Ma Me House

The food here was good, Customer services was great, but the price was too expensive for Vietnamese food. We wouldn’t come back.

Love it here ! We tried the garlic noodle sub for tomatoe rice combo plate ! BOMB !
Also ken the waiter recommended waffle fries and omg to die for. If you are around the downtown busy area and want some authentic viet fusion !
Thai tea is really good as well and my BF also had the sparkling house lemonade !
5 stars and some !

this was a nice place. My only concern was the small portions of hoisen sauce and saracha; I’m used to having unlimited sauce whether I used it our not. The food had good season and taste.

I absolutely loved Ma Me house the 4 times that I’ve eaten there! Their fried chicken wings and phở are friggin delicious. I wish I could give them 4 stars based on that alone, but I ordered the Fuji Apple Salad to-​go last night and it wasn’t until I got to the bottom of the dish that I found that the apples were julienned WITH THE STICKER LABLE STILL ON. Although this may be an isolated incident, I don’t know about you but it’s going to make me question the overall cleanliness and attention to details to all the other food they’re serving.

My friends and I randomly stumbled upon Ma Me House in search of food in the area, and it turned out to be a pleasant surprise. The interior was simple, clean, and cozy with yellow mood lighting and exposed wooden beams. I ordered the garlic noodles while my friend ordered the waffle fries with grilled meat. My noodles were pretty good, although I wish it had more garlic flavor and some sauce so it wasn’t so dry. Also, the criss cut fries were pretty solid.
This restaurant screams fusion more than authentic vietnamese cuisine. I’d consider giving it another go-​around.

Quaint, family-​owned hole in the wall with charm and class!
Met with some folks for a girlfriend’s 39^th birthday. I wasn’t sure what to expect as I had never heard of Ma Me House before. This place exceeded my expectations!
LOCATION: It’s situated on a quiet street in downtown Oakland among small divey joints, which is cool. The parking can be a bear so if you see some street parking 1 – 2 blocks away, just grab it ASAP! Mind your purses and belongings as it can get deserted and dark in this area after dark.
The FOOD: According to the husband and wife, dynamic duo ownership team, Kim and Khahn, Ma Me House is southern countryside Vietnamese fare like Kim’s mama makes it! I loved the crisp, light flavors that danced on my palette! Ginger, lime, lemongrass, cilantro, chili, fish sauce… and various Vietnamese herbs and veggies that I didn’t know the names of!
We ordered: catfish soup – tangy, spicy, meaty fish (good with white rice to take down the spice a couple of notches); crêpe with meat and veggie filling, which is served as a lettuce wrap with mint, cilantro, and fish sauce [very surprisingly coconutty and yummy!]; and garlic noodles with pork and fried egg rolls… and other delectable dishes. We just did everything family-​style, so we could sample a bunch of entrees and apps.
Service: Attentive and friendly! Kim and Khahn were very responsive and helped us choose the best on the menu. They apparently do large trays too but call to order in advance as they make everything fresh!
Ambiance: Intimate, peaceful, relaxing. Lovely spa-​like music playing overheard with travel photos of Vietnam on the walls. Made me think of Southeast Asia :) I can imagine this being a great date night spot and it won’t break your budget either!
Restroom was clean and stocked.
I would definitely come again! Ma Me House is a great addition to Oakland’s authentic Asian food scene. Bravo! We hella love da Town!

Waitress Kim was VERY knowledgeable about gluten free and pointed out several options for me! Beef phở without meatballs was fantastic. Will definitely return to try other gf dishes!

Came here for lunch and really enjoyed the food. The grilled mussels were excellent — juicy with a bit of crunchiness of the nuts and some type of acidity in the sauce to bring out the flavor of the mussels.
We also had the catfish soup. Good flavor. A bit too much floating chili pepper for my taste in the soup — may want to suggest to skip that and opt for the chili oil instead. The melon vegetable had an interesting texture.

As I was looking for a new Vietnamese restaurant to try around the area, I stumbled upon Ma Me and a picture of their waffle fries. Needless to say, my mind was already made and I got them with pork meat. It definitely exceeded my expectations! It was great, portion was big and I loved how they incorporated onions and do chau (pickled carrots and daikon like in banh mi sandwiches) topped with aioli! I’m Vietnamese, and I loved how they fused this dish together. I thought it was creative and awesome too, because I’ve never seen anything like it. Although that was just my appetizer, I ended up getting the red rice combo with garlic noodles, and my girlfriend got the vermicelli combo! Both plates were also delicious! Would definitely recommend this place. Nice interior and good food/​service.

