Le Viet Cafe

Food was hit or miss. The pork was good, but the lemongrass beef was not good — it was sooooo dry and lacking in flavor.
Service was extremely slow considering that it wasn’t that busy at all (2 – 3 small parties of 2 – 4 people and a few walk ins to go).
Overall, this experience was so disappointing and I would not recommend this place to a friend unless the friend wanted the pork specifically.

Not very good. Too expensive and the guy they send on deliveries is not very nice at all.

Hoping upon hope things would have gotten better over time. Some aspects did. Others did not.
The service was great: friendly, smiling and quit accommodating. The food, or at least mine, was still far below the standard of other restaurants in the area.
If you ask me if I’d like shrimp or chicken and I say shrimp, that’s that I expected. Nope. It’s chicken in the case of the spring rolls. The broth for the phở could be clarified and doesn’t have much flavor.
My friend ordered coffee & dessert. The mini key lime pie looked cute & I wondered why the Vietnamese coffee was served in a tall glass even though it was requested to as hot.
It’s the only Vietnamese place close to home that’s open after 9pm, which is so sad. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be writing this review.

Worst phở in the greater New Orleans area! Their broth is SO SALTY! Honestly go anywhere else. We only ordered from them because they offered delivery… At a $ 2.50 up charge… when u order over $ 20… I wish I could say I was disappointed but I should have known better… We just though we would give them another chance… live, learn, eat somewhere else.

If you want Phở, that is good, local and even delivers, this is where to go! Was fresh and delicious! The desserts weren’t up to par at all, but the fantastic and even humorous service, made up for anything lacking. I had the $ 20 for $ 40 deal and they made sure we got the full $ 40 worth. I will definitely be going back.

Good/​wierd experience haha, I would go back though. I think the other Unilocal reviewers are being too harsh.
Pros: Nice staff, good phở, yummy spring rolls, cute location
Cons: Slightly pricey, CA phở is $ 5-​$ 8, here was $ 8-​$ 11, there meat wasn’t super good quality but they give you a big portion. They were out of basil, we made due but no basil for Vietnemese food? If the ownerr ran out, they should book it to the grocery store, that is just a necessityl. They also, added a 18% tip on a group of 4, now I am a server too but I don’t appreciate this on such a small group when its not stated.

I really wanted to love this place based due to its convenience. I gave it several tries: always fast, but bit expensive. The phở was ok, nothing fantastic. The last straw was when I took out rare beef phở and found a bug in my broth when I got home, a hair in my egg roll, and I was charged $ 1 for an extra side (less than an oz) of Sriracha. Unfortunately, I will not be back and will not be recommending it to anyone.

OK. The food was pretty good. But I am very disappointed with the service I experienced today.
The first time I went to Le Viet Café was during Mardi Gras this year. I think it was Thursday night and we were cold and hungry, so we opted for some phở inside a warm restaurant. That experience was satisfactory.
So when I saw that Le Viet Café was on
I purchased a $ 15 certificate. I was craving phở today and since not a lot of my go-​to Vietnamese places are open on Sunday, I decided to use my
certificate today.
My sister and I were lucky to find a parking spot right on St. Charles and walked in with excitement for delicious phở to satisfy our hunger. Maybe I should have known that something was up with the service when they took a minute before asking «dine in or take out?» without any sort of greetings. I tried not to think much of it and answered «dine in.»
We sat down and ordered spring rolls, fried tofu, and two bowls of phở. Food came out pretty quickly and was pretty good. I was also super hungry and scarfed everything down in very little time. Once we were done eating, I had to tell the waitstaff that I wanted my bill, because they weren’t really coming around to check on the tables. I also tried not to think too much of this.
Then I gave them my
certificate along with my credit card, and I think we sat there for a good 10 minutes while they figured out how to redeem the certificate. And it wasn’t like they were busy. We were there at 4 p.m. and there were two staff members tending to three tables.
AGAIN, I tried to disregard all of this. But when I got my card and the receipt back, the numbers didn’t look right. So I looked at the original bill and saw that they had added a 20% tip before redeeming my certificate.
Now, I *always* tip on the pre-​discount amount and was planning on giving an 18% tip on the original amount even though I was less than satisfied with the service. But it really bothered me that the staff added a 20% tip without saying anything about it. We were a party of 2. There is nothing on the certificate that says that they will add a certain amount of tip. I know that it’s not restaurant policy because it is not written anywhere and the last time we were there, they did not charge any tip to my card and let me write it in.
I know I would have paid almost the same amount without the servers adding the 20% tip on their own to my bill, but it still would have been my prerogative. I thought this was VERY sketchy and I have no desire to return to this establishment. I’ll just drive a little farther.

