Hoai Huong Vietnamese Coffee Shop

This place has been around my old house for awhile now, but I never went to it because I had never tried Vietnamese food before. When I moved out from San Pablo to Hayward, I (finally) discovered the world of Vietnamese cuisine and all its enjoyments. I was driving around my old neighborhood with a friend, and I saw this place and thought to myself, «well if its been around this long, then it must be good». So we decided to drop in.
From the outside, the place looks terrible. I remember the sign being really faded and ugly before, but now it’s even worse. Kinda typical for San Pablo though. On the inside, it looks about as good as other Vietnamese shops I’ve been in, which isn’t too bad.
It felt like a movie sequence walking into the restaurant though. We opened the door, and there were about 10 middle-​aged Vietnamese men in there loudly standing over one table where I think they were playing cards. The door made a little noise, and all of a sudden all the noise stopped and everyone looked at us. I kinda just smiled awkwardly and sat down. They went back to playing their game. Sorry but thats minus a good star or two for the awkward stares of that many people.
The drinks themselves were decent. To be honest, I’ve had a lot better out here in the San Jose area. They weren’t bad at all, but as I said, theres better options. Not that there are any other options in the area though. This place isn’t all too bad, and it probably would be getting a better review from me if I didn’t go in there on a day it was crowded, but for now it’s just 2 stars. Maybe I’ll give it another try one day and hope it’s not busy.