Mien Tay Restaurant

Went there today with my wife and they forgot my order and my coffee. had me starving had to share with my wife. small place but not bad it’s a quick lunch while doing laundry next door and they ended up comping my egg rolls so I’ll give it another shot

Went here for a quick lunch before work. The place is super clean and beautiful. The food was delicious! I like how everything is made fresh from the kitchen! I ordered the pork vermicelli and omg the flavor on the grill pork was divine! The veggies was fresh & crispy. The sauce wasn’t spicy enough so I have to order extra chopped red pepper to spice it up. My belly is super satisfied! 5 stars all the way!!!

Warm, cozy, friendly, clean and attentive.
Great menu and offering of 13 specialized food itrems — not a phở place as there’s one across the street.
More pluses:
* Hot tea is served fresh in a ceramic pot and cups.
* Coffee is balanced and substantive and rich. Not like everyone and their competivitions are serving the same generic hazelnut flavored crap that they have come to only know.
* Water is provided with clean glass cup and not with cheap plastic cup.
* Tables and premise is very clean and doesn’t have those residual or sloppily cleaned lingering scent.
*staffs are very attentive and focused.
Looking forward to come again.
Bravo !

Best place ever the works are amazing picks the best for you wonderful service I will give it a 5 stars anytime

My friend and I stopped by after the Chronicle piece on Vietnamese
Places in Oakland. I was pleasantly surprised by the authentic flavorful food from a distinct Southern Vietnam locale that the Americans called Mien Tay. Where the north gives us Phở Bo and Phở Ga, the center Bun Bo Hue, the south has the Mekong covered with Bun Rieu (9) and Dac Biet Bun Nuroc Leo Tra Vinh (6). The lightly fried egg rolls had stuffing that was very finely chopped. I urge you to try this place. Very nice people, really clean location. I compliment the couple running this place for educating us further on the regional styles of their country and for sticking to the real deal — super delicious ethnic flavor that I had not experienced before in Oakland.

My friend and I were experiencing major phở cravings, so we ventured to Oakland’s Mien Tay. The phở here is unconventional — instead of large bowls of rice noodles with some kind of beef, this restaurant offers a variety of other toppings like crispy pork, egg rolls, and shrimp.
Pros:
–I had the rice noodle soup with a meat based broth, topped off with crispy pork, shrimp, and pork slices. Usually, I finish my bowl of phở and find that there is a film of oily looking MSG on the bowl, but this restaurant uses significantly less oil than most others
Cons:
–My friend ordered the same dish and found a long, coarse hair in her soup…
–Iced coffee tastes a bit off. Had a slight hint of cilantro — do they wash their dishes?

My first time here! It was such a beautiful place on the inside and outside. They do their best to keep it clean, which is always a plus! There was a huge LCD screen tv for your entertainment. Employees were extremely nice and welcoming. The service was great and the food comes out to you pretty fast!
Most importantly, the food was phenomenal. It feels very light but can fill you up pretty quickly. I got the chicken curry, shrimp spring rolls, the Vietnamese Udon (banh canh), and the passionfruit drink. All were incredibly delicious!
Overall, I was pretty satisified with the look of the restaurant, service, and the food. 5 stars all the way!

Mien Tay is a new and earnest southwestern-​Vietnam-​style restaurant with fresh and homemade flavor, focusing on non-​phở soups. Only two months old, it has taken the bold move of opening across the street from Kevin’s Noodle House, the crusty classic of Oakland phở.
HOW CAN MIEN TAY TAKE ON KEVIN’S NOODLE HOUSE?
By being different! Kevin’s is old, dirty, and predictable so MIEN TAY is new, clean, and quirky. MT’s décor is bright and minimal, everything’s brand new and clean, and the country music videos on 2 TVs create a memorable ambience. Lastly, Kevin’s is all about about that phở, bout that phở, so to be different Mien Tay is like, «Hell no, we won’t phở!» (sorry)
OK, SO NO PHO. HOW’R THEIR SOUPS?
* Chicken Curry: GOOD! Fresh flavor in the broth, chicken’s yummy — but I wish they didn’t have me chewing around bones. I had it with a baguette instead of rice which was pretty cool. They include a special salt, spice, and lime dip for the chicken. I put them all together on a soup spoon for an intensely flavorful bite: the broth, the chicken, the bread, the salt-​dip — annnnd I’m salivating.
* Crab Tomato Noodle: AIGHT. The broth was light, and I didn’t see much crab — sad panda :(But there was redemption in the handmade pork meat balls that were the business. Hey Mien Tay — more crab please!!!
* Vietnamese Udon: GOOD! I bought some to-​go for my mom, and she can be a real grump when it comes to trying new things, but she loved the Udon soup! The strength was the simple but über-​flavorful broth. The udon was al dente, the herb toppings bright and fresh. There was a pork knuckle included that my mom fist-​bumped, she was so happy.
AND THE SHRIMP SPRING ROLLS WERE BOMB!
I almost forgot the spring rolls. Sooo fresh. The sauce was peanut with a touch of coconut milk, excellent!
READ JEAN B.‘s REVIEW OF MIEN TAY
Learn more by reading Jean B.‘s awesome review of the same restaurant where she talks about the sweet folks that are the heartbeat of Mien Tay. Later folks!

