Halong Bay Buffet

I’m heart-​broken that this place is closed.T.T

This place has changed owner and is now called Fusion Buffet.

This place has changed a bit. I haven’t been to their dinner service until today. $ 15.95 for dinner, not to bad for any buffet. This is a specialty buffet, as it is European/​Vietnamese. I do eat at Vietnamese restaurants but I am usually only getting Phở, goi cuon, vermicelli bowl, or a rice plate. I am not accustomed to a lot of the other foods.
I had Phở, goi cuon, and made some wraps with the fried egg rolls. I wish they had basil and cilantro to go with the wraps and Phở. Atleast they had mint and the noodle. They also have the pork and whatever else that is to eat with the noodle. (same stuff they put in vermicelli bowls) There goi cuon sauce is not so great, but they had fish sauce and carrots with daikon for wraps and such.
They added a hot pot feature to the buffet. This was pretty neat. Not to sure if I was to make a soup or just use the hot pot to cook the different ingredients. I got beef, pork, tofu, shrimp, crab, onion, calamari, and some greens. Just threw it all in and picked out the food when it was cooked.
They do have some vegetable dishes, fish, and meat dishes. A lot of which I have no idea what they were. They really do suck about labeling their food. They may get more non Vietnamese people to try the different foods if they labeled and explained what things were. Even if it just said beef or pork or fish or soup. I asked one of the workers what something was and he said «Vietnamese food». REALLY??? (Oh in that case I’ll take two ! Come on, you need to be able to tell your customers what things are.) This place may actually become popular with non Vietnamese people, if we knew what the dishes were !
They DID NOT have short ribs as before. I did enjoy the ox tail soup though, it was very rich and was good to eat with rice. Atleast I assumed it was ox tail soup as it was not labeled and I just tried it.
I did not get to really look at the desserts as my wife was rushing me to leave. Staff looked to be short handed. I had to track someone down to get soda refills. I only saw one cook, one bus boy, and two servers. I will have to come back for lunch sometime soon to compare again.

This is the only Vietnamese buffet I know of in San Jose. Everyone I’ve spoken to here is very friendly and the food is great. Considering the food quality to price ratio, it’s a great choice for lunch and dinner in the area. Every time I’ve been here, it looks packed from the outside and yet there’s plenty of seating inside. So, if you see a jam-​packed parking lot, you’re probably ok. Given how busy it is, the food turnover is rapid, and that’s always a good thing for a buffet.

Take this place for what it is. And what it is is the ONLY Vietnamese buffet in San Jose.
I am actually pretty surprised at all of the hate this restaurant is getting. Sure the food is not outstanding but most of it is pretty good. They have great Viet style whole deep fried chicken cut into small pieces, and they have hot pot included which is not too shabby at all if your into cooking your own food. I for one do like cooking my own stuff so I think this place is pretty legit.
The only real knock is in comparison to the American buffets, the food is not quite as fresh. And occasionally they don’t put out shrimp for their hot pot, which is like fries with no ketchup, no bueno.
I also don’t really like the catfish they use here, it seems like the kind imported from Vietnam (Basa) not the good local stuff. The Louisiana farm raised fish always seems much fresher and healthier to me.
Besides that I am a fan and will keep coming back for the hot pot. For the last few months I have been eating here at least once or twice a week. That should tell you alot.
Oh yeah and try the potatoes they put in there curry and stews. Some of the best ever!

I review it for the price/​food ratio and the buffet food is fine at 12.75
I got the bowl of made-​to-​order soup and self-​made wraps, some fried chitterlings and chicken wings, some dessert and it’s fine.
I was initially attracted to the crawfish when they opened a few years ago, price went up since but menu pretty much stayed the same.
They did left a few trays empty too long, but not making too much also ensures less waste and leftovers
The place needs more ventilation — all the steam from food trays makes your whole body smells after a while.
I’d stay away from the ice cream freezer — those scoopers and kids handling who may be sneezing down on it are just plain UNSANITARY!
One thing I wish they do have is SHAVED ICE maker for the desserts — good idea right? Make your own tapioca like drink with Vietnamese ingredients.

