Vietnamese in Dallas

Bep Nha

9780 Walnut St. Oak Cliff/South Dallas

972-644-6955

Vietnamese

1 article

Bistro B

9780 Walnut St. Garland & Vicinity

214-575-9885

Vietnamese, Recommended

Bistro B (Authentic Asian Cuisine) is all kinds of awesome. It's delicious awesome. It's cheap awesome. It's scary awesome. It's "Aww, dammit, this Thai iced tea has those chewy brown gelatin bubbles in it. Why am I chewing a drink? This is wrong" awesome. Bistro B is, in fact, the Cheesecake Factory of Asian cuisine. The menu is ridiculously huge, including a list of smoothies that includes the "Jack Fruit" and "Avocado Mung Bean." Also worth noting was number 424 Nuoc Lanh Chai, which is a beverage described as "water bottle."

2 articles

Cajun Corner Co

1600 N. Plano Rd. Richardson & Vicinity

972-231-5078

Seafood, Vietnamese

The Cajun-style dishes here are good, but not fantastic. There are certainly better spots to get a catfish po’boy, gumbo or fried shrimp, although we never hear any complaints with the Cajun food selections. Then there’s the Asian seafood menu. This is where Cajun Corner truly shines. Like a shrimp spaghetti served with garlic bread, crawfish fried rice and a variety of seafood “sacks” (boils) with both traditional and Vietnamese-inspired seasonings. Boils come in a variety of weights and spice levels, from completely mild to “XXX spicy,” which no one at our table ventured to order. The most popular version of the “sack” is crawfish boil with Cajun Corner’s signature “Fam Bam” sauce, a buttery, garlicky, slightly spicy mixture that permeates the crawfish, potatoes, and corn in the boil much more deeply than average. When in season, the crawfish at Cajun Corner are perfect: a natural-looking combination of huge and small bugs. Off-season, shrimp are an acceptable but less tasty substitute. Cajun Corner is a restaurant with a menu to explore as well as dishes to come back for over and over again (read: the Fam Bam crawfish sack!).

1 article

Caravelle Chinese & Vietnamese

400 N. Greenville Ave. Richardson & Vicinity

972-437-6388

Asian, Asian Fusion, Chinese, Vietnamese, Recommended, Best Of, Menu

If you're looking to feed a crowd of people something other than the usual Tex-Mex or Italian, consider Caravelle. Its modest strip mall location conceals a massive high-ceilinged dining room decked out in entirely too much pastel pink, accented with giant chandeliers and gold dragons. The extensive Chinese-Vietnamese menu offers a little something for everyone, from expected dishes like Peking duck and an especially delicious version of orange chicken to slightly more exotic offerings such as cheese lobster and green bean tofu (don't miss the addictive deep-fried shrimp balls). The bring-your-own-booze policy makes it an especially attractive option for large groups. Service is definitely authentic -- that is to say, somewhat sluggish, with definite potential for a language barrier -- but it's a small price to pay for huge platters of food this tasty.

2 articles

Carrollton Town Center

2540 Old Denton Rd Carrollton/Farmers Branch

832-768-3722

Cris and John

5555 Preston Oaks Rd. North Dallas

972-803-4750

Vietnamese, Mexican, Asian Fusion, Best Of, Essentials

Cristina Mendez and John Pham opened Cris and John in 2017 in a North Dallas strip mall — bookended by a 7-Eleven and a laundromat — and have stood out with a creative blend of Vietnamese and Mexican street fare. The center of Cris and John’s menu is the phoritto, which piles all the goodness of a bowl of pho into a warm and crispy tortilla. From there, the menu expands to bao, tacos or banh mi with a variety of fillings, or more traditional pho and ramen. Want loaded fries and spicy wings too? Cris and John’s has you covered, blending cuisines like few others in the city.

