Viet Pearl

We really enjoyed our experience at Viet Pearl after a rocky initial start. When we arrived we were seated promptly, but then sat at our table for 10 minute without anyone coming over. Once I brought it to their attention, everything ran like clockwork.
We started with the spring rolls which were good and had great peanut sauce. I also ordered a half dozen oysters which were on the small side, but very and tasty. For our entrée we shared the hot pot, which was also good. The broth was delicious with a great sour flavor. We had ordered the shrimp, and we must’ve gotten nearly four dozen! The other items for the pot were a little odd — okra, chopped up celery, tomato (huh?) and then normal ones like sprouts, onion and rice noodles.
All in all, a satisfying meal, and I would definitely go back.

Food comes out FAST. I mean it. Get ready to eat within 5 minutes of ordering any dish. Their congees and phở are delicious. The service is not fantastic, and this is obviously a rehab of a previous seafood/​cajun restaurant, but it vibes like a Vietnamese/​sports bar, which is strange, but works. Lunch and dinner services have always been very quiet every time i have visited, which makes me nervous to think whether the business will last or not. I would go for phở. The broth could be better developed, but it’s definitely not the worst I’ve tasted. In addition, their summer rolls are delicious. Tons of fresh chives! And their peanut sauce is one of my favorites. Try it and let me know what you think! i always get tendon phở + summer rolls. Yum!

What a great surprise this restaurant turned out to be! As we walked into this restaurant on a Sunday afternoon, we did not expect a nautical theme sports bar environment for a Vietnamese restaurant. There was a good crowd but nothing crazy. We were seated promptly and overall the service was attentive. We have no complaints. I was leery about ordering bun bo hue soup but I’m glad I did. It was terrific. Flavorful and spicy — note I did order it without the blood cake. The condiments they served with it is what traditional Vietnamese people serve with it especially the banana flower. That is rare condiment. I loved the soup. I had spring rolls to start and that was good as well. The hubby had grilled pork with vermicelli which was also good. The highlight is the bun bo hue. Order it if you’re looking for some good spicy soup.

I had Phở Tai carry out from here today and it was the best I’ve ever had. Tons of meat and the best broth. Not too much MSG either. I usually go to Frederick or Montgomery County because I live in Mt. Airy, but no more. This place was nicely decorated and clean as a whistle!

Best Happy hour in ellicott city! 2 dollar craft beer amazing deal! We always get seafood egg rolls and Phở soup! 5 stars

Server was great. Food was good. We went around 9:05 and before we were done with our food, they were in a hurry to get us the bill. Kind of weird.
Buts that’s fine we Asian people

Pretty spot on! My husband are I are big fans of Vietnamese food, and this place has spot on flavors! My husband had Phở and I had the bun thit nuong — both were really really great! And the hostess was super friendly :)
Today, we tried the ‘7 course fish menu for two’, and every course was beyond delicious! I would highly recommend this if you like complex flavors packed in simple yet exotic ingredients. And our host was an extremely nice and friendly guy– I don’t understand the negative reviews complaining about service :(because we have always had the best service experience here!

This place is a disgrace to Vietnamese cuisine.
The phở is terrible. Ingredient aren’t fresh and the soup taste like it was just water and flavoring packets mixed together.

Okay let me just start off by saying that I love love love Vietnamese food and frequently eat authentic home cooked Vietnamese food (my boyfriend is Vietnamese). This restaurant falls way below any type of standards I’ve ever had for dining out. The service was absolutely TERRIBLE. First ordered a Pepsi that tasted like seltzer water. When I tried to return it the waitress tried to correct me and saying hat it in fact was Pepsi. Then i ordered an orange soda and it had some mysteries black thing floating in it.
Next the food: The only thing that saved this restaurant from getting a –1 star, was the diced beef platter (#68). Yes I’ve had better but it was somewhat decent (even if undercooked). My boyfriends phở (#37) was also decent.
Will I ever eat here again? That’s an absolute NO.
And I don’t recommend it to anyone.

