Phuong Nga Banh Cuon

Coming from the bay area, this place seemed DIRT CHEAP. Little to not seating, people mostly buy to-​go I suppose. And as low tech as it seemed, they had this pile of Ethernet cable in the corner plugged into a router behind a router into a single credit card terminal, which didn’t make a whole lot of sense to me. But the fact that this place takes cards blows my mind. They didn’t pour the batter or fried anything until we ordered so the food came out hot and perfect. Flavors and fish sauce spot on, comparable to the most highly rated Vietnamese restaurants in the South Bay Area. Portion was huge too — luckily I was hungry enough to finish the leftovers. Will make this a permanent stop next time we come back to SD.

It’s 1:20pm on a Saturday and I walked in to eat a plate of Banh Cuon. The younger girl (Thi) that speaks English LITERALLY said I can sit and be served but I won’t get my food until after 2pm because they’re busy making other orders for pick-​up.
I’m trying to grasp this concept… I’m literally a dine in customer and they’re saying my food won’t get started for another 40 minutes.
****I was told to call ahead before I dine in to see if they’re too busy to serve dine in customers or not. Lol ****
WTF kind of business is this? I’m Vietnamese, I’m compassionate towards their work ethics and hustle. I get it. My parents hustle too. But you don’t sit at a restaurant where no one else is here but you, and have them say they’re essentially closed until 40 minutes later. Didn’t even take my order, just told me to wait.
The older lady just came out as I’m writing this and tells the girl in Vietnamese not to speak to customers that way. I told her I understood what they’re saying and the older lady apologized very sincerely. Explained it’s not that they don’t want to serve me (which I’m aware of) but actually ran out of an ingredient so water is just now boiling.
NOTE to girl in the front: just because you’re the only employee who speaks English, doesn’t mean you get to treat customers like shit with your words. That’s fine if you’re having a bad day but your own colleagues even said you need to speak more kindly and compassionately.
Customers just came in and said they called but nobody answered their phone. The girl replies in Vietnamese, «because it’s a cell phone and we don’t get service in here.»
LOL
This marks my first 1 star review! I’m usually a happy eater :)

This place is so good and cheap prices! A whole box can be shared with 2 people! So much food for a little price.

YES! I’ve been on the east coast and only ate Banh Cuon a few times and thought it was good already but when I came here and tried their’s out, it’s on a whole new level. They serve it nice and warm and the banh cuon has just the right texture ! Their fried pork patty was really good too. I ordered the #1 combo.

Usually not easy to find good Vit foods for me around these parts but man oh man does this place bring back childhood memories for me. The rice noodle is chewy and isn’t soggy. Well done!!! All the meats that it comes with is on point. This definitely fills me up! Highly recommended.

Their Banh Cuon is the best in San Diego and their party trays are the best deal in town. Only $ 25 for a small try that can feed a 5 – 10 people.

This use to be my favorite spot for Chinese BBQ but has since changed owners. Now, it’s my go to spot for bomb banh coun.
–Small family owned restaurant with 1 Specialty = The Best Banh Coun in Town!!!
–Generous Portions for a very Reasonable Price
–Friendly staff and everything is fresh and made to order
Parking lot usually annoyingly full. so I be prepared to park a little ghetto lol

Great hole in the wall (we’re talking like just a few tables inside and a little hard to find), but oh so worth it! This is definitely the best I’ve had in SD. For only $ 5.99, you get a plate with about 10 banh cuon, nem chua, gio and cha lua. With tons of veggies and their yummy sauce too. Very fresh and tasty!
They ONLY have banh cuon here too. SO legit.
FYI there is a café a few shops down too that has pretty strong coffee. We got some to sip on while waiting for our food to come out and they let us bring it in :)

Awesome place for a hole in the wall restaurant. The old Vietnamese lady was really nice and took really good care of me. The bun cuon was really good and fresh. Really big portions, I would go there every morning if I lived here!

Cheap and delicious! You can get a whole box of assorted meats with banh cuon/​uot for only $ 7. It is a steal I promise.
TIP: Call ahead. This lady is always busy because she makes them to order.
Located in a private lot so parking is easy.

Very interesting little hole in the wall. I came here thinking about Phở and egg rolls but they have neither option.
This place has some very unique Vietnamese style BBQ, that I can’t pronounce. It’s very simple you have about 5 options, I had no idea what I was ordering, I just pointed and smiled.
Most options seem to come with these little rolled dumpling like things which were soft and had ground beef inside.
I wouldn’t recommend ordering anything other than exactly what is presented due to the language barrier. They have meat only options btw which are unique, and I really enjoyed them.
For me it was like taking a trip across the world, with out going. I like little hole in the wall places that offer something different that the same old thing.
This place also packs a big bang for your buck, giving inexpensive big portions.
Adventurous carnivore’s come on
Happy eating!

This has to be my go to place for banh uot and cuon (wet rice cake sheets with and without fillings). The rice sheets are thin and has the perfect chew to them. Kudos for great portion sizes. I do believe the meat accompaniments (nem, gio lua, gio chien) are solid, but could use some improvements.
There service is friendly and efficient. It is small hole in the wall type place so it can be challenging to find and get parking. However, the banh uot/​cuon is so worth it.
This is also a good option for party catering trays. I will for sure be back.