So the service was great! Super friendly waiter. If it hadn’t been for the friendly staff this place would get a 1 star rating.
That being said the food was not very good. I ate it but with all the Vietnamese options within a 5 mile radius I would opt to pay a little more for something of better quality.
The beer was great! The food not so great. We got the roll your own spring rolls. However it was missing the pickled carrots and mint, and the meat was dried out, it tasted like it was cooked refrigerated and re-​heated.
Would I go back… YES. I got the Banh Mi to go for my friend and he really enjoyed it. I would just not get the build your own spring roll meal.

I like that they have decent vegetarian options here. The tofu rolls were great. My veggie phở had some unusual ingredients compared to what I’ve had at a handful of other Vietnamese restaurants. It had carrots, baby corn, and something I couldn’t identify that reminded me of a melon. The flavors were good though. Prices are very reasonable. The service was good — I mean the guy was very attentive and helpful, though he definitely wasn’t Vietnamese and he came across as being a little on the ghetto side.
Some of the things on their menu don’t seem authentic, but maybe they are local touches to Vietnamese food. I’d call this place Vietnamese fusion food, but since I’m a tourist and don’t know what other Vietnamese options exist, it might be as good as it gets around here.

I’ve been to Le Viet a few times and I find it very enjoyable. The service is extremely attentive and the food is good if not groundbreaking. The phở is at least decent, but I especially like the spring rolls and beef menu items. The last time I was there I had a dish with steak cubes and chopped onion with rice that was truly excellent.
It appears from other reviews that Le Viet had more problems in the months following their opening, but now I think they’ve really hit their stride. I will definitely be returning to Le Viet regularly whenever I get a hankering for Vietnamese food.

We visited Le Viet Café because I was looking for somewhere in NOLA to go on a dinner date, and I noticed the Unilocal Deal available ($ 40 for $ 20). I was sold — especially after reading about the Roll Your Own spring rolls.
This appetizer was definitely the start of the night. It was a fun activity, delicious, and filling. I barely had room for my entrée, but I ate it anyway because it was delicious (lemongrass beef rice plate). My date had lemongrass beef bun and also enjoyed it.
Yes, there are cheaper places on the Westbank for Vietnamese food (and for me, they are much closer to home), but I would make the return trip to Le Viet Café for the roll your own spring rolls… genius concept!

I’ve been to them all. New Orleans East, the Westbank, Metairie, etc. Le Viet Café is as good as any of the Vietnamese restaurants in those other areas.
The phở is delicious. Phở is my thing, and I get it here week after week. The broth is delicious. I hate salty broth — this is not in any way too salty. Those before me that made that statement are not correct.
I go for the chicken phở. The chef seasons the chicken in a way that leaves it tasting a bit like the pork in wonton soup. It’s awesome!
The employees of this restaurant are sweet and attentive. They want you to have a great experience. If something’s not right, just tell them — they will correct the issue promptly, with a smile on their face.
If you have never been to this restaurant, please give it a try. I love it. I go at least once a week, and have been doing so since the beginning of December 2011. I have not been disappointed, not even once. If you went, and didn’t have the best time, please try it again. It’s worth your time to try this great little gem of a restaurant.

My wife is a vegetarian and she had never had phở soup before. She liked it a lot. We got the fried tofu app and it was allright, but not special. We got the ricepaper wrapped spring roll app and it was fantastic. I got the tofu tomato dish and liked it a lot too. We also got some desert. The muffin was great, the crème brûlée was so so.

I’ve been here on 2 occasions and I unfortunatly will not be returning again.
Pros: Phở uptown! Also lots of other options: pastries, bubble tea, coffee, spring rolls and other traditional Vietnamese dishes
Cons:
–The phở was inedible. I got mine take out (I live a block away) and had to wait 30+ minutes to get my dish. I went straight home, but when I opened the box the broth was lukewarm at best and the beef pieces were thick and had a peculiar smell. I tried microwaving the broth, but when I finally sampled it, it was so salty I immediately felt nauseous. Threw away $ 9.
–That would have been fine, as there are other things to try there (bubble tea!), but their service is HORRIBLE. As mentioned before, the last time I went they took forever to get my order out and there were a lot of other people waiting, even though there was one group dining in the restaurant! The waitresses were just complaining and talking to each other!
Today, I went to get some bubble tea, and walked into an empty restaurant with a group of employees talking loudly in the middle of the dining area. When ordering my bubble tea, the cashier was obviously distracted by the conversation and kept on contributing to it while I was standing in front of him ordering! He ended up making my bubble tea incorrectly (big surprise). However, the funniest thing that happened was when I was waiting for my bubble tea at the counter, one of waitresses pulled up a stool less than one foot across from me, and opened up a pack of OREOS and starting DUNKING them into milk and EATING THEM. I was literally staring straight at her while she munched away on her afternoon snack, and she too kept on piping into the same conversation happening in the middle of the dining area. It was so ridiculous!