I’m a huge fan of Phở Saigon on Rolling Rd but this place is much closer to home so we decided to give it a whirl. I’m so glad we did. First off, the décor is random and bizarre in a charming mind of way. I mention it because it smacks to in the face when you first walk in. Clearly it’s a holdover from the previous restaurant, an ill conceived Cajun sports bar. There’s a seaside theme complete with crab chairs and at least a dozen TVs.
We started with summer rolls and spring rolls. Both were great with interesting ingredients. The wrappers on the summer rolls could have been soaked a little longer. They were a little chewy. I got the Combination Vermilcelli with pork. The pork was the star of the show, nicely charred and full of flavor. The shrimp were good if not a little small and the chicken was nicely spiced with a hint of curry. There were plenty of carrots, cucumbers and lettuce to round out the dish. My boyfriend had the Combination Phở and he loved it. His only «complaint» was there was so much meat, it was hard to get to the noodles. He especially liked the meatballs. The Thai iced tea was a little strong for my tastes but that’s my personal preference.
The staff was friendly and our food came out fast and hot.
We were there on a Friday night and the was a large birthday party going on so it was pretty loud but not loud enough to prevent conversation.
The menu is big enough that we’ll have plenty of new dishes to choose from when we go back. And we’ll definitely be back.

Had egg and summer rolls as appetizers, really good, egg rolls cooked perfectly and summer rolls were a bit chewy but very fresh!
Prompt service
Thai iced tea was strong – just the way it should be
Had the combination phở, minus the tripe, more meat and noodles than I’ve grown accustomed to —- perfect!!!
I will be coming back!!!

Horrible customer service and the worst bowl of Phở I ever had.
I have been to countless vietnamese restaurants for Phở. I usually go to Phở Saigon, but decided to go here because I was in the area, and one of my friend heard about this before.
Our waiter’s name was Kevin, and he was probably in a bad mood or something. When he was taking our order, he acted very strange and seem to have an attitude with us for absolutely no reason.
I ordered a large Phở with extra noodle, another friend ordered the exact same thing, and another friend ordered the braised duck noodle soup.
When he brought our food out, my friend and I both noticed our «large» Phở looks like an «extra small» Phở (the place I normally go to gives huge portion). So I asked our waiter «this is large?»
Our waiter Kevin replied «Oh, I accidentally put in small in the computer, thats why that I was wondering why the Large phở looks so small today.»
This sentence already contradicts with itself… So he realized that we ordered Large, but accidentally put in small into the computer, but did not even bother to fix it and just decide to give us the wrong order in hopes of fooling us. Who in the right mind would order a small phở with extra noodle?
Everyone makes mistake, its understandable. Normally, I would be totally cool. But this guy was having an attitude with us, and didnt even apologize for making a mistake, and tried to give us something we didnt order in hope that we dont say anything.
Most of the places would at least write down your orders even if they are experienced to prevent any mistakes… This guy was thought he was competent enough to memorize 3 simple orders, but failed to do so.
Even with the bad customer service, I wouldnt give 1 star, but the bowl of Phở I had was like the absolute worst.
The broth is so empty. There was some green onions, not much noodle, 5 – 6 pieces of tiny and thin beef (not even exaggerating), and that was basically everything. I finished eating in like 3 – 4 minutes and both my friend and I still felt very hungry after eating.
Never coming back

In malaysia, we have phở.
I come for fresh vietnamese noodles,
No fresh ingredients. Meatball very chewful,
The green leafs were destroyed.
Also, half eat look bean sprout, very disappointful.
Never coming again.

I don’t normally leave bad review but this place gives you extremely small portions of meat to go with phở.
If the meal doesn’t make you full, what is the point. Super stingy on their part.
Waste of time and money.

Whenever I crave the Phở, I come here. It is quiet and fast service. Taste is pretty good. The portion of Phone (for everything) is quite huge.

Staffs on floor, these guys clearly gives an impression of «why are you here? » .
It’s like ordering my food to zombies.

