Vietnam Kitchen — Restaurant in Arcadia

Tldr: if you value your time and money, don't go here. I have never heard of waiting for an hour plus for food at a Vietnamese restaurant.

We came here to get takeout for the family, a simple order of a pho, a banh mi sandwich and two spring roll appetizers. When we got there, there were people sitting at tables and similarly, putting in to go orders.

30 mins later, no news. No food. For anyone. More people began piling up to dine in, pick up to go's and online orders. We were all waiting.

A total of 45 mins later, we finally got our food... But they forgot our spring roll. The waitress put the food down in front of us, (didn't apologize or explain) and hurriedly took down what we missed. There's some yelling in the kitchen, some chaotic flurries of taped order tickets and waiting hungry customers. At this point, there were a few to go orders and one table served. Majority of people were still waiting with no food.

After waiting for another 15 mins, and watching them pack up about two more (large) online orders, we left. We couldn't wait anymore because the kids at home were hungry and we needed to go.

On principle, as a business practice, they should have alerted customers that something was wrong in the kitchen and/or that it was backed up. They should have stopped seating new customers when they already had a large backlog. They should have apologized and should have respected their customers' time. There should be an organized order-taking system for online orders, take out orders and dine in customers. They did none of these things. (And look, I've worked at a restaurant. I get when things go down, but you set expectations for your customers, apologize, and they'd understand.).

Also, we did eat their pho (for $12 a bowl). There were exactly two slices of beef and two pieces of tendon. For the banh mi, for $7, it's a total joke at how small it was (see picture with my finger for scale).

I won't be coming back again. And would caution others from this experience too. There are better Vietnamese...

It's always a great find when it's local and a small mom and pops restaurant.

It was a random Sunday evening and the neighbors wanted to grab a bite to eat, after trying to find a few places we stoped by Vietnam Kitchen. Being that it was my first time trying this type of food (including Pho) I was happy with our decision to dine here. Walking in we were immediately greeted by this lovely older lady, she was sweet and very welcoming. It wasn't what seemed like a busy night but for one person and a few tables full I guess it can be a bit of work, so we waited a few minutes before we were brought menus and drink orders were takin. Atmosphere was very relaxed and old, which kinda felt welcoming. Once we got or drinks we placed our orders and with the help of my neighbors because they've had Vietnamese food before it was rather easy to order and try some new things. The food came out rather quickly, so I heard it's rather easy to make pho. My pho was so delicious, the broth was very flavorful. The pho reminded me of something that would be great to have while feeling sick or a long night of drinking, kinda like our Mexican menudo. I couldn't stop trying all the side dips (if they call them that) each one of them was better and better.

You can't beat the prices for the portion of food, good deal!

Yes I left a happy customer and can't...

I'm here to wax poetic about their ribeye lomo saltado because in my opinion, this dish is the best thing on the menu! Sure, most of the menu features Vietnamese dishes, but after having tried lomo saltado at various restaurants doing Peruvian cuisine in the SGV, no one so far has seemed to able to meld the flavors of this dish together quite like Vietnam Kitchen does.

At first glance, the stir fry looks like what you would see in a classic lomo saltado recipe: thinly sliced tender ribeye, tomatoes, sliced red onions, French fries, green onion, cilantro, garlic, soy sauce and vinegar. But the fries magically stay crispy all the way to the end of your meal, a deeply flavorful sauce deliciously coats every bite, the tomatoes are cooked to the perfect texture, and did I mention the fries somehow defy logic and stay crispy?

Comes with a side of fragrant rice that I believe is cooked in chicken stock, and a creamy green sauce that lightly complements this dish. You will likely have leftovers as well! There's a small staff here so sometimes you will have to call several times before someone can take your order, but your patience will be rewarded with a wonderfully delicious ribeye...