

I’ve eaten their food twice, once was take-​out and the second was dine-​in. Both times I had the shaken beef, and both times it was delicious!
I will say the ambience is nothing special, it’s pretty much the same as every other Vietnamese place in town, but it’s not gross or dirty or anything. Also it seemed to be dead around 5:30 or 6 on a weekday. we were literally the only people eating there. It was a little bizarre. But the food and service was still good, so I’m not complaining.
I had a bite of the catfish hotpot and it was very good.
I’m definitely planning to come back here again, it’s just hard when there are so many options for Viet food.

Pretty authentic fare… now let me be clear, the ambiance is pretty awful, so don’t expect much. The service will be spotty, hey this IS an asian restaurant.
A general rule of thumb when entering an asian restaurant with a giant menu, I hoped you did you research because there are 100 things on the menu, doesn’t mean they are good at making all of them. (then why do they put it on there, who knows?)
All that being said, this is one of the more authentic Vietnamese places in Austin. It provides me with all the staple dishes that I crave and miss from family’s cooking back home (fort worth, not Vietnam). They do take some short cuts like using the same cut onions in other dishes and seasonings are sometimes coincidentally flavored the same as a supposedly unique dish, but overall it is good
If your knowledge of Vietnamese cuisine revolves around Banh Mi and Phở heres a good place to come to get educated. I’m not saying it’s the best by any means but it does hit the spot.
I HIGHLY RECOMMEND coming with four people and ordering one of the pre-​picked, «dinner for 4» recommendations or whatever number is in your party. It serves exactly all the things I ask my mom or grandma to make me when I visit home.
The catfish claypot (Ca Kho) is very tasty, it is catfish cooked in a sweet and salty caramel sauce. Hot and Sour Soup (Canh Chua) is exactly what it sounds like.
Also recommend the fried squid, shaken beef, and a fried fish if you’re adventurous enough.
I’ve been here 3 – 4 times and just a tip make sure you come early so you get fresh food and a decent portion, they tend to skimp near the end of the night.

Great Vietnamese place. Every time I go though it always seems empty. Sometimes we’re the only table there but doesn’t matter to me. Definitely not a fancy interior either although it looks like they have a thing for karaōke on one side of the restaurant. However I’ve never been.
Every time I go to this restaurant, I order the shaken beef and the fried squid. The shaken beef is really good although if you’re unlucky you might get some really chewy pieces. Pray that you aren’t the unlucky one. As the for fried squid, it’s another delicious dish you should not miss out on!
Note: Never get the Vietnamese egg rolls. They’re terrible… nothing else but to describe them as terrible.

If only I knew how to speak Vietnamese besides the word «Cam on ban»…
(Calling LS at 9:30pm on a Saturday night)
Me: Hi, um what time do you close?
Louis: midnight.
Me: I’m sorry, what’d you say?
Louis: We’re open til midnight on Friday and Saturday.
Me: Oh, Wow! Ok! Thank you! And, um, by the way, I love meat, do you serve real meat?
Louis: (laugh) Yes, we do.
Me: Oh, good! See you in a bit, thanks!
I’ve been wondering all this time, where the heck can I find authentic Vietnamese food besides just Phở, especially with this many Vietnamese in town. I guess I found one thanks to Errol M. This is my new favorite Vietnamese place.
Holy crap, their menu selection is huge! I’m too hungry to study all of it so I just ordered a couple of their most popular dishes; Seafood Crepes and the Catfish Clay Pot. Gooood stuff baby!
Food that you eat with your hands is a bit messy, kinda like eating BBQ ribs or chicken wings. The part I hate about that is no matter how many times you wash your hands they’re always still smelly afterwards. If I’m feeling lazy or I don’t want my hands to smell when my mom makes lettuce wrap type foods I’ll sometimes layer it in a bowl and pour the sauce on it like a vermicelli bowl. Order a Vermicelli bowl and a Combination appetizer and you’ll know what I’m talking about. They’re the same ingredients just two different ways of serving it.
It wasn’t busy at all at 10:00pm when we walked in. After we ordered our food my hubby, Louis (the owner) and I, started talking about the food, the business, etc. My hubby must have felt like he made a real friend because when we left, he not only shook Louis’ hand but he also gave him a friendly hug. If ya’ll have a chance to see Louis, talk to him and listen to his laugh… priceless…
We’ll go back for sure cuz we’ve got to try some of those «exotic dishes». Who’s afraid of exotic stuff? Not me!

Hmmm. My instinct is this place can put out some incredible food, but if you’re pegged as someone who wouldn’t know the difference, they’re not going to bother. I don’t entirely disagree with this notion, but it does makes me want to tag along with someone who knows their Vietnamese well and let them do all the talking. I’m pretty sure it would make a difference.
So on a Saturday afternoon at 3:00, there was a large family having a feast, and the two of us. Kind of wished we could have joined that family. We ordered the shaken beef and the seafood crêpe because of Unilocal reviews, along with our standard app of fresh spring rolls.
What makes or breaks spring rolls for me is whether they’re dried out or not, and these were right on the edge – perhaps they were made earlier for the more timely lunch crowd. I thought the shaken beef was pretty good, if just a tad salty; unfortunately, my companion got the one piece of meat too gristly to chew, which tarnished the entire dish for her. And neither of us could figure out the appeal of the crêpe: Yes, it was a large round crêpe filled mainly with fried bean sprouts, and wrapping sections of it in lettuce leaves, mint, and then dipping it in fish sauce made it taste like minty fried bean sprouts dipped in fish sauce. There may have been a better way of eating it, or at least a little less messy; I wound up using the shaken beef’s pepper dipping sauce for the crêpe, just to insure I tasted something.
I rounded this up to three stars because the condiments were fresh and generous, you get a literal boatload of rice, it’s a nice place in an interesting neighborhood, and I thought the staff was friendly and attentive. Our bill was just over $ 20, a good price for a lot of food. One odd thing – the moment I paid, all four staff people on the floor descended upon our table to clear it at the speed of light – we weren’t sure if we were supposed to get out of their way, or just lean back and admire their efficiency or what – it certainly was different.
I didn’t leave here thinking it was a bad experience; I left here thinking I missed out on why it’s great. If Unilocal would give Michelle C. an ROTD for her review, we could arrange an ROTDC for here, let her do the ordering, and then take bets on how fast our family-​sized tables would get cleared – I’d look forward to that.