Read the previous reviews from before. Seemed skeptical when I walked in but I was pleasantly surprised. The atmosphere is welcoming and the food was good. I had the lemon grass beef soup. The only thing I would wish was better was the service. One person was bad but another person came by to make up for it. From what I read I can say that this place is improving. It’s good enough for me

It seems like Viet Pearl kept a lot of the décor from whatever the last business was here. (Some kind of seafood-​heavy sports bar is the impression I’m getting? Based on the many TVs, bar, and AMPLE SEAFOOD DECOR. Which I like personally, although maybe not in a phở restaurant.)
Got their combination phở, which only comes in the large. It was yummy and I’m glad there’s a phở option closer to my house in Ellicott City now. It had all my favorite meats plus meatballs which is fine by me when the broth was that good.
Minus one star because they were fairly inattentive when we were trying to flag someone down for a check. (A lot of phở places lately seem to not care too much about me trying to pay for my phở??)
I actually do think I like this phở broth a bit more than some of the other options I’ve been visiting, but I’ll have to revisit to confirm.

I don’t understand. There are so many established Vietnamese restaurants in the area and this one pops up. You’d think that a new Vietnamese restaurant in such a saturated market would be of higher quality, but nope, this place is absolutely terrible. Take a look at the picture of the two large, to-​go phở orders. They are cheap with the meat and half of it is fat. The broth doesn’t taste as good as the other restaurants. I don’t expect them to be in business for too long.
Edit: Gave them an extra star because my girlfriend’s pork chop was edible.

We try the thai seafood hot pot because it was recommended by friends. Fish was not fresh. Has fishy smell still after cook in hot pot. Shrimp became supper soggy. Come to find out those shrimp aren’t fresh. They’re frozen. The veggies was on point. We enjoy the broth and veggies more than the seafood. The smoothie we ordered was delicious. Egg rolls was. Meh.

I will come back to try more dishes. This is a great sport bars with multiple screen and one big one on the back.
I am so happy to have the Vietnamese restaurant that serve a variety of Vietnamese dishes beside phở noodle. The oxtail soup is not melt in your mouth yet but the soup is good. Love the chicken wings in savory and sweet fish sauce and fish salad.

Decided to update my post since I’ve been here 3 times since my initial take out experience and let me tell you. I’m a fan! At least as far as the seafood goes!
Onto the food — the good — the bayou catch #1, banginnnnnnn!!! For $ 40 bucks, you get 2 clusters of snow crab legs, 1 lb of crawfish, maybe like 4 – 6 clams, another 4 – 6 mussels, 2 corn quarters, 2 potatoes, and 2 pieces of sausage. The sausage, not good. The two times I’ve had the bayou catch, it’s been hard and dry. Thought it was just bc I got there late the first time but after the second try, my advice — they need to stop overcooking the sasuage. Now onto the sauce — the sauce is what makes the dish and I’m a saucy gal! The wild Cajun with the spice level at «spicy» is delish! Like slurp worthy, finger licking! Tip — ask for all the seafood to be bagged in the sauce. If not, it’ll just be the crawfish in a bag and the other stuff just steamed, new england steam pot style. Trust me — you want all the seafood in the bag! Mmmm mmmmm mmmmm! I literally just licked my lips thinking about it! Lol!
As far as the other viet dishes, phở broth is good but the amount of meat, 6 pieces to be exact… irritating. Com tam — first time was good, second time, just ok. But again it was the end of the night so could’ve def played into it. Bo luc lac was ok. Nothing to write home about…
Final analysis — I’ll continue taking bites of other dishes my husband orders while I keep demolishing the seafood! It really is great to have something like this in md so I don’t have to trek all the way to VA for Cajun style seafood i.e., chasing tails, seaside, new orleans, others I can’t remember, (not a huge fan of hot and juicy in dc) but you get my drift!
Oh! And the dirty mop water/​cleaning supply smell is gone! :)

The food was good but they need better server’s. The restaurant is quite spacious with a wide variety of food you can select on the menu. Features seafood plus Vietnamese style food. I would’nt say the food is authentic Vietnamese food, but the dishes I tried were quite delicious. The service is slack and lazy, no refills on my drinks nor did I get my check until I was done digesting my meal. Upgrade or train the staff, the restaurant business is all about servicing and catering the needs of the clients.
I will return for a second visit and see if the staff has been properly trained.