Great addition to the Asian food scene in Oakland!
Backstory: This new restaurant is run by Linda and Calvin. The cuisine is from south west Vietnam – the countryside – a region called Mien Tay. The owner’s niece Van gave us the skinny that this region is better known for bun rieu cua (crab noodle soup) than for phở. I’m glad my hubs and I got to try something new and different!
Parking: This resto is on a quiet avenue next to a laundromat and across the well-​established Kevin’s Noodle House. Street parking is free and ample.
Ambiance: Casual; family feel. Very clean, well-​lit, and modern. While they have outdoor seating, I would probably recommend enjoying your food inside. There are fancy TVs playing entertaining music videos.
Service: Really sweet server Van happily answered all our questions and gave us her recommendations. Linda was in the kitchen working her magic. Calvin was busily unloading fresh produce and supplies.
Food: I really liked the fresh, light flavors. The shrimp spring rolls had rau ram/​Vietnamese cilantro in them, so they had a unique kick. They were served with tasty, caramelly peanut sauce, cooked with coconut milk! I enjoyed the Bun Rieu Cau (crab noodle soup) – light, fresh, and comforting. The Chicken Curry was also more delicate than a Thai chicken curry – and served with fresh, crunchy French bread! The passion fruit juice was refreshing and not overly sweet. Free Jasmine tea helped cleanse my pallet. All this plus one order of Vietnamese udon soup to-​go for $ 36.
Check out this new dive in the heart of Rancho San Antonio and support local business!

The minute you walk in this place, it feels like you’re eating in a family/​friendly atmosphere. The servers are awesome and the food is delicious. Everything here are made fresh. I’ve been here many times to have my craving fixed. My favorite is the Vietnamese Udon Noodle Soup-​Banh Canh Gio Heo and the Passion Fruit drink.
I love this place and will be my favorite.

My family and I were really excited to try this place. Came here on a Saturday around noon to find we were the only patrons. Their menu is very simple, maybe a little too simple for people who are not a fan of pork. All of their broths come with pork except for the Bun Rieu so for picky eaters like my husband, he only had two dishes to choose from. What we ordered.
#13 Shaking Beef: Not very flavorful, didn’t seem like it was marinaded very well. Beef was not very tender.
#12 Pork soup with pork and shrimp: Broth was really good, tasted very homey. Pork was flavorless, shrimp had a slightly weird aftertaste to it.
#8: Chicken Curry: The curry itself was okay, I’ve had better. Chicken was super tender and went well with the curry but be prepared to spit out a bunch of tiny bones.
The spring rolls was what I had the biggest issue with. They left the shell on the tails so when you bite into the roll, be prepared for a crunchy surprise.
Overall the meal was okay. I wish the menu was more extensive. There are other Vietnamese restaurants off of International that I prefer over this place. I’ll give them a few months to work out the kinks before coming back.

Pros– Service was decent (we were the only folks in there at 1:00pm)
Cons– Vermicelli dish came with ice cold noodles and COLD roasted 2day old or so pork
— The Fried rolls were surprisingly cold and getting soggy
— Spring roll had a branch of a stem in it, very fresh
–House special soup had a very porky (2day or so old) scent, very not fresh &
the broth came luke warm
–7up was water and syrup, missing the CO2
Unilocal usually steers right. I felt that this was going to be a nu mom n pop place to frequent based on the previous reviews. Mom’s n pop’s love were missing and what was left… old & cold

