Lang Chay

Sadly, his location is actually closed now, which sucks because my work is a block away. The owner said the location lacked parking so it was hard for business. However! She does have two other locations (one on Tully and one on Story).
My coworkers luckily showed me this place the day before it closed (Friday ⁴⁄₆). I got the vegetarian bun «thit» nuong, which was pretty damn good for synthetic meat. The portion was also huge! If it was still in business, it’d get my business: o}

While walking past the storefront one day, I noticed it claimed «#1 Vegetarian Phở,» which intrigued me. I put it to the test the next day. I was not impressed. Tofoo Com Chay has better broth down the street, but I like Lang Chay’s noodles more. The fake «meat» at LC is better, too.
After having the passable phở, I went back to try the Duck Noodle Broth. I didn’t even finish it. The yellow noodles were not soft enough and clung to each other, so when I tried to eat only one, I would get an entire clump. The soup was tepid and the veggies were still raw. I suspect they dumped the veggies in, then poured the soup over it, ruining both the veggies and soup. The «duck» had a hard texture and funny taste.
The service was fine when I went. I did not have to wait more than 10 minutes each time.

I go here almost every weekend, because I cant get enough of the ginger phở.
The people are very nice, and the strawberry and mango soda are amazing!
The tables are always keept super clean, and the floor is spotless. It is a great place for both adults and kids to enjoy. If you have some work to do, just bring in your laptop and enjoy the free wifi (just ask for the password). I will often check my email while eating.
If you have not tried this place, give it a go. It is vegetarian, so even though you may be a little turned off my that, know that you are going to be eating phở that is low in cholesterol, and has some delicious meat substituts.

Lang Chay on Santa Clara is just amazing. The flavors, range of dishes, and consistently high quality of food are hard to parallel. Last week I tried their hot pot for the first time and was taken aback.
The best way to think of Lang Chay is vegan phở place with more variety. The interior seems standard phở; the menu is golden.
I have been in three times and have not regretted a single dish. There are a range of fresh rolls; if they’re out of one, ask about another.
I went to their branch in South San Jose last year, before this spot opened. Every chair was full and I had to wait for a table. I have only been to this location late at night (another plus – they are open late) but have to think the day where I wait for a table at 10pm is not far off.

Good vegetable phở, get the ginger one!
My Vietnamese ice coffee was only filled half way
The window advertised free wi-​fi, but it was broken at my time of arrival.
Prices are very affordable. Will be going back, though just for phở though

I tried this place again today because I already once today failed to get treated the way I like to be treated by businesses that I patronize. Alas I did not eat here.
I entered and there was no staff in sight so I seated myself at a clean table. I had my choice because there was no one else in the restaurant.
The waiter greeted me immediately after I was comfortably seated, and I told him I would need a few moments. When I was ready, he returned and took my order. He came back a few minutes later and told me one of the items I ordered, Fresh Spring Rolls, had just sold out. Mind you there had been no other customer walk in or out of that door since I first rode up on the place.
I queried how could you be out of Fresh food? Packed up and walked on.

This place was horriible. I loved this place when it was a regular phở reasutant. Then it has one of the quickest turn overs ive seen. I was in the mood for some phở so I decided to try it out with my friend.
This place is highly illigal. They charge you $.50 for water which is not allowed. All they give you is regualr tap water with ice. I think this should be reported … just saying.
I ordered the mushroom porriage and was looking forward to it. When it arrived I was dissapointed. although I expreced it to be bland it was horrible. My dish was not even prriage it was cooked rice in soupy broth. I was dissapointed in their mushroom selection as well they chose the cheapest ones available.
My friend ordered #1 beef phở. Although my friend has never ordered from a vegan reasturant I dont think she understood what she was going to get. Looking at her phở it didnt look horrable. Although the noodles were the wrong type and texture she wanted. Since the noodles are vegan anyway there is no reason they couldnt use the regualr noodles.
I have worked in a vegan viet reasurant before and know that vegan food if created well can taste amazing!!! I would not recommend this place to anyone, nor do i think ill come back.
I will say their rice dished may be better than their soups. If you really want to try something i think those might be the best bet.

I didn’t like the food at all and couln’t finish even half of it (although I’m not a picky person)
it didn’t worth the price
will never come back!

Five stars for the following:
1. Service= friendly, super polite
2. Food: Great! We ordered the bun mang, bun bo hue, lotus salad and they were fantastic!
3. Ambience: quiet, nice décor
4. Bathroom: Clean, nicely decorated and smells great! This is rare for an Asian restaurant!
5. Location: we parked at the Lee Sandwiches plaza and walked over. It’s right in front of city hall – nicely situated.
My fiancé and I have been here 3 times and the experience was impeccable. I like the lady chef she came out to check to make sure our food was okay!
We’ll definitely revisit this place.