Top pick: Each week, Cris and John creates a $30 special tray filled with some of its most popular items, like Angry Pho, birria tacos, chicken wings or spring rolls. The tray offerings change each week, so there's always something new to try. If you see the option to add short rib to pho for a small up-charge, do it.

6 articles

Dalat Vietnamese Restaurant

2537 N. Fitzhugh Ave. East Dallas & Lakewood

214-827-3200

Vietnamese, Recommended, Best Of, Readers' Choice

There are many options if you're hungry for a bowl of pho in Dallas. Pho after midnight, however, has been harder to come by until Dalat, a restaurant offering a creative take on Vietnamese cooking, opened on Fitzhugh Avenue. Now you can order bowls of pho till 2 a.m. Owner Khanh Nguyen, a lawyer and a newcomer to the restaurant business, leased the former RedFork space, which is an odd backdrop for pho that’s available in beef, chicken and vegetable. The Dalat rolls wrap a fried egg roll in lettuce, other vegetables and then finally a soft rice-paper wrapper. While banh mi purists will take issue with missing pâté and grilled pork, the Khahnwiches, named after the owner, are good across the board.

15 articles

District 1

3212 N. Jupiter Rd. Garland & Vicinity

469-209-9866

Food Trucks, Vietnamese

The bright yellow District 1 food truck is hard to miss as you enter the parking lot of the Cali Saigon Mall on the corner of Jupiter Road and East Belt Line Road in Garland. It's just one of the food trucks that are parked here on weekends. Owner Dang Tran explains that the color yellow is important the Vietnamese culture as it represents fortune and prosperity. Their logo draws an outline of the gates to the historical Bến Thành Market in Hồ Chí Minh city.

This food truck not only offers Vietnamese street food but add touches from neighboring Southeast Asian countries, including Cambodia and Thailand.

Try the xiên bò nướng Campuchia, grilled Cambodian beef skewers, thinly sliced marinated beef interspersed with fat that keeps the meat juicy. Another is the bánh hỏi chiên nước mắm, deep-fried vermicelli blocks form an edible plate that remains crispy with a dousing of hot sauce and a sprinkle of pork floss, tiny dried shrimp and green onions.

When available, order the Bánh khoai mì nướng thơm lừng, chewy cassava cake, pressed inside a waffle maker to create the crispy exterior and edges. It looks like that familiar toaster snack, but far from it.

Set your tray of treats on the small folding tables, then settle and squat onto the low plastic stools. Or better come prepared for crowded evenings and bring your own chair. Being an outdoor space means that pets are welcome too.

1 article

District One

2540 Old Denton Road #142 Carrollton/Farmers Branch

972-242-2609

Vietnamese

District One at the corner of Old Denton Road and the President George Bush Turnpike in Carrollton represents Vietnamese cuisine and culture in this strip mall that is home to other Asian businesses.

Owner Tom Búi is living his dream of sharing his beloved cuisine with the rest of North Texas, serving food straight from the streets Hồ Chí Minh City. His goal is to capture the traditional tastes. Hence, you will find your favorite Vietnamese staples like banh mi and pho in the long list of dishes on the menu.

Bo ne, Vietnamese-style steak and eggs, will hit home for any beef-loving Texan. Tender steak, a dollop of pate, a single Vienna sausage and fried eggs over easy on a sizzling plate is eaten with a baguette. Bánh bột chiên, pan-fried rice cake tiles mixed into beaten eggs are fried into a flat omelet. It's best with a dip into the accompanying sauce and slather of Sriracha. Of course, the owner puts his signature on his take of the banh mi, Đặc Biệt Ông Tom or Mr. Tom’s special sandwich. His secret sauce is creamy and savory, complementing the crusty baguette.

