Bò Né Phú Yên — Restaurant in San Jose

Having found this place online I figure, wow, Vietnamese styled steak? When was the last time you seen one of them around? Let's give it a shot.

My wife and I went on a Sunday lunch and I have to say I was a little disappointed overall, let me explain.

Bò Né Phú Yên is located inside a food court that takes a little digging to find past Lion supermarket. You have to be on your foot to walk around since there's no sign that clearly indicates where the food court is located.

Once we found Bò Né Phú Yên, we soon realize spacing inside this small food court is going to be a problem. There are about 5-6 restaurants and maybe 10-15 tables shared by all of them inside the food court. Good luck finding a table!

The ordering is somewhat difficult. The guy tells me that there will be a 45 min - 1 hour 15 min wait for my order. Wait WHAT? Oh, there's only one guy cooking the meat and they've got about 10+ orders ahead of me. Yea, if you wanna try it be sure to schedule your time ahead.

The meal itself (3 out of 5) - The meal cost at a total of $20. It comes with 5 small pieces of cut up steak in a plate mixed in with two eggs, a side of salad, a meat ball, a banh mi bread, and a cup of tea. The steak itself tasted okay, there's no meat type explained, is it a sirloin? Who knows? It's up to you to figure out. The eggs themselves, well, it tasted normal to me. The same goes with the salad. Banh Mi bread always tasted good but keep in mind that there's no seasoning inside so yea there are definitely room for improvement here.

Service ( 1 out of 5) - Simply put, none. You pay, you wait for your meal for 45 min to over a hour, your beeper beeps, take your food, the end. Feeling like the food ain't enough similar to me? If you wanna order more, good luck waiting for another 45 min? As for me, hmmm....no thanks.

Atmosphere (2 out of 5) - It is quite crowded inside as you can imagine. With a small space cramped with all of the restaurants, whether it is sanitary inside is questionable. You have the option to eat outside, but the tables outside of the food court is limited to maybe 3.

I'll say this to end my review. Bò Né Phú Yên is not a terrible place to go, but if you're not familiar with the cramped atmosphere in Asia, and all the while knowing 0 Vietnamese, you are definitely at a disadvantage. I think the one time experience is enough for my wife and I. We will give this place a...

I'd heard about this restaurant before from a friend of mine when I asked her to suggest me a good place to have Bo ne (Vietnamese beef steak) in San Jose. I finally came there with my family and the food satisfied all of us . It is interesting that they only have one item to order on the menu it is a must-try for everyone.

I personally ordered mine cooked medium. The meat was tender. The flavor was addictive. It definitely surpassed my expectations. To accompany the steak, they also provided a sate soy sauce. Just remember to add it sparingly, as a little goes a long way. I especially like to eat their sour and sweet salad together with this dish since it enhanced the flavors perfectly.

One thing to note is that they only accept cash, and the price is a flat $20 with no additional tax. The price appears to be pricey but they use expensive cut of meat so it makes sense for that price.

I need to mention that this restaurant is located within the food court that have other restaurants there as well. Arriving at noon on a Saturday, I discovered that seating inside was limited and in high demand. While they do offer outdoor seating, the chilly weather prompted us to wait for an indoor spot. It took a bit of patience, as we kept a watchful eye for any available tables, ready to claim them before someone else did. This is a big downside because this kind of dish should only be for dine in - it tastes worse if you order it for to go for sure and it was stressful to look for seats and tables although we had no problem with parking. I took back one star due to...

(Super late review, went here Feb 2024)

My sister and friends from Dallas Tx came to visit and wanted to try some Viet breakfast food. I’ve been wanting to try this place so this was the time to try with everyone.

It’s in a food court in a Vietnamese plaza. I wanna say it’s cash only, either way just bring cash. It’s 20 bucks per plate. We went on a weekday morning so it wasn’t packed at all, and the food court was very quiet lol.

The plates were quickly made by an uncle aged gentleman and the woman handled the money and orders. The plates were all sizzling, and the eggs are all sunny side up, if you like your eggs more done, the hot plate will eventually get it cooked thru. This dish is made for runny yokes, so I wouldn’t recommend waiting to your yokes to be cooked thru. The banh mi (baguette) was fresh and warm, had the perfect crunch and crisp.

The plates come with a meat ball, beef, and pâté. There’s a side salad and a full baguette. The proteins to me could be flavored a bit more, they tasted one note. Otherwise, the experience and food as a whole was decent.

Bottom line: Good to try out...