Trieu Chau

My coworker told me about this place, showed me a picture, and I had to come. There is always a line, but it wasn’t so bad because I was there before 11.30am on a weekend. Go in and take your number and then wait outside to be called.
You’re not going to be in the cleanest place, but that’s how you know it’s good. I think the won ton noodle soup is the way to go. I actually got the house special which has some extra meats including a duck leg, but I liked the won ton because it also has some meats and the won ton is good.
The broth is sweet and salty, there has to be some sort of goodness added into these bowls. The noodles were a little hard/​stuck together but the meats and broth are excellent.
Service is really quick and their Vietnamese Coffee is also quite good. It’s a blend of Vietnamese and Chinese noodle soups and the combination is delightful. You get large portions, lots of food, and good taste. I can see myself craving this again for sure.

The best of the best mi and hu tieu if you don’t mind the dirty setting.

The best place in OC to eat hu tieu. I always order a large bowl with wide noodles (I’m a girl so that’s saying something) A large bowl usually comes with a duck leg and if they run out they give you plenty cuts of duck/​chicken to make it up to you :)
The broth never disappoints me, its sweet, garlicky, and just plain delicious. The wide noodles are freshly made everyday, hence why I always order them. I love that there’s a little bit of everything in this bowl of noodles (shrimp, fish balls, pork, chicken, and duck) you just can’t go wrong with that. And if you want to give it a little kick, they have this chili oil you can add to your soup. It elevates it to another level of flavor.
This place is ALWAYS crowded so the best time to eat here is around 2 – 3 pm. Its less crowded and the broth tastes the sweetest during this time for some reason. I tried coming to this place really early in the morning (7 – 8 am) and the soup is very bland, however their chinese fried donuts taste best because they are crispy and hot around this time.
I’ve tried other hu tieu places in OC and LA and nothing compares to this place. Its not the cleanest and its old and small, but I eat fast and leave fast so its not a big deal.

I absolutely love this place.
If it’s your first time here, trust me: House Special noodle. They’ll give you an option between egg noodles, wide rice noodles, and the regular (thinner) rice noodles in phở. Ask for the wide ones (haw-​fun in Cantonese). Beansprouts raw or steamed on the side, if you like. Also ask for a coconut juice. Then sit and wait patiently. It never takes too long.
This is hands-​down my favorite place to get a fantastic bowl of noodle soup. They have other dishes of course, like fried rice, but there’s something about the heartiness of their broth that really takes me to another place. House Special comes with a couple pieces of fish cake, pork balls, tail-​on shrimp, skin-​on tender chicken, finely ground pork, and a whole duck leg. Every ingredient is solid even on its own. Meats are bone-​in. And each different flavor is like a story in itself. Whether it’s the smokiness of the duck leg or the texture of the chicken pieces that are unique to Hainan cuisine, each part stands out on its own while assimilating into each other at the same time.
THIS IS GETTING DEEP, but
There is nothing more satisfying than navigating your way through a good bowl of noodle soup. I usually don’t finish entire bowls, but I drink it down to the last drop here. At the bottom of the bowl is where the flavor is most concentrated; where you’ll find bits of ground pork and garlic in all their magnificence.
The authenticity of this restaurant feels home-​grown and traditional, like a recipe that’s remained unchanged through generations. There’s no extra BS and not much curb appeal; just a simple picture-​less menu, a tight-​knit staff, and a roaring open kitchen.
Remember to bring CASH only!
On weekends the wait can be horrendous. Even for 2 people after 2pm on a Saturday, the wait can be up to an hour. I came today (on a Monday) for lunch at around 1pm and the wait for a table was about 15 minutes.

I always get excited to eat here! It’s amazing. It’s usually very busy here, but it’s worth the wait.
Parking is pretty tough here especially if you go in the morning. They also serve chinese donuts which are amazing with the broth! But they sell out pretty quickly.
My go to item is the house special! I get half rice noodle and half thick egg noodles. It comes with SO MUCH FOOD. I only eat half of it. My favorite part is the piece of liver that comes in it. Yummmm.
The service is what you can expect of an asian restaurant and the tables aren’t the cleanest, but I come here for the food.

After this reviewed I probably order to go twice. Since then my husband and I decided to never ever go here again…
Ive been going here since I was a kid. They never ever replace anything. The walls, tables, chairs, carpet, and the workers are like 20 plus years old. The floor/​windows are dirty, bathroom is disgusting, and the tables/​chairs/​utensils/​chopsticks are super sticky, even the men that work there looks like shit. The place got to the point where I no longer could walk in and stand there and watch them prep my food. My family and I called you Dirty Noodle…

My go to place for Cambodian noodles. Must try if your ever in town. If your Lucky you might be able to get some Chinese Dounuts but these always sell out pretty fast. Always get the house special noodles. Dip in soup or Hot Viet Coffee. YUMMY!
Wet or Dry is up to you.
Yellow or White Noodles is again up to you.
Thin or fat noodles is again up to you.
Be prepare to answers these questions because they
The staff pretty much speaks every known Asian Language. So great place to test it out your skills.

