286 Noodle House — Restaurant in Garland

Review updated summer 2024: My family likes their hủ tiếu khô here. The hừ tiếu nước is also delicious. The hủ tiếu broth is savory and smells like traditional hủ tiếu broth. They offer hủ tiếu with the choice of dry with sauce or with broth in, along with choices of phở noodle, thin egg noodle, or clear potato starch noodle known as "hủ tiếu dai" noodle. My preference is with the hủ tiếu dai noodle. This particular hủ tiếu dai noodle is usually made in Japan known as "saifun" which cost more and so not many Vietnamese restaurants I have been to in Florida would offer this noodle as an option. The hủ tiếu is served with traditional vegetables and herbs such as tong ho (rau tần ô), Chinese celery (rau cần tàu), Chinese chives (hẹ), bean sprouts, scallion, cilantro, and fried shallots. The ingredient I must have in my bowl of hủ tiếu is the diced bits of crunchy fried pork fat. The noodle, pork bone broth, spices, herbs, and fried pork fat makes up what is known as hủ tiếu. This place has it all. I recommend trying the hủ tiếu noodle here.

Summer 2022: I came to the restaurant with one purpose and that is try their Mì Vịt Tiềm as recommended by the DFW Grub Dub. Mì Vịt Tiềm is Vietnamese herbal duck egg noodle soup. The duck is first lightly deep fried in oil to achieve a crispy golden skin yet still raw inside. Then chopped and stewed in broth with lotus seeds, Chinese jujubes, shiitake mushrooms, and sometimes dried Lily flowers along with seasoning and spices to achieve its unique vịt tiềm flavor.

Neutral Review:

Compared to other restaurants I have tried, this is the best version. I can sniff and taste a true vịt tiềm broth flavor. The fried duck meat at this restaurant is chewy, dry, and somewhat bland as if they fried it to well done and add it to the bowls when ordered to make it convenient, definitely not the texture of duck meat when stewed in the herbal broth.

I would still recommend to give this noodle soup a try here. Most other restaurants cheat their way out using Chinese roasted duck, or use hủ tiếu broth or phở broth and disguise it to look like vịt tiềm broth but doesn’t taste like it.

Compared to my mama’s homemade vịt tiềm, I love mom’s homemade mì vịt tiềm best. She would stew the duck for a long time so that it’s so soft and tender almost falling off the bone kind. I was going to take mom here to try the noodle soup but I will pass since she is very picky.

Customer service was okay. The server doesn’t have good memory. They put someone else order on my table and also forgot to give my son a small bowl. I had to go up to remind them. There were only two tables filled up at the restaurant too so it wasn’t...

TLDR: This one is a legit staple for Vietnamese food for sure! I keep returning for the food, yet their service needs some improvements.

The food: My sister and I visited the place yesterday (around 4:30 pm, April 25, 2024) and as I'm writing this review, the flavorful Pho broth still seems to linger in my mind. I can taste the quality of food and the dedication put into it. My sister ordered a Hu Tieu bowl, and it absolutely slapped! Not only that, the spring rolls were to die for (we can't help but order them everytime). I've tried a lot of their dishes to the point I'm glad to consider myself their regular customer, and I'll say that without a shame as their food never fails to hit home for me. Still, if there is anything that holds me back from ever returning, that would be...

The service: Most of my visits, the service hasn't been so consistent. While Khiem greets my sister and I with kindness, remembers our preferences and checks on us whether we're enjoying the food or need anything else, we don't have much luck with some other servers. Yesterday in particular, a female server (long black hair in ponytail, wearing glasses) was totally cold towards us. As she sat us yesterday, she threw the menus on the table and told another server our drink preferences, without any regard to what else we might want to say. Then, we told her we'd like extra veggies and limes, she didn't seem to notice that. As she brought the spring rolls to our table, she turned away immediately while we were trying to remind her about the extras, with absolutely not a care given to make sure if everything was in place or not. If I could give her 0 star, I would. Fortunately, Khiem was nice to come check on us and brought us the extras that we requested, so we didn't have to come to the checkout counter to ask for it. It's fair to say he made up for the whole experience, and I think he needs a raise. 5 stars for you, Khiem 👏. It wouldn't suffice without mentioning the manager as well, Mr. Ly. Though we had just a brief talk, he always makes us feel welcomed, being friendly and attentive to our preferences. If you do get a chance to talk to him, please do! He's super passionate about the food and elevating the dining experience, and he does care to bring the best to his customers.

The atmosphere: Nice, bright yet cozy. Ideal for family gatherings, or a night out with friends, or simply a date. It feels like home to me, enjoying great food in a relaxing vibe.

Overall, I can't wait to come back for more healing Viet food cravings, haha!! I think the quality and taste themselves are enough reasons to return, still I hope their service can step up to par...

Neither my husband nor I have had Vietnamese food before so how to eat certain dishes came with a learning curve, but the reviews were great so we figured we'd try something new. Fair warning, some dishes take a while (sweet and sour catfish soup), but they let you know that upfront, and they also recommend calling ahead if you want things collectively speedier. Great service, water was always speedily refilled. We got the spring rolls, the sauce with them was quite nice. The lemonade is perfect, not excessively sweet or tart. The sweet and sour catfish soup is delicious. For those of you who are new to it like me, just be aware that it's enough for 3 people, and to watch for the bones in the catfish, as it's multiple cross sections. Also, it comes with a sauce on the side(fish sauce I think?), use sparingly, the broth flavor is honestly already perfect and doesn't need it. I accidentally added to much, but that was my fault. My husband got the braised catfish and it was AMAZING. Same style of cooking, in the sense of watch out for bones, but that is hands down the best catfish either of us have ever had. The dish itself isn't spicy, though there's 2 small red peppers in there that I think were thai chilis(?). Adds great flavor to the dish, just wouldn't recommend eating those individually unless you like a solid fire in your mouth lol. It was a fun experience, wonderful staff, and the food was fantastic. 100% will...