Cay Tre Soho

This place was busy and rightfully so. The host got us a table fast for 4. The food is as authentic and delicious as it gets bringing the Vietnamese cuisines, specifically Hanoi, to the UK. Highly recommend.

I ordered a original pho. The bean sprouts is not fresh. Should be fresh and sweet but I could taste bitterness. Soup is good. Size is big. Atmosphere inside is very loud but it’s okay. My friend ordered a spicy one. The size is very big. Pho is softer than others. Not good or bad just personal preference. I will come to visit again, but not very often.

I love steamed rice noodle rolls, so when I heard that bánh cuốn is their specialty, I had to try it. Since I haven’t had the proper Vietnamese version before, I can’t speak to authenticity, but I found it enjoyable. The rice noodles were thin, which is usually a good sign. I also ordered the cinnamon sausage as an add-on (also a first for me), and thought it was well spiced without being overpowering. I’d definitely return for the bánh cuốn. However, I probably wouldn’t branch out into other menu items, based on my partner’s beef vermicelli, which was just okay. As for service, we arrived around 2pm on a Saturday and were seated without a reservation. Menus were brought promptly, but it took a while to get someone’s attention to place our order. When we eventually inquired about gluten-free options, we were given the allergy menu, but it would’ve been more helpful if this had been offered up front, rather than after the wait. The space itself is nicely decorated, with hanging lamps that resemble lanterns and a warm ambience overall.

Five stars for flavour, 3 stars for service, 2 stars for dietary options. It’s a cosy atmosphere, quite loud from the people that eat and chat in there, so prepare to scream a few words and overhear the next tables conversations. Lights aren’t harsh, nice and warm. I don’t recall any music, but I’m sure it was subtly in the background. It’s better to book as there aren’t many seats and it’s quite the busy spot. Service is okay, usually when a spot is very busy the service isn’t top tier and this place reflects that. There was one good server who smiled and was attentive, the rest acted very unbothered. The food is absolutely delicious, but it was my first try so take that with some grace. I ordered the oxtail pho as that was the only gluten free option that sounded like a hearty meal. There are about 3 or so gluten free meals, probably less. So if you’re looking for some fun starters or desserts you won’t have a good time. The juices are quite nice too. Expect to pay about £30 for one meal and a drink. I’ll return but only for that one meal as I’m limited in my gluten free options, but judging by the audience and tight availability it must be a hit for those without any dietary restrictions.

Lovely food served by friendly staff. We were a group of 5. We spent £28 per head. One main dish forgotten (then the chef had his break). Highly recommended and we'll return when we're back in London!

Cay Tre has a lively energy. The place was already buzzing when we arrived, and it filled up fast. The menu is broad and well thought out, with strong vegan and vegetarian choices. My partner has a nut allergy, and the menu made it very easy to navigate the options, which gave us both peace of mind. We ordered the spring rolls and Bun Sa. The spring rolls were super crispy, packed full of veg. The Bun Sa was light, fresh and worked well with the bean sauce. It’s easy to see why the place is popular. We’ll be coming back.

Their Hanoi Style Banh Cuon (steamed rice rolls) was absolutely incredible and definitely worth having a try!! Excellent balance of flavors and texture. The Saigon Pho was also quite nice as well.

Vietnamese restaurant in the heart of Soho. Very popular and busy restaurant, which is also frequented by plenty of Vietnamese customers. The food arrived very quickly and was nicely presented. The Pork spring rolls had lots of flavour. I ordered the Bun Bo Hue Pho for main course. A huge portion, of fairly spicy pho, which contains pork and brisket and chilli oil. My son had the traditional Beef Pho. He said that the smell and taste of the Pho immediately “transported him back” to his visit to Hanoi.

Huge and authentic portions, awesome interior, but it takes forever for the meal to come out. I think we spent at least 40 minutes waiting for our dishes, that's a bit too slow if you ask me.

Grading a bit easily due to the Soho location, food was generally good but with a couple of misses. We're a couple from the San Francisco area who eat Vietnamese food often; my husband is Vietnamese after all. The dishes are less refined than in SF but pretty decent for London. Two of us ordered: - Crab Farci special: the big miss of the night, this dish was dry and heavy and tasteless. 1/5 - Tapioca Hue dumplings: Quite a bit larger than Uk used to, with thicker skin. Flavor of the dumplings was good and could have given us more sauce, but these were ok. 3.5/5 - Mixed seafood platter: hard to mess up salt and pepper seafood , and this delivered : light crispy batter with good balance of spices. Would definitely order again. 4.5/5 - Betel leaf wrap: extremely skimpy with just one lettuce leaf to wrap, and the sauce was a bit one dimensional and heavy. Meat rolls were ok but definitely not as good as the streets of Saigon. 3.5/5 Service was spotty but we would come back and give this place another try.