Best banh cuon place in all of SD! Hole in the wall joint with one sweet lady running the whole thing. Her Vietnamese fish sauce, «nuoc mam» is perfect! Everything tastes super fresh, simple, & delicious! Will be back!

I was in the area and just looking for a phở place on Unilocal when I noticed a bang cuon place in El Cajon! For some reason, I never really thought there were so many Viet places around the area, I thought everything was pretty much in convoy. I’m from Orange County but frequent sd area also.
Instead of ordering 4 separate to go plates, I ordered the small party platter for the family. They had the platter ready in half and hour and the pick up was pretty efficient. I didn’t have to wait long at all, which surprised me since a reviewer said wait time was long. Maybe they got more help. The platter was more than enough food for us at lunch, so we had leftovers all day. The banh cuon and ut, we’re both very fresh. The vegetables were chopped up nicely. The nuoc mam is very good, as well as cha Lua. I would highly recommend.

Still pretty new to San Diego, so when I found this hole in the wall that specializes in banh cuon, I HAD to try it.
No disappointments here! I got the #1 to try a bit of everything — all was delicious and an EXTREMELY generous portion for $ 7 after tax. I’m not kidding, this meal is going to last me at least 3 servings. I ordered take out and it took about 15 minutes, not a big deal considering the banh cuon is made to order, so fresh!
Highly recommend to those who want to explore Vietnamese food aside from phở. Will definitely come back!

There are definite pros and cons to this place.
Pros:
–The price is definitely right!
–The banh cuon is soft and pillowy, the way they are supposed to be!
–The cha lua is pretty decent.
Cons:
–Service is slooooooooooooow. Whether you are taking out or eating in. I guess that’s what’s to be expected though if they are making them fresh and to order. but honestly. my grandmother rolls banh cuon faster at home.
–The ground pork filling lacked some flavor. It wasn’t my favorite, same for the fried pork.
–The nuoc mam also lacked the spicy fish sauce flavor I’ve grown up loving.
All in all, it’s a decent place. I guess I’m comparing it to a place I go to back home in Virginia but… if I’m really craving it I’d probably make the trip from Chula Vista.

They literally have 4 items on their («for here») menu. But who cares… It’s so good! Get your banh cuon /​uot fix here.

The banh Cuon here is as homemade as it can be for me. I am from the east coast and came to San Diego to explore the foodies. My cousin and myself was looking for a mom/​Pop shop and stumbled upon this place on Unilocal.
We loved their banh Cuon and it was fresh. The veggies were really good and blended with our taste. The sauce was pretty good also, it Wasn’t spicy as it looks with the peppers. The pork it came with was good, esp the fried one. It has a weird shape to it but was deciduous. The only thing that was diff for me was the white pork. It was soft and back on the east coast– philly, it’s has more taste.
Overall, I would def go back to this place if I am in San Diego again! Esp for the Banh Gio! I loved it so much! So glad we went to try this place. The banh Gio was delicious, there was a lot of meat in it and the flour for banh Gio was very smooth. We def want to go back n get more if time allows.
The guy who served us was nice and told us what was in the apps that were wrapped in green banana leaf.
They don’t serve viet ice coffee which was a downer to me, but that was okay– a few shops down had ice coffee.

I’ve been wanting to come here since it opened. I came here the other day with my family. It was actually pretty good. We got the special with everything in it. I wish the nuoc mam was made better though, it was too fishy. Yes I know it’s made out of fish sauce, but I had nuoc mam where you only smell a hint of it. But overall not bad.
The service was lacking though. The younger girl gave my sister a rude look when she asked for an extra plate. Could have been a little nicer. We was missing a plate also, so my brother asked her about it. And she was like it’s coming and walked away immediately… so??? Don’t know if I want to come back, maybe for take out.

ok, for a hole in the wall place, this is definitely 5 stars.
They close rather right at dinner time so it might be better for weekends than weekdays.
They don’t serve more than 2 types of plates that contain 5 – 6 different items with their fish sauce dip — it’s sweet, salty, spicy, and tangy!
1. Fried pork cake/​paste: it’s piping hot and delicious
2. Meat loaf: room temp, I’ve had those that are made with too much starch and this one is pretty good, not too salty.
3. Fried meat loaf (?): room temp, not starchy and has a fried outer layer.
4. Cured meat (nem chua): cold, chewy, not too peppery, this is sure an acquired taste but with the dip, this was pretty good.
5. sliced cucumbers and bean sprouts with thai basil: crunchy and great refreshing additions!
6. Banh Cuon/​Steamed rice rolls with meat/​wood ear mushroom 木耳 and onion (or radish?): hot, really good, not too soft, has a chewy texture (super like)
7. Banh Uot/​Steamed rice sheets: not even dim sum places have their steamed rice sheets techniques down to create a solid chewy texture for their rice rolls (e.g. shrimp, charsiu, beef), this is definitely heavenly.
All of that is sprinkled with fried shallots/​scallions!
There’s enough for some leftovers, I am happy as a clam.
The items contains a variety of textures, temperatures, and flavors. I can imagine this to be a very good summer meal. I will be back for this in the summer!!!