Viet Bakery and Pho

*** Viet Bakery and Pho has closed

Viet Bakery and Pho opened pretty quickly, at least I thought they were open before they actually were. The Missus was in the mood for something new and She wanted to check this place out. Located in the same strip mall as Izakaya, Sakura, The Original Pancake House, Swabummm Shabu World, and Yokohama Yakitori Koubou, among others, this place is literally bursting at the seams and now has a parking problem to boot as the Missus and I parked on street a few yards away.

I really didn't know what the "bakery" portion of the name of the place meant....would it be a Banh Mi and Pho joint, or what? Well the bakery really does sell Vietnamese baked goods, though there are just four shelves lining part of the wall on the west side of the place.

 To my surprise the menu was full of interesting items like Banh Cuon, Banh Bot Loc, and Banh Beo in addition to Pho. Unfortunately, they didn't have a couple of things on the menu, the nice young man serving us had to check to see if they had the items we ordered. I finally relented and took his advice for what I ordered. The folks looked confused and for a good amount of time were gathered around the cash register....I'm guessing trying to figure out how it worked I guess? They were constantly looking at the rather small menu, trying to remember dishes.....things that should have probably been worked out before actually opening to the public.

Luckily they had what the Missus wanted, the combination of appetizers - Banh Beo, Banh Duc, Banh Bot Loc, and Banh It ($5.99). When it arrived we were a bit puzzled by the look of some of the items.

We especially found the Banh Beo, something we've had many times, both in San Diego and in Little Saigon were just plain odd to us. Not enough dried shrimp for a nice savory flavor, the usually toothsome discs were gelatinous, like eating plain rice cake. The Banh It, which I haven't had in a while had a greasiness to it. The best of the lot was Banh Bot Loc the tapioca flour dumpling stuffed with shrimp, which was still on the bland side and missing the smokey, tea like flavor of being steamed in banana leaves. The best thing was the nuoc mam cham, which was surprisingly spicy with a nice fish sauce kick.

After going back and forth a couple of times I settled on the Com Goi Ga, the Rice with Chicken Salad - Com Goi Ga Xe Phai (Ga Xe Phay - $6.99). This came with some broth and supposedly garlic rice.

I say supposedly, because that has got to be some of the worse rice I've had in a while. I ended up pouring the broth over the hard and dry rice, then stealing the Missus's nuoc mam. The chicken tasted, well not to be insulting but the only thing I can really think of is.......dead, it really was bland and not very pleasant. On the good side, the salad was full of banana blossom that was fresh and shiny, likewise the rau ram and other herbs. It did have too much onion in it, the Missus kept telling me to eat breath mints the entire way home....but it was good.

In the end, I didn't think it was good to not visit again....we could possibly write this off to opening jitters; the young man who brought me my order was shaking so bad we thought he was going to drop everything......when I tried to pay with a twenty they suddenly found themselves without changet. I can only imagine how stressful it was....we saw customers coming back in with orders that were incorrect or missing items.

So I decided to return and this time got what I had wanted in the first place, the Banh Cuon Dac Biet ($6.75). This time, even though the place was pretty much full, things were moving much better, but alas, what I ordered was not.

 Everything fried on the plate was dry, limp, and greasy, like it had been fried at the wrong temperature. The Cha Lua, defatted pork sausage was chewy, but had a decent flavor. The Banh Cuon were on the thick side and fairly dry. Unfortunately, I'd place Quoc Te and even Song Huong ahead of this. Heck even a middle of the pack Little Saigon joint like Banh Cuon Tay Ho is miles beyond this...to say nothing of what we had in Vietnam.

It's kind of sad, the young folks working here are really nice, ut they don't seem to have any restaurant experience or someone to train them. We really do need a place in San Diego that does the type of dishes we tried well. Hopefully, they'll get better.....

Lunch and dinner is now 30% off so you may want give them a shot and let me know what you think. After I sent a text to my good FOY "Xiang Jiao", she asked me if I tried the Pho. The only reply I could send to her was, "right now, I'm not brave enough......."

Viet Bakery & Pho
3904 Convoy St
San Diego, CA 92111

Comments

[Paulina]

Disappointing...did they have a help wanted sign up?