If I could really rate this place, it would have ZERO stars. This place should be on an episode of kitchen nightmares. Of course, going off my better judgment and listening to the devil on my left shoulder, I went against the Unilocal reviews and decided to try this place for myself. BAD IDEA!
The beef was bad. discolored and salty. Shouldn’t have even put it in my mouth because my stomach is now hurting. The rice had a brown tint to it and tasted like the smell of the restaurant.
I ordered 2 orange sesame balls thinking they were ready to eat (should be room temperature or warm and crunchy on the outside). She grabbed 2 from the display case put it on a plate and popped it in the microwave. THE MICROWAVE!!!
DISGUSTING! HORRIBLE! THEY SHOULD BE SHUT DOWN!

This is currently some of the best phở around Uptown (at least until the two new places open on Magazine and better than Jazmine and maybe equal to a bit under August Moon but that still isn’t all that great). The prices were about $ 2 more than other places for a bowl of phở on the Wank or in Metairie. They have a decent size menu of other Vietnamese food and they also offer delivery in a limited area. They were stingy with the basil but very generous with the bean sprouts and peppers for my phở. I can walk to this spot from my house so it will certainly be very convenient for a quick phở fix. The service was polite and efficient. So even though I prefer the better Vietnamese food at other locations (West Bank & Metairie) I will probably be returning often just for the sheer convenience of the place.

Over-​priced and over-​salted. Just a bad idea from the get-​go. My beef was waaay too thick cut. Please see to teaching your cook how to cut their meats.
The only flavor I really got our of the broth was salt. None of those many levels of tastes and richness you get at the better Phở places… and even at the mediocre ones.
The Bahn mi was mostly bun and a hard crusty one at that.
Truly one of the worst phở experiences I’ve had. Blah.

Despite reading the bad reviews on Unilocal I stopped in for lunch because I really wanted to believe they weren’t true and give it a chance. It’s so close to my house and I so desperately wanted a good nearby phở place.
Alas…the reviews were right. I wanted to give them more stars, because they were super friendly and efficient. But the phở broth was downright completely tasteless and a bit greasy. Perhaps they read the reviews and toned down the salt because now it doesn’t taste like salt, it doesn’t taste like anything.
I had the rare beef phở and I did appreciate the existence of a size small bowl because I am a small girl and usually don’t finish a big bowl. The beef was ok, sliced a bit thick though, and not rare at all when I got the soup. Noodles were fine and plentiful but man, the broth just tasted like nothing. I added a ton of hoisin and sriracha until it had flavor and then it was edible. But i’m afraid I won’t be back unless I see reviews saying they’ve tuned up their broth in a big way.

I have tried lots of phở in this city. Phở Hoa, Tan Dinh, Dong Phuong, Phở Tau Bay, Phở Nola, and Phở Orchid are a few to name. I am especially a fan of pork and shrimp spring rolls and Phở Tai. This is exactly what I tried at Le Viet Café, and I was pretty disappointed.
The spring rolls were mediocre. There didn’t seem to be much care or skill going into wrapping them, and the flavor wasn’t anything to call home about, missing the right dose of cilantro, with too much lettuce.
When the phở arrived in front of me I found the smell to be quite delectable, until I took a sip of the broth and realized it was oversalted and relatively flavorless. I added a fair amount of basil, lime juice, mung bean sprouts, jalepenos and sriracha. Unfortunately, this didn’t help out with the somewhat banal flavor of the broth. There was a lack of rice noodles and the beef was cut in slices much too large, taking too much time and effort to chew. The noodles and the beef can be easily fixed but there needs to be a lot of work done on the flavor of the broth.
Let me also mention that this is the most expensive phở I have seen. I know the restaurant is on St. Charles Avenue, and prices are generally higher. However, I am more willing to pay the toll on the way back form the West Bank then to pay for the convenience of the uptown location. Therefore, Le Viet Café needs to step up their game if they want to stick around long. Restaurants can disappear pretty quickly around here.
Lastly, I didn’t see anything culturally authentic about the bakery.
I am wishing for good phở on this side of the river!!! Will report back if I hear some changes and give this place another try.