Hiền Thanh Restaurant — Restaurant in Westminster

My grandpa put me on to this place — turns out my parents put him on. 😂 Full circle.

We always come here for his favorite: Cơm Phần Gia Đình (Family Dinner). You get to choose your dishes — soup, main, appetizer, etc. The portions are sized by how many people you’re feeding. We always get the meal for two even though there are three of us (me and my grandparents), but it’s perfect since my grandma doesn’t eat much.

Our usual lineup:

Rau muống xào tỏi (water spinach with garlic) — extra garlic always. Worth the upcharge.

Canh chua — classic, solid.

Cá kho tộ (caramelized braised catfish) — this is why we come back. It’s done so well here, better than most other spots. Rich, flavorful, melt-in-your-mouth kind of good.

They also give you a side of white rice, of course.

Service is quick, staff speaks both English and Vietnamese, and it seems like everyone in the restaurant is always ordering the same set. It’s just one of those comforting, homestyle Vietnamese spots — nothing fancy, but clean (no sticky floors!) and consistent.

Bonus: It’s just a hop, skip, and a jump...

My family try this restaurant from the recommendation of a friend. Restaurant is small. We had to wait for 15 minutes to get a table, which is a norm here in Little Saigon. Lol. We got the menu as soon as we were seated. As recommended by our friend, we ordered a chicken salad which was quite tasty, the shredded cabbage was mixed with shredded chicken and it served with shrimp chips. Next, the sour soup catfish, and caramelize braised catfish which are typicall family dinner food for people from the south of Vietnam. The blandness of sour soup was a disappointment. The soup tasted like vinegar mixed in water. The braised catfish was bit salty because it was so thin slice, it absorbed the saltiness of the fish sauce so fast. Another disappointment. Service was OK, but, we won't be back. There are some restaurants that taste much better...

“I had a very disappointing experience at this restaurant. Just as we were finishing our meal, the waiter started clearing our table without asking if we were done. This felt rushed and intrusive. When we mentioned this to the owner, he rudely told us that if we wanted to chat, we should go somewhere else. This lack of professionalism and courtesy is unacceptable in any dining establishment. The food was decent, but the poor service and rude management ruined the entire experience. I hope the management can work on improving their customer...