Vietnamese Canteen Huong Viet

Once the only option for Vietnamese food in the Dalston neighbourhood this place has become somewhat of an institution. Unfortunately as Dalston became popular the quality (and quantity– at least for take away) of the food here went down hill. Been here quite regularly but lost interest. Shame.

I really like Vietnamese food and this is one of my favourites. Lots of things on the menu, hence great for larger groups of people. You definitely get your monies worth at this place.

Seriously amazing!
Tofu ++
Spring roll ++
And cheap!

I wish I could write a more positive review and I really wish this place was better as I’m local and love Vietnamese food.
We tried it again last night, I ordered the sizzling beef with ginger and spring onion and my husband ordered pork with crispy noodles. Thinking about it now, these are both Chinese dishes, no? Well vaguely anyway… My beef was the better of the two, we didn’t eat the pork in the end as it was very bland. There was so much garlic in my beef dish I’ll probably still taste it for another day or so.
Next time we visit, its inevitable really, I vow to order Phở as they are quite good from memory.
The staff are lovely and the place has charm, I love the sliced oranges, not keen on the noisy clearing if furniture from around 10 on a Friday night.
My advice to Huong Viet is to scale back your menu and concentrate on doing the Vietnamese dishes really well and authentically. That’s what we want!

Felt like a major hipster joint for Phở in the neighborhood. Made it for 6:30pm dinner and by 9pm the place was poppin with local deBeauvoirians and eastsiders.
Ordered the prawn fresh rolls and the prawn Phở Ha Noi. The summer rolls were good but the ratio of the noodles were too much. It was like eating a roll of wrapped up noodles. My suggestion is to get some more veggies or mint leaves or basil. It needed more. The Phở Ha Noi (prawn) was tasty. I was pleased with the broth because the Phở spots on Kingsland Road are bland and oily. I thought it was well made here and they added a nice amount of spring onions and a couple of slices of red chili peppers that gave it a nice heat. The noodles were the flat noodles, but unlike the other Phở places, it wasn’t the crazy thick flat noodles that are usually in Chinese chow fun dishes. The noodles here was a good width and not thick and soggy. Ordered size small… beware, it’s tiny. It’s more like a kid size bowl. Get the large size.
Nice touch at the end of the meal was a plate of fresh sliced oranges.

This is a great and cheap restaurant, perfect if you want to impress a date. From the outside it looks like a run-​down squat, barely anything to show it’s a restaurant. Inside, it’s a huge restaurant, with an exciting Vietnamese restaurant (I recommend the John Dory in banana leaves with hot chilli sauce).
It’s not as good as it used to be (the service has rather gone downhill in recent years, and last time I was there they had a serious leak so the floor was soaking). But if you come when it’s not too busy, you will be treated. They now sell alcohol there but it’s worth bringing your own bottle (£1.50 corkage charge) and enjoying far finer wine than what they have on offer.
You may find that first courses and second courses arrive at the same time, or that your dining companion gets served first or quite a lot later. For that reason, I would recommend arriving with the mindset that this is likely to happen, and that everything you order you are going to share, and just lots of first courses. Then, you will not be disappointed.
Especially when you see the bill, and discover that you’re completely full, and have spent no more than £15. Bargain!

I want to love this place as some of the food is fantastic but the last couple of times they brought the wrong food after an amazingly long wait. Why bother to look at the menu at all if they’re going to bring you some random dish? The boy waiting was very young so presumably born here but he seemed unable to speak or understand English. That, or he was exceptionally dim. One time they were so slow and I was so hungry I couldn’t bear it any more and walked out. Suddenly the staff were really fast on their feet as I’d had a lemonade about ½ hour earlier, refusing to let me go until I’d paid the £1.20 or whatever for it, threatening to call the police etc etc. Never ever go here when you are really really hungry.

i was dissatisfied w/​my banh mi today, so i got more viet food for dinner. my friend lives close to here, and we walked over and got takeaway. i got the bun w/​prawns, which came w/​lots of prawns, but it wasn’t bun. it was more stir fried w/​lemongrass and bean sprouts, but the portion was big, and it was tasty.
we also got the grilled calamari app, which came w/​a sauce that is indescribable but good.
everyone complains about the service, but that’s why we got takeaway, and it was fine.

This is a lovely little Vietnamese Canteen style place between Islington & Dalston.
The building itself used to be an old gentlemens bath house.
Décor is not pretty, but the atomosphere is buzzy and the food is pretty tasty.
Prices are cheap too.
Not all the meals are great, some of the mains are a bit of a hit and miss but the squid starters (both BBQ & fried ones) are gorgeous! They also do a great Phở!
It gets really busy so I would book ahead if you are going at a peak time.

Only came here because my friend said it was a good place to go for vietnamese food in Dalston and we were trying to find a non turkish restaurant in the area because friend had too much turkish food during the week, so came here as a group of 5 people.
First impressions, it looks like a chinese community centre/​gentlemen club. It was pretty empty when we first stepped in. It reminded me of Wong Kei in China Town except on the smaller scale.
On first glance at the menu, most of the dishes looked chinese to me and this is coming from a chinese person with parents who have some roots in vietnam.
I only ordered one main which was the rice noodles with seafood and skipped the starters. It tasted terrible and I left most of it on the plate.
My other friends has slightly better dishes like sweet and sour chicken, bbq lamb, beef ho fun, fried squid etc, but to be honest these are pretty much chinese.
For £5−7 per dish, you can get better value for your money in a turkish restaurant down Dalston at Mangal for the same price, or even at another Chinese/​Viet restrurant elsewhere. In conclusion I am never come back here again!
For some reason its popular with the English locals and in the night it is completely packed. I guess its because its cheap and you can bring in your own alcohol.
Tip: If you don’t see an actual Asian person eating in the Asian restaurant, it probably isn’t good Asian food.

