Anise Vietnamese Restaurant

Anise is a wonderful place to eat. Great atmosphere and wonderful, wholesome food.
Make sure you try their soups, and if you like coffee, try their iced Vietnamese Coffee.
Unfortunately Anise has closed.
Anise will be missed.

BOOOOOOOO!!!
Where did it go?! The restaurant is empty and there is an eviction notice on the door! Very bad news! I called the number, no dice. WTH is going on here? If anyone knows the new location please tell me! STAT.
No fair… no fair (yes, Gage in pet cemetary)

Anise is an attractive clean restaurant with good service and great food. Loved the phở ga and the spring rolls!

Great noodle and fried banana with mango shebert

I’ve been to scores of Vietnamese restaurants and while the décor is a notch above and it’s convenient and easy to park, this one excels for a couple of reasons:
1. Unfailing great service: Kim is attentive, genuine and always helpful with suggestions, as are the many other family members we gave met over our repeated visits. You can eat family style at many places but few make you feel like family.
2. The food. I love phở as well as many if the vermicelli and egg noodle dishes and am never disappointed. The broth for the phở is richer, more flavorful, and more fragrant than many other places (and asian cuisine abounds in Chandler). They have the usual great appetizers including perfect spring rolls but what you CANNOT miss is the outstanding mango sorbet served as dessert! Never too sweet but packed with flavor; always light and refreshing.
I’ll be going back again (and soon) fir another great meal and friendly service!

The food and service here are great! The restaurant is right across the street from the Lee Lee Supermarket shopping center. The food here is definitely better than other Viet places I’ve tried in Chandler so far.
Here’s what I’ve ordered:
Chao Ga (Chicken Porridge) — Really good! I was sick and it totally hit the spot!
Thit Nuong Cuon (grilled pork summer roll) — Good, but I wish I would’ve ordered the Fresh Summer Roll instead. I prefer the peanut sauce over the fish sauce with my rolls!
Bun Chao Tom (ground shrimp and noodles with veggies) — Really good!
Definitely a must try! You won’t be disappointed.

My curiosity about this place drove me here tonight.
As I come in, a very nice lady seats me and hands me a menu. I automatically notice how large the menu is, and how clean the place is. Lots of large round tables, single tables, and lots of space in general. The spring rolls were a rather smaller appetizer than I imagined, considering it is $ 5 for a roll! Ouch. The beef phở was pretty decent sized and had lots lean meat (no hanging goops of fat anywhere), $ 8. The chopsticks are made of out metal and for some reason every time it accidently hit my teeth while I took a bite, it made me cringe. I noticed that there was no available condiments on every table like most phở places, they bring them out in ramekins. which leads me to think they are trying to stay ‘high class’ vietnamese/​american– but is a bit disappointing since the groups of sriracha and oyster sauce on a table is a signature phở icon. Atleast. For me.
I’m sorry but I’m still in love with Phở Van across the street!
Hmmm, this leans between a 3 and a 3.5.

I’ve been here a few times for both dine-​in and take-​out, and the gem of this place is its consistency. The food is stellar, and the service is thorough.
Tucked into a generic strip mall in Chandler lies a fabulous escape into Vietnamese cuisine. Anise has a whole book of traditional Vietnamese flavors.
The first time I went here it was with a Vietnamese friend of mine. He walked me through what to expect and helped me select a few things off the menu. I’ve seem some reviews on here that seem to suggest the flavors here are far from authentic, but I’d have to disagree. My friend brought me to this restaurant precisely because the flavors and dishes are authentic given his extensive experience with traditional Vietnamese cuisine. Perhaps those reviews that say otherwise are used to Phoenix’s usual Asian fare, which is usually far from authentic.
The menu is split into several different sections, including one just for vegetarians. The vegetarian dishes are hearty, many containing tofu or nuts as a significant source of protein. It is clear to me that the vegetables are always VERY fresh.
I usually get the crispy rolls and vermicelli, which is a dish that is both light and filling. I haven’t branched out to try anything else off of the extensive vegetarian-​friendly menu, but I can say that it all looks delicious.
For meat eaters, Anise has a veritable ton of omnivore-​friendly fare, the most popular of which is by far the phở. The meat appears to be well-​incorporated into the dishes, and everyone I’ve ever come here with compliments the medley of flavors.
Anise has a variety of lunch specials, and their service is fast and thorough. Haven’t had Vietnamese before? That’s okay! Ask either your server or the owner (she’s checked in at my table each time I’ve been there) for suggestions. They’re always happy to oblige.
Excellent find! I can’t wait to go there again.