I’m a phở fanatic. I love phở! I couldn’t tell you what is authentic or not, but I can definitely compare phở between phở places.
It’s a huge venue, with lots of nice comfy booths, but it was pretty empty when we went for dinner (maybe because it’s new?). The menu is HUGE, with American seafood (like fried fish) and Vietnamese food. Phở is confusingly under the Lunch label, but we could get it for dinner too.
The phở sides: lime, jalapenos, bean sprouts, and also this interesting grass that I have never seen or eaten before. Had a great flavor. Don’t mind the change.
Peanut sauce and spring rolls. Best peanut sauce so far. Not gelatinous, not a peanut butter ripoff. It was good. ‘Nuff said.
I did break from tradition and get ox tail phở instead of the combination phở. And I don’t know how I feel about it. The broth was blander than traditional phở, and I’m not sure if it’s because of the ox tail or because that’s what this place’s phở broth just is. The meat was delicious, but the phở flavor wasn’t there. The noodles are also a bit stuck together, but you find that a lot at phở places and you just need to push it around a bit.
So I will need to come back later and get the regular phở before I make a final decision, but so far, it is a decent phở place.

Waiter service could be better. We were the only people in the restaurant, but the waiter didn’t seem to have proper knowledge after we sat down.
— napkins and utensils weren’t given till we asked for them AFTER our appetizer was out.
— straws weren’t given with the water cups
— no water refills were offered :/​cup was empty
— he took our credit cards and said he didn’t need the main split receipts (from memory he’d do each card as needed). We were kinda like «uh… Ok» but now — I suggest not doing this, as he messed up our orders and charged my card with a higher price (mixed with my friends dish)
— it’s also a pet peeve for waiters to take the finished checks before we get up from our seats. He should’ve waited till we left the restaurant to put the tips on the computer.
The food was delicious, but if the restaurant is totally empty and the workers look bored, might as well be a little more enthusiastic to customers, so they can come back happy.

I had the number 22 on the menu which is the steak and brisket Phở. By far the best Phở in the area. It is a little pricey for Phở ($ 10 for a large), but worth it in my opinion. The broth is really hearty and delicious. When you add the sprouts and cilantro, WOW it’s so good. I barely add any sirarcha sauce because I don’t want it to over power the original goodness of the broth. The serving size is slightly bigger than average.
The restaurant is located in an Asian shopping center so it fits right in. The atmosphere and setting is also very nice. The tables are marble and there is a bar with many TV’s showing sports games. The manager is a friendly guy that makes you feel welcomed. I would definitely recommend this place if you’re in the mood for Phở!