Save your $ 15. This place is not worth coming to. Bad management! They put out so many flyers and deals but don’t even honor them. The workers say they will apply it but when the bill comes out, they play dumb.
Seafood were not fresh. Cut up raw fish sitting out for god knows how long. It was not busy when we got there at 6:30pm. They didn’t serve the clams or korean BBQ like in the photos we saw before coming. Probably only serve the good stuff once a week. This place is the king of false marketing.
Other than that, there was not too much food to choose from. Their «famous» banh xeos were basically just fried chips with no meat. Come to think of it, I had an oil filled dinner. Starch and oil. Lots of oil.
Bad food. Bad service. Not coming here again.

Idk why the ratings on this place is so low. I really enjoyed the food here, and the service isn’t too bad either! There is one thing that bugs me, and that is the ventilation for this place. There are no fans here to support the hot pot they offer here. It does get really hot here.
Besides that fact, the food here is pretty good especially if you LOVE Vietnamese food like me. I really recommend trying the catfish, and having a Heineken with it. Trust me on that, they compliment each other so well. Also, they have freshly made Banh Xeo (the crispy egg crêpe), and those little crispy shrimp cups (idk their name), but they are
! Both excellent with nuoc mam (the wonderful fish sauce) of course. They also have phở and bun rieu here, but you gotta the kitchen for it. I didn’t a chance to try it though.
Oh yeah, and the desserts here are awesome! They are the kind of desserts I grew up around. I don’t really know their names, but I sure know how they taste! They have che here, and pandan jelly! There’s also the sweet drink with the different types of fungus (sounds gross, but is delicious). It has goji berry in it, and has cooling properties. Idk the name for that either, but they have ice cream for all you simpler folks.
I don’t think this place is as bad as the reviews. Maybe people are just being a bit hard on this place since there are so many other Vietnamese restaurants? Idk, but I enjoy it, and I will come back. It’s 17.99 for dinner on the weekends.

Cheap ayce vietnamese food! Even the hot pot is included part of the ayce. Usually the hot pot itself is expensive at any hot pot or shabu restaurant. Came here for dinner a couple time for dinner. It costs about $ 17+ per person. This place has your vietnamese comfort food in one place. There’s phở, banh xeo, spring roll, variety of fish dishes, thit kho, and many more that you can think of. You’ll get a few dishes that aren’t your typical vietnamese food.
I took couples star because 1. service can be slow (take them a while to get our plates away), 2. takes them a while to refill some food. 3. The tables are too small if you want both hot pot and buffet food together.
Other than that, its a great place to go with your family and eat all your vietnamese and as much as you want in one place. Its always taste yummy.

I am not really a fan of any buffets, but every year on my dad’s birthday my family goes to one! We came here cause Tomi sushi at east ridge had a 2 hour wait.
This Vietnamese Buffet is alright. It has a lot of chinese food, seafood, hot pot, and some Vietnamese food like spring rolls, noodle soups, and bun bao.
I had some spring rolls, the bun bao (little cups made of flour with a paste in the middle), and some dessert which was pretty good.
I probably won’t come here again unless my parents really want to (which may be soon lol).

My boyfriends niece had her graduation dinner here and I must say that half of the guests we were with were disappointed! I was really disappointed with their food selections because most of the items looked OLD. We did come late, close to 9PM, but it seemed the food has been sitting there all day.
Fried rice-​hard/​stale
Pork ribs– no flavor
They brought out fresh chicken, again, no flavor.
Eggrolls– actually okay.
I didn’t try their hot pot soup they offer to their guests, but I did try their Phở that you’re able to get from a person who makes it for you after you choose what Phở noodle you want. I chose the Phở combination, but my noodle was still so hard, I couldn’t even eat it. My boyfriend also had gotten Phở, and his noodle was also hard.
I tried talking to a waitress, but she had a hard time understanding me, and eventually I just said to forget it.
I walked around a few times, hoping they’d replenish some fresh food, but most of the items were still old. Even the banh xao (hopefully I spelled that right) didn’t look edible, more of a plastic look. Their fruit selections actually looked better/​safer to eat than the meats.
I only had 1 plate, very small amount of Phở (2bites) and their ice cream. But I woke up feeling very sick the next morning. I would not come here again even for the price and even if it were during lunch hours. I wish I had my phone so I could’ve taken pictures. :(

If you’re going to try this place, just go during their lunch hours and not for dinner! The food is pretty much the same, except that they’ve recently added hot pot to their dinner menu. The hot pot is so-​so, with not many options for meat and veggies so it’s definitely not worth it.
I like their banh xeo (yellow Vietnamese crunchy crêpe thing) and their banh knot (little round rice-​type cakes with a shrimp in the center). Those are available during both lunch AND dinner, as well as their daily specials for phở or bun rieu (vermicelli with crab meat and tomatoes).
I’d probably go back again for lunch sometime when I have a craving for Viet food. Service isn’t bad. It gets pretty busy during dinner so don’t expect to get much attention from servers.

