Mai’s Kitchen

Best customer service I’ve seen … The combination fried rice was really good … And you can’t go wrong with the phở. Will be visiting again.

3.5 solid banh mi. I appreciate that they’re open late which is when I went. Was looking for a late night snack and my bf frequents this place. I wanted to try something new so I ordered their steamed pork banh mi which comes with mayo and pâté. I also asked for a fried egg on mine which they forgot to put. The guy was apologetic so I appreciated that. Food came out fast and it was a pretty big sandwich for just under $ 5.
I think the steamed pork was a poor choice. It didn’t work well in the sandwich. I should have gotten the grilled or bbq pork/​chicken but that’s what happens when you try something different. Everything else in the sandwich was tasty. I wasn’t too fond of this particular pâté. I found it to be really gritty and almost flavorless. I tried my bf’s banh mi which was the grilled pork with a fried egg and it tasted 100x better than mine. I atleast know what to order for next time.
My sandwich wasn’t horrible but I should have picked something else and I will next time and will update.
Other: place is pretty small so not ideal for large groups

Staff is great, portions are even better.

This place is a little more for banh mi than others in the area, but it’s well worth it. The banh mi is LOADED with the meat of your choice. FYI adding an egg is an option! ;)
It took a little longer than expected for my togo order, but well worth the wait!
Will definitely be back!

Just moved to the area and have been looking for our go to Vietnamese/​Phở restaurant. Looks like we’ve found it. We ordered 2 apps, 2 phos, 1 rice dish and a red bean drink. I was all delicious. The broth was clean/​clear with no bits of fat or too oily, the meat rice dish was grilled perfectly and the egg roll appetizers were freshly made.
The restaurant itself was a bit of a dive but was expected. Everything was clean and the staff was friendly. A Winner!

Phở broth is very clean and seasoned right. An upgrade on noodles would do a great favor.
I can really order anything from this menu and be satisfied.

Despite the size and appearance of this place, the food is really good. The spring rolls are fresh tasting (the skin isn’t hard or chewy). Their Phở house special (#25) is really flavorful. The broth isn’t too rich (i.e., oily) but the flavor is all there. The meat is cooked well, and the tendon is soft and just melts in your mouth. The noodles are a bit firm but I prefer that over soft /​soggy noodles. My husband got the grilled combo vermicelli noodle bowl with pork, prawn, and eggroll (#43). He was pretty happy with it. I tried a bit of the grilled pork and it was tasty, and not dry at all.
One thing that tripped me up is that tea is not complimentary. It was expensive if you think about it – we got one tea bag in the pot and were charged $ 1.25. Oh well. It was cold that night and we like our tea.
Will keep this place in our rotation of East Bay restaurants.

The anchovy bahn sandwich is soooo tasty! Not too salty. Just right. Awesome sandwich if you’re craving something savory.
Really friendly service and no minimum credit card orders!

I decided to give them 4 stars (which is a good thing!) for two reasons:
1.) I would definitely go back to try more dishes despite the fact that I did not like the free range chicken phở (simply because of the bones in the chicken– the taste of the chicken, the broth, and the noodles were actually quite good), and
2.) (According to my Vietnamese friend) the Bun Bo Hue was good.
Yay, we had good food!

I met up with some old high school friends here for a nostalgic, catch-​up dinner when an out-​of-​town friend came back for a brief visit. This restaurant was tossed out as a suggestion and we all decided it was a great choice, if only because the rest of us couldn’t be bothered to look up another place. I’m glad we didn’t — the food here is pretty fantastic!
Two of our party were about 30mins late in showing up, so the waiter actually gave us a little hand bell to ring once our entire party was at the table! We didn’t necessarily use it, but it was an adorable and personal touch :)
I ordered a combination beef phở and it was delicious! Not overly salty and they’re pretty generous with the meat too! The décor may be a little divey, but I honestly feel like a dingy interior is a sign of an authentic Asian restaurant. If I’m ever out in the area again, I would definitely stop by again!

Atmosphere: viet music blasted from a stereo. Left the door wide open so it was chilly on a fall day.
Décor: usual viet low key glass tables. It was sticky…
Food: very mediocre-​below average. There was a dead knat in my lettuce. The grilled pork was tough, almost like eating a jerky. Portion was good tho.
Will I be back? Nope. There are definitely better viet restaurants in union city/​neighboring cities.

Beef round steak phở was just alright. Ample fresh, squeaky clean veggies come out with it for you to decorate your phở accordingly. A lot of phở houses give you less or poorly washed veggies for the cause. Phở bowls are medium in size, but are large in meaningful foodstuff. They should be as this phở house commands a price premium. Onto the flavor: meh, I’ve had more flavor in the soup/​broth. The cleaner tasting soup is in line with what appears to be this joint’s core competency: cleanliness.
Nonetheless, it was a surprise to me because I’m used to phở that is MSG-​licious.
For an appetizer, I ordered the Nem Nuong (seasoned, ground pork and veggie wrapped in a rice wrap, spring roll). It’s, again, fresh and immaculate. But the flavors of the spring roll and dip were a bit too under powered when compared to the best (Brodard in Orange County). Worse part about it, the crunchy fried egg roll-​like substance found coiled tight inside the wrap was hardened and dried out.
Overall, good neighborhood Viet food but not the best. I’ll be back to try their banh mi for sure as other reviewers claim those Viet sandys are excellent here.

Perfect place for chicken phở! You can get free range chicken meat for additional .75 cents. Their filet mignon rice place is delicious! The rice that comes with it is good. It’s a cute family owned restaurant. I had definitely come back here to try some bahn minh sandwiches.