1 article

Dong Que Restaurant

3555 W Walnut St. Garland & Vicinity

469-298-2747

Vietnamese, Critics' Pick

There are lots of Vietnamese restaurants in Garland but Dong Que Restaurant is the place you want to go if you’re interested in a hot bowl of bon bo hue. Hit the dark, almost muddy broth with a good squeeze of lime and watch the freshly chopped scallions come to life. Take a bite of the blood pudding and note its mild, mineral flavor. Stir in a little extra chile sauce if you’d like more heat. Suddenly, pho seems kind of boring. Of course, there’s pho served here as well. There are also charred and grilled meatballs you wrap with rice papers and herbs before dipping in fish sauce. Choose carefully because it’s easy to fill your table with more dishes than you can handle like the seven-course beef dinner, which you’d think couldn’t be that big for just $14.95. Don’t say we didn’t warn you.

2 articles

Elephant East

2823 McKinnon St Uptown/Oak Lawn

214-256-4151

Pan-Asian, Vietnamese, Thai, Recommended

Elephant East is a pan-Asian restaurant with a small but very intimate dining room, offering spots for small groups and dates. Start with an order of Bang Bang Shrimp or an umami rich lightly-fried soft-shell crabs covered in a spicy black bean sauce that same crisp napa slaw, which here was blessed with an umami-rich spicy black bean sauce and a sweet chili sauce creating a brilliant menagerie of flavors. Big steamed buns come three to an order for stuffed with saucy cubes of char siu braised pork. These were filling and had that perfectly odd, yet amazing, fluffy dense texture of steamed buns. Finally, end your pan-Asian soirée with a Vietnamese Espresso Martini. It cost more than many of the starters on the menu, but if you're a big fan of Dallas' quintessential drink, then splurge here. Elephant East uses an instant Vietnamese espresso powder, which the bartender said they special order. This gives it a bit more of a chicory flavor, but if there ever was a bow on a meal, this espresso martini here is it.

3 articles

Empress Palace

2208 New York Ave Arlington

817-548-8223

Chinese, Vietnamese

Indochine Bistro

3211 Oak Lawn Ave. Uptown/Oak Lawn

Vietnamese

In the former space of Green Papaya, this is the latest concept from chef Michael Huynh. It's an elegant and inviting place with '60s era French music setting the easy-breezy mood. Here you'll get East Asian flavors of traditional dishes along with modern takes all infused with French flavors.

La Me

9780 Walnut St., #140 North Dallas

972-669-8515

Vietnamese, Critics' Pick, Best Of, Essentials

The noodles at La Me, a Vietnamese spot in far northeast Dallas, go well beyond pho. Try my quang, a bowl of rice noodles with turmeric in the dough to turn them yellow. The noodles are loaded up with shrimp, peanuts and a showering of herbs. Or try a delicately flavored duck noodle soup with fatty, bone-in pieces of bird. Even the egg rolls here are good.

Top pick: The “house special” my kho dac biet noodle bowl is served with broth on the side, so you can eat it as a soup or not. It also comes with a whole, shell-on shrimp baked right into a cracker, and yes, the crispy cracker-bound shrimp shell is edible.

5 articles

Lemongrass

2711 Elm St. Downtown/Deep Ellum

214-745-0001

Fusion, Japanese, Pan-Asian, Vietnamese, Recommended, Menu

Owner Khoa Nguyen has created an Asian fusion restaurant that doesn't feel like a "fusion" restaurant. Instead, Nguyen has toyed traditional dishes while retaining authenticity to provide diners with "refined Vietnamese" -- his words. The Vietnamese rib-eye carpaccio appetizer is an example of this. The thin slices of steak are presented in the authentic Vietnamese salad format with its traditional accompaniments of shrimp chips and fish sauce. Lemongrass' banh xeo (a savory pancake made with rice flour), which Nguyen says is the restaurant's specialty, is a favorite. Nguyen will likely recommend the charcoal-broiled lemongrass pork with vermicelli and the steak cubes with garlic and fresh pasta if he takes your order. In keeping with such inspired dishes, diners would do well to keep in mind such creativity comes with a higher price point.