My sister and I were craving for some really yummy and crispy eggrolls. It’s really difficult to find a spot that perfects an eggroll. Seriously. This place was on the «hot and new» section so we decided to check it out. It’s right next to the laundromat so there’s parking in the back as well as the front of the restaurant on the street.
Now, the restaurant itself has a nice little patio out front with a few tables to dine.
The inside was quite small, probably not meant for super large parties but it was very clean almost immaculate like. There is also a huge tv plastered on the wall for entertainment.
Menu: The menu was quite simple, and I read reviews beforehand that the curry was pretty good here. However I wasn’t really looking for something hearty that day, my sister and I were simply craving fried eggrolls lol. So we ordered it to go, and the wait was not long.
Customer service was great, they were really friendly, and the chef was an elderly woman who reminded me of my grandma. And that’s how the eggroll tasted. Like it was home-​made from my own grandma.
Freakin loved the eggrolls here, and that was only an appetizer. I’ll make sure to try the other dishes the next time I come.

My friends and I were looking for a quick bite to eat on a Friday night and Vietnamese food came to my attention. Having found some good places in Oakland already, we were hoping to continue our exploration for the best Viet places in NorCal.
I’ve had Mien Tay bookmarked for a while now, and so I suggested this place. I was a bit scared because even though the reviews were good, there were hardly any reviews — It was a new place after all.
It’s located next to a phở shop on 15^th street in Oakland and there’s plenty of parking spaces right next to Mien Tay or across the street at the Phở shop. We came around 7pm before it closed at 8 and thought it was closed because the door wasn’t open. It made sense since places close early due to lack of customers because of danger at night. Luckily, one of the workers opened the door for us.
We were the only ones there because it was getting late, but we were hungry and in no mood to move. The menu looked pretty simple, but it had all your standard Vietnamese cravings. My friend ordered the Bo Luc Lac (shaken beef), and I ordered the curry with Goi Cun with shrimp and pork (Spring Rolls). Unfortunately, there was no more vermicelli and so it was replaced with bean sprouts :(.
The rolls came out after 10 – 15 minutes and at first glance, they looked pretty standard. They tasted great too! The best thing going for this appetizer is the delicious peanut sauce. It was much nicer than most places I have had.
However, the best part was definitely my chicken curry. I’ve been a sucker for Viet curry ever since my mom introduced me to Banh Mi Che Cali in SoCal, which had the absolute best chicken curry. But this place had some curry that was definitely on par. It was very sweet, the coconut milk in it was flavorful, and it made as a good dip for the bread that I got with it. The chicken was nice and tender too! My friend also liked her shaken beef and wolfed that down.
All in all, this place is definitely a gem to check out. There wasn’t really anything wrong with it, and you can tell it’s worth it because the quality of the food was good despite it being late and they probably didn’t have many customers before we came.
Eat well and prosper,

A very nice clean place to eat that has fresh ingredients all day erryday. Try out the Hieu Tu or the coconut chicken curry noodle soup. Viet Coffee is good and has a hint of hazelnut in it. If you order appetizers be prepared to wait a little bit, because it’ll take a little while since everything is made to order. Come and do your laundry next door, and while you wait you can eat here.

Arrived early (7am) and greeted by Calvin, the owner. He invited me to take any seat. No waiting at that time lol. Took my drink order to which I requested Vietnamese coffee. It’s hot water dripped through coffee grounds into a glass with condensed milk at the bottom. After the last drip, spoon mix and pour into a glass of ice. Takes time to make, but worth it. He asked what I wanted, to which I replied, what’s good? The curry chicken was the choice. With noodles or bread? For a first timer, can I have ⁵⁰⁄₅₀? Great choice. Deep, not overpowering curry flavor. Take the dry noodle and dip into broth and enjoy. Taste bud delight! Fresh, crumbly bread dipped, also a winner.
Next time I’ll try the tomato crab soup, which means I’ll be back.
I found my new favorite.