After a late afternoon freezing hike, I was in the mood for a hot bowl of soup. I decided to give this place a try after seeing it across the street from where I get my haircut. The place itself is pretty small, maybe 5 – 7 tables at most. (Side Note: I think this place was where Burrito Supremo used to be.)
I ordered a regular Mi Seafood Combo egg noodle soup. The broth was good! However, the portion was really small for a regular. It looked extra, extra small hehe. 2 pieces of shrimp, a few slices of meat, imitation crab!, a little bit of veggies. It was a bit pricey too, it came out to be 9.87 with tax. I could have gotten a large at Phở Pasteur for that price hehe.

1.5 Stars rounded down
I ordered One (1) Phở Dac Biet (Special Combination) LARGE to go and just finished it.
The meat and soup were both underwhelming, not bad but not great.
Why the low rating? First off, it is much more expensive than the surrounding phở places. The LARGE bowl ended up costing $ 11.24 (after tax), I was caught by surprise whren he told me how much it was. He confirmed that was the correct pricing for a LARGE bowl of phở.
You’ll notice that I put the word LARGE in caps 3 times so far in my review because I wanted to emphasize that I got a LARGE order, he even repeated it to me about 3 – 4 times. Now what did the large bowl of phở come with?
Normal amount of noodle from a normal bowl of phở. Fine, I can live wiht that. But how much meat? It came with 3 small pieces of flank steak, 3 small pieces of rare steak, and 2 half pieces of meatball… and that’s it! What? Really? Yes. Yes really.
They either ripped me off with not a large order (after I confirmed with them when I actually got my order it was a large order) or the normal order (for $ 8.75) must be only 1 piece of flank steak, 1 piece of rare steak, and 1 piece of meatball. And even then, for an additional ~$ 1.50 (pre-​tax), it is not worth the upgrade.
Just wanted to give a new place a try instead of going my normal go tos, learned my lesson.

I do enjoy Mai’s kitchen food, however, the past 4 times I’ve tried to eat here, (since January) they’ve been CLOSED!
Thank you for wasting my gas and time. I give up on trying to dine here.

Tied for the best phở in Fremont/​Union City (with Phở Pasteur). Mai’s Kitchen is always packed and you come here for 2 things (and only 2 things according to most people)
1.) Beef phở bowl $ 9 — really rich flavor that you know took many hours to make and the meat has a great variety and various textures. Huge fan.
2.) Vietnamese sandwiches $ 4.50. Get grilled pork which has tons of flavor (add a fried egg if you want too). It’s large and really good.
The owner is also really friendly.

I came here on the recommendation of one of my Unilocal friends, and assured him when in Union City I’d give it a try.
The restaurant is located in a small strip mall near the BART station. When we arrived, we were greeted by the owner and got the last seats. The two page menu is right there under the glass laden table.
After a while, the lone guy who works the front end took our order, and brought water. Most of the other customers were still waiting for their food, so we knew we’d be in for a long wait.
Mai’s is up there with some of the best chicken phở I’ve ever had. Although I ordered the grilled chicken with rice plate, which was delicious, I tasted one of my party’s phở and wished it was mine! Tasty broth, lots of meat and nicely seasoned.
What makes this place five star, is the friendliness of the guy running things. There are continuous music videos going, and he spotted my mom. He found a video with old fashioned music, and began to sing to her. She was really taken back by that gesture.
Good food, good entertainment. This more than makes up for the long wait for the food!

Short Story: The best phở place between Union City, Fremont, Newark, and Milpitas!
Long Story: I came here on a Thursday night as we had exhausted all the other phở places in Fremont, Newark, and Milpitas. When we got there we were promptly greeted and took a seat at the table. The menus are easy to understand and the prices are fair. We ordered the spring rolls, phở with meatballs, and a combination phở. The food did take a bit more time to cook compared to most other places but you are rewarded for your wait. The food here rocks, rocks, rocks!
The only down side is that the broth is more oily than the other places. The décor and ambiance are pretty standard. When we were there, there was karaōke on mute playing on a tv… no person was singing!
Verdict: I’ll definitely come back!

My go-​to place for Vietnamese food in the tri-​city area.
I have to admit that I like the Vietnamese sandwiches at Mai’s Kitchen better than Cam Huong’s. Don’t get me wrong, Cam Huong makes a good banh mi but there are so many things to love about the banh mi at Mai’s Kitchen.
Their bread is soft on the inside but the exterior isn’t sharp to the point of scraping your mouth. They fill their sandwiches with meat — no skimping! I’ve tried their chicken and BBQ pork. In the past I’ve avoided BBQ pork in banh mi because of how dry it can be but I like how juicy their BBQ pork is! Each bite has a good meat to veggie ratio and they put the right amount of mayo. The cherry on top is the fried egg ($ 1 extra). Then again, a fried egg makes everything better. One sandwich leaves me very full. At $ 3.99, you get the most for your money. You can also add an egg to any dish!
I’ve also had their nem nuong. The first time I had it, I thought it was good because I had nothing to compare it to. After having Brodard’s nem nuong, nothing can compare. I wish their nem nuong had more crispy bits and that the grilled pork was more substantial, but their nem nuong is not bad. I really enjoy the sauce it comes with.
Mai’s Kitchen is a breath of fresh air amongst average Vietnamese restaurants that lack customer service. The family that runs the restaurant is super friendly! They’re very personable. John, the owner, is so upbeat! He’s always playing music and if you’re lucky you’ll catch him singing karaōke. The environment is very welcoming — you won’t feel rushed to order and leave.
The restaurant is fairly small but very clean — it almost feels like coming to someone’s house to eat (a good thing!). They also accept cards with a $ 10 minimum. I’ll be returning regularly!