Peggy L.
Yelp
My friend recently took me here and I've been back at least another 5 times since. She couldn't believe that I grew up in San Jose, but never ate here before.
Love the food, but don't love the location. Every time we come here, I'm worried that our windows would get smashed or we'd get mugged or something. But, the food is so good, we keep coming back despite those factors. I'd probably frequent it more if they had a different location. Parking is less than ideal (typical downtown parking situation) so be ready to parallel park and walk a bit. Like most of San Jose, lots of homeless hang out around here. It's a total hole in the wall, but those places always serve the best food.
I always get the Hu Tieu Dalat Dac Biet Kho/Dry with the 2 big prawns and it's always delightful. I do like that they offer a variety of different noodles, however, I always opt for the rice noodles. A lot of my friends seem to like clear noodles, but I've personally never been able to stomach them well. The assortment of meats that you get inside the dry noodles, is generous and I love the variety of cha that they include. I love the bowl of broth accompanying the dry noodles. Unlike other places, the broth actually tastes good, more than just some watery and salty MSG broth. The sauce for the dry noodles is savory and delicious so don't forget to add it! I always say that I will try something different like the Hu Tieu Nam Vang or something else on their large menu, but when I get here, I always get the same thing since I like it so much.
Some of the smaller details I noticed is that when you ask for cooked sprouts, extra veggies or extra lemon/lime, they're not stingy. I love my dry noodles with a lot of acidity and other places seem to only give you 1 or 2 lime/lemon wedge even when you ask for extra.
Their Thai iced tea is also good here since it's not the instant powder type that you'd expect from many Vietnamese restaurants cutting corners. We usually order it in togo cups so that we can finish it on the road.
We will definitely be back for more!