The worst restaurant I have ever been, I would say manager does not have a manner and any respect towards his customers. I would never ever recommend to anyone be away better eat in street. I been with my friend to have a catch up after longtime. Since we sat waitress was pushing us to place the order, we did starter and main they brought both together with 8 minutes of sitting and it past only 15 minutes and they came 4 times to ask me if I had finished and at one point they took my bowl with food, when I told them I haven't finished yet they put back my bowl and then Manager came with bill saying if I leave within 15 minutes they will scrap my service charge. I felt humiliation and felt being forced to get out of restaurants just because they had long waiting queue and they wanted more money from more people. I'm am sorry to say I paid £68 for 2 people I wanted to enjoy my time and food, I don't want to be disturbed it is not fast food and you are charging heavy price and not cheap as fastfood street food. I was with my friend so I didn't wanted to make a scene and I paid and left, then we moved to next door cafe to have our catch up. If I wasn't with my friend, I wouldn't have paid a single penny and I would have made a scene there to all the customers to watch to see what bad manners manager is there. I will keep posting until I don't hear an apology from the manager.

We stopped by on a Wednesday night and did not expect it to be so busy! The restaurant is definitely a hot spot, but we were able to squeeze ourselves in there for the 20 minutes quoted wait. What I noticed, however, was the lack of a waiting system. The server asked how many we had in our party and then just left. After waiting for around 20 minutes, the server took people who came in AFTER us and seated them first. I was pretty annoyed, but he came back and told us we would have to wait one more minute...but it was more than that (shame on me for being fooled!) When we finally got seated and ordered, the server came back from the kitchen told me that they were out of their special (the satay pho) which I thought was strange because it is labeled on their menu as the "Cay Tre Special". It wasn't a problem though because they have a lot of different options on their menu so I opted for the garlic pho, even though I was pretty bummed because I spent 20 minutes and some extra minutes imagining myself eating some satay pho special. Service was extremely quick, however when I got my pho it had absolutely no garlic taste in it--and I wouldn't say my taste buds are burnt out or anything! Luckily, they had some garlic and peppers at the table to spice up my meal which really saved the dish. I can't really say, because I haven't had other Vietnamese places in London, and especially since I am from the states, but I was really bummed out about the restaurant. Overall, terrible service for the night we visited (I do forgive them a little because it seemed like they were a little understaffed) and average food.

Visited here after hearing a lot of reviews about this restaurant. The vibes and variety of menu items was great, but personally I didn't find the pho or the appetizers I ordered (fried spring roll and summer rolls) to be that special. I did really enjoy the rice rolls - these were definitely the highlight of the foods I tried here.

My wife and I went here the first time we visited London in 2019. No exaggeration this place has the best Pho we have ever tasted. We thought San Francisco had the best spots but this place in London not only had the best food but the service was impeccable. Vibe in the restaurant felt alive and well organized. Food came out hot and quick. On our second London trip we set some time to take our two daughters to try this delicious food! They too had the same impression we had. Very happy to have shared this place with them, so much so that our daughters begged us to have dinner here on our last dinner in the UK. Excited to try this place again when make our third visit to the UK.

Great Service! Great value for money. just the right amount of portions. the restaurant itself has a really nice vibe, simple but classic.

As a Vietnamese, I definitely think the food here is somewhat authentic. They also carry wide variety of vegetarian options. The price is basically the same compared to other Chinese restaurants nearby. The atmosphere is nice and cozy. Love the bathroom, very clean lol, i hate when a fancy restaurant that dont have a proper toilets

Amazing big bowl of pho with traditional toppings. Nice service. Only Complaint is the father was not served with traditional jalapeños, Thai basil and real Sriracha

Instead of giving this restaurant 1 star I'm going to give it two because they took me at 5:30 but it's mediocre at best. I've had better Pho and Banh. I asked for salt and I guess they were appalled by my request. If your food is under seasoned. It's under seasoned. I shouldn't be given alternatives to SALT (soy sauce/fish sauce) when I know your kitchen has salt. I was told by the server "I cannot give you salt". Chef, buck up. It's Pho I shouldn't have to add 95 other things to your broth to season it. It's a no for me.

TLDR: Add my name to the list of people giving one star reviews because service here is horrible and food is subpar. Seriously, do yourself a favor and go to any other Vietnamese restaurant in the city (there are tons in chinatown) unless you enjoy leaving a restaurant angry and annoyed ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

This restaurant has been on our list for a long time, and we managed to visit there for lunch twice. We ordered Camp Fire Steak with Rice (2.5 star) and Saigon Hawker Rice (5 star). The latter was simply flawless, flavoursome and very tasty. The char-grilled pork chop in Hawker Rice was lean, tender, smoky and super tasty, and I can eat it every day. The rice was well cooked and the salad was refreshing. Camp Fire Steak had too much onion and the meat was like a stew rather than a steak. The service was friendly and polite, and the setting was clean, modern and relaxing. On our second visit, we tried Beef Pho (3.5 star), which had delicate flavour and had nice amount of beef, Green Papaya Salad (3.5 star) - very refreshing and tasty but small portion was very small, and Imperial Spring Roll (2 star) which was mushy and lacked crunchiness and the salad which came with it was limp and had brown edge. We were disappointed with our second visit as the service wasn't as friendly and the food was mediocre. I'm afraid their price did not justify the quality.