Awesome. This is like Asian food heaven for a vegetarian like myself. Things I’ve ordered there that were AWESOME:
— Hotpot
— Some noodle with bamboo
— Bun Bo Hue
So far, I haven’t been disappointed with anything.
I hope they get more customers though, so that they would be able to stay open. It’s usually not very busy here. Why don’t people love veggie food???

Mock/​faux meat aside (I literally put it aside), the vegetarian noodle soups are decent and inexpensive. Liked their veggie phở and #34 (it’s called like flat noodle soup or something like that) although they both tasted similar. Wish it came with more tofu and vegetables and less fake meat. But I would come back!

It is exciting for a vegetarian to see a new spot open up, and I’ve been meaning to come here for a few weeks. I tried the Fried Tofu with salted lemongrass, and it was very tasty. not a complex dish, but a spicy tofu dish just hits the spot for me sometimes. I also had the «Himalayan ginger ale» which is more of a brewed drink with fresh strips of ginger, lemon, and either sugar or honey. It was great food for a cold day, and I will surely be coming back.
The service was friendly, but please do note the «Cash Only» policy.

Well I do miss the old Phở Lan since the prices were reasonable and the food was very good. I was surprised that the restaurant turned around so quickly. Service was generally okay, although I was a bit annoyed by the $ 0.50 ice water charge which does seem cheap of them since most of the time ice water should be free…
I ordered the #1 «beef phở» which is a popular dish in Vietnamese restaurants and that comes with imitation meat. Honestly for the same price you can go down a few blocks and get better phở at Tofoo. The rice noodles are different than what I’m used to and it didn’t go well with the soup. Imitation meat was also quite uninspiring. I usually enjoy phở but it’s just not good here which is a shame.

My mom was lucky and won a $ 20 gift from Lang Chay, while listening to their talk show on Vietnamese radio. So she waited for me to come home to try out Lang Chay.
To our delight, it was amazing! For food that contained absolutely no meat, it was tasty and very filling. We ordered the egg rolls and a hot pot. The hot pot was HUGE. Not to mention, It was cute that the vegetarian shrimp were shaped like shrimp. As for the egg rolls, it was crispy but not overly fried or greasy. These egg rolls were GREAT, considering I am normally picky when it comes to fried foods.
The owner, Cindy was really sweet. She came out to greet us and chatted with us too. Our server was really nice too. I have to say that the service was great. As for the restaurant, the place is very clean. A clean place to eat always makes the experience of eating more enjoyable. =)
Parking can be hard on weekdays especially in downtown. However, there is a plaza diagonal to Lang Chay, where the Lee’s Sandwich is located. So we parked there and took a little walk over. It was a good thing that we did that, because we needed to walk it off after we ate. =)
My mom was so pleased with the food and service that she’s already told all of her choir friends about Lang Chay. I hope that they give Lang Chay a try because nothing beats healthy and delicious food! Don’t miss out and go give them a try EVEN if you’re a steak and potatoes type of person. If cooked right, veggies and tofu can be super tasty too!

When I went vegetarian for a month, a friend of mine suggested this place. Thankfully she did, because those days when I was really craving something hearty, this place did really hit the spot. I go for the bun bo hue here, which, doesn’t have the same complexity of flavors you would get from a meat based bun bo hue, but given that it’s all vegan, it tastes unbelievable.
If you haven’t been here, give it a try. It’s not for everyone, so don’t be too quick to judge. Unless you’ve gone a month without meat, you won’t understand the true greatness of this place.

I was heading toward what I thought was Phở Lan, when I discovered it had been replaced with Lang Chay. Honestly I was heartbroken. I came down with a cold and was very much craving Phở Lan’s delicious vegetarian phở with rice noodles…
I slowly walked toward Lang Chay anyway, hoping there was just a change of owner and the recipes stayed the same. Obviously I found out it’s a new restaurant.
Since it’s now vegetarian food, and I’m a veg, I gave it a try anyway. I ordered the veggie special phở and some hot tea. The people there SO nice! When they gave me the tea, it was in a HUUUGE pot all to myself. Awesome for my poor sore throat. The phở came, and I was expecting to be disappointed… but it was actually VERY tasty. The broth is soooo good, very deep and soothing. Tons of veggies, fried tofu, and mock meats. One of the mock meats I didn’t like, it was too… realistic I guess. But overall I was pleasantly surprised. I’m planning on coming back to try more.

FYI: This is a vietnamese vegetarian restaurant that opened up about a week or two ago, where Phở Lan Noodle House used to be.
So the hubby and I were craving Phở (and since i am vegetarian, i need a place that serves veggie phở) and I was really heartbroken to learn that Phở Lan Noodle House closed due to a family emergency (if you had the pleasure of eating there. The couple that worked there was super friendly and cute and they always recognized me!) This place was the exact opposite. We stood in the entrance completely greeted even though there was a really loud vietnamese woman laughing looking at us!!! Not a good sign. .. .
The place is completely vegetarian! Although i am not a fan of fake meat at all, when done right I will eat it (shout out to tofu com chay) but literally all their dishes include fake meat. Ugh.
We both ordered the number one: the veggie «beef» soup. There are four different meats and some fried tofu in the dish and the only veggies in the dish are onion. I instantly noticed all the grease in the soup. Ewwww. i like veggie phở for their lack of grease. Also they used way toooooo much star anise for my liking. I added enough cock sauce, lemons, limes and jalenpenos to try and mask the flavor but I could still taste the spice.…
i may be back to try some of their veggie dishes (sans the fake meat) but i won’t be back for their Phở.

