Khởi Hưng Restaurant — Restaurant in Garden Grove

Upon walking in, you'll most likely get a whiff of the hot butter from the sizzling plates from diners. If they have their doors open, it's most likely due to the dining room being smokey from the plates. They offer a variety of meal options but I think they're mostly known for their sizzling plates and beef dishes.

Our group had the com bo luc lac (shaken beef with rice), com suon cuu nuong sot bo toi (lamb chops with garlic butter sauce and rice), and com ribeye sot bo toi (ribeye with garlic butter sauce and rice). Even though we ordered all dishes with the red rice, there were other options to choose such as white rice, fries or bread. I'm not exactly sure what's in the red rice to even describe it. I wasn't a big fan of the red rice but to all their own.

The lamb chops and ribeye were presented on a sizzling plate with a side salad with vinegarette dressing. Lamb chops were tender and ribeye lacked flavor. The star of the meal was the bo luc lac. It was also tender, shaken with plenty of sauce, and had chunks of garlic. It was absolutely delicious! The plate also had a side of watercress and onions that complimented the dish well. It was so good, our table had to order another. Portion-wise, I'd say it's a single serving. You may not want to share it with how delicious it is.

Service was great, too. Now, I saw another reviewer mention this, so I will too. Just FYI, their drinks are served in small styrofoam cups. They do charge $0.50 for water. It's not a deal breaker but I guess some people may not like it. I'm assuming it's the charge for...

Out of all the dishes we ordered, I would have to say that the meat dishes were the winner and what they are best at.

We ordered:

#4: Garlic butter wings were flavorful and had a thin layer of fresh crispness.

#11 shaken beef - super soft, came with side of rice

#14 ribeye came out on skillet - super soft, came with side of rice and fries

#16 fried chicken with sticky rice - this one caught me by surprise. It was delicious. Triangular sticky rice, lightly fried and crispy exterior. The sauce is what makes this dish when you dip it with the chicken.

#24 Bún riêu - flavorful rich broth with real crab roe and tofu

#22 Bánh canh tôm của - least favorite out of all. Their banh cảnh is not what I’m used to. The noodles remind me of tteokbokki, the Korean rice cake noodles. It was chewy and thick and will expand in your tummy. The broth reminds me of Súp măng cầu the crab soup but wasn’t thick. This version was totally different than what I was craving for and had a hard time finishing.

It was my first time but my family second, if I come back with them again, definitely sticking to the meat dishes....

I would rate 4.5 stars if I could but I decided to be nice and rate up. The restaurant itself is unassuming but the food is really good especially for the price you pay. $7 for the house specialty fried chicken? Great deal!

The chicken is nice and crispy but also really moist as well. Other reviews have stated that the chicken is bland, and while I agree, the sauce that comes with the chicken makes up for the lack of flavor in the chicken itself. The sauce is obviously where the flavor is supposed to come from and I'm glad it's on the side, other wise, the texture would become soggy.

The restaurant is cash only but I feel like many mom and pop restaurants in Westminster and Garden Grove have this policy so it's nothing strange for the area.

And for anyone who's lived around the area, I believe this restaurant either has the same or similar chef to what used to be Tai Buu down the street. So if you've been to Tai Buu, you know how delicious the...