COM QUE — Restaurant in Houston

Tried Com Que recently after seeing it pop up as a new Vietnamese spot in Houston, and unfortunately, this one was a miss.

I ordered the bún riêu, hoping for a comforting, flavorful bowl—but what I got instead was a heavy-handed dose of MSG and not much else. The broth was overly salty with that unmistakable artificial punch that lingers in the back of your throat. The ingredients didn’t shine through, and the balance that makes bún riêu so special just wasn’t there. One bite in, and I knew this would be a “one and done” kind of visit.

The ambience tries hard to replicate that gritty, street-side feel of Vietnam—but it lands more on the side of dark and awkward. It feels like they’re aiming for “nostalgic alleyway eatery,” but instead, it comes off like someone dimmed the lights too much and forgot to bring the charm. It’s not exactly cozy or inviting.

Now to be fair, the waiter was decent. He checked in, got the order right, and was polite throughout. So if there’s one redeeming element, it’s the service. But good service can only carry so much when the food just doesn’t hold up. Final thoughts:

Food: ⭐⭐ (and that’s generous)

Ambience: ⭐⭐

Service: ⭐⭐⭐☆

Overall: ⭐⭐ — A place you try once out of curiosity… and never feel the need to return to.

If you’re looking for quality bún riêu in Houston, there are better options that don’t drown your taste...

We ordered portion for 2 people for $39.95. The Sweet n sour soup was good. The Clay pot catfish was not great, the sauce was watery, was not cooked until 'caramel'. The boiled pork was dry, not moist. The string beans was fine. My husband ordered shaking beef and A4 "nem nuong" springrolls. The shaking beef really not good, the meat was too tender and "chewy". The most disappointed thing was nem nuong springrolls (Charbroiled pork Paste). They brought out the "thit nuong" springrolls for us and explained that they use the "thit nuong" for "nem nuong" springrolls. Please, they are totally different. If you do that, why do you have that item on the menu? You should just have "thit nuong" springroll on the menu. Why do you have "nem nuong" on menu but don't do it right? The server explained that if we order the entree it will be the right meat, but if we order springrolls it will be "thit nuong" inside even we order "nem nuong". I was asking server how do they make the Pork springrolls, he said they will put chargrill beef in there. So what if we order beef springrolls, he could not answer it. Either he was trying to lie to us or the restaurant did not make it right as shown on menu. And the springrolls were...

I went there with my family. They were not satisfied with their food. There is basically no service and they charged you 18%. Some lady brought out our drinks and plates and left it at the end of the table. So we had to do it ourselves. One of the (fish sauce) nuoc mam we got had a whole dead fly in it. My mom ordered a shrimp dish that costed $13-14 and it came with 2.5 pieces of shrimps. They messed up my sister's order and she had to wait another 15 min after everyone received their order. The meat they used for the COM TAM was old and stinky. The one of the fried egg was turning bad. The C8 Com tam bo dai han dac biet marinated beef had this sour taste. The first piece was fine but the rest of it was chewy and sour. I went here before and the meat did not tasted like that. The owner said she doesn't see anything wrong with it when 3 other people from the table said it tasted off. The rest of the dishes we order was average such as the canh chua ca bong lau and muc...