Viet Garden — Restaurant in George Town

Update 2: Visiting again after a few months following an iffy experience last time. Tried a couple of new dises - Chicken Noodle with Fried Spring Roll and Fried Chicken Rice. Both were flavourful, with great tangy sauces and fresh greens😍. The portion sizes were decent, too. We also ordered the Spicy Beef Noodle Soup which my daughter adores, and it was great. Piping hot, spicy and fragrant, with a good quantity of beef😘🍜. The Avacado and Mango smoothies were thick, creamy and sweetened correctly. Real breather from the heat. The Lemongrass drink was also chilled right with a strong scent of lemongrass🍹😋. The service was attentive and quick. The music was enjoyable and we enjoyed our lunch. Just perfect 🥰 . Guys you just earned your fifth star back 👌🌟 ✔

Update: Unfortunately, I am taking a star away because service was a proper mess this time. It is New Year's Day and possibly some the staff are on holiday. But some of the basics can't be ignored. We entered with just one other customer inside but no staff around. The menu card was on the table and we selected what we wanted. Ten minutes gone.... we hear voices out in the back but no one to come and take our order. So we go to the door at the back and call out. A lady comes out, no welcome, no apologies... a pen and paper thrust at us and we are asked to write down the numbers from the menu.

By then there is a male staff member who comes in, maybe the owner, and things start moving. Our order is simple: one chicken banh mi, two pork banh mis, one lemongrass drink, one avocado smoothie and one cookie blended smoothie. The drinks arrive - all superb. Two sandwiches arrive, and there's no sign of the third one.

I drew the attention of the lady and told her about the missing third sandwich. She looked around but could not find the order. So she brings out the menu card and I tell her that second pork banh mi never arrived. Back to the kitchen. Truth be told the banh mis are excellent with the crunchy baguettes and generous fillings. But it was all so disorderly, inattentive and disengaged.

The last time we were here, a lady staff member even took the time to explain the different menu items. Not everyone knows every dish by its original Vietnamese name. No such courtesy this time though a group that came after us received some help.

The food is still lovely and appetising. The drinks were refreshing, too. So I hope to go back to the original 5 🌟 if the service improves next time.

Older review: We loved it. The clean, light flavours of Vietnam were ummistakably present in every bowl of noodle that my family and I had for lunch. We ordered the Chicken Noodle Soup (Pho Ga), Stew Beef Noodle Soup (Pho Bo Sot Vang) and the Thick Noodle Soup (Banh Canh). Their lovely tanginess combined beautifully with the earthy herbs and well cooked chicken and beef to create a tasty symphony on the palate. The portion sizes were really generous. I enjoyed the slightly chewy texture of the thick noodles for which my request to change the prawn and crab meat for chicken was not a problem at all for the team😊👌. The Fried Spring Rolls (Nam Ram) while being very tasty were a bit too oily. Our Avocado and Mango Smoothies were perfectly refreshing and very rich and silken smooth. The hot Lemongrass drink hit the mark perfectly. Overall, the place is clean, the service is proficient and the decor quite simple and unpretentious. The bowls of noodle soup came with extra sprouts, salad veggies and chilly sauce. There were other sauces on the table as well. Very thoughtful! Hopefully, we'll visit again soon and try some of the...

Viet Garden is a delightful, unassuming gem nestled in the heart of Georgetown, Penang. We discovered it online and decided to give it a try due to its excellent reviews, and it did not disappoint. The pho, a cornerstone of Vietnamese cuisine for me, was outstanding. The broth was clear and flavorful, perfectly balanced without being overly salty—something many places struggle with. The beef slices were tender, and the beef balls added a nice texture, making the dish authentically satisfying.

The spring rolls were another highlight—crispy and fragrant, fried to perfection. The presentation was lovely, accompanied by fresh basil leaves and pickled vegetables. We asked for an additional portion of dipping sauce, and it was promptly served with a smile. The prawn mango salad was a refreshing start to the meal, with tangy, sweet mango strips and fresh peeled shrimp—there were about eight prawns in the dish, making it an incredible value at just RM25.

We also tried a customized fried noodle dish, thanks to the lady boss who kindly adjusted the dish for us using pho noodles instead of the standard variety. The dish was flavorful, with tender beef and fresh vegetables cooked to perfection. I ended the meal with a glass of salted coffee, which transported me straight back to Vietnam—such a nostalgic treat to find in Penang!

Overall, the food was excellent, and the service was top-notch. The restaurant is small, with seating for around 22 people, but it’s easy to find with parking available along the road. The bright and cheerful interior, adorned with traditional Vietnamese hats and accompanied by light Vietnamese music, added to the authentic experience. We will...

Looking for somewhere to eat on Kimberley Street on a Wednesday night in what was our first night in Penang was challenging. It was not as busy as I expected. Luckily we did a full walk of the street and came across this gem.

There was lots on the menu that excited us so we ordered lots not expecting serves to be so big. The only unfortunate thing was that everything that we ordered came out at the same time, it was like a feast. This wasn’t a game breaker though as temperature of the food was really hot, something that has been lacking in Malaysia.

The chicken on lemongrass sticks was amazing, how do they make those vermicelli mats🤷🏽‍♂️, whilst the Pho 🍲 was what you would you would expect, bit heavy in the noodles though.

The Vietnamese Pancake was cooked perfectly with lots of fillings and accompaniments, whilst the last minute addition of the fried squid with fish sauce was a nice change up.

The last dish we had was the BBQ chicken rice, Chicken was crispy, not overly moist but when dipped in the sauce provided it was fantastic.

Service was attentive and helpful, whilst the beers were cold. Highly recommend if...