Garlic fries — delicious.
Pork Fried rice — huge and delicious.
Everything else I’ve tried from friends and coworkers has been the same.
I have eaten here 6 or 7 times and will continue to be a customer :)

I always enjoy the friendly service here. The restaurant is always clean. The food is delicious. Today I had the combination wonton soup with rice noodle option. Great flavor & packed with meat… Shrimp, crab meat, pork & chicken. My usual order is fried tofu… But I changed it up today. I’ve also had the stuffed chicken wings and really enjoyed them. I will continue to sip port this business.

Really good vietnamese joints are kind of hard to come by, and I am definitely gld to have found this place! Its right by downtown Oakland! Once you walk in you automatically feel a change of ambiance. The balance of warm and cool tones in the room with bamboo fixtures, wood accents, and great indoor + outdoor lighting.
Now to the food. They have a HUGE selection! from rice, to noodles, soups, and appetizers I feel like anything you’re in the mood here you could find! I opted for the garlic noodles and salt and pepper shrimp. O M G. the garlic noodles were hittin the spot! so many places do this dish, but here… they do it right!!! it was buttery without being oily and cheesy without overpowering the garlic. The srimp was also cooked well, not overdone!
Service was wonderful. They seated us promptly, immediately asked what beverage I wanted and made sure things were okay throughout my meal. The reason for 5 stars is the excellent service. In my experience a lot of asian places bring the tea pots and cups and set it on your table for you to serve yourself. Here though, I saw the owner bring a kettle to the table and pour their first cup of tea before leaving. Little details in service make the experience that much better! loved seeing the good service that many asian restaurants lack.

I absolutely LOVE this place. It is very rare I go somewhere for lunch and I experience not only excellent food, but excellent service as well.
Sometimes if it’s extremely busy they can be a little slow, however, you can call ahead and they are more than accommodating.
The ambiance is nice, they are very nice and attentive, oh and did I mention, excellent food? Lol
I love the garlic noodles. I get them alone or with the prawns. The garlic fries and wings are good too. The menu has all sorts of delicious things.
I highly recommend this place. #hiddentreasure

This was my 2^nd time here with my ex co workers during their lunch break.
The first time we came here a few months back, I made the mistake of ordering their bun rieu. Honestly, I haven’t actually found a place that makes this particular dish authentically the way it should taste in a Vietnamese restaurant. So, I’ve decided to not complain that it wasn’t very flavorful.
Moving on to today’s meal…
I ordered their garlic noodles with garlic prawns. It wasn’t bad, but it also wasn’t great for $ 15. I’ve definitely had better. I also ordered their apricot jam soda with mango drink because it looked so pretty from the other photos… which took about 10 minutes to make – I actually thought they forgot my order. Taste wise, I’d have to say it wasn’t anything memorable. But it was pretty to look at!
The restaurant itself is located in a semi-​sketchy part of downtown Oakland, where men with no class just cat calls out of their car window while you’re walking down the street – even when you completely ignore them. I guess they assume you can’t hear them after about five times so they just get louder. Lol
Any way, that’s besides the point.
I probably would never come here for dinner because of all the extra curricular activities in the area. But then again, if it wasn’t the closest spot to where they work, we’d go somewhere else altogether.
Although service is ok, I’d have to say the food isn’t really worth the price.

I’m really confused about the high reviews, my guess is that they’re catering to a lunch crowd that doesn’t have that many particular choices.
Prices are on the steep side here, though I should’ve seen this coming a mile away. We are in downtown. With that said…
Ambiance is quite strange at night. The restaurant was rather empty, the street outside was starting to look a little sketch and I’m sure it just wasn’t as gorgeous at night as it is in the day. Sterile, modern, nothing to rave about.
Food though, is probably where I thought I blew a gasket.
We ordered the garlic noodles and the phở ga.
The phở was so disappointing, we ended up trying to stretch the garlic noodles into two entrees. Even then, the portion would definitely not allow it nor was it anything special.
Just eating to get full now…
You know that restaurant experience of just eating to get full because you didn’t want to pay for food to be thrown away… Well, here I am at that point.
My two cents, go into Chinatown/​Viettown, whatever you wanna call. Handle the strange ghettoness. Get cheaper, better food.

During my retinal detachment operations, I relied almost exclusively on Ma Me House for nutrition. They were close by, they had delivery, they were delicious (most of the time). Unfortunately most of the time they also had seriously lackluster customer service which left a bad taste in my mouth.
SERVICE: Whenever I called in my order, a young woman would answer the phone. She always sounded bored or impatient, or both. She just had a downright bad attitude which was seriously uncool. I’m sorry, usually if its good Asian food, service matters less to me, but she was so rude I had to take one star off.
FOOD: The food was always pretty delicious I have to say. The noodles always tasted really fresh so I would definitely recommend trying
1. Beef Phở
Noodles are soft and silky and delicious, definitely not like the phở noodles you get from other restaurants where it is clear they just dump them out of a packet. These noodles were really yummy. The beef balls however, you could definitely miss. They had a strange taste almost coconutty and sweet. Ugh, weird. But yes, the phở here is very very good.
2. Vietnamese Noodle Salad (Pork)
The noodles once again are phenomenal, I wonder if they are house made. But yes they just taste really good. The vietnamese noodle salad also comes with barbecued pork and the pork is really really tasty and flavorful as well.
3. MISS — Spring rolls — soft and not crispy and just not good.
PRICE — SO OVERPRICED DAMMIT.
All in all, Ma Me House has fantastic food — in particular, the noodles and barbecued meat are spectacular. I will take all my phở loving friends to this joint.
Despite my complaints about the bad service though, I will probably keep coming back, although I won’t be happy about it D:

