Brandon U.
Yelp
TL;DR: Understated Viet eatery in Renton with delicious food, solid portions for a dinner, sharp prices, and a cozy interior vibe. Highly recommend for hearty Viet cuisine on the Eastside.
Renton Bistro has been the OG Viet restaurant in Renton for a long time, and it has survived that long because of its tasty and large menu of Viet dishes. You can get pho, broken rice, or even some specialities like Shaking Beef. We got the pork chop broken rice, beef stew, and the egg roll. The egg roll was different but really good; it's not the flaky texture but a heartier deep fried texture that was really good. The broken rice with pork is one of their standard dishes to get: rice, fried egg, pork chop, and some miscellaneous sides. The beef stew had big chunks of beef, carrot, and egg noodle in what tasted like pho broth but with the taste notes of the beef. All in all, it was very good. That said it didn't compare to Viet restaurants you could find in San Jose; for example the beef stew there wouldn't just be the pho broth with beef.
The seating area is quaint and cozy. Lots of wood textures and solid wood tables and chairs. Lots of light too through the large windows!
The downsides are the parking (limited and tight parking lot, but there's ample street parking), limited seating, and slow service when busy (30 minute+ wait for food). The last callout is well understood by them too; they post a warning about this on their door. If you go outside of core lunch and dinner hours though, there isn't any wait.