Cafe Bar & Grill

Food got worse, and the lady in charge of the phone should really get a younger person to handle delivery orders. She’s terrible!
Why can’t the Excelsior/​Portola neighborhood get good Asian food?!

4 stars for their garlic noodles. The phở was acceptable, though a bit skimpy on the chicken. If you’re going to call it phở ga, you better make sure there’s some ga in there! Am I right?
We were the only people inside when I went with my boyfriend and old college roommate. Ambiance is a bit lacking – and when I say ambiance I mean the ambiance of your typical Vietnamese restaurant – LOUD. Super quiet and felt strangely like a furniture show room.
One of the more decent places I’ve been to for my phở cravings, but it doesn’t really compare to my mom’s cooking :) Teehee.

I was intrigued by all the four star reviews so when I was craving Phở, my sister and I stopped in to place a to-​go order. We would have eaten here, but there was a crime scene taped off directly across the street so we decided, «Yeah. Maybe not»
The ambiance on the inside — modern, dark wood on cream accents — does not match the grittiness of the surrounding neighborhood.
I ordered a special combo beef rice noodle soup, which is a much longer way of saying «phở» for $ 7.50, and two Vietnamese spring rolls for $ 3.25. Be careful because the to-​go menu has slightly slower prices than the in-​house menu. I took it home and it was already cold. Boo. The phở itself was slightly disappointing. The only thing that saves them from two stars is their cheap prices.
$ 20 minimum for delivery.

Called in and placed a pick-​up order for lunch.
— Not friendly at all over the phone.
— First thing I ordered was Beef Stew. Lady on the phone said they didn’t have it. Really? I call early in the day and it’s not available. I just went with the Special Combo Beef Rice Noodle Soup.
— The card machine was broken when the food was ready to be picked up and paid for. Not sure how long they knew the machine was broken for but they could have mentioned this on the phone.
— Soup was tasty but too oily.
+ Spring rolls were good.
— I was really excited to try the egg cake but it had this foul fish flavor. Is that right?
— Skimpy with the meat for the rice plates.
Sadly, quite disappointed with my experience and the food.

This place seems to have fallen off as of late. Service seems a lot slower than it was before and yes the prices have gone up. They don’t even hide the change as all they did was write over the old prices on the menu.
With all that the food overall is still good and the portions looked to be the same. Staff is still just as friendly.

Found my Vietnamese dry noodle spot close by home :) Came here and ordered the tasty pan fried rice noodles with seafood. It was vermicelli rice noodles fried flat on each side like a pancake then cut into triangles (see picture). I only wish there was more seafood as it was served with enough to be piled in a tea cup… but there was an assortment of vegetables that made my digestion system happy. Plus, it was the same price as the chicken, beef, and pork so I shouldn’t really complain.
My brother had the pad thai, which was a larger but a milder version of the real pad thai. Nothing special. However, my other brother really liked their rice plate with the Korean short ribs and an egg.
Overall I was happy with this family run restaurant and it had a peaceful atmosphere with its modern furniture. I will visit again and tell you more about their soup.

I should have ordered the Bun Tom Thit Nuong, which I always order because I don’t wanna be disappointed in any of the items at this Vietnamese restaurant. Although the interior looked pretty suave and trendy, I tend to judge restaurants based on the quality of their foods and how much they excite my taste buds. I came here with a friend-​girl I’m pretty fond of, and I ordered it for her, and got a rice dish for myself. I got the 12:95 plate which I thought was just mehh, but if I had gone with the phở or some other item like the Bun Tom Thit Nuong, I know it would have altered my experience here at Café Bar and Grill.
Service was cool, she came when we needed her and checked up on us not too frequently but at the right moments. Just remember to lock your doors when parking as the neighborhood seems kinda janky!

this is a very chic and clean restaurant but the food is just okay
special combo beef noodle soup — it comes with flank, tendon, meatballs, and oxtail. ive never had oxtail in phở before! the oxtail meat is pretty tender but kind of hard to eat… not sure its a good idea to have it with phở. i think the soup might have be a little bland but after a hard night of partying, the light soup was perfect for me. i liked how you can choose what kind of noodles you want, but there was a lottt of noodles and barely any meat.
garlic noodles with beef — the noodles weren’t bad but i personally would’ve liked it to be more garlicky. i did not like the beef at all though. it was wayyy too salty and had a beef jerky texture to it. i think this dish will be much better if the restaurant used steak like beef pieces.
its an alright place for the area but i wouldn’t make this place my regular go to phở/​noodle restaurant.
but on the plus side they deliver to my area so if im ever desperate for noodle soup and can’t get out of bed or simply too lazy to go get food, this is a good option to have, and i would also give the rice plates a try.