Hmmm, I wanted to like it but it was just so so. The Phở is not nearly as good as some of the restaurants down the street. The lemongrass chicken was alright but not as flavorful as I like it.
The restaurant itself is very nice — large clean space — pretty the opposite of what I expect in a Vietnamese restaurant. — guess I’m more of a hole in the wall kinda gal.

Okay, here is the adventure, we needed lunch in less than an hour and we were struck with a craving of Vietnamese food. My friend, who lives in Chandler once ordered «to go» from a Vietnamese restaurant near her home. I loved it and thought, I want to find this place. To set out to find a random Vietnamese restaurant, I happily stumbled onto Anise in Chandler.
We arrived slightly later than the lunch hour so the restaurant was empty. It was slightly past the lunch special but the hostess/​server allowed us to take advantage of the $ 8.99 lunch (includes a soup or salad, and choice of entrée). Even though we were the only ones inside, the food was delicious and the server was attentive.
Between the two of us, we tried the fresh spring rolls and crispy egg rolls and the noodle lunch entrees (vermicelli with pork and vermicelli with egg rolls). The one thing that I really appreciated was that the cook mixed the sauce and it was delicious. I never seem to get it right when I do it on my own and the mix was the best I tasted.
The restaurant was clean, the service was prompt and attentive and the best part, the food, was delicious. I will definitely return. Just a note, I am not sure if this was the same place that my friend ordered to go but if not, it seems Chandler is a good place to find Vietnamese restaurants.

A friend and I came in for a quick lunch. The service is better than most standard Asian joints… however, I wasn’t impressed with their food. Mediocre at best, we both had phở (seafood and beef) the broth was awful it was so lacking in flavor. Service was good tho. The ambience/​décor was definitely better than most Asian restaurants. Probably won’t eat there again.

I asked the waiter what was best and he said the vermicelli. I’ve had this at tons of other restaurants in and out of Vietnam and this dish is very good. The ingredients were some of the freshest I have ever had at a Vietnamese restaurant. The reason for no 5^th star is that the noodles were a little soft and I’ve had better sauce that you use to mix in the bowl. The Vietnamese (iced) coffee was very good, but I’ve had better at many other places. I’d go back when in the neighborhood.

After craving Vietnamese food for the past 2 ½ weeks, we finally decided to check this place out. We’re new to AZ so I read some of the reviews and scoped the menu before driving out to Anise. They have a hearty selection of vegetarian meals which suits us well.
We drove up to Anise on a Wednesday evening. It was dead. No one occupying any of the 20 tables. Normally we hesitate going to restaurants that are empty but decided to stay. It was clean and the décor was simple. It almost seemed too corporate. But I kept reminding myself that the menu stood out among other local eateries.
Boy was I right! We ordered the vermicelli and pretty much swallowed it whole. It was SO good! Portions were just right and the food was fresh. We could have ordered more items off the menu but wanted to savor the moment.
We’re happy we found our new favorite Vietnamese restaurant. It is a 15 min drive for good food but well worth it.

This is one of my favorite places in Chandler and I try to get by here whenever I’m in town. The people who run it are so nice and the atmosphere is very relaxed. The prices are a little higher than other Vietnamese places I go but not prohibitive. Everything I’ve had here over the past two years has been delicious.
(4÷09)

This place is very clean and décor is well put in an old school Asian way. The lighting is pretty dim and the huge space makes you feel a little bored. The owners were too busy chatting with the customers at one table that other customers were feeling a little out of place.
Anyway, the basil, lemon and bean sprouts for the phở was amazingly fresh. The lemon was perfectly ripe, basil was not wilting, and every single bean sprouts had their ends trimmed… it’s pretty amazing how much detail they put into their vegetables. The phở was pretty good and the best part was that there was so much meat in it. The rice dish was ok but the portion was very small. The spring rolls… I’ve never seen such tiny spring rolls but the flavors were very nice.
I have to tell you about their bathroom. It was nice, clean, and spacious. I don’t know about the men’s side but lady’s bathroom is one of the nicest I’ve seen in a public location. They even use the bath & body works hand soap.
*Location = convenient, right across the street from Lee Lee’s Market
*Price = on the expensive side for phở
*Décor = traditional nice… you don’t have to feel like you are compromising your standard for niceness just b/​c you want phở
*Service = efficient but it would be nice if the owners treat every customer equally
Would we go back? Sure
Is this our first choice for phở? No, we still prefer Phở Ao Sen overall

Great selection of appetizers, rice and noodle dishes and of course phở!
I like the signature Anise noodles but there is never enough sauce. Though the staff is always keen to tell you ‘the only other place that serves this is in Paris!”.
Will definitely start branching out and trying other dishes.
Clean and great service… and you can go across the street for gelato or boba tea!

