Goi Cuon — Restaurant in San Diego

I have been obsessing over spring rolls for the last couple of years and I seemed to be the only person I knew who would go out to dinner for spring rolls. Yes, just the spring rolls. I finally found my people within my niche at Goi Cuon. 🥳

The restaurant has an open floor plan, it has a calming atmosphere, and no one is in a rush. I was able to stand at the counter for a good 5 minutes reading everything on the menu with no one hurrying me along. Customers knew it was no big deal to go ahead of me and the cashier was attentive to the situation.

I really liked that the open floor plan allowed for a view of the kitchen! I am not a health & safety inspector, but what I saw, I liked. Extra extra bonus for the hair nets - thank you ladies!

My order: Non-sweet iced Jasmine tea: $1.99 Sugar cane shrimp, crispy snack Fresh Spring Roll: $3.00 Avocado Strawberry Fresh Spring Roll: $3.00 Grilled Chicken Pho Roll: $3.00 Shrimp Crepe Roll: $3.75 Total with tax: $15.88

Food grades: The Jasmine tea - I got what I ordered. 4 outta 5. Will order again. My favorite roll, surprisingly, was the wild card - “sugar cane, crispy snack fresh spring roll”. I bought it on a whim thinking ‘what does this even mean’ and I am glad I did. I will recommend to a friend. Just try it! Second favorite: grilled chicken pho roll. Never had a roll quite like it. It’s a must try. Least favorite: shrimp crepe roll. It didn’t taste bad, I just wasn’t fond of it.

Bonus points: homemade peanut sauce. Never had a peanut sauce quite like this. Amazing job!

Likes: friendly, detail oriented, great selection, cleanly, fresh & healthy food, reasonably priced

Will order next time: Spring roll salad. Yes, that exists!

Opportunity for improvement: once COVID regulations subside I would love to see how you improve the dining section of the restaurant! I would have enjoyed sitting down and staying a while. However, the bench is an aesthetic way to save space -...

Came from Austin Texas and was incredible grateful to find this place for some refreshing spring rolls! So cute place, clean, empty when we came. We ordered and my honest opinion is that the rolls are definitely their forte, nothing less and….nothing more apparently. While the spring rolls were amazing I couldn’t wait to get my hands on their Beef Rice Plate. Now hear me out… rice plates the REAL TRADITIONAL way comes with this CHARRRRRRED marinated beef short ribs, rice, fish sauce, a fried egg, veggies on the side and it’s HEAVEN!!!!!! Well my rice plate came out and it was actually the opposite of heaven. The owner should be seriously ashamed of herself, serving piping hot, hard, old rice that was clearly microwaved. I serve rice at home almost on a daily so please don’t insult people by serving days old white rice that takes mere seconds to wash and cook. That wasn’t even the worst part! The beef! The beef came out in little rolls….??? I was a little confused but thought hey why not?! And wow……. Thin beef slices rolled with a slice of red bell pepper inside? No grill marks, no char, nothing. Just little beef rolls on my rice. Oh yeah I burned my mouth taking a bite of that piping hot, microwaved beef roll too. The plate was barely half way eaten and that’s with 2 adults trying to pick at it. That’s how HORRIBLE it was!!!!! I didn’t get a chance to express this to the staff, because the owner literally stood at her cash register counting her money over and over and over……really. You may not think people notice, but sadly I did. So future reference plates tastes like CRAP. Spring rolls are the real deal. Just stick with that please because serving up $18 beef plates that tastes like gross leftovers is wrong! I’d NEVER recommend this to my friends or family that live close by OR far away...

Goi Cuon is my #1 lunch spot for lunch dates with my wife, since it's just a few blocks from her office. The ambience is OK, neither super fancy or romantical but clean and decorated with intention. I love that it looks independent rather than having the smarmy polish of focus-group tested chain restaurants. Plus I get a kick out of the door chime [it gets me every time] that says in a thick Chinese accent "Hello! Welcome!" but sounds like a sarcastic "Hello?!?" (My son has a dancing robot that also has a thick Chinese accent "Hello buddy, I'm your new partner, Airbot! I have a lot of a skiers (skills?)" But I digress.)

My go-to order is always the vegetarian pho. It does not taste like other pho's I've had. I imagine it may be a regional or family thing rather than "not authentic." The broth is yummy very sweet (I imagine from cabbage and radish), and no perceptible fragrant herbs, and the noodles are wider and softer than regular pho. BUT the broth is magically delicious from just being boiled w/ veggie goodness, and their lemongrass satay sauce at the table is also MWAH. My wife almost never orders pho at Viet restaurants, but she does at Goi Cuon thanks to the yummy broth and the satay sauce. Oh, and of course their spring rolls are also really delicious also!

I wanted to address the issue of service. At Asian restaurants I just don't expect the same level of friendliness as at American or Middle Eastern restaurants, simply because cultural norms vary by region. (Europe falls somewhere in the middle.) In fact, I expect mediocre food if the server is too friendly, as I equate delicious authentic Asian food with lukewarm friendliness at best. (I'm...