I was in the Mood for Soup this particular morning so I hit my trusty Unilocal app and up popped Mien Tay. I gave them a Call at 7AM to make sure they were Open Calvin answered and Confirmed that they were.
I Checked my Ankle Bracelet it had a fresh Charge so I jumped into my Whip White Rabbit and rolled to Oaktown and Mien Tay.
I was able to Park right in front on the Street .
Plenty of Parking as Mien Tay has a Huge Parking Lot in the Rear to Park your Whips.
I like that Mien Tay has Outdoor Bistro Seating on their Front Patio. They can Monitor their Customers on the Patio from their Extensive Surveillance System .
I rolled in and was Greeted and Seated by a Cute Waitress. She Presented me with a Menu to Peruse .
I like the Décor its very Spartan. There are 2 large pieces of Art and 2 LCD TVs .
It is Very Clean, Surgically Clean. I was impressed the Open Air Kitchen where the Magic Happens is Spotless. Even the Stainless Steel Oven Hood is Mirror Clean .
Mien Tay is a Family Owned Business. I was Fortunate enough to talk to the Owner Calvin .
Mien Tay is a Labor of Love to Calvin he is very Quality Oriented and will only and Prepare and Serve Fresh food.
Calvin has kept the Menu Simple and it Focuses on Traditional Vietnamese Soups. These are Derived from his Family’s Own Recipes .
Calvin’s Mom the Matriarch of his Family is the Head Cook .and also his toughest Critic, makes sure that his Offerings have the Flavor and Quality that they should have.
They Often start their day at 5 AM preparing the Broth for their Noodle Soup offerings and it shows in their End product. The Proof is in the Taste.
I ordered off Their Menu — Item Number #4 — Dac Biet Bun Nuroc Leo Tra Vimh — House Special Noodle Soup– Vermicelli with Fish based Broth.
Topped with Pork and Egg Rolls –2.
This is Served with Fresh Garnishes .
This Soup was Brought out too me Piping Hot !!!
Holy Jewmoly this Soup was Off The Hook !!!
The Flavors in the Soup were Off The Chain !!!
Vivid and Bold but not Over Powering ‚
The Ingredient’s were Very Fresh you could tell by the Taste. .I was Very Impressed .
I also ordered Item #1 Goi Cuou Tom —
Shrimp Spring Rolls –3
Shrimp and Mixed Veggies
Served with Peanut Dipping Sauce.
My Waitress advised me there would be a 10 Minute wait for these as they are prepared Fresh and asked if I minded the wait ?
This was Music to my Ears as other places have these premade and sitting around.
Hell No I did not mind the Wait LOL.
Inside there are 7 Tables — 4 Chairs per a table .
Calvin made a point to check with me when I ordered Item Number 1 to let me know about the wait and I assured him it was Fine .He also wanted to make sure I wasn’t allergic to Peanuts as the Dipping Sauce was derived from them. Nope I’m good .
He also Mentioned I looked very Familiar to him .
I laughed I’m a very Generic looking Asian LOL.
The Open Air Kitchen is very Cool .
I could see Calvin Crafting my Spring Rolls .
When my Waitress presented them to me, I was Impressed, They Visually looked very Fresh and Very Tightly Wrapped.
They also Tasted very Fresh Yummy.
They came with Peanut and Chili Dipping Sauces.
I paid by Credit Card .
They use the Square to process their Credit Card Transactions.
I mentioned to Calvin that I almost ordered :
Item Number #7 Bun Rieu Cua
Crab Tomato Noodle Soup
Vermicelli With Crab and Tomato Broth.
Topped with Fried Tofu and Crab Meat .
Calvin laughed and made me a Sample of this Item
When I got home I ate it and it was The Bomb Dot Com .
I will definitely order this on my Next Visit.

Authentic Vietnamese noodles taste like home cooking. They are a brand new restaurant started from the ground up. It’s a small dining area with about 8 – 10 tables. Open everyday of the week. See photo for hours of operation.
The owner Calvin is friendly and highly stressed the importance of fresh food. They keep their menu simple to provide the best they have to offer to their customers with their fresh ingredients.
As pictured below We tried Egg rolls, chicken curry, house special and the udon as well as the crab and tomato noodle soup. Enjoyed the egg rolls and the curry that is served with bread. They do not serve the curry with rice. Their noodle soups tasted like home cooking and authentic. You can add your own spice level with their spice condiments on the table.

Mien Tay is next to a laundromat, small eatery with less than 10 tables for sit-​in.
flatscreen: maury what’s his name…
menu:house special soup, noodles, porridge, vermicelli, udon, fried spring rolls (8 entrees & 3 appetitzers
eats: bun rieu cau (8)
–vermicelli noodles & crab paste flavoring
–bland pigs feet & homemade pork balls are proteins,
–green onions, sliced cabbage, garnishes, lime for filling’/flavoring.
–fresh tasting, crab flavoring robust, sodium slight.
take outs:
–only noodle dishes, no phở, broken rice plates, nada.
–fresh ingredients, all entrees 8, apps. 4
–hearsay this is authentic vietnamese cuiniese. …
–lots of parking

People here are friendly and the food are fresh. This is the only Vietnamese restaurant that don’t gave me a food coma after eating.
I highly recommend the egg-​roll.