Bistro Noodle

We were here on a Saturday night at 6:30pm and the place was completely empty and stayed that way for the next hour we were there. Service was fine, but the food was overpriced and the food was just not good (bland flavor, meager meat servings, etc).

Good service. The restaurant so nice and clean.
The boss very nice.
The food so so good. I very like it.
I would probably come back to tried some of their other items on the menu.

I have lunch here every week. I either order phở or vermicelli. Both come out quickly and servers are attentive with a smile. It’s my quick lunch go to place and highly recommend it.

Love it. Had the Phở and the Mi Vit Tiem. Both very good and healthy. Its not overly salty unlike most vietnamese places, just my style; however, I can see others rating lower because of this fact. The Mi Viet Tiem comes with awesome ginger fish sauce too. Clean dining area.

How is it possible that this restaurant has 4 stars?
We had an early dinner here and the entire restaurant was completely empty. That probably should have been my first indication to turn around, but hey, we would give this place a try. We ordered their phở (their house special item at the top of the phở portion of their menu) and a sizzling beef platter. With phở, you should expect to have bean sprouts, lime, and basil on the side to add into the broth. I received everything except the basil, so when I asked, the server let me know that they ran out. How?! How is it only 4:30pm, and you’ve run out of a key garnish for phở?
Okay, lame, but I ate the phở anyway. The broth is very light, so I don’t expect that a lot of beef was used. It doesn’t have that rich beefiness that you would expect to get. On top of that, they are incredibly skimpy on the beef. The menu says that the beef slices would be rare, but I could tell that it’s been cooked already and added back in. They give you one fourth of a beef meatball. One fourth. Literally, like take a tiny meatball and cut it into four pieces and only take one of those pieces and add it. Wow. Tendon and tripe were fine. Needless to say, I did not like the phở.
I didn’t try the sizzling beef platter, but it is so not worth the price for the amount you get (literally small steak and a whole chopped onion on top). We asked for a side of chow mein to go with the beef platter because they have chow mein on their menu. You won’t believe what they tried to pass off as «chow mein.» We were presented with a handful of egg noodles that were topped with green onions. No seasoning. No meat. No sauce. Not even a vegetable in there (except the green onion, if that even counts). We asked the server and she said, matter-​of-​factly, «That’s the chow mein.» I am so irritated that they tried to pass off a handful of egg noodles as «chow mein.» We were with friends, so I wasn’t going to cause a scene (well, I couldn’t anyway because there were no other customers in the restaurant), so I kept this in to myself to write about it on Unilocal.
The only good thing about this restaurant is that it is clean and spacious. Oh, and they have Mexican candies at the cashier, which is nice.
If you are trying Vietnamese food for the first time, please do not come here. This restaurant does not give a proper representation of good Vietnamese food. I suggest trying Phở Kim Long near Great Mall or their sister restaurant Thien Long.

My boyfriend and I came in at around 10:45pm and after 10pm, it was a different menu and only had limited items. I ordered the rare steak and tendon phở and my boyfriend ordered the rare steak, tendon and tripe phở. Upon receiving our phở, we realized that neither of our noodle soups had tendon and mine had flank instead. We didn’t want to cause a fuss so we just ate the noodles without saying anything to the wait staff. The broth was just okay; not too flavorful but wasn’t terrible. I asked for the check and I paid with my card. When they brought it back for me to sign, they just stood there waiting for me to sign the receipt. I don’t know about you, but I find it very uncomfortable and almost rushed to have you standing so close to me when I’m closing out my check.
Overall, I don’t think we will be returning for the mediocre phở and awkward wait staff.

This restaurant has great food and amazing customer service. My husband and I came in just 20 mins before closing and we got our food quickly and were not hurried or hassled by our late arrival. The portions are LARGE and the prices are hard to beat. We will definitely be back.

Good authentic tasting food.
Quick service.
Try the fried rice and crispy skin friend chicken, or the Vietnamese crêpe (banh xeo).
Stays open late in case you want something other than instant-​regret burritos.

My boyfriend and I live close to downtown and never take advantage of the food spots that are down there. This cold weather had me in the mood for Phở so we decided to check out Bistro Noodle.
The second we stepped in we were greeted by a nice gentleman and got to choose where to sit. They have a good sized menu, and let me tell you, a great price for the quantity you get when you order phở. We both ordered phở, and side order of chicken friend rice. It was delicious, and such a great portion. Talk about bang for your buck!
Marco, our server, was so nice, and so helpful. He was very attentive and an all around a genuinely nice guy. The restaurant looked nice, modern, and very clean.
Food was great, and for a great price. Definitely will be coming back very soon!

