Đồng Quê Restaurant — Restaurant in Garland

We went there yesterday for dinner and ordered banh canh cua, cha ha noi, and sua dau xanh. The banh canh cua was decent. Broth was creamy and had good flavor but too thick and have a starchy after taste, probably they used too much thickening flour, noodles was soft and not overly chewy. The stirred-fried pork in the bun cha ha noi was really tasty, great seasoning and not too salty. The vegetables, noodles and even the prepared fish sauce is pretty good. The only negative thing of the bun cha ha noi is the ground meat that came with the stirred-fried pork. It doesn’t taste like meat, it falls apart when i tried to separate it into smaller pieces and the seasoning is unlike any other bun cha ha noi I have in the past. I guess i am not used to their flavor. The sua dua xanh was good but too sweet for me. You can taste the mung bean ( i think this what the flavor is) in evey sip. My wife loves it. Based on other Vietnamese reviews on here, this place is a hit or miss base on the dish.

EDIT:

I went here for dinner over Labor Day week and it was packed. The line was out the door and the wait time was over 30 mins. Even with the crowd, we were sitted within 30 mins as promised. Waiters took our order promptly and brought our drinks fast. I was impressed considering how busy it was. We ordered the baked fish, bo la lop, and bake clams. The bake fish was divine. The vegetables were crisped and fresh. the fermented sauce was not too salty and has the perfect balance of sweet, sour, and saltiness. The fish was crisped and moist. However, unlike the baked fish at Saigon block, they do not remove the bones for you. It was still good and I enjoyed it very much. The other two dishes were not up to par as the bake fish. The bo la lop was moist, a bit chewy, but too damn salty. Same goes for the baked clams. The flavors and seasonings for these two dishes were great but on...

A solidly four-star Vietnamese restaurant in terms of food. Three stars in terms of service. Perhaps one of the best and most authentic in Dallas.

THE GOOD • Hu Tieu Seafood Soup with Clear Noodles was absolutely amazing. Broth was fresh and light and incredibly flavorful. • Spring Roll appetizers served warm; generously stuffed. • Waitress was very kind, patient, and welcoming.

THE BAD • Service attentiveness kinda sucks. I actually had to remind wait staff to refill my water. But to be fair, I have to do this at almost every Viet restaurant I go to, so it’s not out of the norm. Still bad, though. • Ordered the Bun Thit Nuong with Pork. Pork was awful and weird—and I wasn’t the only one at my table to think so. Didn’t really taste like pork (or at least fresh pork). Avoid at all costs. • After ONE bite of the Bun Thit Nuong, asked wait staff to send it back and choose a new dish. They refused, and we had to pay for it. Again, something that would probably happen at many Viet restaurants, but still. No bueno.

VERDICT • Great for fresh, flavorful, authentic Viet eats—though I’d suggest avoiding the grilled pork. • Affordable prices coupled with an attractive restaurant interior and friendly wait staff. • Mediocre service and strange policies by American standards—don’t expect to be treated like royalty. • Would definitely come back. (I’ll just avoid the grilled...

We’ve been to Đồng Quê before, but yesterday’s experience was absolutely unacceptable.

We ordered soft stir-fried rice noodles and crispy fried noodles. The moment the rice noodles arrived, we could smell it was burnt. One bite confirmed it — bitter, charred, and completely inedible.

When we politely pointed this out, the staff member argued that it was “pan-seared” and meant to taste that way. We’ve eaten this dish here before — we know what it’s supposed to taste like. This was not pan-searing. This was burnt food, and eating burnt food can make people sick.

Instead of taking responsibility or apologizing, he kept arguing. When that didn’t work, he blamed the chef for “stir-frying too hard” and walked off. No offer to replace the dish, no apology, nothing.

We left the entire plate untouched and made it clear we would not take it home. They still charged us full price for it without a word. No concern for customer satisfaction, no basic courtesy — just took the money and moved on.

Burnt food and zero accountability is not acceptable in any restaurant. We will not be coming back, and I wouldn’t recommend this place to anyone who values quality food and...