Thanh Ky Restaurant — Restaurant in Oakland

Last year gave 4 stars and reviewed. My next paragraph is an update. Best combination fried rice!!! Ate half and saved half for dinner since I am trying to diet 😂

As of 10/14/2018 I don't write unless it's really bad experience and this is one of the rare times. I am really easy going, but this made me write and sadden the rest of my day.

Wasted 1hour here which could have been avoided. This place has good food. But it wasted almost an hour of my family time and in the end we didn't even get to eat because we would have had to wait another 30 minutes. Keep in mind we were already hungry since we planned to eat here.

So we signed in as family of 5. They did offer us a table of 4 but add a seat on the side. We declined and wanted the big table since it's tight and packed there if u add a seat. We gladly wait our turn. As time goes by a few lines below our name is a group of 10. We still wait. Then I noticed they called the group of 10. I approached the man and asked we haven't gone yet.

His reply was they called in before you and made reservations. I told him, but you didn't list them on the list beforehand. If we had know we could have at somewhere else. Ive been eating at thanh KY for over 10 years. Took all my family and business people to eat there. I would not have mind to eat else where just don't waste my family's time.

He told us wait 10mins. So he just gave our table to a group of 10 and the only other big table has a group that just ordered from him. So how can it be less than at least 20 mins. Mind u he could have asked the group of ten to wait for that table but made us wait instead. This all could have been avoided if he wrote the group of 10 down so we could have came next time to eat.

I also didn't know a packed Asian place lik this took reservations. We all would do it if this was true. It would be chaotic. I don't know if he was telling the truth or not but it could have been avoided if he let us knew inadvance of waiting almost 1 hour for a table and then wanting to make us wait more.

Needless to say u can go here with 4 or less people. There were many flaws before but u can overlook it with good food. But this one wasting my time was over it.

I will not take my family here or any of my business vendors/ clients anymore.

If u are 5 or more ask multiple times before are committed to waiting or u might end up wasting multiple people's time while hungry and feeling pushed away by their employees close friends or family members who want to eat before you. Not a good feeling for the rest of the day.

I hope that after this review they will strive to improve and it will be a better experience for others to come, I wish them the best, but it looks like we are fated to never experience this...

If you are from Oakland, you’ve probably heard of Vien Huong, which has been my go to and I’ve been going there since I was a little kid. However… my friend recommended me to Thanh Ky and I was reluctant at first to cheat on Vien Huong but… I’m glad I did. They offer the same type of noodles but.. the taste is totally different. I usually get the combination with the fat egg noodles and soup on the side.

Vien Huong: their egg noodles are different, a less eggier. The price is about $3-4 dollars more than TK. Their bowls are bigger and you get more food

Thanh Ky: their egg noodles are very yellow and contain much more egg. Sometimes they don’t cook the egg noodles enough and it’s a little gummy. Bowls are cheaper in price but are smaller. However, the overall flavor has more oomph than VH. It’s more flavorful, a little saltier, more garlicky and the fried pork skins are a nice guilty touch.

I’m a big fan of TK now but I still go back to my roots at VH but I find it’s less often. Total meal for two combination noodles at TK is around 35 dollars and at VH...

My friend and I wandered in here because the restaurant we wanted to go was closed. We were immediately seated and the waitress asked what we wanted to order. We were a bit confused and asked for a menu. She looked startled then brought it to us. Looking around, we realized that everyone had plate of egg rolls and either a noodle soup or yellow rice with roasted chicken. Basically, everyone comes here to eat couple of house specials. We pointed to the egg rolls and the house special soup without knowing what the house special is. :-P We were then asked what kind of noodles, i.e., egg or rice and if rice then thin or thick. OMG, we loved the eggrolls. I believe it's tofu skin fried with shrimp and something else. We also loved the soup, which contained shrimp, fish balls, beef balls, ground up pork, bean sprouts, and kidney in a clear broth. Next time, we're going to check out the rice and chicken dish. We're thrilled to have discovered a...