Union Viet Restaurant & Cafe — Restaurant in London

The fact that the only people calling this "authentic" are not Vietnamese people says it all. This is European-Vietnamese. As such, it's lacking. I do not understand the rave reviews, except if you have no experience with actual Vietnamese cuisine.

I was really craving it, and this place had stellar reviews but I ended up so disappointed.

What we had were sloppy and Chinese-style spring rolls. Green papaya salad was a joke. It was just chunky julienned (not shredded/finely julienned) papaya with some toppings. Not a bowl to mix it in sight. It was awful and completely inauthentic. Not even mixed together and where was the dressing? Practically nonexistent and lacking in the proper flavour. Nothing like it looks on delivery apps.

The phở is a no. It was cilantro soup. I've had good, decent, and bad pho in my time and this hovers between decent and bad. The broth was essentially flavourless. If it wasn't for the cilantro, it would be tepid, vaguely chicken-flavoured water. Noodles were cooked okay but not fresh. No spring onion. You do get a tiny plate of raw bean sprouts (what is the obsession with uncooked sprouts?) And a few leaves of basil. And honestly, that much cilantro wouldn't even be an issue if the broth had its own depth of flavours.

Initially, I didn't even want phở. I wanted bún thịt nướng, which is a pretty common staple in most Western restaurants that serve Vietnamese. I saw "vermicelli noodles" on the menu but all the options seemed very strange for bún. So, I asked if it was cold noodles, as the bún dishes I wanted should be. The server said no, all the vermicelli options are all hot dishes (like bún hue?). What? A so-called Vietnamese restaurant with no bún thịt nuong? And there is no Vietnamese on the menu so it's impossible to tell what they mean with many of the items. Saying "noodles" means nothing.

So, then I asked about the beef pho and asked for the beef on the side. I was informed that the beef is precooked. Yuck! The entire point of beef is that you cook the raw beef in the bowl. Every real Vietnamese place understands this, and serves raw beef on the side if asked, and the only place I have ever had difficulty with this is fake "pan-Asian" type spots, and even then, they don't precook the beef before adding it to the broth. The fact this place gives you cooked beef, and thus, OVERCOOKED beef by the time you start eating the pho is unacceptable.

Eventually, I settled for chicken phở, which was basically just cilantro and red onion soup as previously stated.

The Vietnamese coffee wasn't even right. It took forever, and they served it all together in a mug. Dine in Vietnamese restaurants always provide the phin and let it drip at the table.

When they claim this is a Vietnamese family-run spot, I don't know. No Vietnamese people were working there, except one man in the kitchen. Everyone else was very, very obviously not Vietnamese, including the other man in the kitchen. The servers don't even know how to pronounce Vietnamese menu items. Phở is not a difficult word for English speakers, but every other minute I heard someone say "foe" (or "foo"). Come on.

I will also say that just because you are of a particular ethnicity does not automatically make you a good chef of the cuisine. That is not sufficient enough to convince me this is "authentic" Vietnamese food when nothing about this place feels or tastes authentic. It seems made specifically for the English palette and expectations.

You will find 20x better Vietnamese food in Hoxton and I would say that if you really want it, don't waste money here. This place is for uni students and people who don't know where to get the real stuff.

Tables are super close together so if you have the unfortunate luck of sitting next to loud or otherwise annoying people, you're stuck hearing every word of their cringy conversation the entire time.

The positives? The decor is nice. The servers are really quite friendly. And the food looks bright, fresh, and amazing in photos. It just doesn't taste good...

Hopefully ours was an atypical experience, but it was dreadful. We sought out this restaurant specifically based on its decent reviews, but our experience was very different.

To begin, the air conditioning in the restaurant was either turned off to save money or not working, and instead there was a huge and very noisy industrial fan in the entranceway, blowing hot air into the restaurant. It was stifling, and the noise level measured over 70 db (similar to heavy traffic). With limited options elsewhere in the area to eat, we decided to stay anyway, which was a mistake.

One dish (steamed pork bun) came reasonably quickly and was presentable, but the remaining food took almost an hour to arrive, apparently because the overworked solo chef was dealing with a long list of previous takeaway orders. Pho was all right, but came very late, and the server spilled broth on the table and on my wife's phone on deivery, muttering 'sorry' but leaving immediately without offering any assistance, leaving us to clean up the mess ourselves with our napkins. My pork baguette finally arrived, and though the filling was good, the baguette itself was absolutely stale right through - we're talking dry-as-dust, knock-on-the-table hard. We were running so late at this point that I ate it anyway, dipping it in the accompanying soup broth (served without a spoon) to soften it. We finished our meal, and when the bill was presented it contained a 12.5% service charge, despite the fact that the menu specifically stated that the service charge would only be added on weekends and for tables of 5 or more (we were a group of three). I disputed it, especially in light of the abysmal service, and the charge was removed, but such duplicitous practices should be illegal. Overall, it was a very disappointing experience, and hopefully not representative of the usual service and menu at...

I dropped into Union Viet Café not long ago, and honestly, it’s a bit of a hidden gem. Tucked away in Southwark, it’s the kind of place you might walk past without noticing—until the smell of pho hits you and pulls you in.

The vibe inside is casual and unpretentious, which I really liked. It’s more of a no-fuss, order-at-the-counter kind of spot, but they’ve done just enough to make it feel welcoming and cosy. Great for a quick lunch, or if you’re after something fresh and satisfying without breaking the bank.

Now let’s talk food—because that’s where Union Viet really shines. I went for the beef pho, and it was absolutely spot on. Deep, fragrant broth, generous slices of beef, fresh herbs, and the kind of warmth that hits you in the chest in the best way. It tasted like it had been simmering for hours (in the good way, not the overly salty shortcut way). Light but filling—proper comfort food.

I also tried the summer rolls, and they were fresh, crunchy, and packed with flavour. Dipping sauce was great too—not just a token add-on, but part of the experience.

Prices are more than fair for London, especially considering the quality. Service was friendly and efficient—nothing over the top, just nice people serving good food, which is all you really want sometimes.

If you’re into Vietnamese food and want something quick, affordable, and authentic without going full sit-down dinner mode, Union Viet Café is definitely worth a visit. I’ll be going back—next time I’ve got my eye on...