Tau Bay

Was missing home & decided to grab some Vietnamese food for lunch.
Tau Bay is located on the left corner of a plaza. There are other Vietnamese food options in the plaza but their menu showed a wide variety with items that would be rare to find at other places such as Bo/​Ga Luc Lac, Bun Nuoc Leo, and lots of different kinds of Hu Tieu. We ordered the Bo Luc Lac (shaken beef with tomato fried rice) and Com Tam Thit Nuong, Bi, Chung (broken rice plate with grilled pork, shredded up pork, and over medium egg) with two cups of Ca Phe Sua Da (iced coffee with condense milk). The two plates came with a hot bowl of soup and platter of raw veggies to share.
The food was pretty good but the service was even better. One of the lady waitresses saw that I was picking out the green onions from my soup bowl came by to ask «you don’t like to eat onions?», I responded «no I don’t». She accommodatingly took my soup bowl & said I’ll get you a new one without a speck of green in it.
When going up to the register to pay the man working asked «how did you like the coffee?» I told him it was really good but a little too bittersweet for my taste”. The lady overheard & kindly said that she could fix my drink for me. I didn’t want to bother her again but she insisted & took my cup behind the counter. Less than a minute she gave me back my cup & it tasted like the best cup of Vietnamese coffee that I’ve ever had

This is my go to spot for Vietnamese: it hits the spot and reminds me of my family’s cooking. The staff is friendly and always makes sure that I’m well taken care of when my family and I head there for a meal.
The vegetables are always fresh and the phở is always delicious! I love the egg rolls, they have this amazing crunch and great texture. This pairs well with the Vietnamese coffee that they serve, which is loaded with flavors that entice the palate.
Try the phở dac biet or the bun thit nuong, they’re absolutely to die for!

Great food, great price, great service. #34 is where it is at!

I found this place two weeks ago and I’ve been back 2x already… I get the same the the #34 and a order of Vetnamese egg rolls… The beef it tender and juicy and the ingredients and salad are fresh. Service is pretty fast and food always comes out hot.

Very old looking décor phở place that looks it it’s been here since the 70s that serves up pretty good Vietnamese dishes as we got the filet mignon fried rice and meatball phở… seems like it was a family owned place, the cute owner told us to tell our friends about their place and bring them over hahha

This place hits the spot for me. I’ve been to many many phở restaurants. In CA OK and now TX and I finally I’ve found a place where the phở taste like home. We ordered phở dac biet and phở bo vien. Along with a plate of house special fried rice. If I can give 10 stars I would. We can early Sunday so I don’t know much about some reviews saying the restaurant is dirty but as far as I saw it, veggies was clean and utensils were clean.
I will come back and make this my go to phở restaurant !

I’ve been coming to this location on Bellaire since I was but a wee child and now I’m in my 30’s and living over 30 min away so I know this place and the menu pretty well. I love their phở, their rice plates, bun suong, banh uot, and their mien and bun mang vit. Their boba is meh. Café sua da and Che are delish. Service is decent. Cleanliness… meh. But it’s the same with most phở places anyway. I still come here when I want really good vietnamese food and willing to drive or if I’m getting my hair cut at vinternational.

We visited this location because the other was closed. Ordered chargrilled pork and Bo Lac Luc. The beef was not tender at all. I think I might have had two pieces of garlic in my whole plate. Not enough onions either. The pork was okay… for the price, and amount you get its worth the money. The people working there were super nice. I will go back, next time I will ask for more onions and garlic.

A hidden Gem what a great restaurant and great Phở. I am almost a connoisseur of Phở and this place is awesome.

Been awhile eating here. Now I see why I don’t come here. No Bun Bo Hue, service sucks, egg roll sucks and I never had phở that took 40 minutes to come out!

great phở tai and the egg rolls are just as good.

This is by far the best Phở restaurant I have ever had. The staff treats me like family, and the atmosphere is really laid-​back. The owner likes to socialize and talk to their customers on a one-​to-​one basis, they really get to know their customers which is something that I LOVE about this restaurant.
Their coffee is like no other! I ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT!!! Its like Vietnamese Coffee (cà phê sa đá) meets American Coffee; aka the NEW HYBRID. It has the distinctive taste of Vietnamese coffee with a hint of surprise, this is the perfect blend in my opinion! I always ask for a cup to-​go so that I can have my coffee fix for the next day!
I’ve basically tried everything on their menu, and its easy to say that it is DELICIOUS! Also the pricing is very reasonable compared to other Phở restaurants (that aren’t even that great!!!) Their phở broth is made to perfection, and when I order my Phở they personally ask if I would prefer my meat in my soup or not. This allows me to cook my meat to my liking (medium rare BTW). Other restaurants would refuse to put my meat on the side and well it becomes too cooked and hard (BASICALLY NOT YUMMY).
I would recommend this restaurant to everyone! TWO THUMBS UP!

This place has the best Vietnamese food in town. Service is great and priced right. I will go back again.

Absolutely, really awesome coffee and hands down the best Vermicelli noodles, grilled BBQ pork, and spring roll dish in Houston.

I Love their Vietnamese iced coffee, it’s soooo good.
They have pretty good phở soup, I usually stick to the phở ga or beef (I forget the name) always served with fresh herbs. I also like the owners, they are super friendly and attentive with the customers. I gave them a 4 for their overall service/​experience

We found this place over the Christmas holiday and were looking for soup. My wife and I both had beef phở and my mother had the chicken broth phở. All were very good and with fresh vegetables. The phở was not overly salty which was awesome, but the pieces were a bit fatty. Waitstaff was very friendly and inviting. The chicken broth phở was also very good. Price was also very inexpensive for the delicious food.
Recommendation: worth a try

Tau Bay has been there for as long as I can remember. Clean, reasonably priced, and reliably delicious.
I just do not like the egg rolls. Feels like the outer shell is too thick, the filling lacks flavor and it’s fried like we’re at the state fair. No thanks!
Other than that, I recommend the phở of any variety.
Enjoy!

I used to go to this place twice to three times a week because my mom’s bakery was couple doors down.
I love ordering their phở tai, hu tieu, or/​and spring rolls. They used to have this grilled baby quail (maybe chicken) served with rice, cucumber, soup, and lettuce. That was their best dish but they no longer serve it. (darn it!)
It was good before but mediocre now. I still come here every now and then, but they’re dishes are not the same… well, the dishes looks like the same but does not taste as good as before.

Freakin hate this place. lol
I will say that the food is good, especially the phở.
Clean? no.
Friendly service? no.
Speak english? not really.

This is my first time back in a long time, and I must say that it was much better than I remember. The broth from the phở was pretty good. The meat combination that I ordered did make the soup a bit greesey, but it also added a lot of flavor. Their prices are pretty consistent with other Phở restaurants.
I ordered the brisket with meatball phở. I think they may have just given me a regular brisket phở and charged me to add meatballs. Other places just create the phở for you and don’t charge you extra. I thought the meat that they gave me was very exceptional. The brisket had a little fat on it, but it was tender and way less fatty than other places (as you may be able to see in my picture).
We finished off with a half order of eggrolls. He did not want to let us order a half order, but decided to let us have it anyway. A full order is 8, which is way too much for two people. The eggrolls were ok, nothing to write home about. I have definitely had much better, but did not expect too much from a Phở restaurant. I’m just glad they give you the option to even order eggrolls as many purist phở restaurants don’t even give you the option.
If I make it down to bellaire, I will probably be inclined to try other places in my quest for the best Phở. However, if I am in a bind on time, I will happily come here and enjoy a very decent bowl of Phở.