Mau

Fantastic food. Marinades are fabulous, every dish skilfully executed.
Would go a little lighter on the sodium (salt? soy sauce?) on dishes like the catfish claypot etc.
Go. Eat. Be sated.

Decent casual vietnamese food that is open late night and satifies eating without breaking the bank post drinking in the Mission. The alcohol menu is pretty limited, but not bad overall.
Food: Got all your favorites and a few twists on some classics. Overall, decent ingredients, large portion sizes and well priced.
Service: Minimal but quick. The second you walk in they are already trying to configure where you will sit. They take order, deliver food and you don’t see them again until you request them, in which case they are hurry over quickly.
Price: For the area, food quality and quantity, right where I would expect it to be.
Décor: Minimalistic, bright, lots of tables but doesn’t feel OVERLY crowded. I imagine it could, but that wasn’t my reaction.
Special Notables: Can’t say there is anything.

Fun ambiance, good music. R&B and pop hits. It’s too loud for a first date, but third date or coming with a group of friends would be perfect.
I ordered the grilled lemongrass pork and vermicelli bowl. It looks like phở is very popular here as well. The pork was in slices rather than bits of meat like what you would typically see in Vietnamese fare. The lettuce and cucumbers were very fresh. I wish there were more pickled carrots, they are my favorite!

Can’t believe I haven’t reviewed Mau yet, since I’m here every other week. Dinner time always seems to be crowded, no matter what day of the week, but service is friendly and food is always consistently good!
Mau is an upscale Vietnamese-​fusion restaurant, so don’t come here with expectations of authentic hole-​in-​the-​wall Viet food that tastes like your mom’s homecooked phở or bun bo hue. That said, I’m Vietnamese and I still think most of the dishes that I’ve had here is really good, and the ingredients are always very fresh.
FOOD
* My go-​to non-​soup dish is always the 5-​spice chicken. Super flavorful and moist.
* Hue rolls — one of my new favorites! Very fresh and the lemongrass pork and shiso are sooo tasty together.
* Phở — always a solid choice here
* Bun Bo Hue — also great, but I enjoy Tin’s better. Although it’s missing more traditional ingredients, I still find it very satisfying.
* Bo Kho — also another favorite, if I’m in the mood for something hearty and hot.
* Lemongrass pork bun — Refreshing and flavorful.
The Mau sauce (the lemongrass chili sauce) makes everything taste sooo much better, so make sure to request it!

Mau is a spunky place to eat. We had no problem getting a seat and the staff were very friendly and attentive.
The food looked great, and tasted pretty good, too. It wasn’t the best bowl of phở I’ve ever had, but I would definitely give it another try.

Mau? Meh.
The food was good but average.
They could’ve earned 4 stars but the service was just horrible.
It took them about 15 min to tell us that the they’d run out of the sake we’d ordered. In the meanwhile, we’d finished our lackluster appetizer (the spring rolls).
Everything came out sloooooowwwwly. Very. Slowly. And they weren’t even busy.
It was so bad that we left exact change… no tip. Maybe the second time I’d ever done it in my life. It’d have added insult to injury. No way we’d thank them for the bad service!

The food here is actually decent, but the service knows how to steal defeat from the jaws of victory.
Sat down and one of the busboys dropped a tray full of glasses onto the floor which shattered right next to us. We had to move tables and brush glass off of us. Not a good start!
For the second course, The waiter didn’t seem to understand what we wanted to order (we were reading off the menu…). Also asked for a vegetarian version of the papaya salad, which he said couldn’t be done. We schooled him on the menu (asterisks next to items indicated they could be made vegetarian). So yeah.
The Main course was incredibly slow service. And a missed item that we were charged for and had to amend.
This is a solid Vietnamese spot but you can find so much better in close proximity. They will also be less expensive (and note this meal was on the company’s dime).
I would simply look elsewhere. Another Valencia spot that misses the mark :/

Rude staff and poorly run by greedy managers who’d rather fill more tables than feed and serve those who’ve been waiting. Maybe the consistent queue makes you think you can treat customers poorly and get away with it, but watch out for that karma.
This is normally one of my go-to’s for a quick affordable meal, but this last visit left me angry, annoyed and worst of all, hungry. Ended up leaving after waiting 45+ min after ordering with a dismissive and condescending manager.
Get your act together Mau, you used to be one of my weekly go-to’s, but with staff and service like this, you’re going to lose your customers, starting with me.

