Thien An Restaurant

The people behind the counter were cool. The workers are something else. I’m mixed Asian, so white face but very fluent in Vietnamese. I asked them to check on my order and they didn’t even walk to the back. They consulted each other on what to say «still cooking» and then proceeded to talk shit in Vietnamese. Keep in mind I understand all of it lol. Never coming back.

by far worst service i have ever had at a restaurant. there always seems to be a lot of parking because when you walk in its pretty empty. i used to come here a lot a few years ago and it used to be packed because their service was so much better. recently I’ve came to this restaurant for father’s day and christmas day. both times it was quite empty and when you walk in it is very dirty and you are not helped very quickly.
once you are seated you can order we usually either get the catfish (pretty okay) and the seven meat dishes (what i usually order for my family). now look i wanted to give this place one star but there are certain portions of the food here that are pretty good so i gave it two stars. I’ve had better catfish but my dad loves this place. the 7 meat dishes has a few that are freshly cooked and those dishes are SUPEr good. but the ones that are prepackaged just don’t look very fresh and that makes me a little nervous. also their drink are watered down and/​or don’t taste like how they should.
*****now to why i give this place such a low rating when their food isn’t too bad is that service and the cleanliness. on one occasion we had the grill burning but no one would help us put it out so it got charcoal black and smoke starting forming and we were afraid the fire alarm would go off. now mind you there was literally 5 tables with people… how could you not come help us. also, after people left they didn’t bother to clean the tables which okay i get it but how could you not then pay attention to the five tables left. also at this same visit on one of the vegetable dishes there was a soaked, dirty, brown paper towel left there. TALK ABOUT GROSS. it made me gag. on another occasion we were handed dishes that had dirty white cream stuck to the dishes and on the rice paper they were all stuck together from something wet touching it and it was not water. also after we were seated it took 30 minutes for someone to take our order*****
honestly, the service here just pisses me off and the lack of cleanliness disgusts me. get it together.

ZERO STARS. Don’t waste your time. No service skills what so ever. If you have hours to waste, go for it. Otherwise i suggest you stay away.

I had such a bad experience there that I had to do a review. Bad service, not from the waiter but from the guy behind the cash register, manager? Owner?. Being rude when we asked for explanation about our bill, don’t we have the right to question about our bill?. Never come back again. Dumb, dumb dumb.

Food was expensive and the biggest kick was the water. You cannot get tap water. They will bring you bottle of water and charge you $ 1 for it. So you either pay or be thristy. Those are your choices. The beef was okay and the soup tasted a bit burnt. I’m giving 3 stars for the catfish. That was good! service could have been better as well. It was empty when we went and the owner was not friendly. Not coming back ever.

I ate here with my boyfriend’s family today and thought it was just ok. We ordered a medium size ca nuong (baked catfish) and two orders of the 7 course beef. I didn’t understand why this place didn’t serve vermicelli noodles to eat with the ca nuong. Other ca nuong restaurants that I’ve been to always serves vermicelli noodles with catfish… Weird. Anyway, I’d give the 7 course beef meal a 6.5÷10 because it wasn’t that good and I just didn’t feel satisfied. As a matter of fact, I left still feeling somewhat hungry. The two dishes that I thought was absolutely delicious were the beef & shrimp salad and the bo la lop. The restaurant style and decoration is «cai loung». If you’re Vietnamese, then you’ll know what I’m talking about. In other words, restaurant décor was pretty tacky. In general, the 7 course beef meal was mehh and the catfish was mehh. One main aspect I appreciated about this restaurant is how the severs were attentive and quick on their feet.

First of all I couldnt understand the menu. The servers didn’t understand it either. My host didn’t even speak English well enough to understand that I wanted water. I left before I even got drinks.

