Quan Bui - Original — Restaurant in Ho Chi Minh City

I really enjoyed the food at Quán Bụi and went here twice during my stay in Saigon. During my first visit, I had the bún mọc, a northern Vietnamese vermicelli noodle soup with pork balls, and mushrooms. This dish is often served with mắm tôm (shrimp paste) and a plate of fresh vegetables on the side. The mắm tôm was delicious! I absolutely loved it. Fair warning, mắm tôm is an acquired taste. Many westerners may find the smell to be off putting and the taste to be a bit too strong. But it is a perfect sauce to add to the soup.

I also had the cà phê sữa đá (Vietnamese iced coffee with condensed milk). This too was delicious. Just the right amount of sweetness and velvitty texture.

The restaurant menu features a plethora of Vietnamese home cooked dishes that can be hard to find in restaurants outside of Vietnam. The size of the dishes are best had by a group of people eating family/tapas style. If you are going alone, I recommend keeping it between 1-2 dishes max.

The second time I went, I had the thịt kho trứng (braised pork with eggs in coconut juice). This is a fairly common Vietnamese home cooked dish. I just wanted to see how different it was compared to how my mom prepared it when I was growing up. It seems almost exactly the way my mom made it, which was great! The pork was extremely tender and flavorful. The egg being stewed with the pork allows it to take in a lot of the flavor of the sauce and is an absolute joy to eat.

I really enjoyed this place and highly recommend anyone interested in trying traditional Vietnamese home cooking to go here. The menu also has English text for those who are unable to...

I am writing this review to highly commend the food and the staff at this restaurant. The meal was absolutely delicious and the service was impeccable throughout our visit.

However, I feel compelled to mention an incident I witnessed yesterday that was deeply unfair to the business. Another party of two guests, after having completely finished their meals and consumed other beverages, began to loudly and aggressively complain because the restaurant was temporarily out of still water. They created a disruptive public scene, falsely claiming that the lack of water ruined their entire experience—an experience they had otherwise fully consumed and enjoyed.

It was a clear and dishonest attempt to bully the staff into getting a discount they did not deserve. To my dismay, the management or staff, likely in an effort to de-escalate the situation and maintain a peaceful environment for other diners, felt pressured to offer them a significant discount (I believe it was 50%).

While I understand the need for customer service, it was frustrating to see such bad-faith behavior rewarded. These individuals essentially dined and dashed in a more manipulative way. I hope this review serves as a record against such predatory actions. This restaurant deserves full payment for their fantastic food and service, not to be strong-armed by unscrupulous patrons.

We will definitely be back for the amazing food, and we truly hope the management finds ways to protect themselves from such blatant attempts at fraud...

Overall, the food was acceptable, though overly salty. However, the restaurant's cleanliness was questionable—a large cockroach ran across our table and seats during the meal, which was extremely unsettling. The most frustrating aspect of the experience, however, was the service:

Missed Orders and Mistakes: The first waiter forgot one of our main dishes and got another dish wrong. This resulted in long gaps between courses, making the meal feel disjointed and unpleasant.

Lack of Attentiveness: Despite having several staff members on the first floor, including bartenders, none seemed attentive to the customers. It often took multiple attempts and a long wait to get their attention. When my wife and I stood up, visibly alarmed by the cockroach incident, it was astonishing that none of the staff noticed until we had to raise our voices to call for assistance. On one occasion, we managed to make eye contact with a bartender and signaled for help, she nodded back, but then returned to her work without notifying anyone, leaving us to wait further.

Carelessness: After the cockroach situation was addressed, we were moved to another table. Later, we discovered that the staff had accidentally thrown away our leftover dishes, adding to our frustration.

In summary, this was a very disappointing dining experience. The combination of mediocre food, poor cleanliness, and inattentive service made it one we...