4.5 stars.
This place used to be called Wild Cajun Seafood and Bar and was owned by an Asian guy. Now, this place is called Viet Pearl which is owned by the same Asian guy. I believe he’s Vietnamese but I never asked him… So… I should ask him the next time I’m there or leave it be to prevent any awkwardness… I think I’ll just take the latter.
Anyways, the place looks exactly the same except for the few snow drops at the entrance. I kinda wish they could redesign the interior to make it look different. The Seafood menu was stripped of everything except the first page which only has the big platters that go for 30+ dollars. The rest of the extensive menu consists of Vietnamese fare. And I’m telling you, distinct Vietnamese fare.
They have a great variety of dishes that you don’t normally see on a Viet menu such as: frog legs, boar, ox tail, wings in butter and wings in fish sauce. (Only Phở Saigon up the street has that but no other Viet place that I know of does.)
There’re other dishes that are different as well, I just can’t remember them lol.
The selection looks and sounds fantastic. The menu is quite extensive and both my brother and I are the indecisive types = took almost 20 minutes to decide what we finally wanted and 1 of the dishes, our waitress recommended. That’s how bad we are in deciding what we want. We ordered a large Phở with ox tail and an extra side of ox tail meat, caramelized pork ribs, wings in fish sauce, meat in betel leaves and tea.
We ordered quite a bit and our waitress remembered all of that! She’s pretty good!
We got our tea in a few minutes which tastes great. It’s not green or black tea, it may be chamomile? It’s good though. The only possible con about it is if you don’t like consuming the little pieces of leaves in the tea.
After 5 minutes of ordering, we get our betel leaves. They tasted pretty good but the portions were a bit small and the sauce that came with it had a strong taste of oysters which isn’t bad personally but may not be great for you.
We then got the phở and my brother took the first bite. His eyes went from –_​– to O_​O and the only thing he said was «Mmmmm!»
I’m like «Man, gimme summa dat!»
So I take a piece of ox tail with some noodles and other goodies and take a bite. The broth was sweet and very tasty. For those of you who’re not fans of sweet phở, don’t get the phở here. Was it drowned in MSG? I have no idea but it was really good. And ox tail? I absolutely love ox tail and the little pieces of bone containing bone marrow which makes the dish overall taste better.
We then got out caramelized pork ribs and the flavor was pretty good but everything else about it was disappointing. When we got the dish, it came in one of those Korean style soondooboo bowls which are known to be really really hot. It was either still cooking when we got the dish or they must have overcooked it themselves because the meat was tough. Really tough. When you think about a dish that’s called «caramelized pork ribs», you’d think juicy, tender, flavorful pork ribs… This wasn’t the case. If you don’t mind tough meat then this dish would be good for you! :P
We then got our wings last which is supposed to be an appetizer. But these wings? They were marvelous. There were about 8 wings and it costs over 10 bucks which may sound ridiculous to some but if they’re THAT Good then I’d be happy to pay that much! Some of the wings were big and others were small but they all were so tasty. It’s hard to explain what it tastes like or how it’s so tasty but you’re gonna have to trust me on this and order some if you’re here.
Now don’t get me wrong, their wings aren’t as amazing as Phở Saigon’s wings but they’re pretty damn good. The service here was outstanding and we changed our minds twice before finalizing our order with the waitress which didn’t write anything down and got our order correctly. She refilled our drinks on time and I felt like service was on point. I was happy. :)
They also have a Unilocal deal, 10 for 20 which means you can eat more for less!
Overall this place is a fantastic addition to Ellicott City’s food scene.

Went here with my family and boyfriend for dinner. My parents told me that this was their second time coming here since this place is pretty new. Their first experience was interesting and wanted to give it another shot.
Overall? I enjoyed myself here. The waitress was pretty helpful (a little clueless about the menu so she had a Vietnamese person come over to help explain to her a few of our orders. It didn’t bother me much though)
We got the fried pig intestines (#13?) and baby clams (#11) for the entrée. My boyfriend LOVED the pig intestines. It was a little fatty for my family since it was fried, and the flavor was a little too strong for them. But my boyfriend and I liked it. The baby clams however had too much going on in there. I think there were capers, lemon grass, chili, and a bunch of other herbs. Personally, not my favorite.
My father had one of the phở there and he loved it. We also orders escargot with flavored coconut milk. It was goooood! My boyfriend ordered the Mi Vit Tiem (duck noodles). Flavorful soup base, but noodles were a bit stiff for my taste.
My mother ordered salted fish fried rice (one of my favorite dishes) I loved it! The bits of salted dried fish brought me back. We also got the canh chua which was pretty authentic.
I ordered the Caramelized fish (#93). Good with steamed white rice. Also got the Chinese broccoli. Lots of garlic garnished on top.
One of the workers there came over and had a conversation with my parents and he told us that they had two chefs in the kitchen. One was from Houston and the other was straight from Vietnam! They recommended us getting one of their baked fish which takes 50 mins to make, so we’ll have to call ahead to place the order.
Their spring rolls were amazing by the way. He gave us some samples because they were made pretty uniquely.
Will be coming back if I’m craving some authentic Vietnamese food!