Buba Kitchen — Restaurant in Concord

This is a copy of my post in a social media group. The manager responded that they were not being judged fairly, so I wanted to provide feedback in that sense.

Here's a fair assessment of my experience in December 2024: I had Pho, Iced Vietnamese Coffee, and Thai Iced Tea, and Fresh Summer Rolls.

The server was nice. I thought my tea had too much cream and she was nice enough to make me a new one with the cream on the side. She was very polite.

The broth for the Pho was great. The meat was pretty standard. I usually like mine with some Hoisin and Sriracha, but they didn't have these which are usually standard in most Pho shops. Unfortunately, most of my noodles were overcooked. Like when I tried to pick them up with chopsticks they would break soft. Pho noodles should be cooked in the kitchen to slightly less than al dente because when the broth is as hot as it should be, by the time the soup gets to the table the noodles will be just right.

The Fresh Summer Rolls and peanut sauce were okay. They weren't great, but they weren't bad either. I did feel like they were missing something, but it's been a few months so I don't remember anymore.

Honestly though, the drinks were ho. The stuff they try to pass off as Vietnamese Coffee and Thai Tea are not even close to the real thing. Siam Orchid has a more authentic Thai tea. The Thai tea here is weird. The tea isn't strong, it's super sweet, and even the tiniest amount of cream takes over the flavor of the whole drink. I know because my second try was brought to the table with the tea and cream separate. I also initially ordered light cream to begin with because I find most of the places that have Thai Tea in NH are heavy handed on the cream. Thai tea should be dark orange, almost looking black, at the very least there should be some difficulty looking through it. The tea without cream was a very light orange which was my first clue that this wasn't likely going to be good, but I gave it a chance on the off hand it would be.

The Vietnamese Coffee was worse. Let me preface this by saying they are not the only place on main street that does this, but someone needs to tell these places to stop. You cannot just put condensed milk into regular coffee and call it Vietnamese Coffee. Traditionally, you put condensed milk into a cup fill it up with a ice and a phin filter with dark roast robusta finely ground. If you're not going to do that, you have to at least use some dark shots of espresso. What I had just tasted like iced drip coffee with condensed milk which some people may like, but it's not really Vietnamese Coffee.

I'm from California and I've been trying to find good Asian food for the last 8 months. I've found a lot of things I like in NH, but I find myself going to Mass more to fulfill my cravings. Oh, I also used to work in a Vietnamese Restaurant and a Vietnamese Coffee shop before in San Jose, CA. I've also eaten at many of the "Little Saigon" areas (not always labeled) in Los Angeles, San Diego, Sacramento, Orange County and all around the bay area.

To be fair, about the noodles, when I walked to the bathroom it looked like the owner was training someone knew in the kitchen. I overheard him mention some things about cooking, but didn't pay enough attention to know which dish they were talking about specifically. Maybe I'll go there for the Pho again and give it another chance because the broth was good. Hopefully, my noodles will be cooked...

We started with the crab ragoon egg rolls and they were awesome. So much more crab flavor than you normally get with a crab ragoon. My husband got the beef pho with the spicy sauce on the side that you add to your preference. He likes spicy foods and said it's the kind of spicy that is warm and savory and adds flavor rather than just burning hot.

I got the seafood pho and was really pleased with the amount of shrimp and calamari. I've had a lot of noodle soup dishes at various restaurants and some places tend to give mostly noodles and broth with only a couple pieces of the stated protein type.

Both types of pho came as a HUGE portion size and we had plenty of leftovers to bring home.

We got the strawberry crepe cake dessert to go and enjoyed that. Basically lots of crepes stacked on top of each other with creme filling between each crepe to reach a cake slice height. Not overly sweet and the strawberry flavor was very nice. Not something typically found on a dessert menu, so fun to have something different than normal and not something I will make myself at home.

My husband also got one of the seasonal cocktail offerings called "witches brew" which he really liked and had a fun aspect of having popping Boba pearls at the bottom!

Our server Jonathan was very nice and had helpful suggestions about the menu because it was our first time and we had some questions.

We will definitely come back and recommend to...

Wow, just wow! This place is amazing. I will be recommending this place to all of my friends and family.

For food, I got the combination Buba phở with the spicy bone marrow, and it was so delicious. The phở came with basil, bean sprouts, and chilis on the side, and the portion of the phở was amazing. It was so delicious!! I also had a pork belly bao which was to die for! I WILL be coming back to just have a plate full of the different bao fillings that have. For drinks, I had a hot ginger tea which was so sweet and tangy which was so refreshing. The second time I went I had the cà phê sữa đá (iced Vietnamese coffee) which was so sweet and strong.

The atmosphere was so nice and cozy, and all the servers are consistently sweet and considerate.

I studied abroad in Vietnam this summer and was so devastated knowing that there weren’t Vietnamese restaurants in Concord. Once I saw the article about this place opening up their second chain in Concord, I was so insanely excited. This place was such a beautiful reminder of my time there and the amazing food of Vietnam. I am a close walk to the restaurant also, so I am very excited to support this business and eat more delicious food!

Edit: Tried the phở ga and I liked the buba...