Oc Lau Nuong Restaurant — Restaurant in San Jose

6/3/2024

After came back from Japan and Hongkong, my daughter wanted to eat real VN food, we remembered the Oc Lau Nuong in San Jose so we took the whole family there. This is a small restaurant with limited parking spaces in a small shopping center. We came early on a weekday so we had plenty of parking. We like the appetizers here, the prices are quite reasonable, under $20 each. Fresh oysters, fried calamari, rare beef, snails in coconut sauce (too rich for my taste). The rare beef (bo tai chanh) is excellent with perfect marinated tender beef. Calamari is crispy with the sauce that my kids can’t stop eating. The oysters are so fresh, odorless and tasty. The main dishes I like Pho Ap Chao with beef. The pho is crispy, the sauce is perfect and the beef is tender. My son fried rice is so good with the rice crispy and just salty enough. My daughter shaking beef is wonderful. The lobster sautéed with linguine is a must have. Excellent sauce and perfectly cooked noodles. Everyone was delighted. We’re glad that my kids like this place. For VN restaurant, this is our favorite.

I myself am not really crazy about Lau (fondu VN type), snails, except escargots if are made tasty. So, it's Friday and my wife asked me to go to this famous Ốc (snail), Lẩu (VN Fondu), Nướng (BBQ) VN restaurant in SJ. It's a small place with limited parking in a small shopping center but quite crowded. The prices are quite reasonable, all under $20 for appetizers, and most of the specialties are appetizer IMO. The service here by these youngsters are quite attentive and quick. Every plate are small, all types of snails are small but tasty. You must have beer or Whiskey to enjoy with these plates. There's one plate that I couldn't swallow, it's the snails in salted egg sauce, the salted eggs I don't really care for, it's salty and a little unpleasant odor, most VN might like it. The deep fried squid tentacles are crispy and tasty with the sauce, even good without. I liked this one. The big scallops in shells are amazingly marinated and cooked to perfection, I loved this one although I don't like scallops that much, very flavorful and tender. The snail in coconut milk is tasty but quite some work to eat because they're so small and need to be sucked out. Too much work for me. This place must be famous for the snail salad because this one is so good, the sauce is perfect and everything is crunchy and tasty, quite delicious. This is the first time I've had Razor Clams or (Oc Mong Tay) which are so tender and marinated extremely flavorful, excellent dish. The Pho Ap Chao is the best I've had anywhere. The sauce is excellent, the pho is crispy and the beef and vegies are perfectly cooked. The fried rice is the signature dish, the rice grains are crispy with a little burnt taste (like flame broiled burger) but still soft inside, the salt is just right, I couldn't stop eating. I was so full to taste the intestine fondue, although the soup was tasty and the meat had no intestine odor, quite tender. The five spice took care of everything and made the soup great. We had a great dinner, would go back here some other Fridays and we know exactly to order next time. My son doesn't eat snail, but my daughter does, so there would be something to please everyone. My son would love the Pho Ap Chao Beef and...

Amazing little Vietnamese restaurant that stands out among the sea of Vietnamese cuisine here in San Jose. We had the Conch Salad, grilled razor clams with scallions, tamarind shrimp, and butter blood clams.

All of the dishes were incredible and very fresh, with generous serving sizes and quick delivery. My favorite was the tamarind shrimp but all tasted great. The conch salad was super refreshing on such a warm sunny day, and the shrimp in tamarind sauce were just perfectly tangy and tender.

When I’m home in San Jose, I want good authentic Vietnamese food that you can’t get anywhere else beyond the Bay Area and Vietnam, I don’t want to waste my time with gentrified and overly Americanized food.

Oc Lau Nuong is definitely and firmly going to sit on my food priority list for when I’m visiting home for great seafood at really...

A friend and I wanted hotpot and found this place on yelp. The directions from the app navigated me to the back of the building, which I found very annoying. Restaurant is small but I was very pleased to see how packed the restaurant was when we walked in. That's when you usually know the food there must be good, which it was. Their menu is not friendly nor did it look like something youd get at a hotpot restaurant where you'd choose your meat and sides. There's also no translation nor photos. The waitress who greeted us also didn't speak English so we ended up getting pho noodle soups. (Found out later that hot pot starts after 2 pm) Although we went in for hot pot, I was not disappointed because their broth is so so good. It was an accidental find but a good one overall. I am definitely going back...