A Vietnamese buffet. Came here per my mother in law’s request for her birthday dinner. Boy, did I feel out of place! I walked around all the different islands of food & barely any of the food looked appetizing. I ended up having the hubs order me quite a few banh xeo to keep me full. I do believe the dessert portion was my favorite. Overall, food was just meh.
Service is better… if you speak Vietnamese. Our server took my drink order, but took over 15 minutes to actually deliver it whereas the rest of our party got their drinks since they ordered in Vietnamese, what? Oh well.
You do get a hot pot if you have 2+ people in your dinner party, which was nice. Too bad I’m not the biggest fan of hot pot.
Overall, I had a mehhh experience & I probably won’t be coming back. I tried to like it, I really did!

I don’t know how many Vietnamese buffets exist in the Bay Area but this is the first I have heard of.
They have all of your typical Vietnamese dishes, various Chinese dishes, as well as made to order Hu Tieu (rice noodle soup) and Bun Rieu (crab noodle soup). As a bonus a personal hot pot is included with your meal.
They were quick to pick up our used plates and service was generally good.

It’s a pretty interesting concept to have all of the Vietnamese favorites in one place. Great idea, but most certainly could be better executed.
The Banh Khot/​Banh Xeo station is always crowded, which doesn’t surprise me because it’s in a really cramped area. Of course, this is the same place where all the noodle soups are at, so it’s hard to get in line for any of these things, especially because these items are the most popular. As for the flavors, the food isn’t bad, but it’s not the best.
I’ve tried the Bun Bo Hue, Phở, and Hu Tieu, which were probably the most enjoyable food items at the buffet. I especially liked that the Hu Tieu comes with a quail egg. The broths for those three soups had all of the correct flavors, but if I was craving a single type of those soups, I wouldn’t come to Halong Bay to fulfill that craving. On the other hand, if I wanted to eat all of them in one sitting, Halong Bay would be the way to go. I definitely would not recommend the Bun Mang though… It has a really strange taste because of the overwhelming bamboo flavor. I normally enjoy Bun Mang, but it’s a miss at Halong Bay.
The Banh Khot and Banh Xeo are made with the same batter, which I’m sure is more economical for the restaurant, but it’s a little sad that corners are being cut! Don’t get me wrong though… I’ll still eat it!
The Hot and Sour Soup tastes a little funky (similar to frozen meat), and the Canh Chua could be better as well. Surprisingly some of their non-​Vietnamese items like the Alfredo w/​Clams isn’t that bad though.
Definitely not the best, but I guess it could be worse.

First of all, Vietnamese cuisine consists of a whole lot more then Banh Mi, Phở, and iced coffee served by scantily clad girls. And the concept of a Vietnamese buffet is definitely a great idea.
With that being said, Halong is perfect for somebody who wants to try out all different kinds of Vietnamese dishes in one sitting. You definitely get to sample a little of everything for a low price (about $ 10 for lunch and $ 15 for dinner).
It has been over a year since Halong opened, and it’s greatly improved! They improved across the board on many dishes, and even my parents don’t mind eating here once in a while. Which is saying a lot because they normally never go out to eat at Vietnamese places! (We are Vietnamese and my mom thinks her cooking is vastly superior! haha).
They rotate the noodle soups around for efficiency; for example bun bo hue is only Fridays only. My favorite dish here are the fish sauce chicken wings… just as good as homemade or at quan nhaus (vietnamese bars). Again, as a whole the food isn’t exactly top notch authentic Eastside San Jose quality but some dishes are actually cooked very well and worth eating.
The place gets pretty hopping on Tuesdays (20% off for seniors) and Thursdays (20% off for all the ladies). But even without a discount, its only about $ 12 with tax. Which is insanely cheap for what they have to offer.
All in all, give it a try. I LOVE Vietnamese food, and like to enjoy a little bit of everything and that’s what Halong offers. Vietnamese cuisine is totally different from those mega-​Chinese buffets that are typically found in San Jose.
A generous 5 stars, but Halong gets it for offering something unique and for decent food at GREAT value.