7 articles

Lumi Empanada & Dumpling Kitchen

3407 McKinney Ave. Uptown/Oak Lawn

214-979-2424

South American, Vietnamese, Recommended, Menu, Slideshow

Part Asia, part Brazil and all laid-back Uptown cool. The food is inspired by two continents, but it is common fare: feijoada (the meaty Brazilian stew), a mound of fried rice flecked with blue crab that you can't stop eating, spring rolls and such. The caipirinha cocktails are difficult to put down, as well. Parking can be a problem.

7 articles

Mai's Vietnamese Restaurant

4812 Bryan St. #100 East Dallas & Lakewood

214-826-9887

Vietnamese, Recommended, Best Of, Menu

People rush to Mai's for its traditional Vietnamese fare, like the warming bowls of noodle soups – among them, traditional beef meatball soup with cilantro, bean sprouts, lime, and jalapeño on the side. The various skin-burning clay pots, such as the combo curry pot (rice topped with shrimp, chicken and mixed vegetables in a coconut curry sauce) are also specialties. The dinner specials are gargantuan, affordably priced platters that are accompanied with one fried roll, two butterfly shrimps, chicken soup or chicken salad, stir-fried vegetables and steamed rice. There is an extensive array of vegetarian dishes at this dark and Spartan space that is basically a selection of other specials sans meat.

7 articles

Malai Kitchen

3699 McKinney Avenue, #319 Uptown/Oak Lawn

214-599-7857

Thai, Vietnamese

Located in the heart of Uptown Dallas, Malai Kitchen showcases a different side of Southeast Asian cuisine. Led by husband-and-wife team Braden and Yasmin Wages, the concept was inspired by their extensive travels through Thailand and Vietnam. As a team, the restaurant and bar are committed to sourcing quality ingredients and preparing as much as possible from scratch. The bar program, anchored by three house-brewed, Asian-style beers, features a list of craft cocktails created by barman Jason Kosmas and a thoughtfully curated wine list designed to enhance the bold flavors of the cuisine. Handcrafted light fixtures, sleek bamboo accents, and leafed wood wallpaper come together to create a warm and inviting atmosphere. The end result is an artful blend of both cultures that brings a taste of Southeast Asia to the heart of Dallas. In early 2016, the Wages will expand their restaurant footprint to include a Southlake location. For more information about Malai Kitchen, follow them on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or Pinterest.

7 articles

Miss Chi Vietnamese

6030 LUTHER Lanene, Dallas / Fort Worth Park Cities

214-692-1000

Vietnamese, Restaurants, Menu

While the rest of the noodle fanatics chase ramen around the country, you might think about settling in with a warm bowl of pho. It’s lighter, brighter and when it’s done well is one of best soups to be found. It’s also a lot cheaper. Miss Chi in the Preston Center is a good place to get to know this soup. The restaurant offers from-scratch Vietnamese cooking that doesn’t require a drive to the suburbs. Don’t miss the crunchy wontons filled with cream cheese and crab, the meaty egg rolls or the baby clams, which are served with shrimp crackers that crackle and pop. Choose any of these at the bar with a cold beer and the nachos at your favorite pub will start to look a little soggy.

Mot Hai Ba

6047 Lewis St. East Dallas & Lakewood

972-638-7468

Vietnamese, Critics' Pick, Best Of, Slideshow, Essentials

Chef Peja Krstic’s East Dallas fusion restaurant is adored by the locals. Over the past several years, Krstic has sharpened his focus with notable results. Một Hai Ba’s Vietnamese influences are still there, but the menu demonstrates Krstic’s global chops, with house-made pastas or seafood grilled over Japanese binchō-tan charcoal. The dedication has paid off, not only with Một Hai Ba rejoining our Top 100 list, but receiving a Bib Gourmand award from the Michelin Guide as well.