Disappointed in my pitstop here for a quick snack–
2 stars for their iced coffee:
Ugh. Never had bad iced coffee at a Vietnamese place. This however, costs average price, comes in a smaller to go cup, and taste exactly like this Chinese cough syrup medicine. I was so disappointed I threw it away when I got across the block –without photographing it. Was really upsetting. Definitely going back to phở 84 for my fixes.
4 stars on the bbq chicken «rolled»:
Great flavor and mix of textures (be warned, they put fried egg roll skin in this spring roll so if you were ordering it be healthier…) but I do love the light (potentially noisy) crisp it adds to the already refreshing spring roll. Chicken isn’t overcooked, easy to eat size. Also, they pack you plenty of peanut sauce to go.

Walking down 15^th street recently, I happened to smell something spicy, tangy, garlicky and … lemon grassy! A spot I wasn’t familiar with was the source, Ma Me House. Originally headed to Phở 84, I decided to give something new to me a try.
Nice spot, relatively small interior, but they’ve got a little alcove out front that allows maybe 8 people to sit outside and eat al fresco. I’d have opted for that, but for someone nearby outside smoking.
It appears when things you are slow one can just go in and take a seat, and they’ll take notice of you. As well, at the counter which looks like it may have previously fronted a deli showcase, you can order take out… and of course pay.
Fairly decent menu, not as many options as I might have liked, but they guys behind me were really enthusiastic about what they had, phở and something else. IT seems the restaurant specializes in the cooking style of the Binh Thuan region of Vietnam. So… on with the tasting of something new.
I opted for the Lemongrass Shrimp (which could also have been chicken, pork, beef — I think this was an option — or tofu). Not a long wait and voila, a medium sized plate with about 8 medium sized shrimp in a pungent, tangy sauce with just the right amount of medium kick was produced. Perhaps a little bit too much sauce, but hey… better more than not enough. Lots of shredded lemongrass for pungency, some pepper flakes and a small mountain of rice to provide a neutral, and filling, component. Some kimchi like cabbage though made for a somewhat odd, but interesting, addition.
This item, as most it seems, are available in small, medium, large sizings with prices adjusted, of course. It was worthwhile, though it didn’t make me wax rhapsodic like the guys behind me discussing aquaculture and Brazil. (Interesting conversation!)
Anyhoo… if you’re in now very happening downtown Oakland for lunch, give this place a try. Worth the money and the tastes are on point. I know I’ll be back to try more.

Maybe I came on an off day?
I came in around 2pm on a weekday for lunch and the restaurant was empty, but I chose to just dine in vs take out. I ordered the shrimp clay pot. It didn’t take too long to come out.
There were 5 pieces of shrimp, about 4 pieces of tofu, and bits of mushroom. The sauce was too oily, with the grease separated from the sauce.
One thing that I was surprised at was that the rice came separately. In my head (and at most vietnamese restaurants), this dish incorporates the rice in the clay pot. But no fault here, this is just their interpretation. I also found it a bit odd that it came with kimchi, which I have no gripes about considering I love Korean food! Kimchi was ok, not great and not horrible. Overall dish was disappointing though.
Service was friendly. I was the only one inside so it wasn’t hard to get anyone’s attention.
I thought that for $ 15 total, the meal was pricey for what you get. There’s other vietnamese restaurants in the area where I feel like you get more bang for your buck, in both portions and quality wise.

Came here last friday since my coworker has been raving about this place. Beautiful Zen like décor with soft calming music/​sounds coming from the speakers. I wanted to try their phở (although its more expensive than chinatown just a couple blocks away), but it was no meat Friday’s for us religious people. Next option, garlic noodle with shrimp… perfect portion size, a little dry but had good flavor. Nothing over the top… the shrimp were good sized, but they only gave me 4 on the plate. My coworker ordered his with salt and pepper fried fish on the side. Now his dish was way more tastier! Seemed like most of the items on the menu were going for $ 10+
Couldn’t read the hand written menu on their chalk board from where I was sitting so not sure if there were any specials or not. Friendly and fast customer service and they were happy to split our tab three ways. I’ll be back again…