Minh Hai — Restaurant in Cranston

TBH, I have driven by this restaurant on and off for about 6 years and have mostly assumed that it is closed for business permanently. Imagine my surprise when one evening, I drove by and saw lights on and a few cars on the parking lot. That was my cue to go in.

The couple who own and run this joint, multi-tasking as servers and cooks, are sweet until they get overwhelmed and then they start making mistakes. It almost seems like they assume they will never be too busy. Well, I've dined here 3x and I have seen the occupancy go up to about 4 tables in the early evening, and things start to go awry. Just saying...we waited for a long time for an Iced tea with condensed milk that never came, and then were served Vietnamese cold, not hot as asked for, coffee. Sadly, the owner was nowhere near apologetic even though it was her hubby who committed the faux pas.

Anyhoo, let's talk about the food because that is where it's at. The food is really delicious that it is easy for me to ignore the little service slips. I especially like that they have fish on the menu-- 3 kinds to choose from: the humble tilapia, the staple salmon, and then there's catfish fillet-- and squid. File under "more-than-just-shrimp" for seafood. I do not like how a catfish looks but I do like its delicately sweet flesh. Especially in this dish called "Ca Chien Mam Me" which is pan fried fillet with tamarind fish sauce. Very authentic. You can't go wrong with the Seafood Noodle Soup. I highly recommend the Special Rice, cooked in lightly flavored chicken broth with onions and garlic. The Pho Tai Nam-- beef noodle soup with eye round steak and well-done flank is satisfying. A must to try is the Clay Pot cooked rice with shrimp, chicken, broccoli, among others. There are also vegetarian dishes for non-meat eaters (not vegan). Oh, and of course, if you don't easily get caffeine jitters, enjoy that strong vietnamese coffee. So aromatic. So strong. So good.

Okay, so now I just made myself...

TL;DR: Go elsewhere.

Where do I begin...

The place doesn't look great. But I like my pho places no frills, so that was no issue. We were greeted nicely and sat down. It was around 6 pm and nearly empty. Ordered an iced coffee and two lemonades, plus tofu rolls and our mains (a pho and two Bun dishes).

They're low on lemons. Ok, fine, change lemonades to another iced coffee and a bubble tea. My hubby gets his iced coffee. And we got waters. Onward...

Tofu rolls come out. The homemade peanut sauce that accompanied this dish was delicious.

Then we waited. And waited. And a family that is obviously a regular customer comes in. They're greeted with hugs, started ordering, and food started flying out for them. We were still waiting. Still no second iced coffee or bubble tea.

After about 30 minutes, our food shows up. Well, the Bun dishes do. The lady owner, who put sauce bottles on the table of the family, gives me a small bowl with a few squirts each of hoisin and Sriracha. When I asked for the bottles, she points to the bowl and says, "I gave you some."

Say what?!

The Bun dishes that my hubby and son ordered were basically iceberg salads topped with a small portion of noodles and meat. Both of them left hungry.

My pho? 3 small slices of brisket, 3 smaller slices of eye round, and not enough noodles. The broth was bland and somehow became a flavor vacuum as I tried to save it by adding hoisin and chili garlic paste (also homemade and really good). But it was beyond help.

How this place is still in business is baffling. A waste of money, time, and energy that could have been better spent at BK.

And no, my kid never got his bubble tea, and my iced coffee got handed to me unceremoniously as I was reluctantly...

Minh Hai is my favorite go to spot for a hearty pho. The way the broth is made is rich and can feel heavy for some folks but I enjoy it because it’s like comfort food.

I ordered the pho dacbiet #2 , fresh summer rolls with tofu, and avocado smoothie. The avocado smoothie is so good and I recommend it because it is creamy and sweet but be warned the boba gets hard quick because of the coldness of the drink. The tofu summer rolls are my favorite go to because of the crispness of the tofu mixed with the vermicelli and crunch of the salad in it.

I will say this the takeout experience is really good for how busy they get. Everything was organized so well in my takeout I wasn’t worried about things spilling while driving to work.

The experience dining in is you do receive more for what is packed for you in takeout. But the down side in dining in is the wait can take much longer.

One thing though is the husband and wife are running the business on their own. This includes taking orders over the phone and handling dine ins.

Be expected to wait at least a 30-45min for your order since they get pretty busy. Even though they might tell you 20mins it takes time. If they are very busy it can be an hour wait for your order. But the food is well worth the wait.

They usually open at 2:30pm - 9pm except on Tuesdays. Sometimes they don’t open so call ahead to see...