Huong Viet

Recent lunch here was excellent - the food was fresh and interesting, and a good deal better than any of its Shoreditch competitors apart from the Viet Hoa. The service was fine, and the bill was unbelievably small. I've had problems in the past here with slightly chaotic service, but this meal reminded me just how good the Huong Viet can be.
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- View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 10
Friday, July 25, 2008

We ate here on a rainy Saturday evening. Although we were expecting delays and haphazard service, in fact all of our foodd arrived promptly and as orrdered. The food of course was delicious; in particular the prawn and green leaf soup, the Vietnamese pancake and the crunchy salad (prawns and pork). We ordered more than we could eat, but with a beer each, the total cost including service was £35.19 for two. Amazing.
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Boston Stearns
Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 10
Saturday, March 08, 2008

12 of us went to the HV last night and had a great time. We took advantage of the BYO and ordered a wide variety of dishes, regular and vegetarian. I particularly enjoyed the grilled squid, the steamed sea-bass and the BBQ aubergine. Service is a bit chaotic (having someone wave a plate of anonymous food under your nose and bellowing 'FISH SAUCE' at ever higher volumes isn't really top notch customer care) and the place isn't going to win any awards for its decor. But the food, on the whole, is very good, it's extremely cheap and it's a good place to have a party.
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Boz
Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 4 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 10
Friday, December 21, 2007

I used to love this restaurant, even the slightly chaotic service seemed bearable as the food was authentic and good value. I recently bought food to take home with me and was shocked by how far the standards have slipped.

My order was taken and after a wait , duly arrived, and sat in its bag behind two front of house staff. they did not notice an order had arrived, they were too busy arguing with two customers who had been unhappy with the timing of their meal and wished to leave a service charge off the bill. After 5 minutes elapsed with my paid for food chilling behind them I signalled and did my order. The staff seen harrassed, bored, unhappy and defensive.

Sadly the food was a problem. Crispy duck was soggy , but the plum sauce was actually off. It contained bubbles and gelatinous patches that I can only presume was mould. Hue noodles soup, a dish that made me fall in love with Vietnamese food many years ago, contained a mush of what appeared to be freeze dried garlic bits and a paste in the bottom of the container. This is about as far from fresh ingredients as one can get.

Having done great work in the past , this place is giving Vietnamese food a bad name. No one seems to care about food or customers.
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Lola23 - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 1 | Value for money 1
Sunday, December 16, 2007

ma and my girlfriendI went yesterday night, quite worried by some of the review on this page, but also hopeful for the past very-good reviews, as well as the timeout's recent praise"Huong-Viet gets ever better with age"

well, timeout out just misses the point. Huong Viet shows all its years, even more probably.

We booked in the afternoon, specifically asking for a quiet and secluded table. It seemed like they very kept in mind our request, since as soon as we got in a quite offhanded guy escorted us to a the table just opposite the counter, in front of the main door, in the middle of the transit. Had our request being backed strongly, probably they would have served us the dinner directly on the counter.

However, after a quick inspection I managed to convince them letting us move into another table, just on one of the room's corner.

Comforted by the new spot we checked the menu and ordered, trying to overlook the rotten-flowers pot sadly looking at us from a corner of the table.

Starters were,t bad, rice-paper rolls were tasty, just cold, I mean, really cold... Pancake was fair enough

Then we had rice vermicell with seafood, and the problems began, as if the squids were nearly spoiled, the grass was.... Pork cooked in claypot was discreete, amazingly salty though, overall nothing special I should say... Then we have this kingfish in banana leaves, which was served with rice, nearly rotten salad, and without banana leaves... Moved by a legitimate curiosity, I picked the first waiter and politely asked him were the banana leaves were... He answered, as it was the most obvious thing in the world, that banana leaves were underneath the fish.... I replied with a not much convinced ok, trying to figure out whether I should have been stunned by my poorest observation skills, or by the remarkable ability of the waiter to lie blatantly.

Probably it is how it works, they say banana leaves and then it is up to you to fill this word with your own immagination... acctually the waiters had another explanation. After having looked accurately under the fish (given that bana leaves are supposed to be quite big, my act of looking for them with the same care I would have put searching for a needle should have been quite funny for the other customer, as well as the waiters, probably used to this kind of tricks)

I stopped a second waiter and ask him for the banana leaves. I didn't want to be mean, I sincerely want to solve the mistery.

Well, the second waiter stood for a second, asking unanderstandable questions, each of them with the word "banana" at some point of the sentence, then he moved to the offhanded guy of the counter. The discussion lasted a couple of minutes, probably they weren't ready for the possibility that a customer, after being told the blatant lie that the leaves were underneath the fish, could go on asking for them a second time. Anyway, when he came back he got a good story. The fish was actually cooked in banana leaves, but the cook removed them before serving the dish (contrary to his opinion, he seemed to suggest)

Apart from this weird answer, the fish was sticky an tasteless, without the minimum trace of the supposed banana's aroma

Quite depressed we ordered a creamy tofu which didn't add anything to the overall impression.

