Pho Auntie 7 — Restaurant in Castro Valley

My husband and I came here for lunch on the Sunday before memorial day and it was BUSY! There were two tables outside and we wanted to the spot outside that just left. We walked into the restaurant and was greeted right away. We asked for the table outside that wasn't cleaned yet. The host called to another person to clean the table. The table cleaner was busy working on 3 to 4 other tables that was left inside. We waited some minutes for the table outside to be cleaned. The wait didn't feel long because my husband and I were enjoying the day. We were actually approached again by another person. They made sure we were helped.

We got seated and it did feel like awhile before the server came out with menus. By this time we were very hungry. The menus came out and we looked through. They had many authentic dishes that were listed with pictures. I like to shop by the pictures so I looked for which picture looks best. In any case, we ordered shrimp 🍤 rolls, banh beo, bun rieu, and noodle dish. They all looked very delicious.

The banh beo was super fun to eat. We like the original one better than the one with the peanut sauce but in either case, both styles of banh beo was very tasty. We'd have to eat 20 of those too get full. I recommend getting this dish as an appetizer and to share. Also, their fish sauce was on point. It wasn't too plain. And one good trait that this restaurant did right was to have plain/raw fish sauce at the table for people like me that was it extra flavorful.

They took our order and the food literally came out right away. Most of the dishes were hot. Though I thought my bun rieu could have been hotter but that's because I like my soups HOT. Even so, the temperature of the soup was good. I didn't burn my tongue. My husband thoroughly enjoyed his noodle dish because towards the end, he told me that he was full but he couldn't stop eating because the meat was so good so he kept at it until the plate was cleaned. We were so full and satisfied that we told our drinks to go.

We ordered the plum soda and grass jelly drink. The plum soda was refreshing and flavorful. It was the perfect drink for a hot summer day. The grass jelly was fun to drink/eat. It...

On a rainy day, my friend recommended this place as good for pho. It's locales at corner of busy street with limited parking options. I made the mistake of pulling into the lot next to it, but that is for the liquor store. The guy comes out and asked me if I was eating at the restaurant, kicked me out of that parking spot! They don't mess around. I had to circle the block and found street parking. Be warned peeps

They have a waiting list sign up, so you know they must be busy for lunch. Luckily it was late, so we got a table right away. Menu with pictures, I like seeing what I'll get. I noticed that had egg coffee, which is a twist on the traditional Vietnamese cafe sua da (iced coffee with condensed milk). Gotta try that! I ordered bun bo hue, spicy pork noodle soup. It came with veggies, the regular size was perfect. Overall, the soup was ok, not as spicy as I've had before. I'd rate their BBH a 6/10.

The place is laid out to maximum tables, so don't expect anything too comfy. It's good to eat and be out.

Service is efficient and if you can say "Cảm ơn", which means thank you in Vietnamese, they will smile and it will make their day. Please tip well at these restaurants. Servers are hard workers, they deserve it.

I also want to give kudos for their...

Visited for dinner around 8pm on Monday with a group of four. Restaurant was mostly full aside from a few small tables and two for four towards the back, so we were seated immediately. Service was very friendly and quick - got our food under 10 minutes after ordering. We ordered the Woven Noodles appetizer to share which split nicely (meatballs and sugarcane shrimp, 2 balls each were easy to cut in half). All meats were very tender and tasted great with the fine noodles and fish sauce. I ordered the build-your-own combination vermicelli plate with pork, grilled meatballs, and a spring roll. In retrospect this was very similar to the appetizer but I enjoyed it anyway! Also felt brave and tried the EGG SODA! It was surprisingly good and a nice fizz - condensed milk definitely was the main flavor and made it quite sweet, egg taste was subtle and similar to the egg foam made to top coffees. Overall looking forward to going back to try some of the more unique items...