Happily, Mau took us by surprise. The food and service are of the highest caliber. The décor gives no clues as to the cuisine, minimalist, clean & nicely done. So happy to enjoy a quality lunch experience @ Mau, that may just be setting a new high standard for «Vietnamese» cuisine in EssF. It is a quality over quantity orientation that we loved. Some reviewers report that Mau does not serve authentic Vietnamese food, without any specific reference to their disatisfaction. Believe it or not, Vietnamese cuisine is almost as varied as «American» cuisine. This joint was originally put together by the former Slow Club chef Sante Salvoni and Tín Vietnamese Cuisine owner Hung Dang. The food & service:
Papaya Salad: –Great– Nicely done w/​Shrimp and Squid. Perfect balance of spices, roasted peanut pieces and fresh/​crispy papaya & carrots with the requisite cilantro sprigs.
Chicken clay pot: –Great– Nice quality chicken and a sauce that could be bottled. Excellent spice combination with ginger slivers.
Xiu Mai: –Superb– Done in the traditional Vietnamese way, 3 meat balls served in a bowl w/​a savory broth. Sliced cucumber, cilantro and basil sprigs and a banh mi (the Vietnamese version of «French» bread).
Service: –Superb– Jorge, our server was friendly, knowledgeable and cheerful.
Will be back dining @ Mau very soon !

Good phở, but no better than the $ 6.50 bowl I’d get back home in Santa Clara. The inside décor and atmoshphere is nice, which I guess is what you’re paying for.

Time for another relative «miss» at Mau, where the service was a bit lacking. We walked in around 2:30 on a Sunday, and were acknowledged by a host within a couple minutes. We stood around for a few more minutes and were offered a high top. We saw that a regular table was vacant but not yet bussed, and we asked if we could sit at that one whenever it was ready. The host said yes, but another five or so minutes passed and nothing happened. A manager saw we had been waiting, and got the table bussed. We waited another ten minutes to order, and another ten to fifteen minutes for our food. Much longer than usual wait between entering and getting our food. Most importantly — the beef stew phở was very tasty but could have used a little more cilantro to give it a fresh flavor.

Four star food, but a three star rating is generous, considering the extremely slow and inattentive service that’s worthy of one or two stars at most.
An hour before its 3pm lunch time closing, the restaurant was still packed. My boyfriend and I were still seated within 10 minutes, which was a good start. But after being seated with menus, we waited around 15 – 20 minutes without any water before a server came by, and even then, it was only because we flagged him down. After ordering, we still didn’t receive any water until we reminded the server again, another 15 minutes later. 30 minutes without so much as a glass of water… kind of ridiculous.
The Hue Rolls we ordered as an appetizer came out fairly quickly and were super flavorful and fresh. Amazing starter that I’d definitely recommend. They were great with the chili sauce, which I had to swipe off an empty table since service was already nonexistent at this point, with no one coming by to check on the table.
My boyfriend ordered the Bun Thit Nuong as his entrée, but they forgot to bring the sauce that it’s supposed to come with. Again, we had to ask a server for it. It tasted great… after the unnecessary additional wait for the sauce. I had the Bun Bo Hue, which was noodles and beef in a spicy lemongrass chicken broth. I didn’t think it was as spicy as I was expecting and wanting it to be, but I still really enjoyed it.
After finishing our meal and asking the person that cleared our plates for the check, we waited for the check… and still no check. Once again, we had to ask for it again. Then another unnecessarily long wait before they picked the check back up with the card.
The shitty service would’ve been kind of more acceptable if the restaurant was packed during our entire meal, but they were winding down and preparing for closing towards the middle and end of our meal… during which the service was still terrible. This seems to be somewhat of the norm, since other reviewers have mentioned that the service is a hit or miss.
Overall, great food with god awful service. If you don’t like sit-​down restaurants with bad service, you’re probably better off ordering takeout.

