Cơm Tấm Thanh Restaurant — Restaurant in San Jose

SKIP THIS PLACE tl:dr gets orders wrong and will try to blame you, angry wait staff, cash only.

You might be tempted by the fact that there's open tables and there won't be a wait, but there's a reason for that.

The service from the younger waiter was somewhat pleasant, the lady dropping the food at the tables is a different story. Every time we say thank you, all we got was an angry "yea". Then the waiter got our order wrong and they brought out fried spring rolls when we ordered fresh spring rolls. We know he made the mistake because we confirmed with him if the spring rolls came with peanut sauce as opposed to the fried rolls that come with fish sauce.

When we brought it to their attention, they made it seem like it was our fault, but then I reminded the waiter "remember we asked about the peanut sauce." And he shyly said "oh, yea."

Then when it finally came time to pay, I handed over my card and the same waiter said "cash only". Mind you there is no signage anywhere in the restaurant indicating so. So we had to scrounge up all the cash that we had on us or stashed away in the car just to pay for our meal. We ended up finding the exact amount of cash which left them no tip, fortunately. If I knew they were cash only, I wouldn't have even gone here, which I guess is the reason why they don't have signs in the first place.

On top of all that the food was pretty mediocre. You can tell that it was made from low quality ingredients with minimal effort. My Bún bò Huế (pictured below) was nothing to write home about and was pretty bland.

There are plenty of better, cheaper and more courteous places in San Jose. No wonder they were completely empty on a...

2 stars is for the food since it’s been our go-to place for rice plates for several years. Although service was always typically the bare minimum as with most Vietnamese restaurants, our most recent visit will be our last. It first started when we placed our rice plate orders. Both my bf and I ordered an extra sunny side up egg with our plates but yet, only my bf’s plate had an egg and mine didn’t. When I told the server, she seemed confused and just rudely shrugged her shoulders before going back to the kitchen to ask about it. We then overheard her telling the kitchen that she doesn’t remember me ordering an additional egg, which did not make sense since she was the one that took our order and I speak fluent Vietnamese. After my egg was brought out, I was still polite and didn’t make a fuss about it as I know mistakes happen when it’s busy. What really set us off was after we already paid for our meals and left the tip on the table, we went to the restroom and came back out to catch the same server complain to another server that we only left $15 on the table with a stank face. $15 on a $40 tab (~37%) is too low for you doing the bare minimum (taking our order, bringing food out, no refills, no apology for forgetting items)?! I’m honestly more shocked that she had the audacity to make these comments while we were still in the restaurant like she couldn’t at least wait until we left LOL. My bf said I should’ve went back in there and take the money back but I’m not one to cause a scene over a couple bucks. They’re definitely going to lose so many customers if that girl continues...

This restaurant was very good. They have a nice selection of items on their menu at a reasonable price. The food is pretty delicious and the serving sizes are good for what you pay for them. They have pictures over the counter for some of their items to give you an idea of what you are ordering and I always appreciate being able to see a visual before coming to a decision.

It is a smaller size restaurant and though it can get busy at times, it is never too loud and there is normally never a large wait time to be taken care of or the food to be served. The staff are nice and friendly as well. The parking is a little hard because the lot can get full, but it is definitely worth the wait if you can go in a eat here. The food is delicious and I love their rice plates and bun bo hue.

Also as a plus, they are very nice! My mother prefers eating vegetarian and although they do not have a huge selection of vegetarian options, they let my mom bring her food in so she could easy with us. This is such a plus because some places don't let you bring in outside food but it they were very polite and kind...