DaoFu

Great portions, amazing taste. The garlic chicken wings are probably the best I’ve had in san diego. And the vermicelli was just the right amount of spicy… Plus complementary salad and ice cream. Highly recommended. Definitely coming back…

Hole in the wall… check
Surprisingly crowded… check
Amazing food… hmmm
I tried the popular mango chicken with mix wild rice. It was good, but not great. There was nothing special about the chicken. It seemed as an addition to the mangos and not the other way around as I expected. Speaking of which, the only thing that made this dish special to me was the mangos.

I am not familiar with Vietnamese/​Cambodian food, but my family took me here for my birthday and it was awesome. House salad with tofu comes complimentary and was fresh and delicious. We ordered a bunch of appetisers… spring roles, chicken wings, lettuce wraps and chicken kabob… all were in savory sauces that made them unique. Our dinners were all awesome. Chicken soba bowl, Yakasobi was incredible. WARNING: you order everything to heat level you want (0 to 10). I love hot spicy heat, ordered a 4 (my wife warned me as she came here before) and the 4 had me sweating thru the meal. It was still really tasty but anything higher would have made the meal unenjoyable — again I love hot and spice up everything… be warned. We will be back to this fun and uniquely delicious hole in the wall.

I’ll write a more thorough review, but this place is seriously as good as it gets in my book. It has everything I want; delectable one-​of-​a-​kind food with AMAZING presentation, nice date worthy vibe without the pretense of a fancy restaurant, super speedy food service (both pick up and to-​go), and probably some of the best damn tofu and soy milk you’ve ever tasted. I’ve never been with a person who has disliked this place. They always ask to come back.
I most certainly do. Quite frequently.

Referred by a friend, one of the best foods I’ve tasted in a while. Upon sitting and liking over the menu, server drops off a house spring mix salad topped with their house made tofu. Their tofu. Oh my gawd, melts in your mouth.
I ordered the tofu salad roll, came topped with peanut dressing and a beet dressing of some sort. Mighty delicious. For entrée I ordered the organic miso ramen. Also delicious. Broth was so fresh and simple, tons of veggies.
They offer ice cream as a dessert, you choose the flavor. I chose black cherry. I don’t normally eat ice cream or dairy products too much, but DAMN this ice cream was so good. I heard they also house make their ice cream, but I’ll have to double check on that.

I went and order to go rice curry and spring roll, took like 15 minutes to finish but cost like $ 19. I came home thinking with a lot of hype but when i open the box I saw «a» spring roll, that was cut into pieces with sauce on it, and a rice curry that fill two mini box out of those big box you get from ordering panda. The spring roll taste decent and have a unique sauce that come with it which I like but not love… it is like liking a girl for who she is but you can’t fall in love with her… and the curry is the reason why this is a 3 stars. It tasted bland and make me realize I should just cook my own curry with those curry package, instead of ordering it out.
So summarize the rant: cost a lot, small portion, and only the spring roll was good.
On a side note, this place have a very good atmosphere if you eat there. I think your experience and food will be a lot better if you dine in instead of order out. Good dating spot since you have a huge variety of foods… a lovely game of Russian roulette with food :).

My favorite place to eat when in San Diego! I highly recommend the Garlic Mock Chicken with half and half rice and the Tofu Salad Roll. Gone there for years and always eat that exact meal (to the point that most who work there know my order without telling them). it’s amazing!
Note they close between lunch and dinner and last I knew are closed on Monday’s. Smaller restaurant and often are busy on weekend nights… don’t be scared to wait if there is one, there’s a reason for that; it’s worth it!

My sister was hungry for a good meal and did not want to eat out alone so she called me to go out to eat. I was informed the Phở here was excellent and so we went. Upon entering the atmosphere relaxed and hip in an Asian meets American sort of way. I was immediately given a menu and began perusing the selection. Despite wanting Phở I looked at everything. A large selection for omnivores and vegetarians alike. I did order the vegetable Phở despite the wide options. I was quite pleased; huge Phở bowl as expected, the freshest most ingredients. Plenty of basil and extras. I do hope to visit again, it was that good in this land of 1000 restaurants.

Okay to start your table gets a complimentary salad with tofu and to end they provide complimentary ice cream. Whatttt??? I’m glad my friend took me here. What a great deal.
Although I’m not a big fan of tofu, there were plenty of non-​tofu dishes to order from but we still had to try the tofu. The stuffed tofu & eggplant peppers were a tasty option but just beware of the spicy ones. For rice I’d recommend a rice pot because it’ll come out nice and sizzling. An entrée a person to share family style was an adequate amount of food for all of us by.
Service was on par. Our party of three was seated quickly on Friday night without a reservation at 8pm.