I was pleasantly surprised with Mau. We were wanting phở one chilly evening and ended up here. The interior and ambiance is very nice and the food is good with very reasonable prices.
Phở– I was kinda expecting some Americanized phở when I saw all the pepper in my bowl, but to my surprise it was really good! The beef was flavorful (fatty? lol) and broth was on point. I may have found a new phở place
Catfish claypot– very popular dish that is also really good. I do think there was too much pepper but the catfish is still a solid meal choice
Imperial rolls– large enough portion to be shared or have as a light meal
Service is a bit on the slower side, so if I do decide to be a regular I may just do pick ups. All in all, a really great find!

I honestly thought they’d be a little more authentic than it was but was wrong. and not non authentic in a modern/​creative twist sort of way. Alllll of their soups are made in chicken broth.
Regardless I still wanted to try their bun rieu. Wasn’t bad, but I wouldn’t recommend it if you’re really craving bun rieu. The broth was pretty thick in flavor but seemed to rely too much on pepper flavor. I did enjoy the richness of the tomato though. I think the fact that they chose not to have any crab meat (usually made with a shrimp crab «meatball») was their downfall.
Bun Bo Hue was decent as well. but also not recommended if that’s the dish you’re craving. It’s definitely lighter in taste because of the chicken broth. Unfortunately we couldn’t taste the lemongrass flavor at all. Could also be spicer but that’s subjective.
I think you could enjoy the soups if you keep in mind they don’t really taste how they should. I guess they are «healthier» versions.
I will say that we did enjoy the hue rolls. Pork was nice and crispy without being dry and and rice wrap was nice and creamy. The mint and cilantro helped balance the roll out, would definitely order again.
I would come back to try some clay pot and noodle dishes but wouldn’t come back for the soups except to try the phở ga maybe.

[Old review from May 2015]
How to motivate yourself to go for a run: pick a restaurant destination and order take-​out from there. Knowing you have skin in the game (I.e., you’ve paid for food) and delicious food awaiting you, you’ll want to get there stat.
This time around, I called in one order of Hue (hoo-​ay) rolls from Mau. In short, these rolls are: lemongrass pork, lettuce, scallions, and cilantro wrapped in thick rice paper. Or in other words, deliciousness. They also provide a small container of sweet dipping sauce. Only downside is that these babies are a bit pricy for the size of the portion. But getting them once in a while won’t break the bank.
Hope to be back to try some other offerings!

Came here around 8pm on a rainy Friday night and the wait for 2 was only ~10 minutes! This place is interesting because it’s a trendy Vietnamese restaurant, which you normally don’t find. But with the nicer, more modern ambience also comes slightly higher prices than a hole-​in-​the-​wall place for pretty regular Vietnamese dishes. We got the grilled beef vermicelli and the phở bo — tasty, but nothing exceptional.
Oh, their sparkling lemonade is a little salty! After the initial unexpected kick, it was actually quite good, to balance out the sourness.

TLDR — nice ambiance, okay Vietnamese/​Asian fusion food at higher prices than actual authentic Vietnamese. basically «fancy» Vietnamese
For a pretty late lunch (like 1:30pm) on a weekday, this place was surprisingly busy. No wait for bar seating but a table would’ve required some wait. The atmosphere of the place was nice and more on the trendy side of Asian restaurants. Food, on the other hand, was just okay, although I didn’t try much so I’d still be willing to come back and try more of their food. Prices are definitely on the more expensive side though, especially for the portion sizes.
I stopped by for a quick, light lunch and got the LOTUS ROOT SALAD ($ 11.50), which was decent but not particularly memorable. Light and healthy tasting (minus the fattiness of the pig ear and the crunchy rice chips) and a pretty crunchy salad overall with the lotus root, carrots, celery and bell peppers. I was expecting the lotus root to be crunchier but they reminded me of limp celery. Definitely pricey for a pretty small salad.
If you’re looking for real Vietnamese food, I don’t think you’ll find it here. But for a trendy Vietnamese place, Mau isn’t bad, especially given there aren’t as many fancy Vietnamese spots in general.