I super duper love this place and see myself coming here in the future again and again! It’s close to my area and the food is great.
I ordered my usual BBQ rice plate (this time it was pork; hey, gotta liven it up right?), my mom ordered a chicken salad (super amazing!), some eggrolls (spectacular), and 4 Phos to go.
The service was really great too. The girls were nice, greeted you, accumodated you (even though I was so indecisive), and they give you these amazing fruit candies with your bill when you pay. The only thing I noticed (not a big deal) but at times they were super disorganized. But I get it, there’s a lot of customers and they’re short on staff.
The exterior of the place is… how should I say this nicely… unattractive, but the inside is amazingly remodeled. For a second, I was like, «Wait, I wasn’t paying attention when I came in, is this the right place?»
OH HEY! Also, free wi-​fi!

«It’s excelsior on the outside, but it’s SoMa inside»
The service is great.
food is good. I highly recommend getting sandwich. The bun is perfect. It won’t cut top of your mouth, but crispy at the same time. it’s less than $ 4. You can’t go wrong with that.
Pad Thai is great, too. Vermicelli is so so.
The candy at the end… the candies that comes with your bill? OMG they are soooo goooood.

I dig this place in my neighborhood, where there aren’t a lot of amazing restaurant options. It’s nice and clean with polite staff. The food is great with fresh ingredients and flavors. I love the chicken or beef phở and the tomato crab noodle soup is really tasty too!
Funny thing though — I’ve been here several times now, but due to their non-​Vietnamese name and non-​restaurant-​y location, I still have a hard time finding it on Mission!

A total dive from the outside, the inside looks like a furniture store’s showroom.
The service is actually pretty good for this Chinese owned Vietnamese restaurant. It was empty for the most part for lunch but ended up getting really busy.
* OXTAIL SOUP ($ 7) — The oxtail was bland and could have been more tender. What’s new is that they cut the tail in half to make it easier to remove the meat. The broth lacked the complexity of a great phở broth. (
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* SARDINE Banh mi — $ 3.50. They didn’t have thit ngoi (pork). This one tasted like canned Ligo brand sardines that were inside a warmed baguette. It lacked that signature spicy, sweet, salty trademark from banh mi’s I’ve had in SJ. I’d have to say Irving Café too down the block is better for banh mi’s. I’ve come to the conclusion that when it comes to banh mi’s and Vietnamese food… SJ is better than OAKLAND which is better than SF. (
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* SPECIAL COMBO rice plate ($ 12) — Came with fried shrimp cake with tofu paper (looked like fried chicken), short rib, pork chop, grilled shrimp paste on sugarcane (like a har gow on a sugarcane), shredded pork, egg cake. Not bad. Not a fan. (
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The food was average. I think the final score of this place will be 3.5 once the dust clears. I wouldn’t mind coming back to try their bun bo hue or garlic noodles. The fact that they deliver with a $ 20 minimum and close at 10pm is pretty cool is another reason to round up their Unilocal rating.(
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Café… Bar… Grill… WTF? VIETNAMESE FOOD?
In addition to the initial WTF, this café/​bar/​grill/​restaurant is very clean with modern décor (in contrast to the exterior), serves Vietnamese food (even if the name is indecisive), has an extensive menu (despite how most places specialize in either/​or), and serves up pretty decent food (despite being pretty cheap).
This is a great place, it just makes me so discombobulated!

This restaurant is quite the anomaly. It looks pretty ‘hood outside because of the area and their sign has graffiti on it. Once you step in though, it’s completely renovated and very modern. It’s more like a restaurant in SoMa. Another thing that threw me off was that it wasn’t very «grill» like and also there was no «bar» really. I guess because it’s a «café bar», although I don’t know that that means. I got over it quickly since all I wanted was my bun bo hue fix!
The waitress was very accommodating and the appetizers even came out before the entrees. Yes, highly uncommon in Vietnamese/​Asian restaurants. The BBH was very good and definitely satisfied my craving. Their pricing is about $ 1 more than other places, but it’s completely worth it since service is great and décor is way above average. Very unusual… especially in the Excelsior district. I’m glad they’re there though.

I have never noticed this place in my neighborhood until a friend of mine mentioned a place good for phở. Do not let the name full you but it just a regular phở place. This place is actually pretty fancy with a nice interior where you will not find at any Vietnamese restaurants. The food was pretty good we ordered Bun Bo Hue, and spring rolls and they both tasted delicious. Our food also came quickly. The waitress was also really nice and friendly and they have fast and efficient service. I am definitely going to come back.