I took the daughter and this time I tried the Phở Ga… it is yummy. They give you a tray of condiments that you can add, I chose to add the spice paste/​sauce to give it a little kick.
I have also made it back to get my take out of ginger and chicken when I was feeling a little under the weather… bought 2 orders and the hubbie got to try it and enjoyed it.

So, it’s a Saturday night and you are really aching for some Vietnamese food. You head on over to the tried-​and-​tested, everyone’s favorite – Cyclo. But alas, there is a line, a LONG line. And no matter how much you beg and plead with owner in stilettos, Justina, she ain’t budging. She sticks one finger at you and says, «You just have to wait.»
Your stomach growls. What do you do?
Well you just drive a little to the north and try Anise Restaurant.
Located across from Lee Lee’s, this little-​known Vietnamese place serves pretty good Vietnamese phở (the chicken kind), which my dining partner ordered. The flavors were simple, almost true to what phở should really taste like (some I’ve tasted try too hard by overdoing spices and seasonings, and some also have this unexplainable greasy taste). I tried the Anise noodles as recommended by our waitress and it was pretty darn yummy! I had that with the summer rolls with peanut sauce on the side, and it was addicting. I was a pig, even for just an hour… I was a pig! And I loved every minute of it.
Oh, and just for kicks, my dining partner ordered the shrimp burschetta simply because that’s his favorite item to order at Cyclo. And, the decision is: he still loves Cyclo’s shrimp bruschetta. But this comes as a close second.
The service was excellent, the place… neat and tidy, which is great and pleasant. However, I must say that here is something about a small restaurant in frenzy, like what happens to Cyclo on a weekend. I think the bustle and demand for tables at Cyclo makes me appreciate the food over there more. It’s like like acquiring a hot commodity and you kinda wanna go «neener-​neener» to those who stand by the door and wait their turn while they salivate.
At any rate, Anise is a good alternative. Definitely something that should always be considered when craving for Vietnamese food. The price is very reasonable, and it’s an inviting place to take everyone on the family.

Oooohhhhh yes… now THIS is the best phở ga (chicken noodle soup) I’ve had in AZ! And I don’t say that easily… this comes after quite a few ventures and «what-​the-​hell-​was-​that-​do-​we-​really-​have-​to-​pay-​for-​whatever-​it-​was-​we-​just-​ate!?»
The menu had a decent selection of veggie items (veggie spring rolls, VEGGIE BROTH for the phos if you so choose — read my Dragonfly review to see how poignantly affected one can be when this isn’t an option — fried rice, tossed noodles, veggie crêpe…) and the restaurant itself is done in quite calming colors and muted lighting, and like Mr. K mentioned, very clean.
Our server was very accommodating and attentive enough to be accessible within a minute of our needing him. Veggie springs rolls were good. The Anise Noodle special was also quite good — simple and tasty. The ONLY drawback was the fact that the Thai iced tea was poured from a bottle to glass (we spied this happening as the angle of our table allowed us to look directly into the drink fridge) and hey — if I’d wanted that, I could’ve hopped over to Lee Lee’s supermarket to grab a prepackaged drink. Good Thai tea is comprised of a tea base mixed with milk just BEFORE serving.
However, the food trumped that of all the Vietnamese restaurants I’ve eaten at in AZ thus far. Five stars would be reserved for food reminiscent of the quality and authenticity of dishes served in Vietnam. And thousands of miles away, smack dab in the middle of a desert, this would be a hefty task for anyone. Anise comes closest, with a solid four-​star rating.

I tried to check out C-​Fu for dinner today to treat myself after 5 hours of IKEA/​Costco hell, but struck out as the staff seemed to be leaving as I rolled into the parking lot. The strip mall with Lee Lee’s seemed to be pure pandemonium, but I remembered seeing another restaurant which caught my eye while I was driving south on Dobson — Anise.
Vietnamese food… sounds good to me!
Pleasant and very clean inside, with what sounds like Italian opera being sung in Vietnamese as your musical backdrop. Service was friendly and efficient, bonus points for no weird faces because I came in solo.
I thought about ordering the phở but wasn’t sure I wanted to do that by myself — I’d rather have a group try bowls of phở with different cuts of meat — so I got the flat noodles with beef and shrimp instead. Wasn’t sure how authenticly Vietnamese it was, but it was a decent dish, although it didn’t blow me away. I then got the flour drops in coconut milk & crushed ice for dessert — also decent.
Anise seems like a newer restaurant, because I don’t remember seeing it the last time I came to Lee Lee’s. Service is friendly, the place is pleasant, and the food is good. With a bit more flavor, the food could be amazing. I didn’t not like it, so I’d be willing to eat there again, whenever I happen to be in that part of town.