If possible, I would give Mau 3.5 stars – for the nice ambiance, wine/​cocktail options, and fun 80s music – but I simply didn’t feel there was anything spectacular about the dining experience.
The restaurant doesn’t take reservations, so my girlfriend and I hopped in an Über and headed over hoping there wouldn’t be too long of a wait. Luckily, even though we arrived at 8:30 PM on a Sunday evening (of a long weekend) there was no wait time. Possibly the cold, rainy weather helped us out there a bit.
A very nice server quickly greeted us at the door and ushered us to our table. After giving us some time to peruse the menu, our order was taken and we were promptly served our food. Our waitress was extremely friendly and accommodating and I have no complaints about the service. The décor of the restaurant is quite pleasing as well and fits in nicely with the rest of the restaurants lining Valencia Street. And as for the food, there was no problem (well at least not with mine). The problem though is that I felt as if I could have something fairly comparable at any number of Vietnamese restaurants in the Bay Area.
Here’s what we had to eat:
Spring rolls: The ingredients were all fresh, and the nut sauce was delicious, though it wasn’t better than what I’ve had elsewhere.
Frog legs: These were actually quite delicious, especially when paired with the accompanying salt-​jalapeño dip. That said, this was actually my first time trying frog legs, so I have no basis of comparison.
Phở bo: It was very tasty and took care of the phở craving that had been building up over the evening. Then again, it wasn’t especially better than other phở I’ve had in the past.
Bun Thang: My girlfriend ordered this, but neither she nor I particularly liked it. I don’t think it’s fair to include this in my personal rating of the restaurant as it contained mushrooms, which I dislike, and I would have never ordered it for myself. I will note, however, that it is not specified on the menu that the dish contains mushrooms. That should be corrected.
To drink I tried the Phở-​get-​me-​not and my girlfriend had a glass of pinot noir. Both drinks were good, but neither was something I would be overly eager to try again.
So, with the exception of the frog legs, the meal was good, but just not very noteworthy.

This place is truly cognizant of the Mission neighborhood, and while the ambiance of the restaurant is on point and has a lot of potential, I couldn’t help but feel underwhelmed by the food.
We stopped by mid-​day during Santa Con for a quick bite to eat with ample seating available, but took about 10 minutes before we were actually seated. I was craving for something spicy, so I decided to go with the Bun Bo Hue, which had the spicy chicken broth. While the portions included a good dose of pork sausage and beef shank, but man… the noodles were pretty subpar compared to what you would typically expect from a Vietnamese restaurant, not to mention there were hardly any noodles in my bowl to begin with.
Also, their dishes are typically $ 2 – 3 more than the average Vietnamese price points. If you’re looking for authentic phở from your typical mom and pop shop, this probably isn’t the place for you. Love the interior design and open space though.

4.5 stars. Mau is my go to Vietnamese place in the mission. Yes, service is sometimes shotty, but the delicious food makes it all worth it. That being said, I think you have to have the right perspective about Mau. It is not the authentic vietnamese cuisine found at a hole in the wall in the Tenderloin. It’s not going to have your mother’s phở broth that is cooked for over 10 hours. It’s more modern and fusion-​y and you definitely pay a premium for that. I mean, come on, it’s on Valencia in the mission.
I always order the spicy chicken vermicelli. The chicken is so flavorful. Normally, I never order chicken because I have a phobia of dried meat but not in this dish! It’s sooo moist (Ew, did I really just say moist?) And because I don’t want to forgo my second favorite dish, I force the boyfriend to order the pork chops. So juicy and thick (This review is getting too rated R). Now drench everything in fish sauce and enjoy!
-.5 for the overpriced coconuts. Mf*ing $ 6!?!

Me encantó. Lo primero que ordené fue Bung Thang y no me gustó para nada, luego ordené un LEMONGRASS CHICKEN y pedí que le agregaran vegetales y estuvo increible. Buen servicio.