This used to be a BOBO Drinks by SJSU campus. My friend and I saw that this place has now changed to Bistro Noodles and so we thought we would give it a try. Like most days, I’ve been craving noodle soup because of the cold weather.
When you first enter, you will notice that this is your typical Vietnamese restaurant, but upgraded. Everything is very modern, which is actually really nice. Most Vietnamese restaurants are kind of run down nowadays so it’s nice to see a newer and nicely decorated one in the area. A nice vibe equal a nice meal, right?
We were seated immediately upon arrival, but we waited a while for a staff to come get our orders. I think she kind of forgot about us, but she did apologize so I guess that was ok.
I ended up ordering a regular phở (I guess it’s equivalent to the #1 special in most places). I hate choosing so I just get every restaurant’s #1 special (I know right haha). To my surprise, the portion was quite big, at least the bowl was. But I could barely finish the bowl, also with some minor suffering in stuffing myself, so I’d say it was pretty big. But that comes from someone who could barely finish a bowl of phở at any restaurant. The quality of the noodle and soup were decent. The broth was only okay, pretty average to me. The noodles are the typical noodles in phở. The meat was also okay. Everything was just «A-​OK» aka three star rating on Unilocal.
Overall, my dining experience was good. The food was only very average. The only good thing here I guess was the décor and interior design. Even the music was a little strange. They were playing only Britney Spears when my friend and I were there (haha but I guess Britney is ok). The price is also decent. I would probably come back to try some of their other items on the menu.

Okay where do I begin…
My experience at Bistro Noodles was awful. Upon being seated, the wait staff pretty much does not interact with the customers. You get zero assistance once you are seated and place your order. To be honest, it seems like the wait staff doesn’t even understand their own menu and if you have a question about a dish, good luck getting any kinds of answers.
So I wanted to order a Chow Mein, to which was #56 or something, HOWEVER what I did not realize was that the #56 comes either in a chow mein or chow fun form. Perhaps I should have read the menu better, but lets move past this initial fuck up to the real disaster. I told the guy I wanted a #56 in seafood, he said okay. I asked what does the seafood consist of? He says shrimp, I respond with «anything else»? He simply didn’t know, didn’t even offer to ask the management. However I didn’t care since I wanted seafood, so whatever was in there should be fine, didn’t really think much of it. He then leaves.
When he came back he brought a chow fun, I asked him why is it a chow fun? I wanted a chow mein, he responded with «well you didn’t say which one». SO basically if I didn’t mention which of the option, he would just simply randomly pick one for me? Shouldn’t you have at least confirmed what my dish was? How do you just choose one of the two choices and give it to a customer? That is just stupid. Anyway, I asked if I can at least have it replaced with the actual meal that I wanted, chow mein, and he simply said, it’s already made. Nothing we can do. Really? Granted this fuck up could have been avoided if I simply said chow mein instead of #56, BUT I think it is his job as a waiter to make sure my order is clear as possible, and simply not just guess at which of the two dishes I want. Anyway, I chalked it up to a learning experience and let’s just move on with our life.
My friend ordered a Com Bo Luc Lac, which is shaken beef. In the menu it is described as «lightly cooked cubes of beef» (which is what is always the case with this dish), however upon receiving it, the meat was super over cooked, to where it was almost burnt and chewy instead of being lightly cooked and tender. This dish is $ 15-​$ 16 so I didn’t want to simply lose my money and I again told them that this dish is prepared too well done to my taste. They responded with «It’s already made». HONESTLY? I ended up paying $ 31.XX for my meal (of which we ate almost nothing) and left. I will never ever be coming back, I will never recommend it to anyone and they have lost a lot more business than they would have if they had simply remade 1 of the 2 dishes.
Overall it was a terrible experience, and if you are a customer here, prepare to never get anything done the way you like it.

The service is great! Came in to get takeout and the server made sure we were comfortable and offered ice water… Plus the food is great!

I first came to this place because it was late at night and all of the other places are already closed. Boy, I was lucky. I ordered phở as I am a native Vietnamese and I’m totally hooked up to it. Feels like just at home, no joke. I understand that this place is new and the service is not as good as you all expected. But hey, give them time. They might improve to be better. Can’t just expect a new place to be as perfect as you want.
This place definitely becomes my favorite place in the area now. I totally love their phở. Their rice is pretty decent too. I don’t really mind about the services though. And why not give this place a try for a late night snack? I mean hello, it’s open till 3AM and the place is still just as goood. I really really hope that this place doesn’t get closed down just because of some hot heads. I wouldn’t ask for anything more, especially when this place is still new and improving. Give them a chance people.