This visit was due to a failed attempt to have dinner at Burger & Lobster a couple of doors down. We walked down the street and saw this as a viable alternative, and they got us in on a Sunday night without reservations or a wait. I had the £10.50 Saigon Pho (with steak, fatty flank, skirt flank for a hearty, rich taste) & £3.30 Coconut & Lychee drink. Delicious, meaty, tasty, and filled me up. A great option for dinner!

The wind was cutting on this day and I needed a soup noodle to warm me from the inside. Pho always works wonders for this job. The version here reminds me of the Pho in the north or the Hanoi (original) version. I thoroughly enjoyed it and was surprised how clear but tasteful the broth was. Even the noodles were soft and fresh. Made me wish I was back in Vietnam but this will do in London.

Bigger portion than most pho places I've been! Usually I'm not full after a bowl of pho but this one did it for me. I got the Saigon pho and it had huge pieces of brisket which was good. Service was also very fast! Broth was good, not too oily or salty. They had lemons instead of limes which I thought was unusual/untraditional, and no cilantro. Would go again!

I had dinner here with my brother and cousin, and we thoroughly enjoyed it. We thought we would be adventurous and order a range of dishes from the menu to share, and everything was delicious. My favourites were the braised ox cheeks, the catfish stew, and sweet ribs. The restaurant is in a convenient location, and usually has a good crowd. We went in at around 7.30pm and the place was packed with a very good atmosphere. The pho soups also looked very good. Prices are decent as are portions. As far as Vietnamese food goes, this was authentic and very good.

Nice Vietnamese cafe in Soho. Fresh and clean food. Just popped in for a veggie pancake. Very good for £4. Will make a point to visit again in the evening for dinner.

Let's just say that I am a very picky eater when it comes to Vietnamese food. But I was absolutely amazed at the food quality at Cay Tre. We ordered Banh Cuon (the rice pancake with pork and beef filling) as appetizer and it was fantastic. And as a Vietnamese I find it very authentic. For the main dish we had Braised Catfish in a Claypot and Bun Bo Hue. Bun Bo Hue is a childhood dish for me, and I can understand how hard it is to perfect it. But Cay Tre was definitely that close to perfection. I would certainly go here again, and this time for newer dishes.

Came here for lunch and decided to try the bun bo hue instead of pho. Traditional pho Restos have a distinct anise scent. The broth should permeate the restaurant. Unfortunately this place did not so I decided to skip on the pho. I ordered bun bo hue ( hue spicy beef soup) and was highly disappointed. The broth lacked depth of flavor and lemongrass. The meats were mostly small chunks and overall flavorless. The shrimp spring rolls were good. I wouldn't come back. For westerners, this may be acceptable but for anyone with any type of traditional Vietnamese palate, I'd skip this place.

I haven't been to the parent Cay Tre in east London but I was excited to see an outpost of this famous Vietnamese restaurant open on Dean Street. It's a challening location for a restaurant with several restaurants having met their demise on this location in recent years. I'm not sure why Dean Street in general does struggle to attract dining custom in comparison to neighbouring Frith Street, which thrives with Arbutus, Koya and Barrafina all doing good business. However, with Ducksoup, Tonkotsu and now the trendy Burger & Lobster opening on this street, perhaps, things will start to look up The publication of Time Out's list of the best 100 dishes in London 2012 gave me another reason to visit when it listed the beef pho at Cay Tre on that list. Like a lot of my friends in San Francisco who have been trying to eat all 100 dishes on the 7x7 best 100 dishes in San Francisco, I may now have another excuse to eat out more! Yelp buddy Kevin L joined me to experience the pho at Cay Tre. I pigged out with the large combination pho, which had everything from all cuts of beef to beefballs to tendon. I love noodles and the essence of noodle soups likes in the broth. On this count, Cay Tre's is the best I've experienced in the UK - deep rich notes of beef which comes from long simmering. I kept slurping away at the broth even when my noodles and beef was all gone The beef was nice and tender. I think my favourite was the brisket and I love that you can get tendon in London. The English tend to be a little squeamish! I've since been back to eat here again. The summer roll and Chinatown pho weren't quite as good as the beef pho. However, I'm letting Cay Tre keep their 5 stars for having the best beef pho I've tasted in the UK

Phenomenal Pho, the spring rolls we had were fresh and obviously made to order (but can't guarantee all the time). The special pho was great though, the noodles, the meat (so much meat) and all of the fresh veggies. I was trying to be careful not to splash, but in the end, the taste got the better of me and I slurped away, shirt be damned. Even better was the ability to come in as a walkin and them trying hard to find us a table.