I come to this place because my parents swear by it and think it’s the best Bo 7 Mon restaurant in Westminster. I’ve read tons of reviews here on Unilocal about this place, and one thing that is consistent… their customer service is the worst. What you read is true. You really do get ignored and you can call the waiters all you want, but it seems like the only way you can get things ordered, reordered, etc is to get it yourself by going up to the counter and asking for things to their faces. The bus boys and the waiters are good at cleaning the tables and setting them up but they do suck at asking their customers for orders and fulfilling their requests. Food is fine but it all boils down to customer service. ¹⁄₅ based on multiple visits to this location with my family who unfortunately frequents this place lol!!!

I would give this place –1 star if Unilocal allow me to. It’s RIDICULOUSLY EXPENSIVE!!! Can’t believe i paid $ 109.87 for dinner and walked out half full. I came here with a party of 4 and We ordered a medium broiled cat fish ($ 40.99!!) 2 order of 7 courses beef ($ 17.99 per order) and 1 order of fried shrimps ($ 17.99 really???). No wonder why we were the only customers there. The foods were not that great and not to mention about their customer services. One thing that annoyed the heck out of me is that they charged $ 2.50 for a tiny place of vermicelli which supposed to came with the fish at all other places. Really Thien An!!!
Don’t waste your money here!!!

Standard 7 course beef. Flavors are good, portions are soso. Pro plenty of fresh veggies. Con service is lacking, asked for water a few times never got it. I know they charge for it but for some reason they still didn’t want to give it to me? Doesn’t look like they have changed in ages… the mirror walls and window neon gives it a bit old stripper joint feel. I wouldn’t make a special trip out here for it.

Oh man oh man! Where else can you get the baked fried catfish and rice paper?! I’m sure everywhere in Westminster area, but not many places in SD. So I was in the area and asked my sister to bring us to one and she mentioned Thien An. She’s more Viet then I am so I listened to her and we came.
Don’t be shocked when you walk in. The place looks like shit with their gross carpet, worn out tables and chair, dirty looking counters, nasty yellow staining ceiling and mirrors everywhere. This is typical for Vietnamese restaurants unless you are at Brodard’s or something. Also service probably will be the shittiest you had, but it’s ok because it’s typical. haha.
People come here for the baked fried catfish… and I can vouch for it. It’s freaking delicious!!! Fried to perfection. My sister said they fry it and bake it, the instead was like it was steamed and all the toppings and things to wrap the fish in was fresh. From the rice paper, cucumbers, to the fish sauce… so good. The skin is broiled to a great crisp. The best meat of crispy and baked is in the head of the catfish. We only came here for their fried catfish as 6 other tables did as well. It took awhile for the catfish to come out because it’s made to order.
I didn’t try the 7 course beef, but I can imagine why the ceilings are stained yellow because I don’t think you’re supposed to have open flame when you have no vent to suck it up. I wonder how they get away with it…
Anyway, the baked catfish is called «Ca Nuong Lo» and it’s a fun experience! It’s about $ 50 for the large size. Not sure if it’s pricey or not, but it can feed 4 adults.

Authentic Vietnamese! (I think)
I went with two very Vietnamese girls who are from Vietnam and grew up eating their mother’s cooking, so I would like to say it’s authentic. We came in for lunch and it wasn’t very busy at all, but there were 5 or 6 large groups with their families. It’s the traditional Asian type atmosphere with dirty ceiling tiles and blaring Vietnamese TV shows lol. The place is far from fancy and is in a «rough» area of town (or so I’m told), but whatever. This place was awesome!
On to the food:
Between the three of us, we split the Ca Nuong Da Dong (a whole baked catfish). The skin was so incredibly crispy and accented the mild softer taste of the cooked white meat. It was served with a whole head of lettuce, cilantro, bean sprouts and mint. Then to wrap it up, quite literally, we dipped the dry sheets of rice paper into the bowls of water and made little individual spring rolls. It was quite the experience. It was really fun and really really good. I was full when I left, but not grossly full. It’s actually a pretty light dish. I’m glad I know what this is now. I think I’ll give it a try somewhere in SD!
*Also, if it’s your first time, you have to eat the fish head!