The only reason why I’ve given this place «two stars» is because the service is absolutely HORRENDOUS! I mean these waiters «glare» at you. I’ve been here many times because I live in the East. I’ve had better phở elsewhere, but everything else on their menu is close to excellent.

Holy Crap! i can’t believe I haven’t written a review for Huong Viet yet? This is the second restaurant I went to after I moved here from the states. This is LITERALLY the closest place to buy a meal in proximity to my house. Which is SUCH treat to those of us who come from the states and the closest restaurant is always driving distance.
To be fair, it’s not much to look at, you are seated at folding chairs and tables. but the food is delightful! and the price is reasonable.
If you have never been there before my advice to you would be JUST GET STARTERS. Forget eating a meal, if you are there with a bunch of people get loads of starters to share. I promise that they are the best things on the menu. Like the crispy pancake with duck, or the soft pancakes, or the steamed spring rolls… I could go on.
If you get a main AFTER you try an amazing starter you will only be dissappointed. Stick to the starters!
They lose a point for service, because even though the staff is friendly, i can’t help but feel that they don’t want me to be there. Otherwise they woudln’t take FOREVER to come around to my table (even when there are only 3 other tables in the restaurant)

I’ve had my birthday parties here twice. This past year I was quite disappointed. Not only did they seat our party in a windowless, depressing room in the back, the service was abominable. The food was sub-​par, and they forced my Muslim friend to eat pork! Won’t be going back any time soon.

The Vietnamese Canteen has been housed in the old Community Centre and it most certainly feels communal. More than likely due to the influx of customers but it’s fun to have your arms spilling over onto other diners tables-​well I think so.
But even considering the busying restaurant, the service was unexpectedly quick and the steaming bowls of authentic tastes were soon dispatched.
We went on a weekend and had to book due to the sheer popularity of the place, you can bring your own booze (Whooo) but there is a small charge of £2.
The staff are extremely friendly and tentative, even offering to take photos of us-​how lovely.

Everything was delicious and I liked the sauces so much I even ate a bit of white rice topped with nothing but sauce. Service was a bit of a shambles as usual, but at least they’re apologetic for it.

Fantastic Vietnamese food. Pretty poor service. But then, if service was the most important thing you could always go to one of those places with starched tablecloths and sommeliers where they call you sir and charge you silly money. Huong Viet is where you go to EAT — incredible summer rolls, fiery chargrilled squid, crunchy crispy duck, the most delicate steamed seabass — all cheap, all fresh, and if they make you wait a while and seem a little unresponsive at times, you still win here.

A great place for comfort food. We went on a Tuesday night, and the place was surprisingly packed.
They have phở! It’s not exactly like the phở in California, but it will have to do for now. My boyfriend had a stir-​fry dish with chicken and eggplant, and it was also pretty good.
The prices are low too, which pretty much guarentees I’ll be going back.

My vietanamese-​food loving ex housemates-​slash-​friends took me here. And I thank you, my Ozzie lovelies. Who would have known that there is life after Viet Hoa, and that phở could taste so delicate and perfectly made? It’s even better the fact that it looks a bit ramshackle; as if the cleaner really can’t be bothered and would rather sit on the loo reading back issues of Heat magazine. It’s still clean enough that I’ve never caught dysentery as a result of going, so I shall return. The service is swift, formal, neither enthusiastic nor cold; I mean after all it’s dirt cheap so no one’s paying any notice. I’ve been to birthday parties here before which is always a crown pleaser. A bit of the old BYOB never hurt anyone.

Love this place to the bone. Authentic cooking as you’re ever likely to find outside of the Vietnam itself. The community centre setting lends the restaurant a charming informal atmosphere, bustling with large groups and romantic diners alike. The food, honestly, is unbelievable. The meat is beautifully cooked and spring rolls fresh and wholesome. Everyone must try the prok cutlets, theyre legendary. Food is excellent value and alcohol BYO so it is the perfect place for birthdays. Staff are famously forgetful and over-​worked but are very considerate when it comes to birthdays. banana fritters all round! Off the beaten track, this little gem is what makes London great.

It doesn’t look like a restaurant from the outside, in fact it could quite easily be mistaken for an abandoned building, but there is food available beyond the overgrown rosemary bushes and iron gate. Inside there is a one large room containing lots of tightly packed dining tables.
One thing you must be aware of before you go is the service. It’s can be pretty bad when it’s busy, be prepared for a long wait between arriving, ordering and your food arriving. If you go prepared for this then it can a very enjoyable evening of food. The menu hasn’t changed in 4 years that i’ve been here and there are some interesting dishes on there, some with a nice chilli kick.
The big plus about this place is how cheap it is. You can BYO for £1.50 a head and none of the main courses are more than £8.