Was referred by a tour guide to check out this place and it was a pretty hip and young crowd over the weekend. My Vietnamese friend was able to chat with the wait service in her native tongue and they were all very friendly people here. The Em Yue Anh baby drink with Absolute vodka, passion fruit liquor lime and grenadine was light and refreshing and it wasn't too strong and that was perfect for me. We next enjoyed the green papaya salad but I am accustomed to shrimp and the beef served was brisket and dry and it should have been served with a beef jerky in the traditional Vietnamese way. The flavoring was good though. Next we tried the Cay Tre platter for two called the wrap & roll which was done very well. The Vietnamese style egg roll was done perfectly with rice wrapping which my friend says is much harder to do but is traditionally done this way so kudos to the chef for that. The spring roll was okay but the rice wrap was a little too firm however I really enjoyed the fresh basil and mint that stood out in the wrap. The beef roll (Bo lo lat) was tender and wonderfully seasoned. Lastly we finished off dinner with the Hanoi Garliky pho which is different from traditional pho because the beef is sautéed rather than served raw and then cooked in the broth. The beef was good but they didn't have enough mint basil complement and they gave lemon instead of lime to season the broth. The broth was also kind of bland. I didn't taste any fish sauce and it wasn't with any salt. There was a large clove of garlic in the soup but I didn't taste any garlickiness in the broth either. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't great either. All in all I would come back and try other foods on the menu mainly because the service was so nice.

Fair warning: if you love this place, don't continue reading this and I feel bad that you haven't had really good authentic Vietnamese food yet, lol. Remember: ONLY eat at Vietnamese restaurants where the majority of patrons are actually Vietnamese if you want authentic and delicious food. Let's start off with the pho. They had about 15 options for different types of pho. AREYOUFCKNKIDDINGME. Anyway, I couldn't find anything redeeming about the pho even though I really wanted to! I swear! My sister wrote it off so quickly that I didn't believe her. Then I tried it. The meat was tough that night, they don't even use the right herbs (they use mint, wtf? The waitress said they don't grow basil on this side of the pond. Seriously? Might as well give me a hotdog with tofu on it), and the broth (which is the most important part of pho) was tasteless and had no depth. We also got the Banh Cuon which is one of my favorite Vietnamese dishes. The one thing they messed up on with this dish was the sauce that goes with the banh cuon -- nuoc mam Cham. Instead of that, they gave me some type of sauce with black pepper in it. I can't eeeeeven. So by now I was crying inside about the fact that there are horrible Vietnamese restaurants out there and that I was eating at one of them. In London. On vacation. The only two redeeming things (why I'm giving it 2 stars) about this restaurant was the CHA GIO (egg rolls-you can't mess up something that's fried) and our waitress who was extremely patient with my snooty butt. I had a moment where I was sticking my nose in the air asking "where's this, where's that, why is it like that, who eats that, blah blah blah." Sorry. I was just Hangry. I'm human. Anyway, if you want real authentic Vietnamese...well, GTFO of London.

As I've said in other reviews, pho is all about the soup so here's my view on that soup: Beef base - excellent. Chicken base - have had better elsewhere but not terrible. I know there are other people out there who only consider hole-in-the-wall Vietnamese restaurant with no non-Vietnamese customers as measure of quality pho. Oh and the menu must also look like a dog chewed it out with stains all over. If a restaurant needs to fancy up certain cuisine and up the quality to charge more and have the "stuff" to support the higher price, I say all the power to them. For me, paying a bit more to eat in a clean, well-appointed space and wait staff that are friendly (and not throw food at me) is well worth it. Yes the menu is a bit over the top and the dishes are a bit more expensive. But this is soho in London! I say if you are in the neighbourhood give it a try!