So here’s something that took me a while to realize on my own. DaoFu translated into English from Cantonese is «Tofu», which understandably accommodates vegetarian options. It even says so on their online menu. For those of you who are too lazy to make a few clicks on your computers:
«In our commitment to excellence in vegetarian fine dining,
we used 100% soy oil, absolutely no MSG, and
totally separate cooking compartment for preparing
the vegetarian dishes. You needn’t worry about meat
touching your food. Our Tofu is handmade fresh daily.»
And yet, I could have sworn that there was meat in the dishes I’ve eaten. I don’t know anymore, and I don’t care because everything I’ve had so far has been delicious.
With that out of the way, now for the goods:
Each meal comes with free salad and dessert. Since I never dined here before and heard nothing of that, I was pleasantly surprised.
Their menu has Chinese, Japanese, and Vietnamese dishes along with kebob entrees. I’m not even going to guess what culture kebobs came from. If you’ve never had kebobs, then I have no answer or response except for to just go have some.
Prices are affordable. If I was to be asked if it’s more on the expensive side or more on the cheap side, I’ll say more on the cheap side. You’re essentially getting a good deal. Hope that aspect stays the same.
So far, I’ve had the Hu Tieu seafood soup and the mango «chicken» rice. The soup reminds me of what I’ve had growing up in predominantly Vietnamese neighborhoods. The mango «chicken» rice was surprisingly filling, and I’m so glad I like spicy food. Mild spicy is probably enough to get the best flavor out of that rice dish.
My girlfriend had the Hainanese «Chicken» Hot Pot. No complaints from her.
If you don’t finish your food, they gladly take your dish (es) and pack it/​them up for you nicely.
Parking: Street. On most weekdays, you’ll be able to find parking. It doesn’t look abundant, but it won’t be packed. If you’re willing to look, you will most likely find something within the block or so.
Service: Never rude. I know some of you want to ruffle feathers when you dine out, but I personally never see that from the staff. If they ever actually come off rude to the customer, it’s probably because of the customer.
Can’t wait to try more items on the menu.

My friends and I chose Dao Fu for dinner because we’ve heard good things about them. We were not disappointed.
Our party of 6 was seated right away with no reservations and ordered our drinks shortly after.
The menu has several pages of options which include vegetarian and meat dishes. Amongst our group we ordered quite a few of them.
One of my friends ordered the egg rolls. They arrive w a plate of greens. You wrap the egg roll in the greens and dip them into a special sauce and the result is very good.
I ordered the Eric stir fry. The server asked me how hot on a 1 –10 scale. I can handle some heat and normally I would order a 7. Dao Fu doesn’t mess around though. Hot is hot. Start small and add heat later.

Honestly if you are ever on this side of town, you MUST stop by this incredible restaurant. The service is friendly and genuine, the ambience is cozy and fun, but most of all… the FOOD is amazing!
Our first time here and we only found Dao Fu ob Unilocal as happened to be near where we were working in San Diego.
First thing you will be amazed by is the fact they make their own tofu, soymilk, ramen & soba noodles, broths etc and all with out MSG! :) Yay!
Next is that they offer a complimentary mixed greens salad served with a side of their tofu and house made beet salad dressing! So delicious!
For our main entrées we ordered:
Miso ramen with mock chicken & tofu
Miso ramen with chicken breast
Seafood hu tieu (large rice noodles with shrimp and fish cake etc.).
Each entrée was so fresh with sliced vegetables and served with their amazing house made habanero thai chili sauce that had me sweating after a few taste but it was oh so good!
The finish off the meal they offer complementary icecream serve with sliced fruit and raspberry/​mango coulis!
Seriously this place is so amazing we came back the next day for a late lunch to try additional items on the menu… but we arrived at 2:05 and their last lunch seating was at 1:45pm. :(
We were so so so sad but the owner allowed me to use the ladies room as we were planning to head back to OC right after lunch.
On my way out… he greeted me with a free to go cup of their delicious soy milk and even put some of his spicy thai sauce in a to go container for me as I had told him how much we loved his sauce.
If I give this place 10 stars I would for customer service AND for food selection, taste, and price! Okay
…get ready to have your socks knocked off… each bowl of ramen/​noodle soup was under $ 10!
So treat yourself to an amazing meal, impress your friends and family and head over to Dao Fu. You will NOT regret it! :)

Going over my reviews and I realized that I never completed a review for DaoFu. This restaurant is amazing if you like Tofu.
Service was good and the server was polite. We arrived when they opened and I’m glad we did as they got really busy with take out and dine in.
Food:
Complimentary Tofu Salad and the dressing was delicious.
Fried Tofu
Garlic Chicken
Complimentary Dessert with Chocolate and Green Tea Ice Cream
Can remember what Tupac had but it was in a rice pot dish.
Soo good!
The ambiance is also interesting. Gotta stopped by to look at it.

DaoFu, your tofu is amazing. I could probably just eat tofu all day. Okay okay… maybe not, but you get the picture.
Came here and ordered their deep fried tofu and house curry chicken (substituted with tofu instead). Little did I know was that this place ALSO gives you complimentary dishes. Your meal comes with a complimentary salad with delicious tofu and mixed greens with a vinagrette dressing as well as a free ice cream at the end.
They know how to season their food. The house curry with tofu was really good, but I think I’ll stick with chicken next time. Their deep fried tofu was delicious. I could probably eat this as a meal and be happy.
The restaurant has unique décor and the staff seems to work hard to please their customers. I’ll be back for your tofu, DaoFu!

