Lúa - Vietnamese Restaurant & Bar — Restaurant in Portland

3/5-UPDATED from 7/14/2025: A mixed bag this round, but still rooting for Lúa.

Came back for dinner with the family tonight and left with mixed feelings. • Disappointed to see canh bí đỏ với tôm discontinued • Heo quay was cold and chewy • Canh hẹ với tàu hũ lacked flavor • Wontons and dumplings were okay, just chewy not tender • Xá xíu was solid • Lemongrass pork came with more fat than meat • Ube and egg coffees were fine as drinks but didn’t taste like ube or egg

Ordering was confusing: the self-service kiosk didn’t match the outdated printed menu, which added to the frustration.

We enjoyed sitting in the shared outdoor patio with The Box Social, but keep in mind with the posted sign: “Welcome to the Box Social! Feel free to order food from Lua at these tables but you must also get something from Box Social. Enjoy your stay!”

Loyalty program details: • $1 = 1 point • Free items start at 75 points • Points expire after 6 months • 25 bonus points for registering with email • You can track points via Apple Wallet or Cash App

Still a fan of some of Lúa’s comfort food staples, but hoping for more consistency next time.

*5/5 for visit on April 20204-Lúa offers authentic Vietnamese comfort food that feels like home!

This is a long overdue review from our lunch visit in late April 2024, but the experience stuck with me, and in the best way. I’d visit Lúa more often if it weren’t on the opposite end of town from me in SE Portland. Still, it’s worth the trip when I’m craving Vietnamese comfort food done right.

We ordered: Heo quay (crispy pork belly): flavorful and well done, I didn’t care much for the dipping sauce. Bò lá lốt: a little dry, but still satisfying. Stirred fried eggplant with fried tofu: unique twist, loved the contrast. Canh bí đỏ với tôm/pumpkin/squash soup with shrimp: oh so delicious! Canh hẹ với tàu hũ/chive soup with tofu: food utopia!

If you grew up eating these dishes, you’ll feel right at home. They were nearly as good as how I (or my mom) make them, which is saying a lot!

The downsides: QR code ordering system gave me issues, and I was too hungry for tech problems. Luckily, staff stepped in to take our order manually. Boxes everywhere in the dining area gave a bit of a cluttered feel. Restrooms are gender-neutral, but no toilet seat covers. It comes down to personal preference: use toilet paper or squat. Parking is hit or miss, so plan extra time.

That said, the food, service, and spacious seating make this a spot I’d happily return to when I’m nearby. Great choice for anyone looking for real-deal Vietnamese...

I suppose I should read all the reviews before choosing a place. I really had my heart set on Pho and they simply don’t serve that, but I thought, hey I’ll give it a try and see what they have. What I got was a vermicelli dish with BBQ pork and crispy pork belly with an extra grilled shrimp. The shrimp looked spectacular. Like the scepter of a king under the sea. But before I bore you my actual epicurean opinion, I want to say something about the ordering process. It’s that new trendy thing where you scan a code and view the menu and order directly on your phone. I get it, it saves money and they don’t have to have wait staff, but I don’t like it. In particularly because it encourages you to choose your tip up front. I like to tip after the meal and generally I over tip, at least 20-35%. It’s a hard job and I like to support the wait staff. But forced to choose beforehand, it drops to the suggested 15%. I just find it irritating, but on to the food… I wanted to like my dish, but I was not impressed. The shrimp was chewy, the pork belly seemed under seasoned and was very chewy. The BBQ was ok and brought the rating up one star. Over all, with the unseasoned vermicelli and the basic chopped lettuce I found it all as uninspiring as background music in an elevator. Maybe more condiments would have helped, or spices, or some entertainment, like a juggler or a fire eater, but absolutely nothing enticed me to return. One other thing, I was in something of a hurry and I hoped the automatic scanning thing might make for a quick turnaround, particularly because there were only a couple of people there, but it took almost 30 minutes to get my dish (because you do it through the app, it shows you exactly how long it’s taking) and I had to rush. Sorry, not a place I would brave the trendy...

I visited for the first time during Portland Wing Week 2021, to try the Fish Sauce Wings (pictured).

These huge, Korean-style fried chicken wings (with gluten-free batter, that uses starch instead of flour) are tossed in a sweet and savory fish sauce glaze with citrus and cracked black pepper.

They were excellent! This was my favorite of the fish sauce entries, and probably the wings I was most impressed by, of the five I had on the third day (though each was notable, in its own way, and the service at each stop was generally very good). Update: I have had ALL 24, of this year's participants, now, and I would rank these wings a close fourth, overall.

I would say that they are generally pretty mild, but I did catch a bit of the black pepper on the fifth wing (as is the nature of cracked black pepper - sometimes you will get a slightly larger chunk, which will pack a fair bit of concentrated heat). They were served with tangy, and lightly sweet, crunchy pickled daikon and carrot.

Parking was pretty difficult; in part, due to several nearby construction closures, but the service at Lua was great! They were very professional, friendly and hardworking - I could tell that they genuinely cared about doing a good job. One of the best service experiences, of the week. I am sufficiently impressed, that I plan to return, to check out their regular menu.

If you like my photograph, feel free to follow my foodie Instagram: jonathan.grubb, for more (casual, and almost exclusively small / local) greater-Portland-area...