Viva Food Vietnamese Restaurant — Restaurant in Jersey Village

Came here on the whim since another Vietnamese restaurant was closed and good thing it was. When I first came I wasn't too keen on the location but the food inside the restaurant smelt good and it's very clean inside so decided to give it a try.

We ordered the orange chicken (for the kids), tofu wok tossed in lemon grass and chili sauce vermicelli, and fried talapia with mango and mango sauce. I also had the fresh lemonade. First of all, everything was fresh, especially the salads and beansprouts (not one hint of brown on any vegetables). All the sauces was delicious, a little bit more flavor than other Vietnamese restaurant but not overwhelming. The orange chicken was a bit on the sweeter and glutinous side but it was for the kids and they loved it. The chicken was big pieces and very tender. So overall all the dishes was good. The fresh lemonade I order was a bit sweet for my likeing but I added additional water to make it more suitable for my taste.

As for services for this visit I did not have any problems. The drinks was constantly refilled and the wait staff kept on checking in on us.

So all in all I would definitely recommend trying this restaurant. It's big, they are practing social distancing, service is good, and food is...

Went to the Kroger today and on the back of my receipt were several coupons for this place for buy one entree, get one free on it saying it was good until October. I thought it would be a good day to try it. I went up there in person after work with the coupon in my hand, and he tells me immediately that the coupons are no good anymore. They canceled the deal with Kroger. I told him I just received the coupon today at Kroger and it says it is good til October. They looked at it, but they did not care. I was there in person, they should have just honored it. If I really liked the food, I would be back as a regular customer. I live right around the corner. I guess they don’t need new customers. Based on my experience today, I won’t be back so I’ll never get to try the food.

update I did end up trying the food and it was yummy 😋. As you can see the owner sent a reply to my initial review. I appreciated and respected this reply so much I decided to give them a second chance. The staff was very kind this time and recognized me from the day before. The coupon was honored. The owner could not be there, but his dad was and we took this picture. I...

Full Disclosure This restaurant is owned by my wife's Aunt.

With that said, I hope you'll trust when I say that the food here is absolutely great.

My wife and I do still go to other Vietnamese restaurants for certain specific soups, i.e. Bun bo Hue, Hu Tieu, etc., but family style meals are the best at Viva.

For an appetizer, I recommend banh bot chien, and for the entrees, I would recommend sweet and sour fish fillet with green mango (ca chien xoai song), crispy noodle with meat and seafood (hu tieu ap chao), N.Y. Strip Steak (bo New York), and clay pot fish (ca kho to).

If you have to have soup, you can't go wrong with traditional pho. The meat is very fresh and tender, and the broth is very good.

Another soup they serve, that I believe to be the best in Houston, is Beef Stew served with French Bread (Banh mi bo kho). Having that dish here caused me to have to stop ordering it at other restaurants because the others would always leave me disappointed.

I hope you give Viva a try and have as great an experience with the food...