I used to come here when it was a different name (can’t remember). It had been a long time since I had ate here and after a late night of drinking we decided on some phở.
Overall it was okay. Broth wasn’t the best and tasted better after I added lots of lime, pepper, and chili. I didn’t finish my soup. And it runs about 9 and some change for a bowl.

This place opened recently, based on my understanding. I was excited to see another Vietnamese restaurant in this location. As a fledgling restaurant it made a great first impression. The place was clean and the service was attentive. The wait staff is definitely still in the process of learning, but was eager please. There is a language barrier, so the ordering experience is really «point to the menu». Modifying the menu is a futile endeavor, but not for lack of trying. If you eat a lot of ethnic food, this won’t be anything new, and if you don’t, do not let this dissuade you from coming here.
The food: my partner and I split an order of the spring rolls and the steak Phở with tripe. Spring rolls were fresh and traditional. They had pork in them, which she can’t eat, hence the note about modifying the menu. The staff tried to accommodate us, but our requests just weren’t translating.
The Phở was good, but lacked a couple elements of great Phở. The broth was not clear, it was pretty brown. Flavors such as star anise and clove were faint and should have been more prominent. The beef flavor was a little overpowering. If I had to GUESS I’d suggest that the broth is being rushed and beef flavoring is being added to compensate. That’s a total guess.
Having said that, although it’s not perfect Phở, it’s a kickass soup, and one that I would eat regularly (and my partner, the Phở nazi agrees, it’s great beef noodle soup). I would have liked a little more tripe, but there was a LOT of steak.
The best part is the variety of items on the menu. There are some unique items that I cannot wait to return to try. From escargot and a few octopus dishes to traditional fish dishes, to staples like soups, porridges (think chowder or shrimp and grits), and hot pot. The only reason we didn’t try them tonight is because we are on a mission for a new go-​to Phở joint downtown, as our usual haunts have closed down.
I’m stingy with ratings but I gave four stars because I want this place to stay open long enough for them to perfect their Phở, and for me to try everything on their menu. This place is open until 3am, and there’s no better hangover prevention than a spicy bowl of meaty noodle soup.

My bestfriend is obsessed with noodle soup. Link her a noodle place and eventually, you’ll find yourself eating there with her. It’s a good thing we both have a curious appetite for food.
Bistro Noodle is across the street from Grocery Outlet and Lee’s Sandwiches. It’s kind of in a shadier area. Walked by 3 homeless people from the parking lot to the front of the restaurant.
Even for a newer establishment, the restaurant’s sign outside already had graffiti on it…
If you can get past that, the place actually looks a lot nicer inside. You can tell it’s newly renovated and the furniture and fixtures are all brand new.
Came here today for lunch and there was only 2 other groups there with us yet service was kind of slow and spotty… It seemed like their workers were new and didn’t really know how to interact with customers that well.
The food was good enough for me to go back for lunch. I ordered the prawn and beef vermicelli bowl. The beef was really fatty and way too chewy for my taste. The prawns were good but I really don’t like it when they don’t peel them… It’s obvious that I’m going to it so you might as well save me the time and effort of having to use my hands to peel the food. I’m being picky, I know. Taste was OK. Thought it could’ve used a lot more flavor and I’ve had better vermicelli bowls elsewhere.
There’s a lot of seating inside and they actually have a dedicated parking lot which is good for downtown. Pricing seemed pricier for a Viet place. My bowl was around $ 12.

Here are some pictures to go with the review I wrote two weeks ago. We ordered the same thing except with the fried egg rolls. The egg rolls looked over cooked but were really good, especially when wrapped in lettuce and dipped in the slightly sweet fish sauce that came with them. And I agree with other reviewers that the service is friendly and attentive. Still 5 stars!

If you want Viet noodles, this is the place. Food is clean and fresh here. Staff is super nice.

Place is brand new, food and service great to excellent. Very clean, not the typical noodle house in the neighborhood, that’s dirty looking and staff barely speak English. The owner and the staff very attentive.

Co-​Worker suggested trying out this new place. Very clean inside, attentive staff, and the owner greeted us as we arrived. Modern décor, comfortable seats. Menu was pretty typical Vietnamese.
We ordered, it took about 35 minutes for our food to arrive. That’s a problem. Fortunately the owner comped us our meal, apparently there was some confusion in the kitchen and delayed our food. Given that this is a brand new restaurant, that is certainly understandable and I will try again in a few weeks to see how it is then. I ordered the grilled pork over rice, very tasty, and certainly well portioned for the price.