Dropped in here for a pre-theater dinner and judging by the reviews on Yelp, I thought that it wasn't too bad price wise or taste wise. As there was a few of us, we opted for the set menu which was £23 pp and included a sharing platter for starters and for the main course 1 dish and a side per person. The sharing platter consisted of Pork Spring rolls, Chilli Salt and Pepper Squid and Wild Shrimp Fresh Rolls & Cha La Lot. When we enquired if there was any beef in the starters, we were told that the Cha La Lot had beef in it, however the restaurant were very accommodating and changed it to Vegetarian Spring rolls instead. For mains, the waiter recommended 2 rices and a veg so we opted for one Jasmine Rice and one Egg Fried Rice as well as Chouchou - a fruit we were told. I had the Sizzling seafood which consisted of prawns, squid and mussels, one of my companions the Saigon Stewed Pork Belly and the other Duck with Green Peppercorn. All dishes were nice however the size of the rice portions were MASSIVE!! We definitely did not need 2 portions of rice between 3 of us! Only half of the Egg Fried Rice got eaten and the Jasmine rice was picked at. They were tasty and Chouchou is.... interesting. Overall the place was okay. It took ages for the waiter to actually come and take our order and then when we tried to get the waiter to come over again to ask for more water, he said sorry someone else will come, to which someone else did but then they referred us over to someone else and this was just frustrating after a while - especially when we had to go to the theatre after! I'm not sure I would come back but I did enjoy it. In hindsight, I should have maybe tried the Pho instead.

For central London, this place is pretty delicious. I've only had the Saigon pho, but it was everything I could've asked for in a bowl of pho. It was warm, aromatic, and flavorful. They have a decent selection of different foods from their menu so I definitely plan on coming back to try something else. We came here on a Saturday night and it was very busy, so I would recommend coming early or booking. I thought the service was good as well. Our server was Vietnamese too which is always a plus when you're eating at a Vietnamese restaurant!

When a Vietnamese tells you this Pho is good, then take her word for it! I have to say the beef pho in Cay Tre Soho was the best beef pho I have tasted in London. I have tried many Vietnamese restaurant in London including the popular ones near old street station, but cat tre soho got it best. And the big pho combo was BIG, humongous in fact. It used to be 12 quids but they pushed the price up to 14 now, slightly disappointed. We tried other dishes too, like the "steam pancake?" (Bánh cuon) was also nice, my boyfriend loved the Hanoi mixed pork vermicelli (bún cha Hà Noi), so much he couldn't stop talking about it on the way home. If you're in the mood, try their Lemongrass ice tea. I know it sounds weird I thought so too. But the first time we tried it it was sooo good and refreshing, it came in a big jar you can share between 2-3 people. But the second time we came back, maybe because it was very late (10.30pm), the tea was just like normal tea...with ice. A bit of a hit and miss actually. But over all great Viet restaurant, we enjoyed the food there and it's in soho so better location (IMO) than east end as you can go somewhere else (movies, clubbing etc) within a few mins walk.

We came for a quick meal before seeing "The Book of Mormons." Service was good, food was average. The beef that came in our noodle soup was very red and had to be sent back.

Great vietnamese from east landed in west - interior is contemporary, service is unprofessional but food and location are great! It has fresh rice rolls and pho noodles so nice and fresh... Indeed the best in central... Try for lunch combo for £10... Great value once again.... I normally come here for bowl if pho or quick dinner with rice rolls with chicken followed by grilled something with rice paper on the side. Must try if you do not feel like going east for real vietnamese...

We were on our way to Duck Soup but were side tracked by Cây Tre which was surprisingly packed for 3:30 on a Saturday afternoon. Our first impression on arrival was hardly positive, and in hindsight we should have trusted our instincts and walked out after having to wait over five minutes before anyone took notice of us. Finally allocated a table, we were guided to the back of the 'steaming' restaurant (more reek than aroma),and before we've ordered I'm thinking about my next visit to the dry cleaners. Odours aside, the interior is snazzy, modern contemporary, unfortunately the food is not as impressive, nor was the service on our visit. As it transpired, the crowds were here more for the prices than the food. As soon as we've placed our order, the waiter asks if we're using a Groupon voucher. What a way to cheer you up before you start eating, he might as well have asked us if we had a 50% discount voucher or if instead we would be paying Silly Prices.. 'Silly Prices Please!'.... That's not to say we didn't whip out our iPhones and see if we could bag a deal list minute on Groupon, alas the deal had expired, and the reduction was actually 60%! Oh well... we were here now, so we decided to carry on... It quickly dawns on us, perhaps due to the Groupon deal, the restaurant is understaffed and waiters overstretched. Service goes from bad to worse when our neighbours start to loudly complain how they have waited over an hour for one starter. The Manager comes over to try and calm the situation, and for the rest of our meal Mr and Mrs Complaints seem to have all the staff in the restaurant waiting on them hand and foot. On the other side a table of two get up to walk to the bar to pay (after waiting over twenty minutes for the bill). To be fair, our wait is not so bad, half an hour and our starter arrives, but they forget our drinks which really should have arrived long before. Our deep fried tempura shrimp is burnt on the edges; but worse, fried with its shell on, almost impossible to eat. We're left with napkins full of shell...smooth.. When they do bring the drinks, the bottle of tap water is missing. The mains finally arrive, but they forget the rice. By the time it arrives, our food is verging on cold. Unfortunately the mains did not manage to save the day, my okra and aubergine curry was literally swimming in oil, a sludgy and unbearably spicy affair. This despite there being no spice indicator on the menu or a forewarning from the waiter. My partners Calamari dish was better, but nothing special. The house lemonade was akin to watered down squash. We ask for the bill and they make no attempt to offer us dessert or ask us how our meal was. Perhaps they are fed up of the truth. a 12.5% service charge is added to our bill, for the first time in living memory we decide not to pay this, get up and leave.

