Hoa Bien Restaurant — Restaurant in Saint Paul

I love the food here, tasty, a little pricier than other same style restaurants on university. I hate the service here! If you’re not white or of their own kind (I’m assuming Vietnamese) then you are second best. My husband and I sat down around 11:40am, about 10 minutes before this place started getting busy. 2 other groups of white people sat next and behind us about 10 minutes after us. 20 minutes since sitting down, both parties have received ALL of their food while I just received my chicken wing appetizer. (Later another group who sat down received their chicken wings in 5 minutes). Finally, after 30 minutes the waiter starts bringing over our dishes one by one. I ordered a rice platter that comes with soup, he didn’t even bring my soup until I was 10 minutes into my platter. He didn’t talk to us, just left our dishes quickly on the table and left. Another waiter and waitress asked the other tables how their food was and asked if they would like refills. None of that same customer service at my table... I am a very polite person and say please and thank you every time waiters help me... kinda ruined my mood. I hate to assume it’s because I’m Asian, but I see this too often in Asian restaurants. This time I left a $0 tip. I probably will not return because of the service, I only want to support an establishment that makes me feels...

Green line light rail was not working. It was raining, so I decided to go into this restaurant. Was promptly seated in a booth. Ordered shrimp fried rice from the menu. Ten minutes later it arrived. Good food, Was a little lighter in appearance then other fried rice I have eaten. Not dark, but light.. Rice had a bit of an oily flavor to it. It was not bad just different. The rice and shrimp were delicious. Appearance , several nice framed photos on the walls, the table was clean. One thing I did notice, there were no condiments on the table , just a Fork and spoon, usually I would expect to see, Sriracha sauce, Soy Sauce, napkins. Perhaps they think their food is too good to place unnecessary seasoning on it. I should have picked a better booth, I was facing two walls at the back of the restaurant. The table had a stand and was connected to the wall by two pipes or something to secure the table. I had noticed that it was lacking in a paint job, could see minor defects in the paint at the table. Another odd thing I had noticed a wall outlet was taped over both horizontally and vertically, kind of an odd thing to see. All and all my experience was a pleasant one. Not too much food , but just right. In departing I was not overly stuffed. Something like $13,00 and a tip.. I would recommend...

Definitely your nicer atmosphere location for Vietnamese food. If you're new to this location or hoping to get here off the light rail for most is simplest. For those driving in from the cities on the left or behind the building there is parking. Now both times I've been here we've come on the weekend and parking has been great.

Food it's usually pretty on par with many other Vietnamese restaurants unfortunately. The broth is good. The spring rolls this time tasted off putting but around 5pm on sat. They were 80% packed with 2 waitresses, one running food. It seemed like organized chaos but things did take some time. We didn't expect much attention so if you're looking to pay and it's busy pay fast or get your order in so you're avoiding a wait. One of the cleaner restaurants I've been to.

Atmosphere: 5 it's nicer than 7 out of 10 Asian restaurants we've been to. Their entry is weird cause no one stands there they're all by the drink station. Service: 4 they're trying their best we know. But an extra staff would be nice. Cleaniness: 5 clean well like enjoyable. Food: 4 not too bad not the worst certainly.

Stars 5. Will be back. $33....