I’m so happy there’s another Vietnamese restaurant within walking distance from my house.
This place is big — tables on the right side and a lounge on the left side. They were happy to switch the channel to the Giants game when the bf requested it.
They play old school slow jams which I’m glad since it’s not hip hop like every other restaurant.
–1 star for smaller portions on rice plate than other restaurants and no grilled pork roll (I came here specifically for that). Aside from this, great service and friendly.

This new-​ish and very authentic Vietnamese spot in Excelsior was everything we hoped for: delicious food (both meat & vegetarian), BYOB, nice staff & very reasonable prices. We started with two options of spring rolls, both vegetarian & shrimp /​pork. Fresh & tasty. We then had veggie & meat bun vermicelli, and I have to say as a non-​shrimper, those barbequed shrimp look fantastic. If you want something that’s not on the menu, just ask as they seemed very receptive to a few things we wanted.
Quite a hilarious name of a restaurant that serves Vietnamese food and doesn’t have a bar. Ha! The interior was very well thought out and very nice, you definitely wouldn’t expect it walking down the street outside.
Yum, will definitely go back whenever I’m in the area!

One of the POSHEST Vietnamese Restaurants in SF!
Amidst the taquerias in the Excelsior, lies Café Grill Bar, a Chinese-​Vietnamese owned Vietnamese Restaurant. Don’t let the odd name and Americanized awning fool you, Café Grill Bar serves up good authentic Vietnamese food.
Suffering from a bad hangover (Note to self: drinking on a Sunday is a TERRIBLE idea), I came to Café Grill Bar on Monday, 8.8.11 looking for some relief. Upon walking in, I had to blink several times as I was taken aback by the sleek and modern décor. Plush ivory suede sofas, candles, shiny hardwood floors, and a bar top with 2 flat screen TV’s…talk about fancy schmancy in the Excelsior.
M E N U
The menu was in English, Vietnamese and Chinese with many of the menu items not with the traditional Vietnamese names which I found a bit odd. Everything is $ 3-​$ 12.
*APPETIZERS: Several Roll selections including Vietnamese Spring Rolls and Egg Rolls
*SANDWICHES (Bahn Mi): Chicken, Ham, Egg & Ham, and Sardines
*NOODLE SOUPS: Beef Phở, Chicken Phở, Oxtail Noodle Soup and Bun Bo Hue (Spicy Beef Noodle Soup)
*FRIED NOODLES: Pad Thai, Pan Fried Noodles and Garlic Noodles
*BUN: Cold Vermicelli Noodles w/​Pork, Shrimp and Egg Roll
*RICE PLATES: Grilled Pork, Grilled Shrimp, Grilled Chicken & Special Combo
*DRINKS/​DESSERTS: Three-​Color Drink, Viet Coffee, Shakes, Coconut Juice and etc.
F O O D
*COMBO BANH MI (They call it a «Ham» Sandwich) — $ 3.50: 3 STARS
The toasted baguette was crunchy and light but sadly was the best part of the sandwich. The banh mi was scantily filled with one slice of ham, one slice of head cheese, one slice of chu lua (steamed pork), a very light smearing of pâté and several sprigs of cucumber, jalapeño and pickled carrots and daikon. Because of this, the meat and the accoutrements just got lost in the bread. Definitely skip this and go for their cooked dishes.
*BUN BO HUE: Spicy Beef Noodle Soup — $ 6.75: 4 STARS
What makes a solid Bun Bo Hue is the spicy broth filled with rich beefyness with a prominent lemongrass flavor. Everything but the broth was on-​point. The pig’s feet, beef shank, pig’s blood cubes, steamed pork was über soft and tender. The bun (Vietnamese round noodles) was al-​dente and the accoutrements of bean sprouts, lime, mint, cabbage and chilies were fresh and added a nice crisp texture contrast to the Bun Bo Hue. The broth on the other hand, lacked a deep red hue, rich, beefy flavor and spice. Perhaps, it needed to be stewed longer with the beef/​pork bones and lemongrass? Regardless, it’s hard to find a solid Bun Bu Hue in SF (Bun Bo Hue An Nam in SJ is the BEST) and it totally hit the spot.
The portion was pretty generous and I could only finish half of it, so there were leftovers for me last night!
S E R V I C E
I took my order to go, but the waitress who took my order was very nice and accommodating. I’m severely sensitive to MSG and asked the waitress if they have MSG in their food. She said, the pre-​made soup bases have very little MSG in it but checked with the cook to re-​confirm. They were talking in canto and I could hear the cook say, there’s very little MSG as well. I didn’t have any adverse reactions to the food (as I normally do with Asian food), so for that I appreciated. She even offered me a glass of water while I was waiting. Very nice.
Café Bar Grill’s food may not meet the caliber of the Viet food in the TL to a «T» but it comes pretty damn close. Thanks, Café Bar Grill for saving me a trip into Crackhead Central.

