Perilla

I’ve been to the Sunset location several times and love their vermicelli but this time we ordered from Caviar. We ordered a chicken vermicelli and a veggie vermicelli and shrimp rolls (these have mint in them btw). They ran out of veggie vermicelli and instead gave us 2 chicken vermicellis (sorry for not picking up the phone!)
I honestly really enjoyed the vermicelli, which was simple enough with salad, a huge bed of noodles, with juicy pieces of chicken on top. The sauce/​dressing comes on the side. The meal tasted really light and fresh and best part of all, the portions were huge!

Review for a catering order for a meetup. Ordered three items for a group of 10: the veggie vermicelli noodles, chicken vermicelli, and veggie spring rolls. With delivery and tip it was about $ 20 a head which was not bad considering we had lots of leftovers.
Chicken had crispy skin, tasty spiced but not hot seasoning. Looked like dark thigh or leg meat, a little on the dry and tough side. The pan had a generous amount of rice noodles but not skimpy on the chicken either. Veggie pan had cabbage, mushroom, bean sprouts, green onions. Both had crushed peanuts in a container on the side to sprinkle on. The veggie dish was lacking in more tofu or protein. Spring rolls were great! Wrapped in rice paper, cut in half with same as the veggie dish but more slivers of tofu and bean curd.
Not bad, tasty food, good service. Dishes were a little too greasy and not very fresh, but that’s to be expected for a catering order.

Food (⁴⁄₅): My bf got the garlic noodles w/​five spice chicken, and I got the curry chicken noodle soup. I loved the soup, which was super flavorful and filling. They give a ton of noodles — I wish they gave more soup to match haha. But the chicken, potato, and noodles were all cooked really well! I opted for the wider noodles, but you can get thinner rice noodles as well.
My bf and I also loved the five spice chicken — it’s pan-​fried, I think, so it was moist but crispy on the outside. The garlic noodles were a little dry for my taste, and the broccoli was a bit undercooked, but overall I’d def get either of these dishes again.
Value (³⁄₅): It’s not that much food for $ 12+ haha, I think a fairer price would be $ 9. The soup is filling since they give you a ton of noodles, but I don’t think either of us would’ve been full just with the garlic noodle dish.

Very quick delivery. Their Garlic Noodles with Pork is the best! And we loved the veggie spring rolls too.

Pros:
Big bowl of phở
5 spice chicken is
Workers are really nice
They gave me extra spicy chili paste when I requested to add something spicy
Thin and thick noodles (you can choose!)
Cons:
The noodle soup is flavorless :(
So bummed! Everything was looking so good but then the soup itself was the most flavorless phở I’ve ever had. I kept trying to add things (soy sauce, hoisin sauce, chili paste) and it just wasn’t doing it.
The 5 spice chicken on the other hand was the best chicken I’ve ever receive with a bowl of phở. If I were to go back, I’d maybe try garlic noodles or some other menu.

Straight forward service. Nice people and a good atmosphere. Very esthetic small restaurant. Really liked it !
5 spice chicken was great!

#27/​2016
I’ve enjoyed Perilla’s addictive 5-​spice chicken and garlic noodles for years: Juicy, flavorful, succulent slices of chicken that I’ve tried to duplicate in my kitchen but haven’t (yet!) been successful.
Paired with buttery garlic noodles studded with so much minced garlic, you could walk through Golden Gate park at night and scare away vampires.
The combination is truly delicious and I seem to order only that for the past few years.
But, I have broken from habit or ordered a different dinner for little one and we’ve had the grilled prawns and vermicelli (I recall it was light on the amount of shrimp), the grilled pork and garlic noodles (very good) and had my socks knocked off by the yellow curry chicken soup, comforting on a cold and rainy day.
Appetizers are just ok except for the grilled pork rolls which are very savory, especially with the vinegary dipping sauce.
Extremely disappointing are Perilla’s Imperial rolls. Being a Vietnamese restaurant, this classic dish should be a slam-​dunk but Perilla’s are anything but: Rubbery, almost chalky, as opposed to crispy-​crunchy and savory, there’s something really wrong with their recipe and it’s wrong in both the Irving Street and Haight Street locations.
Conversely, their Thai iced tea is wonderful, the perfect meal accompaniment/​dessert.
3.5 stars rounded up to 4 stars for the extra good service (both at the restaurants and for delivery) and for their 5-​spice «crack» chicken.
Perilla’s chicken really is the bomb.

We came here on a Saturday evening. It was busy but we got a nice table for two along the wall. Service was very good.
My partner had phở and liked it very much while I had garlic noodles, also very good.
There is another Perilla in the Inner Sunset which is closer to our home, but this place was just fine.