Five stars because it hits the sweet spot between food, atmosphere, and service in the $ 6-​$ 7 range.
If you’re a meat-​eater, go ahead and try this place. The dishes are tasty and hearty. Everything on the menu is familiar if you’ve been to a Vietnamese restaurant before — phở, dry noodle dishes, rice plates, spring rolls. The names are the same as non-​veggie dishes, and the plates look a lot like the traditional meat versions, which is kind of cool; you know what you’re getting. They use those clever soy bits that look like the thing they’re replacing (realistic shrimp, sliced beef, pork), and while they obviously don’t taste like meat, the ingredients are well balanced and substantial.
I ordered the special chow fun, and counted at least four different types of soy/​tofu meat in addition to fresh bok choy, topped with a generous handful of cilantro.
We also got a vegetarian phở, whose broth was out of this world. Again, I wouldn’t put it head to head with a meat-​based broth because you’d be judging on totally different criteria, but the veggie version was incredibly tasty. I expected it to be kind of «airy» without the meat base, but it stood its ground. Yummy. Served in the traditional manner with basil and sprouts on the side.
The $ 6 to $ 7 entrees are HUGE. In fact, I’m enjoying chow fun leftovers for breakfast today, and if I were not being a complete glutton, I could get a third meal out of it.

One of my coworkers entertained an idea of heading to a vegetarian place. Not knowing where she was getting at, she pointed to a vegetarian Vietnamese place that recently opened across the street from work.
As one who is allergic to MSG, I tend to not eat at Asian restaurants in general, since many places confess to using such an artificial, chemical-​based flavor enhancer, or deny that they have ever heard of, or use it.
To my delight, you can request that MSG not be added to your dish.
We ordered the special beef phở «de nhat phở chay» and the duck rice porridge «chao vit da da» (noting that both are vegetarian.) Chewing into the processed vegetable meats, it almost had the texture of very tender or flabby meat. Each entrée came with different types of processed veggie meats that did not resemble the actual meat. It wouldn’t be able to fool anyone that such food floating atop the broth or porridge is not meat, but for someone such as me who had a lot of meat while traveling the weekend prior, such vegetarian fare was a nice bit of comfort from a meat-​eating world.
My allergies attacked me over the weekend and my co-​worker came down with a head cold. The hot combination of porridge and phở brought temporary relief to such symptoms. Nonetheless, there’s nothing like home cooked Vietnamese food and this place would be a decent for herbivores, but in no way can it comparably satisfy carnivores.
So three stars. Service was okay, food was as expected and prices were reasonable. They gave us free mango or strawberry soda as part of a grand opening special. (The nearby Phở 69 charges nearly $ 3 more for their vegetarian phở that I have yet to try, as that restaurant was «closed for a family emergency» the day I tried to go there with a friend.)
My coworker tried to pull off a class act with her Visa card, but I gave her a smirk and the waiter politely declined. If you go before October’s end, remember it’s CASH ONLY as they do not yet accept credit cards. (That’s something they’ll get up and running hopefully by November 2011.)

New Vietnamese vegetarian place that opened up in the now closed Phở Lan. It’s across the street of City Hall.
We ordered 4 things:
1 tofu stuffed square from the steam table $ 2.50 — it’s deep fried w/​a sweet eggy inside. Just ok, I avoid fried things, so had to eat only the inside.
Goi Rung Ring — Salad w/​white seaweed & lotus stalk, & house dressing $ 6 — salad was ok, nothing special about it.
Mi Quang — Vietnamese veggie «meat» combo w/​yellow flat noodle $ 7 — it’s a big bowl of noodle not yellow & soup. Some fake meat & fried crispy things on the side I didn’t try.
Ca Tim Xao Rau Que — Eggplant stir fried w/​sweet basil $ 8 — Japanese eggplant still a bit firm, small amount of goopy sauce & lots of basil & orange tofu square that looked like sweet potato.
I didn’t get the FREE housemade soda, one lady said the deal ended on Tues 10÷25÷11 that’s only Day 3 & when I went was Day 4, how Cuong T. got it I don’t know. But I did get to try it Mon 10÷24÷11 and I liked it.
CASH ONLY, hopefully they get the credit card machine in Nov.
Open Daily 9a-​9p
They have another location called Dia Diem 1, 1143 Story Rd #180 SJ near Grand Century Mall.