Hangover + 4-week hiatus without pho + eating here = A VERY HAPPY ME Tried the Saigon Pho because it was the closest thing to what we have in the States. The "24-hour" beef broth was flavorful and wasn't overly fatty. I liked the flat rice noodles and the medium rare beef slices were perfect after drowning them in my soup. Although the pho wasn't served in the massive bowls I was accustomed to, I was surprisingly satisfied. That didn't stop me from scavenging for the last floating bits though. For £10 a bowl, I wouldn't mind some more steak but perhaps I'm just being greedy. However, if you are a big eater, go for the £14 super bowl (ahah, American pun) and you'll have to get your stomach pumped. Otherwise, food is authentic. Service was adequate. Modern interior design. AND they have Sriracha!! All brownie points in my book.

Visited Cây Tre for the first time and ordered the following: - Saigon pho with added beef meatball The broth has all of the meaty, umami goodness you'd come to expect and was surprisingly enjoyable in the middle of a July "heatwave". I could imagine my enjoyment of this going up a notch if eating this on a bitter February evening. The meat is wonderfully tender, being easily torn with chopsticks and these work well when mixed with hoi sin and chilli sauce. The meatballs were worth adding and have a pleasant pepperiness. They do not feel too processed either which is an added bonus. One thing that disappointed a little was that there was some confusion as to whether the dish comes with additional beansprouts and herbs on the side. We were given a small plate with these but it wasn't clear if it was for one specific pho dish (we ordered different types of pho) or if it was meant to be shared (in which case there wasn't anywhere near enough). This small but important detail could have elevated the meal a level at least for me because I value the subtle savouriness and juice that beansprouts offer between heavy mouthfuls of beef fat and sauce. I would highly recommend Cây Tre for the quality of its food at its price point and for the atmosphere inside the restaurant. It has a quiet elegance and helpful staff fitting of a west end eatery.

The food is outstanding. Great cocktails. Good service. Why do I have to write more than this when all my expectations are fulfilled?

The Cay Tre in Shoreditch is the one I remember had good traditional Vietnamese food and there are many good restaurants there. So when I came across one with the same name in Soho, and having the biggest urge to chump on a bowl of beef pho laced with serracha, I had to try. Unfortunately I was not impress. First notable thing was, they didn't soak the pho in cold water straight after cooking it, so the texture of the rice noodle, became overcooked and slightly mush. I usually also finish the broth, but it was salty. The other negs, had to keep pestering staff for some chopsticks and spoon, after they brought out the food, if this was some kind of torture, it was not funny. We came about 7pm, and half the drinks were sold out. I was really dying for sweet ice coffee, I guess its not my day. Moving on, the interior, I thought was quite nice, very slick, and very big, considering how small it looked from the outside. The final bill came, slightly more pricey, but expected as in central London. Could have been better food quality. So its an average score from me.

Disclaimer: I've never been to Vietnam and don't know what 'real' pho tastes like. ALL I WANT IS TASTY, SATISFYING FOOD AT A GOOD PRICE! And on my list of such places, Cay Tre is right up there. I only ever pop in for Pho and can't comment on anything else but OOOOOH THE BROTH - hearty, rich and beefy (and maybe a little sweeter than I'd like) but still so so good. Halfway through the meal you look at your bowl and notice how the soup's surface glistens, and you smile, thinking oh yessssss, fat is flavour. We decided to try the 'add-ons' this time round. The option to add Chinese 'you tiao' (fried dough) threw me off a little (that doesn't seem very 'authentic' but I wouldn't know..) And for £2 you only get two extra meatballs :( They're good - firm with little spots of melt in your mouth goodness but idk if they're worth a pound each :(((( Their tendons were a real surprise though! I'm not usually a fan - so often they're crunchy and bitty and unpleasant overall but ahhhh these had that magical QQ quality! Soft, gelatinous, not so much chewy but has good 'bite', a little tasteless, but boy has it made a tendon convert out of me! The restaurant's quite loud and service definitely could be better (it sometimes takes a while to get their attention) but the long and short of it is that I've been to Cay Tre many many times now and I'll keep coming back! I've also heard good things about the other dishes, maybe next time we'll give them a try.