Top Pick: The kimchi and foie gras dumplings show off a medley of flavors, and are adorned with caramelized pears and Wagyu ribeye. The blend of cuisines symbolizes everything Một Hai Ba is about.

24 articles

Nam Hua Vietnamese Cuisine

3112 N. Jupiter Rd. Garland & Vicinity

972-414-8638

Vietnamese, Critics' Pick, Menu

Set in Saigon Mall, Nãm Húa is small, Spartan and utilitarian with stacks of Vietnamese newspapers, a television broadcasting Vietnamese-language programming, and tables with lots of chopsticks, soup spoons, and squeeze bottles of hot sauce. And food, great heaps and pools of food for pinched-penny prices. Spring rolls as big as cabin logs jammed with pork and shrimp and mint and rice noodles. Bowls of aromatic pho with clean, nurturing broths clasping crinkled sheets of paper-thin eye of sirloin and pieces of soft tendon and tripe. Heaping platters of rice with crispy marinated hen, or shrimp and fish paste plus caramelized catfish-all fresh reasons to convert to a mall rat.

Nammi at the Farmers Market

920 S. Harwood St. #106, Dallas / Fort Worth East Dallas & Lakewood

469-248-2031

Vietnamese, Food Trucks, Best Of

Nammi, the sky-blue Vietnamese fusion food truck plastered with a cartoon logo, has been trucking around Dallas selling banh mi sandwiches for more than a year now, and it doesn’t look like it’s stopping anytime soon. The bread is good. Crusty yet soft and pliable, the loaf absorbs condiments without getting soggy and integrates with the rest of the sandwich. Fillings include grilled pork, barbecue pork, chicken, tofu and beef, which can also be ordered in tacos and rice bowls that don't shine as brightly as the banh mi. If you go this route be sure to grab some of the hand-made condiments from the front of the truck. Spicy mayo, creamy cilantro and a bottle of store-bought Sriracha are available for dousing your food. While other trucks offer plastic bottles of Coca-Cola products and prepackaged potato chips, Nammi offers an eclectic mix of snacks and beverages. Tube-shaped cookies dipped in frosting, sweet-potato-flavored chips and other Asian-inspired snacks join bags of Miss Vicky's chips, and there are fun sodas based on fruits you'd have to go to H-Mart to find. It's those last few touches that push Nammi to the lead of the pack in Dallas' food truck scene.

4 articles

New New Buffet Restaurant

3822 Belt Line Rd. Addison

972-243-1198

Vietnamese, Restaurants, Menu

Ngon Vietnamese Kitchen

1907 Greenville Ave. East Dallas & Lakewood

469-250-7183

Vietnamese, Critics' Pick, Best Of, Essentials

Ngon Vietnamese Kitchen has brought a delightful menu to Lower Greenville. Start with spring rolls, fried exteriors wrapping shrimp, pork and leafy springs. The broken rice plate offers tender rice, shrimp, cucumber, pickled veggies and a sunny-side egg. Choose your protein, but you can’t go wrong with the lemongrass pork. The best part may be pouring over as much fish sauce as you like. The banh mi is welcoming and simple, with layers of meat, foie gras pate and plenty of pickled vegetables and cilantro. A dish you shouldn’t skip is the bun bo Hue, with the bite of spice (as long as you put in all the chili oil) alongside the fragrant lemongrass. As an added bonus, this restaurant is women-led.

Top pick: Any dish with their flavorful broths.

3 articles

Papaya Kitchen

5200 Lemmon Ave, No. 102 Northwest Dallas

214-964-0044

Vietnamese

This reincarnation of beloved Oak Lawn Vietnamese spot Green Papaya just opened in Highland Park, but with a twist: Papaya Kitchen focuses primarily on to-go orders, and the menu has been adjusted accordingly. Fans aren’t complaining, however, and insist that their favorite dishes like shrimp spring rolls and flat noodles are as great as ever.

