Bamboo Bistro — Restaurant in Newport Beach

I won't lie to you guys. We went on a miniature adventure trying to locate this wonderful place. Can't decide if it's because we are special, or because this place is in such a tactical location that not even the hide and seek world champ of 2027 could find it. Anyways enough of that. Let's get down to business, to defeat the Huns. Woops. Those are lyrics to Mulan. Sorry.

Seriously though. This place is delicious and I would highly recommend it to any noodle loving food connoisseur. Upon arriving at this little eatery on the corner, directly across from a conveniently located gas station for all your late night needs, we were greeted by friendly staff eager to serve their customers. Not even thirty seconds had passed and we were already being asked where we would like to sit and being directed to a table. Before you could even get comfy in your chairs we were already being asked what we would like to drink, not that this is a bad thing because I'm a thirsty guy. But wait, there's more. "Would you like ice with your waters?" You're damn right I'd love to put frozen water in my liquid water to make it a bit colder on an already cold and rainy night.

I had never been asked before if I would like ice in my water. Most restaurants assume it's something you want, but I was very pleased that they would even ask. Definitely brownie points. A little later into visit, after starting at their mouth watering menu for a solid twenty minutes me and my companion, who is very cute by the way, ordered the Chicken Pad Thai for herself and I ordered the Beef Pho Bowl, or Pho Bo for short. The wait wasn't too bad, about 10 minutes. Plus I'm a firm believer in hunger is the best seasoning. When the food came out and arrived at our table, I took one whiff of my dish and immediately went to a noodley heaven. I transcended through noodle space and time and found myself in a bathhouse. Except the water was not water. It was a rich and tasty beef broth that was capable of bringing even the toughest man to his knees, and a tear to his eye. Not unlike cherry pie by Warrant.

I felt like I was in a 5 gum commercial. Every seasoning was so pronounced. I could literally taste each flavor dancing on my tongue. At one point there was the macareina, and halfway through the bowl they changed it up and we're doing the tango. All while this was going on, I was slowly being wrapped up in a noodle blanket covering me from head to toe. I could die a happy man. The warm noodles radiating heat throughout my body. I could do the Polar Plunge naked up in Big Bear and not even flinch at the sheering icy winds or freezing water. Which I actually did earlier last week. My feet almost fell off it was so cold. But not today, because I was protected by a coat of hot noodles.

The Chicken Pad Thai was also very delicious. I had a couple of bites. Unfortunately not enough to transcend noodle space and time once more, but I would highly recommend the dish. Enough so that on a second visit it would be a strong contender for my next dish.

We also had the Singha beer which was surprisingly good. It was a lighter beer with a nice aftertaste. Complimented our dishes quite well. We originally wanted the Lucky Buddha, but unfortunately it was out. Guess I'm not getting lucky tonight :/

A brief description of the interior now. Picture this, you're on a train going through the desert. Nothing but sand for miles and miles in every direction as far as the eye can see, which largely depends on your sight. You may need contacts. Anyways that desert scene is exactly what this place isn't. This joint is very quaint and cozy, in the best way possible. If I had to guess you could have about 40 people eating here max. But it works perfectly. Bamboo accent all around the walls, nice wooded flooring and tables. Felt like home. If home was a delicious Vietnamese Fine Dining establishment. Anyways I would highly recommend this place. It would have got a 5/5 stars but the bathrooms are a...

My now husband and I hosted a wedding rehearsal and welcome dinner in Bamboo Bistro's private dining room upstairs from the main restaurant for about 50 guests. The owner Chau and her team worked so hard to make sure that all the guests were attended to and felt welcome, and ensured that there was WAY more food to go around. :) (my parents and relatives happily took what seemed like endless leftovers back to the hotel for the next day's breakfast and lunch). We're so grateful that we found this restaurant; everyone kept talking about how amazing the food, service, ambience and space was, and the quality of the wine. I can't even count how many people raved about the food and how fresh and tasty it was; we even had some people who had never tasted Vietnamese food come, but quickly became converts! We had many guests come from overseas, and now that they are back home, they still can't stop raving about the welcome dinner here!!

