Bánh Cuốn Thanh Trì — Restaurant in Garden Grove

We thought about giving this visit a 1* not a 3* rating, but we were being fair and generous. It's New Year's Day, and a lot of businesses are struggling to stay afloat.

We ordered bún chả cá (fish noodles soup) and house special bánh cuốn combo (rice flour with eggs in the batter rolls, a "new" twist from a traditional Vietnamese dish) #7.

The bún chả cá's broth was not flavorful. It was a bit bland, and it was luke warm, not hot. There were not much "fresh" fish pieces, and they didn't taste fresh, perhaps they were frozen, thaw, then added to the broth(?). Other types of "fish-mixed" were fish balls and fried fish cake. They tasted as store bought, not freshly made at that location. We should not order bún if we were at a bánh cuốn specialty restaurant...lol.

The bánh cuốn combo was a big disappointment! Very little, and we mean VERY little ground-shrimp inside the special type of rolls, of which eggs were added to the rice flour. Giò lụa and chả lụa chiên (2 different kinds of Vietnamese pork sausages) tasted just like the store bought types. Bánh cống (rice flour and mung beans deep fried cake) was okay. Nước mắm lacks flavor. This is bad! If you make mediocre bánh cuốn, but your Nước Mắm is phenomenal, it will make your bánh cuốn phenomenal. The egg rolls (which came with the order) were a joke, frozen, deep-fried, and absolutely flavorless. They were definitely not made there fresh.

This was the reason we should have given a 1* rating instead of a 3. The bún came out before the bánh cuốn, must eat before it gets cold. Then, a young man behind the counter came out and told us, and 3-4 other customers, that they were out of meat!!! Shrimp options were given, which we accepted. But, 7-10 minutes later, we asked about bánh cuốn, the young female server brought out the bánh cuốn, and she apologized that the egg rolls would be coming out later. THEN SHE BROUGHT THE BÁNH CUỐN NHÂN THỊT (rice flour rolls WITH MEATS) to the table to our left, mind you, they came in 10 minutes AFTER we were SEATED AND ORDERED. That table was also told the restaurant was out of meat when they placed their order!!!

This was where our young female server made her mistake. When we asked why our order was without meat, and the other who placed the order after ours had meats? She tried to educate us on the difference of bánh cuốn (trơn) nhân thịt (plain rice flour with meats) vs. Bánh cuốn trứng nhân thịt (rice flour with eggs in the batter and meats). We cut her off when she failed to understand the part of "out of meats," "we ordered BEFORE they did" vs. Different types of bánh cuốn. This poor server apologized later and again, stating that the cook only had enough meat for one roll. And our dish called for eggs in the batter instead of plain flour.

We should have let the server know (but didn't): You mix the flour and eggs, pour it onto the cloth that covers the boiling pot, covered to let it cooked/steamed, then add cooked ground-pork, then roll it into a roll, then serve. Or, you pour the mixed flour WITHOUT THE EGGS batter onto the... ect,.

We had to explain to her later that she shouldn't take the blame for her cook (thar person is definitely not a chef to our standards) or manager. If there were enough meats for just one roll, they should have given that roll to us, not to the "plain flour rolls." The fact that the batter was with or without the eggs were irrelevant. If you're a good cook, you should be able to estimate how much meat you would need for a day of business, then add 10-15% extra to be in stock. The manager and the cook should have offered us one roll with meats and one with shrimp. Given the fact they had enough meats for just one roll, and our dish called for two rolls, it cost more. The other dish at the other table called for only one roll because it cost less.

The young female server would have gotten a 5* from us because she was polite and was always with a beautiful smile. She chose to listen to her manager and cook who had no concept of customer service and how to run a business...

Craving satisfied… sort of. Mixed experience at Bánh Cuốn Thanh Trì.

I had a specific craving for Bánh Cuốn Thịt ($14.99) with bánh cống during my visit to the area this weekend for my cousin’s wedding. The fact that they close at 5 PM and I was nearby at 3:40 PM on Saturday, 7/19/25 helped seal the deal. I came in with my son and we were seated right away.

I didn’t read the menu carefully and ended up ordering the Bánh Cuốn Đặc Biệt (same price, $14.99), thinking I could get a mix of toppings with only Bánh Cuốn Thịt. Instead, it came with 1/3 bánh cuốn thịt (which I wanted), 1/3 bánh cuốn tôm, and 1/3 bánh ướt (which I didn’t care for). That was my oversight, but a heads-up for others wanting a specific combo.

What we liked: -The Bánh Cuốn Thịt itself was solid: classic ground pork and mushroom, just how I like it. They make it the rolled style instead of flat folded. -The fish sauce on the table was generous, but a bit flat for our taste, adding fresh lime (we asked for extra) really brought it to life. It took about three wedges to get that perfect zing, but once we did, it hit the spot. -They serve complimentary herbal tea (nước mát), which is a nice touch though it was a bit too sweet and diluted for my taste. -Bánh Bèo Chén (8), $9.99 had all the OG toppings I love, especially the mung bean for that Southern region flavor. The thickness was perfect, but unfortunately, the batter was slightly undercooked.

What we didn’t love: -The rice sheets were thicker than I prefer, and the tôm filling and egg sheet (offers on their menu-but we didn’t order it) felt like a modern take that didn’t hit home for me. -The bánh cống was a real disappointment: dense, chewy dough with no crunch, no shrimp, and bland mung bean. Just heavy and flavorless. Bánh cống was the main reason I decided to check them out.

Other Notes: -Small space, so expect a wait during peak hours. -Plenty of free parking in the plaza. -Big shoutout: They have toilet seat covers! (A rare win at Vietnamese and...

I came here for the first time and ordered to-go since it's packed here and you have a wait for a long time if you come during peak hours after 10 AM. I heard the line could be wilder since this place is popular, so plan to go early if possible. Luckily they have pics demonstrating the dish so you can know how it looks and what ingredients are included. If you don't know, the cashier will point it out without you asking for it if it's your first time. The price is higher than other places; however, their dish, number 8 I ordered, had many parts of rolls such as pork, shrimp, spring rolls, fried sweet potatoes, etc., so that's why. The wait to go was around 15 mins; I came back to pick it up after 20 mins. The food got cold when I ate it, but it was still good. My suggestion is to dine in there since the steamed rolls are not the to-go foods; if you do, microwave them first. Customer service was excellent and friendly. In addition, they gave me a drink for FREE, which surprised me, and it was good as well. The minimum for card use is $15, so if you use under, they will charge 50 cents which were acceptable to me since I did not have cash. Please don't run to get cash or try to be cheap since your time is more valuable than the 50 cents.

I will come back to try other dishes when I'm in town again and during...