A decent buffet to satisfy your Vietnamese craving.
1) Banh Khot was my favorite.
2) Banh Xeo was secondary.
3) Black bean clams was good, but they took forever to bring out a new batch.
4) Thursday is 20% off for the ladies.
I am not a buffet person. I dislike wasting food. I think you should try this place at least once. It’s so cheap for lunch anyway.

If you’re looking for a cheap place to satisfy your Vietnamese food craving than look no further! for about $ 8 you can fill up on some delicious freshly prepared food (not the healthiest).
I’ve been here 3 times and for the most part it’s always busy, mostly loud vietnamese people. Like other’s have written the Banh xeo is quite small for how long of a line you have to wait in to get it, but its usually always fresh. I also like the small round circular cakes that are made of the same batter, not sure what they’er called. If you are extremely health conscious I wouldn’t eat too much of this stuff because it is really oily as you will notice when you watch them prepare it.
As for the noodle soups they offer, they generally rotate throughout the week so it may not always be the same.
The selection of hot foods is decent, I usually get the black bean clams which goes pretty quick.(They used to use a ladle for a serving spoon but have since switched to tongs, random I know… I notice weird things like that but understand why) They also have crab and fish for you seafood lovers, but the crabs are quite small so you’ll be working for that meat. I enjoy their canh chua with some rice. or their bo kho with some bread, sticky rice with chinese sausage. writing this at 2 am makes me hungry. =/​
There dessert section is pretty standard but they do have a variety of Che which I always enjoy… corn with coconut, red bean, black eyed peas, everything! There ice cream selection was decent, but the last time I went they only had chocolate. =(Fruits are fresh and were sweet last time I had it.
Surprisingly they do have free Wifi, the password is on the wall when you enter.

My reviews seem to be getting weirder and lazier…
I really don’t know how to rate this place because I’m not Vietnamese. I don’t know the names of the food or how to pronounce them without sounding like Unco Same and Chin from JK films. Therefore, I wouldn’t know what real authentic Vietnamese food tastes like. Don’t get me wrong, I love phở and Vietnamese dishes like every other Asian, but I can only tell the difference between rich tasty broth and crappy watered down broth. With that said, the food here is okay. It’s a mass produced buffet (think Chinese buffet but Viet… duh!) so I’m sure anyone who eats here is expecting quantity over quality. I’m not trying to sell you snake oil; there are plenty of tasty choices which makes this place pretty good in my book. There are also some dishes that are too dry or salty etc. Don’t expect some 5 star Vegas style buffet and you should leave here happy.

Gotta do 2 star at least because our server Thu was awesome and my mom loves Vietnamese food here, but as for me. Blah. I thought everything was so greasy and oily. I could not do it! I tried to try a little bit of everything, but I ended up either tossing the rest or giving the rest to my mama. Yeah, I know wasteful. I only took a small portion though. Don’t hate me.
Mama likes (literally, meaning I didn’t try, but she did and she liked it!):
–Banh Khot (Fried shrimp mini savory pancakes)
–Bun Bo Hue (Soup containing rice vermicelli and beef)
–Bun Rieu (Vietnamese tomato shrimp paste with meat rice vermicelli soup)
–Banh Xeo (Vietnamese savory pancake — description below)
–Curry Escargot
–Black Bean Sauce Clams
–Ca Kho (Caramelized fish)
Give it a try:
–Salad was good, still drenched in the nuoc mum (fish sauce).
–Canh chua ca bong lau (Catfish soup). Believe it or not, I liked it!
–Black Bean Sauce Clams
Average Joe:
–Goi Cuon (Spring roll)
–Banh Beo («Water fern cake» — a variety of small steamed rice cake or rice pancake)
Don’t do it (either greasy, oily, or just not my liking):
–Banh Xeo (Vietnamese savory fried pancakes made of rice flour, water, turmeric powder, stuffed with slivers of fatty pork, shrimp, diced green onion, and bean sprouts)
–Phở — Noodles were too hard meaning not cooked all the way and bland
Pricing at dinner is apparently super expensive, as my mom states. For three adults it came out to $ 41.97 ($ 13.99 each), two tea for $ 2.00, soda for $ 1.50 … $ 49 close to $ 50.