We were initially put off by the décor as the inside walls are all covered with
tacky graffiti from presumably poor artists or past patrons.
The meal was good.
The server was friendly.
Appreciated the free salad and free deserts

Now that I live in Normal Heights its been a bit of a struggle to find asian food within close proximity to me. Luckily theres DaoFu. This is a cute little hole in the wall restaurant that packs a big punch in flavors. There are plenty of japanese/​vietnamese inspired dishes to choose from that come with vegetarian versions of them as well.
You get a FREE complimentary salad with tofu and raspberries [strange combo i know but surprisingly not bad] and FREE ice cream at the end of your meal which is a huge plus because you know I’m all about that free swag.
All entrees [with the exception of the hotpot dishes] seem to come in these huge ass plates, which is kinda unnecessary imo. I feel like it really spreads out the ingredients; they could accomplish the same presentation with smaller plates probably… but i digress.
If you’re a fan of tofu you’ll like it here ! Popular dishes include: eggplant tofu /​garlic chicken /​lemongrass chicken /​mango chicken /​any of their sizzling hotpot dishes

This is one of our favorite places to come and enjoy a delicious healthy meal. The flavor of the food is Amazing.
They make their own tofu, and it is delicious. I always enjoy the lily asparagus and my husband likes the eggplant.
Be aware they do make them spicy. We always order a number two or three.

FREE scoop of ice cream with your order!!! either salted Caramel or coconut. We got both. And
It was sooooo good. A single scoop with slice of melon, orange and raspberry syrup! Yum!
Sweet friendly service. Glad it wasn’t busy considering street fest was happening outside.
Their garlic fried chicken & yakisoba was really good and saucy. The pork egg roll didn’t have much flavor. Their raspberry tofu salad (complimentary) was good also — fresh and flavory.

Came here on a Sunday afternoon and the place was pretty empty. We were seated immediately and weren’t scolded when we rearranged the table set-​up.
Food — The complimentary salad contained mixed greens drenched raspberry dressing. Fortunately, the dressing was good. To rate your meal’s spiciness, you pick from 1 – 10, but the server said anything above a 3 is «very spicy.» I picked a 4 and it tasted like a 4.
My meal mates portion sizes seemed large, so I was disappointed when my mango chicken came out in a thin layer on a huge plate. My mealmates and I spent a considerable amount of time rearranging our tabletop due to the size of the plateware. The presentation looks nice, but my chicken was flavorless and too dry. The wild rice in my dish was not bad. I liked the fried tofu appetizer, but anything covered in batter could win me over. At the end of the meal, we were offered complimentary ice cream with a choice of green tea or strawberry cheesecake. I had the strawberry cheesecake served with a slice of orange and canteloupe. I expected some frostbitten watered-​down dairy product, but it was surprisingly good.
Service — Our server was very attentive (water was always full), and he tried to build rapport by joking around with us. He definitely seemed committed to making us enjoy our dining experience.
Overall, the service and appetizers were above average, but my main dish lacked superior quality.

I’m really sad to report that DaoFu has drastically changed in quality and taste. It’s been almost a year since I’ve been back and things have definitely changed. I was extremely excited to experience the extremely delicious and tasty food, but I was disappointed.
DaoFu still has their complimentary salad and dessert, which I love– but the entrée and tofu was not the same. When I got the steamed tofu appetizer, it tasted burnt and as if the tofu was cooked in unclean water. There was a bitter and unpalatable taste.
When I received my garlic chicken entrée, the huge plate felt empty. I took a picture of the same dish in June 2014 and if you compare it to my most recent one, you can definitely tell that it’s lacking. The food itself was good, but it’s really just not worth the price anymore. I used to get so much for the price, and now it’s just not the same.
If you’ve read my previous reviews, you’ll know how much I used to love this place… if they change things around, I’d definitely go back and try again. But for now, I’m going to stray away.
TL;DR:
Food: ²⁄₅ — quality really changed
Price: $$

LOVE DaoFu.
GET the TOFU appetizer!!! HUGE! dericious!
DO NOT get ASK for level 4 or above spicy!!! i have eaten hot, spicy foods all my life. I love indian, thai, korean basically any ethnic food group that adds HEAT.
in my humble opinion, anything level 4 or over at DaoFu is inedible. TOO TOO HOT baby.
they give each diner the option of spiciness from level 1 – 10. i can’t imagine what level 10 must feel like, because at level 4 i couldn’t finish most of the dish. it was utterly unbearable. i was so scared the next time i came in I asked for level 0. ok, that wasn’t spicy enough, so next time i’ll ask for a 1 or 2 level spicy.
seriously you will not finish this delicious meal if you get LEVEL 4. try and then message me how your experience was.
the salad and dessert comes free with every meal. LOVE this restaurant, deRicious and much Bang for your Buck.

Mmmmm. Mmmmm. Mmmmm. So good. Just yummmmmm.