If you’ve ever eaten at a Perilla, you know what to expect. They serve a variety of different things, many of which you can find at other Vietnamese restaurants (rice plates, vermicelli bowls, rolls). But I come for the garlic noodles. Fun fact: garlic noodles are purportedly a San Francisco dish, originating from Thanh Long and Crustacean in the Sunset.
If you’ve never had Garlic Noodles before, I’m not sure how to describe it other than garlicy, buttery, and carby. I love them and know many others who love them as well. But I know just as many people who don’t like them and find them bland and boring. I have never known a dish to be so polarizing! But my vote is for ‘yummy’, and I normally get them with the moist and flavorful Five Spice Chicken. But the pork is also a winner (never had it with beef, so can’t comment on that end).
The prices are a bit higher than the Perilla Sunset prices, but I think on par with the Perilla Financial District prices. It does take quite a bit longer for the food to come out as well, versus the other two locations.
I really really wish they were open at lunchtime. Originally they did serve lunch, but apparently business was too slow and it wasn’t worth it. They used to serve Banh Mi at lunch, which quickly went from $ 5, to $ 7 with a drink. It was a solid Banh Mi that took forever to make and was expensive (Dinosaurs prices!). I don’t even know why I mention this, as it isn’t on the menu anymore.
I would recommend for anyone who likes a heavier (and yes, greasier) Asian option. It has slower service and a pricier menu than you’d get in the Sunset. But I live here and not the Sunset, so I’m more than happy to pay extra for a closer place to get my garlic noodle fix.

Perilla on Haight! Best place on the block! I go here when I’m craving good Vietnamese food! Best garlic noodles in San Francisco! I really enjoy the owners, very professional and easy going! Not to mention they’re extremely fast with orders! Food is always hot and fresh! Thank you Perilla for serving my taste buds every time!

I had been to the sister restaurant in the Sunset a while back and had not been impressed.
This place is similar: overpriced, greasy and not authentic Vietnamese. The casual setting is OK but doesn’t make you want to stay and eat. It will be my place to go when I am craving Vietnamese food but am too lazy to make it to the Tenderloin for the real deal.

Garlic noodles with five spice chicken — 3.5 stars
Thought the chicken was really good; nice and tender, fried well with good flavor. Thought the noodles were lacking though. It needed more butter and oil (and I usually don’t want a lot of butter or oil in my noodles). As a result, it was a bit more dry than I would have wanted.
Vermicelli noodles with sautéed vegetables — 3.5 stars
Overall okay/​slightly above average, though wished it had more sautéed vegetables.
Cabbage with fried tofu — 3 stars
Definitely just average. Came with lots of cabbage (probably too much) and some fried tofu (could use more) and fish sauce or soy sauce. Wouldn’t recommend this appetizer, as it was on the dry and bland side.
Service was great though, even though it’s the kind of restaurant where you order first and then grab a seat. The owner (?) checked on us a good number of times and was very friendly. Based on these reviews, would give it a 3.5 overall. Decided to round up because it’s a new restaurant, has vegan options, had good service, and I want to see them succeed. Would try again, and hope some of the items improve (it is a new store).

Iza’s line was way too long. It was cold and rainy so we opted for Perilla instead. I can’t say I was thrilled about my meal. I would probably be more satisfied at PPQ.
Interesting set up. You order, grab a number, and the food is brought to your table.
The curry chicken noodle soup was bland. The curry flavor was barely noticeable and they use chunks of chicken thigh. I’d personally prefer white meat chicken, but hey, maybe that’s just me. I couldn’t finished mainly because I wasn’t satisfied with the flavors.
The garlic noodles are standard to their sister restaurants but I felt the garlic flavor lacking in comparison to Swamp or PPQ Dungeness Island.
My friend ordered the five spice chicken vermicelli. The chicken skin was rubbery and not crispy enough. Added the imperial rolls for $ 2.65 but really, it’s adding ONE imperial roll for $ 2.65.
All in all, the meal seemed pretty pricey for 2 in terms of what you get. About $ 35 without drinks and tip.
Pro tip:
Come after 6 for free metered parking.
TLDR:
Go to PPQ if you’re craving garlic noodles or phở.

This place is really good. I was so happy to find another location because the one on 1^st st. in the financial district is only open certain days and only for lunch.
The garlic noodles are so good. It’s not greasy like some places. My favorite one is the grilled prawns with noodles.
Perilla will be my new go to place when I’m craving vietnamese garlic noodles.