Pho Bac Restaurant

153 N. Plano Rd. Richardson & Vicinity

972-231-9205

Asian, Vietnamese

1 article

Pho Bang

3565 W. Walnut St. Garland & Vicinity

972-487-6666

Vietnamese, Critics' Pick

This is some of the very best pho in the region, and everyone in the crowded dining room knows it. Pho Bang is one of the staples of Garland’s Vietnamese community, and it shares a strip mall with three more: Dong Hai, with its Cantonese-influenced menu, banh xeo specialist La Xanh and Dong Que, with excellent noodle bowls. Dueling banh mi shops Quoc Bao and Saigon Deli are on the same corner, making the intersection of Jupiter Road and Walnut Street the epicenter of Vietnamese food in North Texas.

1 article

Pho Bowl

2807 Commerce St. Downtown/Deep Ellum

Vietnamese, Thai, Asian Fusion

1 article

Pho Is for Lovers

5521 Greenville Ave., No. 105 East Dallas & Lakewood

972-708-1028

Asian, Vietnamese, Best Of, Readers' Choice

8 articles

Pho Is for Lovers

1551 E. Renner Rd., Ste. 820 Richardson & Vicinity

469-620-3910

Asian, Vietnamese

Quán Kiên Giang Vietnamese Cuisine

9560 Skillman St., #116 Garland & Vicinity

214-221-0043

Vietnamese, Restaurants, Recommended

In most places, you order a whole fish and it slumbers on the plate, maybe in a bath of citrus, scallions, spices, peppers and some fermented fluid to race it up. At Quán Kiên Giang, the whole (fried) fish (our server didn't know how to translate the species into English) is upright, resting on its belly, flaunting its array of vicious spiny fins. The meat is pulled off the sides, and bunched up near the fish's belly--like a pair of trousers rumpled around the ankles--leaving the exposed needle-like rib bones, adding to its menacing demeanor. Meat is moist and tasty though, even if those scales looked like saw teeth that could reduce the rice paper binding on the deliciously obese shrimp and pork spring rolls to hair-like shreds in a splintered second. But that's Quán Kiên Giang. It's a secret space loaded with compelling surprises and gripping mysteries. Hearty hot pots, rancorously spicy soups littered with pert vegetables, fondues loaded with bright green foliage, and hot pans for sizzling beef slices and seafood-all fresh and delicious. Plus there's a special marathon meal called "7 courses of beef" designed to load you up so that you have to be hauled out like a whole fish on a plate.

2 articles

Quoc Bao Bakery

3419 W. Walnut St. Garland & Vicinity

972-272-9892

Asian, Bakery, Vietnamese, Critics' Pick

The bánh mì at Quoc Bao start with fresh-baked baguettes, which are practically cubist in their crispy-crusted flakiness. This is a working bakery, so the bread is the best part of the sandwiches, of which our favorites involve barbecued pork and marinated chicken. Because it’s a bakery first, Quoc Bao has always been takeout only, and will be even after pandemic restrictions end.

Fun fact: Starting in late 2020, Quoc Bao also began hosting a pop-up charcuterie and jam business, Cha Cutie, run by the owner’s daughter.

2 articles

Saigon Block Restaurant

2150 E. Arapaho Rd. Richardson & Vicinity

214-575-6400

Vietnamese, Critics' Pick, Best Of, Essentials

Many of the regulars at this Richardson institution come to share a bounteous portion of whole roasted catfish, priced by size and served with rice paper, sauces and herbs for make-them-yourself spring rolls. There are also roasted quail and buttery frog legs on the menu at Saigon Block, which specializes in the kind of banquet meals that might mark a Vietnamese special occasion.

Top pick: The luxurious “seven courses of beef” is a show-stopping meal for the whole table to share, and, contrary to the expectations its name generates, it is reasonably balanced, with noodles, spring rolls, grilled meats and hearty bowls of porridge. If the kitchen is out of one course, you can order double of another.

2 articles

Vietnamese in Dallas

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