I have had Pho in just about every country we travel and my wife eats it almost every week at home. So this review is coming from a place of knowledge. That being said... This place is fantastic. (I would stop there but you know Yelp makes you write more). The frog legs were some of the best I ever had. The minced chicken dumplings (because I can't remember what they called them) were the single best thing we ate a week in London. I LOVE Hanoi style Pho and this is the only place other than North Vietnam that I have found that makes it (which is crazy if you know the difference). Grace had Saigon style, I had Hanoi style and my niece had veggie. All were amazing. Best part, 3 of us ate and drank with starters for £85.

Vietnamese. In Soho! What's not to like? Well... Though a good effort I think I will still be going to Kingsland Road when I crave Vietnamese. That said, Cay Tre is not bad, it's just that I expected more. The BBQ pork with rice vermicelli was the highlight for me. It's a dish I really enjoy which probably brought the score up a bit for me. It is very nice but it lacked the strong BBQ flavour I'm used to when ordering this dish. Apart from that it was well made. I definitely recommend this. The cat fish with caramelised fish sauce was OK, nothing spectacular. The fish flavour was very strong and sometimes almost overpowered any other flavour. Com Saigon (grilled pork chop with a fried duck egg) was nicely cooked with an interesting flavour but was quite dry and slightly bland. Trying to even out all the meat with a vegetable dish wasn't the best idea. The string beans were merely beans with garlic at a price far above what it was worth. Overall, a good place to visit if nearby but otherwise I'd stick with Kingsland Road.

My daughter said it is the best Pho in london. My fav dish is Hanoi bbq pork. It is a good mixture between grilled lemon pork with crispy spring roll. The staff thefe is friendly service minded.

I heard that the pho here is good. Unfortunately, again like Mian Tay which they also say has one of the best pho in London, just didn't have the punch and was not flavourful enough. I thought it was quite bland as well. I think the Vietnamese restaurant in London is lacking a real authentic pho. Hopefully, a new restaurant will fix this. That said, I was here only for the pho but the menu looks like there is a real good spread of authentic Vietnamese cuisine. I just need to come back and try them to provide a proper feedback on other dishes. Reasonable price for a Soho restaurant.

Had dinner at Cay Tre yesterday and it was one of the best meals I've had in a while!!! It also helped i was with a Vietnamese person so I got to try all the nice dishes. The Iced Coffee is amazing and the Chilli Salt & Pepper Squid the best I've ever had! We also had a classic Pho and Bun Sa. Just writing about it makes me want to go there again!! Try it!!

Decided to get some pho on a wet rainy day. Seen this place a few times so decided to try it out. Tried a few of their veggie dishes The tofu summer roll waa good and tasted fresh. The organic crispy was also very good, just the right amount of crispness and flavourful The noodles though were the weakest dishes. The pho broth was slightly bland and the rice noodles Barbeque pork vermicelli had too much mint and fried onions. And the accompanying spring rolls were too greasy. The portions are a good size though. Something that could definitely improve is the service as they forgot to bring our water and were not thw friendliest. Overall an average vietnamese restaurant with nice interiors in a good location

If a restaurant makes you wait 25 mins for a table then it must be good, right? Well, yes and no. The place was heaving, but then so were several other nearby restaurants. And I think Soho is just one of those areas that is on a par with New York in its queuing for food vibes. We eventually got a decent corner table, if rather close to our fellow diners. I had crispy pork belly with plum sauce, my pal the chicken curry. I didnt care for the strong peppary coating on my pork, although I enjoyed the crunchy skin. The curry was well received. We then polished off an unctuous - read mmmm - choc fondant with coconut ice-cream. My glass of malbec went down a treat too. I'm giving this three rather than four stars due to the queue and because it wasn't particularly cheap. I would go back again though to try the pho and some tempting rice-wrapped rolls.

Used to go to the one in Hoxton regularly. Thought I'd check out the one in Soho. Was told it was a 30min wait. After 40mins i asked how much longer and was rudely told that they're busy so we'd just have to keep waiting. In the end it took 1 hr!! They should tell people realistic waiting time. Plus the food wasn't anywhere near as good. Very disappointed. Never again. Stay away from this place.