We went there while on vacation with 2 hungry kids as a recommended place to eat from a friend. However when we got there we were seated then ignored. We sat there for 20 min and no one serviced us. We see people walked in after us and get tended to. Then they serviced people next to us and completely ignored is. I would give this a 0 star. Horrible service! I’ve never been so angry nor have I ever walked out of a restaurant.

My parents were craving the 7 Course of Beef and their friends were telling them how amazing this place was so we decided to go.
When we got here the place was pretty empty. There was one table already eating, one table ordering, and one table looking at the menu when we got seated. Quite some time past by and still no menus so I had to literally go grab some myself.
In brief we got one order of the 7 Courses of Beef ($ 16.99) and 2 side orders of our favorite Bo La Lop ($ 12.99). Wow this is really expensive, especially relative to the area. We were hoping we were paying extra for quality… We also ordered hot tea and water. They only brought us two cups when there were three people and they brought us three water bottles, meaning we were getting charged extra for it.
In the background another 2 people showed up and they waited for about 10−15min with no recognition or notice and then they finally sat down and got neglected some more… So they walked out. The owner reacted to this by gossiping and joking with the table that was already eating about how those people were so impatient and how people are willing to wait three hours for boiling crab and how his food is so much better. I disagree. Boiling crab is better, and they only make you wait cause they have a full house… you’re neglecting all your damn customers when the restaurant is freaken empty.
Considering no one else needed to order food the same time as us… it took foreverrrrrrrrr for our food to come. And when it finally did they only brought this tiny palm size salad. And the owner was like eat it eat it. And we were like… we want all our food. And he was like ohhhh we won’t bring it out until you eat it… I thinking like WTF IM PAYING FOR IT BRING ME MY DAMN FOOD!!! Ughhh so annoying. The veggies were beyond unfresh and the cut was so thick and bulky. I even found a questionable hair-​like follicle on a cucumber slice. The meats were really unfresh looking too, the color was questionable on some of the raw pieces. And some of the meats were so fat and stubby. Not great for rolling into rice paper… I really didn’t like any of their food. The Bo La Lop is our favorite and we didn’t even want to eat it. It was beyond oily and greasy. Gross!!!
My lips have been dry for the last few days. It’s a sign there was hella MSG in that food. And my poor mommy had tummy issues for the remaining of that day and onto the next day as well. I feel so sick from all the oil that I need a juice cleanse. Definitely not worth the calories! AVOID THIS PLACE!

Please please and please stay away from this place. Supporting it means letting this place to continue taking advantages of other people. Many friends of mine, who I know used to work in this place and got paid $ 5 an hour (the minimum wages is $ 8 at that time) with EXTREMELY INTENSIVE labor work. The problem is the owner TOOK AWAY all the tips! (Think about this, the tips that customer give the waiters is actually their wages since the owner use all those tips to pay for employees salary! How evil it is! You make profit, you should share it with someone who help you too evil?!?
That’s freaking horrible! These people are international students or illegal immigrant so they have no options but being treated horribly. I know they have to the right not to do that but they are human like us after all. They need to earn their livings and support their kids. You should shut down or Karma will go back and haunt you soon!

Baked Catfish. Oh gosh, this was so good, I can’t even. Come in a large group and order a large catfish. You basically get a giant catfish, with a lot of condiments and sauces. The way it’s eaten here is spring roll style – you get the rice paper, and condiments such as plantains, cucumbers, cilantro, lettuce, bean sprouts, and noodles. You take the rice paper, and fill it with what you want, then roll it up like a spring roll!
You have two choices of sauces, one is fish sauce and the other is (I believe) shrimp sauce. Personally, I’m more used to the fish sauce and I thought that was better. So, I used that with a little bit of hot sauce.
The catfish itself was so perfect. Crispy on the outside, with a ton of amazing meat on the inside. Inside was moist and absolutely delicious. The flavors of the fish itself had a strong roasted garlic flavor that was just heaven in your mouth. It was HUGE so be prepared to eat a feast!
As for water, they don’t have water unless it’s bottled. There are also other interesting drinks that they have you don’t want water. I got the coconut juice, which was so refreshing and tasty. I am a coconut fan though. They also have sodas, iced tea, Thai tea, and a lot more interesting drinks!
If I ever get enough people to come here with me, I’ll look forward to another amazing feast. Love this place!

