Ben Tre Restaurant — Restaurant in Millbrae

If I could give this place zero stars I would. I don’t know how they got all these good reviews but I will describe my experience here in depth and others Can judge from there.

I came here with my Son on a Monday evening—I had came up to pick my son up from SFSU to come home for the summer (we live in San Diego), so before heading back down, we stopped here because of all the good reviews. We were seated fast, but from there it went downhill fast. My son ordered well done steak and well done brisket pho—he got raw meat instead. I ordered a hot tea—the table across from us had ordered some and I saw that they got it in a tea pot. Mine, however was served in a tall drink glass so since it was glass, it quickly heated up and burned my hand when I even tried to pick up the glass, let alone drink from it. I had to ask for a mug or something with a handle in order to get something appropriate. They finally brought out the tea pot like the other table, but only after I burned myself and asked. My son’s Lemonade was 3 sips of lemonade and the rest Ice. We also saw that our table didn’t have hoisin sauce like the other tables did—we had to ask for it TWICE before getting any. When my soup came, the bowl was sitting on old torn order Receipts from the night—basically they sat my bowl of soup on top of their trash and served it to me. I don’t know where that would have been appropriate ANYWHERE. I also had to ask for the rice that came with my meal rather than it being served with my meal. Lastly, I noticed that every other table didn’t have the same issues as we did and the service to those tables was up to par, despite how we were being treated—-which deeply concerns me. My son and I were the only non-Full Asian or non-white customers there and the service to us was below sub-par.

It’s really a shame because in San Diego, we frequent Thai and Vietnamese restaurants a LOT and have never experienced a restaurant treating us this way. By the way, we are half Asian, half African American so it was extremely disappointing. So I’m posting this review as a STRONG WORD OF CAUTION TO ANYONE WHO THINKS ABOUT FREQUENTING THIS PLACE ESPECIALLY IF THIS TREATMENT WOULD BE UNSATISFACTORY TO YOU IF IT WAS YOU...

We’re from Dallas,TX and here on vacation. We wanted to compare San Fran Pho against Texas Pho. There are so many Pho places in San Fran but googling and Reddit brought us to Ben Tre. Here is our review:

Food:

The pho broth was well seasoned and tasted good. The meats were good. Meatballs were different than what we were used to. They were a bit chewy. The Seafood Pho was disappointing. Didn’t have crab or squid. The restaurant being near the bay we figured it would be amazing but sad to say it’s just about as good as Texas. The Rice dish we got was good too but needed more vegetables. It only came with lettuce. I’m used to seeing cucumbers,tomatoes and pickled veggies. The normal veggies that come with a Vietnamese dish. The beef was tender and seasoned well though. We also ordered chicken wings. They were crispy but over cooked so meat was dry.

Service:

Service was great! Food came out quickly. The Pho came out boiling hot. I’ve never had Pho this hot for so long. I was sweating eating it. Not a bad thing though. Our waiter was friendly and very accommodating.

Ambience:

It was 3PM on Monday and the place decently busy. It was quaint but big enough to fit a good amount of people. We’re used to Texas where all the stores are big but not always busy.

Price:

Everybody was telling us San Fran prices are expensive but this place wasn’t that bad. $10.95 for a large bowl. A bit more expensive than back home but nothing too bad.

Would recommend this place to anyone looking for a good bowl of Pho. Being Vietnamese ourselves we wouldn’t recommend a Viet place if it wasn’t good but stick with...

• In Short *

Unexpectedly tasty five spice chicken pho ga!

• In Depth *

Millbrae wasn't a city I ventured much into until my girlfriend moved into the neighborhood she grew up in, with the restaurants she grew up eating at, which, unlike SF, don't seem to change nearly as often. So, while I'm the one showing her about up in the city, I defer to her repertoire of experience when it comes to her cozy little part of suburbia.

In the mood for soup noodles (which is a mood I'm usually in, if we're being honest), but not quite feeling the heaviness of actual pho, I ended up going with the lighter pho ga option, with a side of heavier five spice roasted chicken, of course.

And, unlike the five spice chicken at my much beloved Golden Star up in SF, Ben Tre's was seasoned just about right to pair with the pho ga, such that the flavors balanced out, and the chicken itself was not too, too salty (it still was a bit, but not as much). Flavors aside, it was cooked perfectly as well, with a nicer outer crisp, and a deliciously moist interior.

Accessibility Info

Venue - A spacious venue with plenty of seating, composed of a mixture of high top and regular height tables. Some of them might be set a bit too close to be comfortably seated at when the place is crowded, but there should be enough options for accessible seating otherwise.

Bathroom -...