Bún Bò Huế An Nam — Restaurant in San Jose

Not too long ago I posted a review of Bun Bo Hue I had at a Vietnamese restaurant and here I am, doing it again. I guess my last experience was not satisfying enough that I had to chase the BBH again. On the rare occasion that I decide for myself that I would like to have lunch, there is 1 guy I can generally count on for an ad-hoc sitting. My boy from 5th grade back in Milpitas who is still around with me these decades later. This particular restaurant is well known for their BBH, as it should be, since BBH is in the dang name!

I chose this place because the location was convenient between my spot and his and we met up here. Google Maps tells me I was here 2 years ago and I do sort of remember it... but it is not completely familiar. This is located down the street on Story after you breakthrough to Little Saigon. It has indoor and patio dining, the patio being a setup due to covid but found there were far more people dining inside than there were outside and the place was mostly occupied but there was no wait.

I ordered the classic BBH #1 on the menu and it ended up being a large because the difference between the small and large was not even a $1. Damn me... chasing values will add some to the waistline... It's all good. I just won't drink all the soup. My boy orders... a che (Viet Dessert) because he reveals to me that he had a huge bowl of Spaghetti right before I pinged him and was now just coming through to hang. Love this fool. A real solid friend.

The soup... is solid. I'd say if you are just getting into BBH, this is a good starting point. It has enough character and flavor and is mild enough that you get a good sense of a good all around BBH. For me, it lacked a sharper flavor. Something I prefer out of my BBH. It came with a side of additional chili oil and Shrimp Paste and I had to add it all in order to kick it up a notch but I think it did a minimal job. My tolerance for heat is a bit high and I did not feel this was at all spicy. If you like the heat, I recommend you telling them you want it upfront when making the order so they can kick it up in the kitchen for you first. I am used to the kind my mom makes which uses chili oil that is ground to a fine sand and dark red. The beef was good and about a 6 on the tenderness scale and the included tendon was also acceptable. Neither were outstanding but both were quite lean. I prefer this because I am not a fan of animal fats on any of my meats. Marbling is fine. I don't eat the blood cubes. Nothing wrong with it, just not a fan. There was also the processed pork meat. A side of classic... freak... i don't even know what it all is... cabbage? Some rooty onion thing...? Some kind of leaf, bean sprouts and a lemon wedge. All of which I threw in making the serving an extra 33% bigger. I ate it all, it was moderately satisfying. I left the soup. I'm good with BBH for now. This place is decent and is recommended but I won't find myself going out of my way for it here nor will the name excite me when I want BBH. This...

This is still one of the better bun bo hue spots around, but the service dipped below even hole in the wall Asian restaurant standards.

Came here for bun bo hue, waited 10 min, weird since it usually only takes 5, ask about it, they forgot. OK, wait another 10 min, they forget again. Ask again, now it comes out 5 min later, oh wait, it's not our order it's for a table outside. Wait another 5 min, finally it comes out and it's correct.

Jesus, business seems to be going well for them, and the food is fine, but the sloppiness in service is undeniable. There were tables that were seated after us eating and leaving before we even got our food.

There just isn't enough quality BBH spots in the Fremont area (not counting BBH Noodle in Milpitas because they don't have a large size). Every time I'm craving that spicy and sour broth, I have to drive down to SJ to satiate this craving.

Some notes right away, parking is extremely limited, they're cash only, and this place is regularly packed. Yes, there's a second franchise, but the first will always be the best one.

My buddy and I always order the BBH, large, substitute the meat with tai and fish cakes, and that's it. Don't think there's ever been a time when we didn't drink down the soup. Hard not to when you think about having to drive 30 minutes down to have it again.

Do yourself a favor and come here when you've got a craving for...

Im living far from san jose and always when i go to san jose i will eat here and everything still okay. Food good and has a taste not bad. But this order togo gave me cannot trust or go here anymore. I ordered 2 packs of noodles soups at 8:30pm on monday, go back home will take 2hours so food will in a outside temperature 2hours. Then when i got home, put in fridge until tomorrow. So it will approximately 9hours that im not eat it. Outside the color of food still okay. Vegetable and onions inside a noodle box still green and fresh. But hella when we opened it. The food was all sour and watery. Meat ball and everything besides piece of meat is all has a smell really bad. My mom, she is good at cooking was said that because they used a bad quality food and keeps a long time frozen it so that’s why when we put it outside or keep it a long time to eat will have that situation. Yep, so everything in a trash except vegetables lol. We bought here many times before, dine in Yes, togo Yes. But nothing happened. So btw, maybe this is a last time I went to this restaurant. It’s really bad for customer health. The price kinda higher than other places but...