It wasn't finish though. Although there were a pair of couples still eating, the waiters started get eager to kick us out. The offhanded guy (it appeared that they were devolving upon him all the tricky duties) came a first time, seeking to bring away the bottle which was still 1/5 full... I quickly grabbed it before he would bring it away. However he's not that kind of guy to give up so easily. He came back one minute later and, as there was still wine on the bottle, he poured it down on our glasses and took it away. after anothe 2 minutes he saw that my girlfriend's gass was empty, so he took it and stood a while waiting while I was drinking mine, than he literally snatched it from my hand.

Rarely I found such an accurate combination of careless service and poor-quality food (both in terms of ingredients' freshness and actual dishes)

I should say that at least it wasn't expensive, so I wouldn't say it was a huge waste of money, just an average one
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andrea
Overall rating
Food 2 | Service 3 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 5
Thursday, September 20, 2007

I have been to this restaurant for the past seven years

But realise the quality of the cooking has changed radically

Spring rolls were cooked in old brown cooking oil

My favourite three treasures pork dish, which I eat religiously was badly cooked lacked flavour and was complimented with tainted and whilted salad

We ordered a vegetable salad for a strict vegetarian friend but this came with chicken bits as well. On pointing this out to the waiting staff they seemed at best mildly bored.

Head down to shoreditch, its got less canteen atmosphere but its honest food without the disappointment
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Yuki Piece - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 2 | Service 1 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 4
Sunday, September 09, 2007

i've been going to this place for for the past 2 years and have always been impressed by the good quality of the food and the general aura of the place.

A crowd of 12 of us went here on saturday night to celebrate a birthday at 7.15 and we finally got our main course at 10.15, after much complaining and threats of a walk out. The offer of taking off the service charge to compensate for the time we were waiting wound us up even more, resulting in huge arguments with the managers and staff there. Other customers had been waiting for 3 and a half hours with no food either.

All in all it was a thoroughly disappointing night, and none of us will ever go there again.

having said that, the spring rolls were nice.
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ollie
Overall rating
Food 3 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 1
Monday, March 05, 2007

After reading some of the reviews on this page we almost changed our plans to have a joint Birthday celebration at this charactaristic community centre/resteraunt. I'm so glad we didn't. If you're in a hurry, this isn't the place for you but if you want a good cheap night out and don't mind waiting for your food for a while (after all it is bring your own booze) then you're bound to have a great time.

There were about ten of us eating, including one vegetarian, we all arrived sporadically and chatted and drunk for some time (did I say it is Bring your own). The food was superb, I can highly reccomend the prawns wrapped in pork. Half way through the meal we sang happy birthday only to find out four other tables had birthdays on, by the fourth rendition the whole resteraunt had joined in and we even had a percussion section on glasses floors and tables.

At the end of the meal we were well fed and watered (BYO) and the staff brought out a platter of free bannana fritters with candles and the fifth rendition of Happy Birthday, as well as two cards for the Birthday boy and girl signed by the staff.

We arrived at eight and left sometime after twelve after one of the best evenings out in a long time. I would pay good money not to be rushed through an evening out, unfortunately I don't earn good money so finding a gem like this was a real bonus.
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spencer murphy
Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Tuesday, November 14, 2006

I've been going to Huong Viet for over six years but recently have noticed an alarming dip in both the quality of the food and the service. I ordered the spring rolls for starters and noticed that they had been cooked in old oil and were virtually inedible. They were returned in no better shape and when I complained, it was treated with a highly dismissive attitude. I've vowed never to go back and have told my friends to do the same. It's a real shame but this place has definitely got too big for its boots.
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matthew duffy
Overall rating
Food 3 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 3 | Value for money 5
Saturday, August 12, 2006

We have been going to this wonderful oasis in Hackney (or East Islington as some would prefer!) for 5 years, and we do agree with some of the comments below about lack of staff etc.

However, having experienced some of the comments below over the last few months, we made a special visit as it was the anniversary of the death of our beloved budgie, Snorkel(R.I.P), who up until last year we used to sneak in on a specially designed plastic gondola embossed with wheat germ.

We had a great experience, there were a few more staff and the food was up to its usual high standard.

Number 9 c on the menu - Chilli Tofu for starters with pancakes is AMAZING! and spring rolls that are home made and like no other (no nasty crispy batter stuffed with a few bean sprouts - this is the real deal!

We are going again tonight our experience last weekend has filled us with confidence ! - I can't count the amount of times we have had long evenings here, with the freshest food and friendly staff.

To clarify the main point again - the service was slipping but the food NEVER fails to disappoint - and in an age of expensive overpriced trendy resytaurants that litter Islington and parts of Hackney like sick puppies covered in Trill we need more individuality like the Houng Viet! long may it last!
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shiveringgoat
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Friday, June 16, 2006