We knew we wanted something Vietnamese for our welcome dinner since there would be no Vietnamese food unfortunately at our wedding reception the day after, and we wanted it to be within 30 min. driving distance of San Clemente, where our wedding was. Westminster and Garden Grove, where most of the great Vietnamese restaurants are, would be way too far away, and we just happened to come across this place since it's a sister restaurant of Brodard Chateau.

The restaurant offers a number of multi-course banquet style menus, and all are incredible value for both the quantity and quality of the food. In fact, I think we chose the second cheapest option, but you'd never guess this based on the variety of dishes and proteins and how good the food was! The most popular dishes by far that were served were the roasted duck salad (AMAZING!!), seafood claypot, the shaking beef with garlic noodles, and the mango sticky rice. The tastes are authentic but with modern twists, which even pleased my Vietnamese mother, who is extremely skeptical of anything that is "modern" and not exactly like what she grew up eating in Vietnam. Setting up the private dinner arrangements and a few customizations was so smooth and seamless; Chau was quick to respond via email and incredibly apologetic (unnecessarily so) when she responded even just a day or two later).

The private dining room space is really beautiful - modern, but with lots of traditional Vietnamese touches and paintings/decorations. It felt so comfortable, cozy, and refined without trying too hard. It's like a bigger version of the main restaurant downstairs.

The service was super attentive and someone was always quick to come to my side whenever I needed even the slightest thing. I am really in love with Bamboo Bistro, the owner Chau, their menu and entire staff, and my husband and I are so grateful to have found them and had our welcome dinner there. When we are back in the area, we'd happily come back to eat here again and would recommend it without reservation for any meal or private...

Just over a week ago, my now husband and I hosted a wedding rehearsal and welcome dinner in Bamboo Bistro's private dining room upstairs from the main restaurant for about 50 guests. The owner Chau and her team worked so hard to make sure that all the guests were attended to and felt welcome, and ensured that there was WAY more food to go around. :) (my parents and relatives happily took what seemed like endless leftovers back to the hotel for the next day's breakfast and lunch). We're so grateful that we found this restaurant; everyone kept talking about how amazing the food, service, ambience and space was, and the quality of the wine. I can't even count how many people raved about the food and how fresh and tasty it was; we even had some people who had never tasted Vietnamese food come, but quickly became converts! We had many guests come from overseas, and now that they are back home, they still can't stop raving about the welcome dinner here!!

We knew we wanted something Vietnamese for our welcome dinner since there would be no Vietnamese food unfortunately at our wedding reception the day after, and we wanted it to be within 30 min. driving distance of San Clemente, where our wedding was. Westminster and Garden Grove, where most of the great Vietnamese restaurants are, would be way too far away, and we just happened to come across this place since it's a sister restaurant of Brodard Chateau.

The restaurant offers a number of multi-course banquet style menus, and all are incredible value for both the quantity and quality of the food. In fact, I think we chose the second cheapest option, but you'd never guess this based on the variety of dishes and proteins and how good the food was! The most popular dishes by far that were served were the seafood claypot, the shaking beef with garlic noodles, and the mango sticky rice. The tastes are authentic but with modern twists, which even pleased my Vietnamese mother, who is extremely skeptical of anything that is "modern" and not exactly like what she grew up eating in Vietnam. Setting up the private dinner arrangements and a few customizations was so smooth and seamless; Chau was quick to respond via email and incredibly apologetic (unnecessarily so) when she responded even just a day or two later).

The private dining room space is really beautiful - modern, but with lots of traditional Vietnamese touches and paintings/decorations. It felt so comfortable, cozy, and refined without trying too hard. It's like a bigger version of the main restaurant downstairs.

The service was super attentive and someone was always quick to come to my side whenever I needed even the slightest thing. I am really in love with Bamboo Bistro, the owner Chau, their menu and entire staff, and my husband and I are so grateful to have found them and had our welcome dinner there. When we are back in the area, we'd happily come back to eat here again and would recommend it without reservation for any meal or private...