To sum up my experience here I’d say that I just wasted $ 40 on bad food and bad service. I wouldn’t give this place any stars, but since it’s not possible I had to give them one star.
When you first walk in they tell you to sit down anywhere you’d like then hand you a menu. Then they tell you to go to the front to order your food. We ordered chicken phở, beef phở, & a prawn vermicelli. We also ordered a Vietnamese iced coffee which was not your traditional Viet coffee. It was weak watered down coffee. All of the phở is made with a bland chicken broth. The «beef phở» was more like chicken phở with a side of barbecue beef, and did not taste good together. The beef was really salty, and no matter what, nothing seemed to make the broth taste better. The chicken phở was not seasoned properly and the chicken was dry. The vermicelli the best out the three dishes we had but still wasn’t good.
Overall, it was a bad experience and a waste of money. I will not be coming back here. Nor would I recommend this place.

Closer to 2.5 stars but hell, I’ll round up. It was my first time at this restaurant (from what I understand, there are others). It’s a hybrid service establishment — order, get a number, sit down, stare at the encroaching bros on Haight St, food brought out to you. I’ll break it down phở’ sho’
The food:
— Rice/​noodle based. No Bahn mi, but I saw an addition of another Phở dish. The vegetable over noodles was aiiite, nothing to get paroled early for
The atmosphere:
— Fast food type of joint, service was pretty friendly. Front counter lady tried to be accommodating. Not the place to propose to your gf/​bf/​gerbil in
Why the 3 stars? I took 1.5 for them messing up my homie’s order (and not fessing up until he called them out on it). The 0.5 is for being a chain-​ish restaurant. Poopers.

This is the 3^rd location of the popular local chain.
Perilla sells vermicelli bowls, garlic noodles, noodle soups, and rice plates with various types of meat in the $ 10 — $ 12 range. The portions are large. The pork chops are flavorful, and the imperial rolls are nicely fried. I like the vermicelli bowls best. The noodle soups are pretty light, and the garlic noodles are a little dry.
Order at the counter and have a seat. Beer and wine available. Water is self-​service.
Perilla is a good option for a quick meal, but for Vietnamese food in this neighborhood, I’m still partial to Jasmine Garden.

Did you know that Perilla is the name of a fine American bistro-​style restaurant run by a former «Top Chef» winner (review:
)? It’s really excellent, but that place is in the West Village in NYC and doesn’t have anything to do with this place so who cares? No, the only thing in common is the name, an this Perilla is related to the two other locations on Irving Street in the Inner Sunset and on Mission near 2^nd. It’s the Mission Street location that has provoked me to have a long-​running hankering for Five-​Spice Chicken with Garlic Noodles, but the problem is that it’s only open until 3PM.
My hankerings usually occur after work, so that was a perennial bummer until I discovered that this Perilla is open for dinner until 9PM. Got it so far? Anyway, the best part is that it’s an easy 6 or 7 MUNI ride away from Downtown. It’s in that convenient hub of eateries in the Lower Haight where Wonderland, Taqueria Estrella, Café International and now Stone House are. When I first walked in, the place looked somehow incomplete as if they were still waiting for their Cost Plus home décor shipment. But the menu was complete, and like the Mission Street location, you go up and order at the front counter.
It’s probably not a shocker that I ordered the $ 11 Five-​Spice Chicken and Garlic and Butter Infused Noodles (photo:
). How exactly do you infuse butter into a noodle? Is there a woman back there with a hypodermic needle and steady hand giving each strand a shot? Well, whatever they do, it’s worth it because the thick buttery noodles draw me back to Perilla time and again. So does the chicken which never fails to be plump and juicy with the right amount of crisp on the skin. The broccoli always tastes like an afterthought but it doesn’t matter because I can have this dish for dinner now. It’a all about me.
FOOD — 4 stars… they infuse butter into their noodles and plump up their chicken… delish
AMBIANCE — 3.5 stars… kinda bare bones but who cares?
SERVICE — 4 stars… you can tell they pay attention to their customers here
TOTAL — 4 stars… it’s what’s for dinner

Location blah
Variety blah
Price
Food is alright. Only Vietnamese in the area. The coworkers and I decided to try it out one day. I ordered the imperial rolls ($ 8) the garlic noodles and five spice chicken.
3 egg rolls for $ 8 that weren’t special
Noodles and chicken for $ 11 were pretty bland
Coworkers tried the vermicelli bows which they said was alright.
Bun mi was pricey but alright

The ambiance is nothing to praise, that part can be skipped over. The device as well. You order as soon as you get in and then they bring the food to your table. Nothing to really comment on here.
The ACTUAL FOOD THO. it was great. The garlic noodles were nice and garlicky, just how I like it. The beef was tender and not too chewy, the five spice chicken was dark meat and had a nice crispy skin. I wish I hadn’t shared my chicken, because the skin was that good. My only negative comment is that the broccoli was super cold, definitely on purpose cold, and I wasn’t really vibing that. But seriously, the food is good and I recommend it.