Vietnam Bay

Food was good. Tried the veggie noodle. Fresh & Hot. Good portion. Their 5 Stars Reviews (Which they have Many) are not showing up part of the main page! Unilocal considers them not ‘Considered.’ This is making me doubt how really Unilocal filters the good reviews for many restaurants!
Any ways, Vietnam Bay had good food & clean dinning area, I’ll try them again.

Worst Restaurant Experience Of Our Lives.
That pretty much sums it up. If we could assign negative stars … They would get 5.
Our party consisted of 16 adults + 3 babies & 2 little kids
.
We should have known there were going to be problems the moment we walked in.
Gave the owner our party name at 6 pm sharp, and he said «Your reservation is not until 7.» We said «No, it’s at 6.»
He seated us, and as I looked around I noticed: (A) We were the only people there, and (B) He was the only person on the floor. Uh Oh.
Shortly after we were seated, we order 6 Bobas. It took 35 minutes to get them, and even then we had to ask for the last 2. The Coconut and Taro Bobas were okay. The other 4, all fruit flavors, were sickeningly sweet, with about 4 times the normal flavoring.
Then it took 20 minutes for the clown to come back and take appetizer orders. We were still the only patrons in the restaurant.
25 minutes later … Still no appetizers. I had to go to the kitchen to find a live human being. Once I finally found the fairly useless life form, I asked him for the appetizers, and to please come to our table, so we could order dinner.
Finally, the appetizers came out. Now the menu said «Calamari.» So you would expect calamari, right? The platter had ¹⁄₃ calamari, and ²⁄₃ French fries. Huh?
Eventually, the owner checked his GPS, and found his way to our table. Apparently, this fellow has no short term memory, as he could not accurately transcribe our orders on his pad. It literally took 3 tries around the table, before this fellow got it right.
The place is next door to a pot shop, which makes me wonder whether the owner smokes the hippie lettuce before opening the restaurant. How else to explain the lapses?
I’m Just Getting Warmed Up.
So, when we eat at the Vietnamese restaurants along South Federal or West Alameda, we generally know what to expect. Not at this place!
One of the folks in our group ordered lobster. Normally, for the price they charged, you expect to get the whole lobster. Wrongo! They brought him a puny little tail. Not enough food for a 4 year old.
Another ordered crab. Again, for the price charged, you get a whole crab. Uh Uh! She got a small platter of claws. Not the big claws. Teeny, tiny claws. Baby crab-​sized claws.
How about Seafood Gumbo as an entrée? If you order it, what would you expect to get? Whoops! My wife got a plate with a scoop of white rice, some chopped celery, 2 pieces of shrimp, 1 scallop and 2 pieces of imitation crab meat … in a bath of disgusting looking and tasting … GRAVY! What alternate universe do these people come from? Who in their right mind would call THAT «Seafood Gumbo?»
Must admit, those who ate the crawdads liked them. Good thing, ‘cuz 13 pounds were ordered. HOWEVER, the menu says «with every 2 pounds of crawfish you get a pound of potatoes and 6 cut ears of corn.» They were never delivered to the table. When we asked the owner where they were, he said «We don’t have any corn or potatoes.» Really? So on top of being an incompetent boob, you are also a liar?
A few folks in the group ordered various brands of beer that all appeared on the menu. Whoops, They Did It Again! «We only have Heineken.» Seriously?
Then Came The Coup De Grace.
We asked for the check. Then we asked for the check 20 minutes later. We asked again 10 minutes later. And then we asked 15 minutes later. After another 10 minutes, I asked the owner what the f — ing problem was. He mumbled some gibberish about his register. I explained to him that I charge $ 350/​hour in my business, so we were pretty much at the point of the bill being a wash. He had no idea what I was talking about.
Finally, after a total of an hour and 15 minutes they presented us with a bill … And it wasn’t even remotely close to accurate.
They charged us for an additional 2 pounds of crawdads that we neither ordered nor received. They charged us for 2 orders of oysters that we neither ordered nor received. They charged us for an order of mollusks that we neither ordered nor received. At this point I was hoping for Allen Funt and the crew from «Candid Camera» to come popping out of the bathroom. No such luck.
Eventually, the imbecile owner’s slightly more intelligent wife commandeered the cash register.
After another tension-​filled 15 minutes … FINALLY … We got a correct bill. We paid, and escaped as fast as we could.
Seriously, I take no joy in writing a review like this. In fact, it makes me feel kind of awful.
Nonetheless, Vietnam Bay is a place to be avoided at all costs.

Several iterations of this restaurant ago, this was our Vietnamese go to restaurant. Then it closed, then it became Red Claw and here we are with Vietnam Bay.
I like the remodel. It’s a much cleaner overall appearance. Hubby and I were craving phở so we headed here to check out the offerings. Service was good, phở was good but not great. Positives: there was so much meat I was full for house and hours. Con: maybe the phở hadn’t been cooking long enough but the broth itself was pretty flat. It didn’t taste bad, it just hadn’t developed the complex flavor I expect from phở.
I will definitely return to try the phở again as well as to try some of the fresh seafood.

I wish that I’d read the previous review before eating here. If I had, I would have focused on Southern US comfort food, like wings and fried catfish. Instead, I ordered traditional Vietnamese food, which is what my two stars reflect. The phở was disappointingly bland with a mild dish soap flavor in the noodles. I ordered the «fresh lemonade» when they assured me that it was in fact made from lemons, not powder. It wasn’t. When I pointed that out, they took the glass back to the kitchen and another waiter returned it with thin slices of… lime. The lunch rice plate came on an impressive platter with thin sliced beef, chicken, shrimp, veggies and egg rolls. It was tastier than the phở, but still weak compared to other restaurants in that part of town. In terms of Vietnamese food, there is no reason for Vietnam Bay to exist when there are so many better restaurants just down the street.

Formerly the Red Claw, under new ownership and with a new name… same people in the kitchen, same quality of food, and most of the same things on the menu.
Here are the MUST trys:
Steamed something (crawfish)
Wings with the house fish sauce: Salty but not too fishy, spicy, a little sweet. AMAZING.
Fried catfish (with remoulade sauce)
Salt & Pepper Squids: Battered in peppery cornmeal, deep fried, and stir-​fried lightly with bell peppers and green onions, with a little drizzle of some slightly sweet, tart (almost vinaigrette-​y) sauce. Tender, salty, not too spicy.
We hadn’t visited the Red Claw for about 2 years, and we were itchin’ to get back. It’s always a trek across town, but so worthwhile. And very reasonably priced. We ordered 6 beers, 2 lbs of steamers, a dozen wings, 2 fried baskets, the salt & pepper squid, and some assorted sides for the kiddo (corn, rice, sausage, and a fried nanner). Total was under $ 100.
Our server was very friendly and helpful. He recommended all the above things, and he did not steer us wrong. I cannot wait to get back for those wings and squid.