After living in Vietnam for over a year I was happy to try this place out to see if it could help my yearning to go back sickness. Having lived there I can't help comparing the food to actual Vietnamese rather than western restaurants which, without wanting to sound like a know it all, haven't been up to scratch in my experience. Cay Tre is a busy spot and most groups will have to queue to get a seat. My friend and I must have got lucky as we got a seat straight away by the window (a great spot to people watch). Its loud and busy in here, so don't expect a quiet meal. The staff do there best to keep up but you can see its a bit of a struggle. That being said, they are friendly and as responsive as they can be. My suggestion would be to keep the front door area as a bar / waiting area that I have a feeling it was originally intended as. I'm glad I could sit and eat there, but those standing in a queue out the door could of been better accommodated with a cocktail at the bar and possibly a seat. Now the food. Quick disclaimer, I'm a vegetarian which most non vegetarian vietnamese restaurants will struggle to cater for taste wise (all too often have I had tasteless broth with soggy tofu). Cay Tre didn't let me down. I had spicy Bun Hue Chay, with both soft and crispy tofu. Would I of raved about it in Vietnam? Probably not, but I also wouldn't of been disappointed. My friend had Pho with chicken and enjoyed his portion too. And a note to other reviews I see below - Vietnamese cooking is very regional. To criticise a place for using mint in their Pho is just plain wrong and I saw it used in many, many regions. I imagine its hard to nail down a particular style in a Western restaurant when trying to cater for everyone. Price was good. Yes, I would of been shocked if the price had been one tenth of what it was if I were back in Vietnam, but I have to accept that I'm not anymore! But less than £30 for two with beer and service in Soho seems pretty good to me.

Adequately flavoured well spiced and thoughtfully cooked Vietnamese fare in a friendly Soho Street. Pricing is surprisingly reasonable for a place that looks like it is priced above an average Vietnamese restaurant. There is a decent range in the menu so whether you're new to Vietnamese cuisine or whether you're trying out something new, there will always be something out there for you. Some of the dishes look a tad experimental, or perhaps, fusion. The set dinner is not a bad deal both in terms of the price and volume, and the variety. Waiters are friendly, but not necessarily helpful. Some of them seemed new to the place and even somewhat clueless as to what was on the menu. The Pho is delicious, I would say better than the one at 'Pho'. The meat is fresh and the broth is spicy and refreshing. The portion size is big, a big too big I would say (we all know that the broth will fill you up). The drinks menu is not bad either. Cocktails are well mixed, the list is fairly diverse and there are enough wines on the menu to keep you going. In spite of the fact that the place is always packed, there will always be room for you. This is a big positive for the Soho Cay Tre restaurant, where other Asian eateries will give you a lot longer wait time. The flip side is that the relatively large seating capacity results in a fairly noisy space and that's just the price you have to pay for the other positives.

I woke up on Saturday "morning" (read: 1 PM), after a long night out, with a craving that only a fresh bowl of noodles, broth, and beef could satisfy ... but Kingsland Rd, and it's plethora of Vietnamese options, seemed oh-so-far away from where I was in West London. Enter the Soho location of Cây Tre. The decor inside of this location is decidedly more upscale than its Old St counterpart, but the food is just as delicious. I ordered the plain beef pho, which came with fresh pho noodles (better than any of the other options I've had in London) with an incredibly delicious broth and tender beef. The crab summer rolls, filled with mint and lime, were delicious as well. The restaurant also seems to offer affordable and exciting meal deals. Just talking about it makes me want to go back again, and the lucky thing is that this branch isn't located across town!

I was in London for business and ate here twice. It's definitely comfort food and delicious! A lot of places like to go crazy on salt and likes to use MSG but not this place. Not only is the food great but so is the staff, super friendly. They are busy every night so make sure to make reservations. If not, you might get lucky to sit at the community table, which is still good. I love the tofu soup, clay pot fish, Choi sum stirfy, vegetarian vermicelli bowl, and eggplant with tofu. I will definitely come back on my next trip.

I was under the weather and in want of something hot and brothy, so went here for pho. I got the lunch deal, which was £10 for a starter and a pho. Was good value for money -- for instance, the summer rolls came in healthy portions. I was a bit disappointed with the pho, however. The noodles were a bit too thick to be authentic, and I felt like some was amiss in the soup. Also, there was relatively small portion of noodles and more of undercooked meat. Overall, I've had better. It's an okay place if you're in the area but otherwise, try other places!

Alright Cay Tre... I'll give you four stars. I teeter between three and four. But the food was so good that I can't knock it down to three despite the following: - Weird waiter who initially seemed so frustrated with us. Like he'd shoo us off with hand motions when we were trying to order beverages and would take one order at a time and walk off. but then it turned out he was just frustrated with the noise level in the restaurant, which brings me to my next point... - It is SO LOUD IN THERE! SO SO LOUD! SO SO LOUD THAT YOU HAVE TO YELL TO HEAR THE PERSON BESIDE YOU. LITERALLY THE PERSON BESIDE YOU CAN'T HEAR YOU WHEN YOU'RE TALKING LIKE THIS IN ALL CAPS BECAUSE IT IS SOOOOOOO LOUD! That being said, here are the positives, and why I'd likely be back for more of the craziness above: - The pho was amazeballs. Like seriously some of the most delicious pho ever. And the bites of some of the apps I tried were totally yumtastic too. - Air conditioning! Blessed sweet, sweet air conditioning amidst this London heatwave! Nectar of the gods! Thanks goes out to Yee Gan who organized this UYE solely because I said I wanted pho and that the ramen club should branch out.