My family and I ate here for dinner today! We have gone here for many years now. I love catfish!!!
We ordered the large catfish and some pieces of meat (which we completely devoured! no leftovers at all!) I love rolling up the veggies and catfish in the rice paper and dipping it into the sauce (super drools!). I honestly love finger licking food (sometimes getting messy while eating is like the best way to enjoy food). I just want to mention that they also do not have regular water, but bottled water here. So I suggest you to just buy a regular drink here because it would most likely be the same price as the bottled water.
The décor of the place is very old (the curtains, the over kill with fake flowers). The service was quick here, but they never came back to follow-​up on us.
Just keep in mind after eating catfish or the 7 course meat that you will be a little stinky (haha). So do not wear anything fancy or what not if you do not want to stink it up.

Yeah I love this place. That’s really all there is to say. It’s kinda dirty though. The tables were dirty but the food was superb. Rule of thumb is to order 1 phan less than usual. Don’t order water because they’ll charge you for it. So better off getting tea or soda or something.
I’m drooling right now as I’m writing this review. Yeah I’m going to convince my friend to head back in a couple days.
Bo la lot is my favorite. Get it. Eat it. Swallow it. And then thank me later. Haha
Anyway I gave it 4 stars instead of 5 because it’s not as clean. Other than that, awesome! Go eat!
Oh forgot to mention, lots of parking but the spots are so tiny. All compact parking haha.

I love 7 course of beef, but the food here is kinda bland. Even my anchovy sauce wasn’t potent enough for me. Usually, after 7 course of beef i would need to wash down a fist full of mint to get the stinkiness out of my mouth.
Serious, I dont expect good service, nor did i expect the place to be clean, but at least give me some good food. The food wasn’t bad, but it didn’t hit the spot.

«Come on! We’re going for 7-​course beef, Bò Bay Món,» she said smiling.
«Huh?»
“Seven courses of beef. I’m taking you somewhere new. You’ll enjoy it.”
«Viet?»
She nodded, and I – perpetually ready for new experiences – snatched my car keys.
* * * * *
It’s many years later, but I still remember first being introduced to Thien An’s. I loved it. With seven separate imaginings of beef – each fashioned and served differently – I felt like a guest on «Iron Chef,» tasting each presentation and incorporating the culturally-​decorative dressings and accoutrements of the meal: Mam Nêm (a slightly chunky, pungent sauce made with anchovies and pineapple,) Nuoc Mam (a salty and lightly sweet fish sauce, also used as a dipping and flavoring condiment,) sheets of Bánh Tráng (rice paper,) Chuoi Chát (plantains,) and plates of Rau Song (leafy vegetables, cucumbers, sprouts, and carrots):
. Truly, this was an experience.
1. Goi Bò Tôm (Beef and Shrimp Salad)
2. Bò Nhúng Dam (Beef Fondue in a Vinegar Broth)
3. Bò Nuong Vi (Lemongrass Beef grilled tableside
4. Bò Nuong Mo Chài (Grilled Ground Beef Sausage
5. Bò Nuong Lá Lot (Beef wrapped in Betel or Hawaiian Lot Leaf)
6. Bò Cha Dùm (Steamed Beef Pâté)
7. Cháo Bò (Beef and Rice Soup)
* * * * *
«Let’s have bobamin tonight,» I say in my compound-​fractured Vietnamese.
«Huh?» She teases. «You want what?»
«Bobamin. You know, 7-​course beef.»
«It’s ‘Bò Bay Món’, but you’re getting better,» she smiles.
And I snatch my «chìa khóa xe.» =]