A vietnamese restaurant in the heart of Mission, what do you know, it’s cheap, authentic, and delicious!
As you step inside, the décor blows you away. You don’t expect this kind of interior designing for the usual vietnamese restaurants that expect you to quickly order, quickly eat your order, and then quickly leave the store for the next table to be seated. You can tell you’re not going to have a typical vietnamese «phở» experience.
Their menu is not your extensive phở list, there’s the staple beef phở with delicious beef broth and the chicken phở, but along with that, they have delectable rice plates where you can pick from a choice of grilled beef, BBQ korean beef, chicken, etc .
and there’s also fantastic vietnamese sandwiches in which they get their bread from the famous Lee’s. The bread is just amazing itself, because they get new freshly baked bread every morning from a Lee’s store. we got the chicken sandwich this time and it wasn’t a disappoint, it was packed with the usual, cilantro, grilled teriyaki-​tasting chicken, strips of carrots and jalapenos. yummy and sure to fill you up.
they also have these stew type things, chicken curry with taro instead of potatoes, and beef stew with Lee’s bread to accompany the meal. I had the chicken curry this time around and it came in a steaming bowl with a generous portion of chicken and taro swimming in the curry. The bread is crunchy and warm.
their egg rolls is a must-​order appetizer, it’s freshly wrapped for when a customer orders it.
they have new specials too, Vietnamese Mussels and Tomato Soup with Crab Meat, along with their house-​recipe fried chicken wings. trying that the next time I visit!
can’t get enough of this place’s take on vietnamese cuisine!
if you want to order togo, you need to place a minimum order of $ 20, but that’s not very hard to do since everything is so good, the flavors are consistent and the prices are reasonable.
there’s also free wifi for customers! and their website is coming up soon that enables you to do online order. !

The one thing that stands out in my mind after enjoying a very fulfilling meal at this new Excelsior area Vietnamese restaurant wasn’t the food itself but the impeccable service I witnessed both towards myself and other patrons of the restaurant.
There was only one waitress at the time of my visit, but she was outstanding literally running from table to table (I think there were 6 – 7 tables occupied while I was there.) making certain all the customers were enjoying their dining experience by taking time to explain the menu, making and serving beverages, serving food, checking up on customers, cleaning up and bussing tables. All the time while doing this she remained cheerful and friendly conversing with customers in English, Vietnamese and Cantonese. Towards the middle of my meal an older lady with a metal shopping cart and a toddler entered the restaurant. Not only did the waitress walk to the door to greet the customer, but she grabbed hold of the filled shopping cart and parked it within the restaurant in an area of less traffic. I don’t see that kind of service too often so a shout-​out is definitely in order.
The menu (The take-​out menu is posted in the photos section.) isn’t very extensive, but there are a good number of things to choose from with plenty of add-​on options. There are tons of photos inside the restaurant menu to help you make your choice. I was most surprised to see Pad Thai on a mostly Vietnamese menu.
For their grand opening they’re offering a free soft drink with your meal. Cold water or hot tea is also available; otherwise, you can order one or more of many specialty Asian drinks on the menu. The restaurant does not serve alcohol yet.
For starters I ordered 2 Spring Rolls and my main entrée was rice plate #26 which included grilled chicken, grilled pork and egg cake. I was quite intrigued with the egg cake, and I definitely wanted to try it.
The food arrived fairly quickly. The Spring Rolls (
) were served with a thick peanut sauce topped off by coarsely chopped peanuts. These were very good as the lettuce inside was nice and crisp and the rice vermicelli were perfectly cooked. The finely shredded carrots and daikon were very crispy but lacked the pickling flavor.
Rice Plate #26 (
) was very good as well. The meat portion on this plate was just right with three slices of grilled pork, a chunk of grilled leg meat and a wedge of egg cake. The marinade on both the pork and the chicken was delicious, but I did pull off a bit of cartilage from the chicken. The egg cake (
) is a combination of ground pork, minced fungi (possibly wood ear), and glass noodle shards baked in an egg batter. The spices used made it quite unique in flavor, but eaten on its own I felt the cake was a bit oversalted. The rice plate was accompanied by separate bowls of a cilantro chicken stock and shredded carrots and daikon in its pickling juices. I much preferred the carrots and daikon served in this manner rather than without the liquid.
There are two flat panel TVs inside. One was off and another was tuned to ESPN. The restaurant does deliver if the food order reaches $ 20 or more. I don’t think I can take advantage of the delivery option, but I will frequent this restaurant. As other reviewers have indicated the interior is quite fancy and pleasing to the eye.