[Nerdswithfood.wordpress.com]

Wow. Even just looking at the banh beo you could tell it wasn't made correctly. They should focus on making a few dishes well instead of trying to make a bunch of dishes badly. Have you had the banh beo at Mien Trung? They got the rice cake part right, but I'm not a fan of the shrimp on top. It's obvious they use dried shrimp put through the food processor instead of fresh shrimp. It ends up with a funky shrimp shell flavor.

[Dennis]

I was surprised that they didn't serve Bahn Mi with a name like that. Ditto on the dry rice with my grilled chicken plate. I enjoyed the Canh soup that it came with though, very herby. I hope they get better too.

[Kirk]

Not that I noticed Pauline! I'll look a bit more carefully.

Hi NWF - Yes, it looked pretty bad. I've had the Banh Beo at Mien Trung and just about every place in San Diego. Actually, the Banh Bot Loc at Mien Trung is pretty good.

Hi Dennis - Man, that rice was bad. Yeah, I hope that these experiences were opening jitters.....

[kirbie]

Aww that's too bad. I tried going a few weeks ago at night but they were closed. I think I'll avoid this place for now and hope it gets better.

[Faye]

What was in the bakery section? Anything worth going for? It's pretty difficult to open a new Pho place in Convoy - with so many Vietnamese places to choose from - if you open a place, it better be good! I like how you give a place a 2nd chance :)

[Kirk]

Hi Kirbie - You should give it a shot, you might like it more than me.

Hi Faye - Some snacks and che mostly....didn't pay much attention since I reallly don't have a sweet tooth.

[Jason]

I poked my head in this place the other day, but didn't feel like Pho. I'm kinda glad now. But I agree with Faye, considering Pho is probably the dominant asian food in all of San Diego (feel free to dispute me on this assertion), you at least need to be okay to make it. Plus the asian bakery trend is heating up in the Convoy area too, with some pretty decent places nearby. So they picked two product areas where there's a lot of competition.

[Kirk]

Hi Jason - I'm pretty sure that many places that would not serve Pho under normal circumstances feel economically requried to do so. And really, they shouldn't.....though I'm not sure about this place since I haven't had the Pho yet.

[Janfrederick]

I wish there were more Bahn Cuon options in San Diego. Song Huong is my go to place, but it is really inconsistent. And the guy there always asks my if I speak Vietnamese (i.e., why are you here?). I always answer, "Well, I live in Mira Mesa". :)

[Kirk]

Why am I here??? That's a question I've been asking myself too many times recently Jan! I hope all is well.

[Janfrederick]

Funny how a simple question regarding language knowledge can have such deep philosophical significance.

Got some Pho weather on the radar. All is well indeed! ;)

[Michelle]

I tried this place for the first time yesterday...all I can say is I feel bad for them and I hope they do well. I had to start a Yelp Business for this place so I can upload pictures of the food I ordered there.

http://www.yelp.com/biz/viet-bakery-and-pho-san-diego#hrid:Tn9ybMArmm3wikHPU5bJow/src:self

[Kirk]

Yes, it is funny.....

Hi Michelle - I hope they do well, though they don't seem to have their act together.

[Ethan]

The sticky rice they make with flavor was so bad by the lady with pregnant told me a lie about sticky rice was really good. When i tried it,look like i took a steam rice or something, it did not sweet and it took weird. One more thing i'd ordered Che Ba Mau which had a worm in side. This restaurant is so dirty.

[Kirk]

Hi Ethan - That's too bad....kind of sad overall.

[t.d.]

Just embarrassing. I know one of the waiters and he tries so hard, but there is a very big lack of good management. And there was no one to train any of the waiters, his boss just threw him out there and expected him to know what to do.

I've eaten there a few times, getting the grilled chicken each time (forgot the name on the menu) and at first it was very good, but there food is very inconsistent. The guy in charge goes through so many different cooks. The last time I got it it was very fatty and had a lack of flavor. The texture was awful.
I don't know if it's because I'm only and English speaker, but it's really hard to understand the accents of the female waiters, and they don't seem to understand what you're saying half the time.

[Kirk]

Hi td - I think it goes back to a lack of experience overall....just kind of sad.