Bánh Cuốn Tây Hồ 2 — Restaurant in Westminster

We were craving bánh cuốn and wanted to give Bánh Cuốn Tây Hồ #2 a try, since the last time we visited was almost a decade ago.

Two weeks ago we came but couldn't find a parking space. Came back last week they were closed on Thursday. So happy there was parking space, and they were opened today.

We ordered two #1 house special combo bánh cuốn and one bò viên bowl.

The bánh cuốn presentation was awesome, the portions look generous, and the prices were very reasonable. Too bad we wish we could say the same for the food.

On the bánh cuốn's plate, there were plenty of cucumbers, blanched bean sprouts, very few cilantro, and no evidence of mints, fried onions, or tofu. One "big" (roll?) bánh cuốn nhân thịt (pork steam rice roll), and one very small bánh cuốn tôm cháy (dried fried & ground shrimp?) on top, cut into 3/4 small strips. A bánh cống (deep-fried mung bean cake), a small portion of bánh tôm cổ ngư (fried sweet potato yam with shrimp). Six (or eight?) Thin slices of giò (pork steamed sausage), and there were not any chả lụa (pork fried sausage).

We were expecting to see small rolls of varieties of plain, pork, and either fresh/finely chopped or fried/ground shrimp. With more than half of the plate filled with cucumbers and beansprout, it's very misleading the name "combination bánh cuốn" here!

Needless to say, there weren't many bánh cuốn to try, we nibbled on the ONE roll of bánh cuốn, and it failed to deliver any distinctive taste, it was pretty bland and average.

Bánh cống tasted old, dried, and not crunchy as it should be.

Bánh tôm cổ ngư.... what can I say? With only one tiny shrimp mixed in the yam, it should be called "sweet potatoes fries" to avoid insulting the traditional Vietnamese way of cooking bánh tôm cổ ngư and its famous sweet and savory taste.

The meatball soup was a joke! Take 5 frozen meatballs, cut them in half, throw them in boiling water, dropped in a pinch of salt, toss in a few cut chives, and cilantro, and called that soup...lol. avoid this soup and save your money.

Oh don't get us wrong on the soup, we saw plenty of noodles dishes with broth on the menu so we wanted to taste the broth, thus ordering a meatball soup to see and taste how it would be prepared. Ah hah, and we were insulted!! We do know how to cook, we were just lazy, the weather was a bit chilled, and a good bowl of hot soup would warm your heart (or hands and feet for that matter...lol).

A decade was a long time to revisit a famous bánh cuốn place, bánh cuốn Tây Hồ failed to maintain the reputation they once earned.

We will be back on November 15th. Just don't ask...

Settled for this restaurant cuz the one(s) I wanted were closed early on Sunday. So, I ordered the special one. It was a big disappointment in every way: 1. the texture of rice rolls was more a Tapioca texture which rubbery and chewy, not from a special type of rice grain which would give a chewiness with a "crunch". It looks so translucent vs opaque which indicates more Tapioca effects. 2. I got 2 or 3 short rolled pieces with ground meat and a few rolls without meat. 3. The ground meat is not spread between layers, rather clumped together in a single rolled layer and the rest of rolled layers compresed together which defeats the purpose of the sauce penetrated in layers. 4. Not much of the rice rolls, got some other fillers which were shrimp and shredded sweet potato fritters and a fried doughy ball which had no flavor other than doughy filler. I want "bánh cuốn" that I can taste the steamed rice rolls themselves, texture and taste, not fillers, and the way they are rolled or prepared doesn't give a satisfaction of every bite. A unknown name store bought bánh cuốn tastes better than this "specialty" restaurant. By the way, they charge a $.50 for a glass of water... really? The dish itself is already high compared to good competitors. Any way, definitely will never come...

This restaurant is called Banh Cuon Tay Ho 2 and it has the same name on Google Map. But the Banh Cuon Tay Ho on Yelp is called Banh Cuon Tay Ho 4 on google map. They are selling the same food and same good quality, but I like this 2 than 4. The 4 has more fashion renovation, looks like a modern restaurant. But the 2 has more ethnic feelings. Compare the menus I took photos of from both restaurants, it looks the 4 is a little more expensive-0.25 dollars for each plate. Once I'm in little Saigon, this restaurant is always an option for me as well as Hui Oi and Brodard. I like the rolled cake, especially wrapped with the tropical leaves and mixed with the sweet chili fish sauce. The rolled cake is so soft and the flavor is that good. The fried shrimp tempura with yam is also good, but don't order the whole plate since it's already included in the rolled cake set. The whole plate will be too much to bite. I gave both 2 and 4 for 4-star...