Good food but holy moly I couldn’t get over how horrible the cleanliness was. Trust me I’ve been to pretty janky places but this takes the cake. I don’t mind going to hole in the wall places because food is delicious but horrible service, messy dining area and god knows what happens in the kitchen brings this down to a 2 :(

Probably the dirtiest restaurant that always has me coming back for more Hu Tieu Nam Vang since it’s yummy! We came here a little after 2pm and the Chinese long donuts that pair with the noodle soup was completely out! They are known for their noodles and their freshly made Chinese long donuts.
The man upsold us to some yummy Vietnamese crab cakes but to be honest the noodle soup was already filling so next time I will remember to not over order!
This hole in the wall noodle shop is not to be missed!

$ 7.95 for regular bowl of ht nam vang. Not the cleanest restaurant but food is great. There’s a reason why there’s a wait at 11am. Pickled jalapeños were awesome. Pickled red chili is super hot.
No quail egg and they put chicken and duck meat in there which is kinda odd. The sauce at the bottom of the bowl is great, not too salty or sweet. Coba is better in terms of authenticity.

4.0 Stars — The comfort food here is the main reason why our extended family have been regulars for 4 generations. Not only is the service quick, portions are huge and freshly made every morning. We appreciate that the consistency in taste remains the same every time we have a hankering for a piping hot bowl of Vietnamese/​Chinese fusion goodness.
My little family of five regularly order the Hu Tieu Mi Nam Vang (Nam Vang Style Rice and Egg Noodles Soup), Hoang Thanh Them Thit Bam (Wonton Soup with extra Pork Mince Meat), Phở Ap Chao (Wok Style Rice Noodles) and Siu Mai (Meatballs).

If you need a fix for a good tastin’ noodle soup, come here! This is a very popular small joint, if you come during lunch rush, you’d likely have to wait for a little while. Don’t worry, their service is lightning fast, the wait time shouldn’t be too bad.
This place is a simple, very fast, no chit-​chat, no small talks. They are interested to bring you good food, for you to eat them, and leave happy, so they can let the other folks enjoy the same experience.
Don’t get overwhelmed by the menu, just do this:
(1) Choose your protein (duck, chicken, beef, fish, etc).
(2) Choose your type of noodle (egg or rice noodle)
(3) Soup (or soup on the side). Honestly, it’s soup place, so don’t even look at the non soup menu.
Atmosphere is very fast paced, your meal will come out within minutes. People eat quickly, so don’t be deterred by the wait.

This little gem holds a special place in my heart. I know that sounds kind of cliché, but honest to god no one makes better Vietnamese/​Chinese noodles like they do. My dad has been taken me here since I was seven years old, that was like almost two decades ago! After all these years, their food are just as good as the day I first stepped into this restaurant. I LOVE their Dau Chau Quay (Chinese fried breadsticks), perfect texture not too dense and the outside is always so crispy even when you have left it out for a day. Their Siu Mai (meatballs) is another favorite of mine. The lousy part is that they only make a fix amount of these two items and they sell like hotcakes so try to come early if you want some because usually by 11 am (earlier on weekends) its pretty much gone. Everything else on the menu is pretty darn good, but if I had to pick my top favorite it would be the Hu Tieu Nam Vang, Wonton Noodle soup, and the beef chow fun has always been my family favorite. I don’t how they make their broth but it is always hit the spot for me, if my mother makes broth like this it would have saved me a lot of money from eating out, ha! Also, it is a requirement in my family that when we make phở we have to buy the bo vien (beef balls) from here.
A few notes/​tips:
— Like most asian restaurant, it is CASH ONLY.
— They don’t serve everything on their menu at the same time. For an example, like I mention items like the Chinese fried breadsticks and the Siu Mai are made early in the morning and they will sell it until theres none left for the day and certain items like the beef chow fun are not serve until the afternoon same goes with their beef balls.
— It does get quite pack on weekends because everyone and their grandmother comes here so if you can come on weekdays, do. However, if weekends are your only option I would suggest coming early OR just grab a number and be patient. :)
— Service here are not that great sometimes, but honestly when food is this good who care!
Overall, I highly recommend this place to anyone who ask.

First time I ate here I ordered to go and by the time I got home the noodles were a little soggy (this was about an hour later though) so I thought it was just okay. Second time I came we waited about 30 minutes for two people (and it was only 10:30am!) and we had to share a table with another couple which is kind of weird but it’s okay. I ordered the dry egg noodles with duck and soup on the side, and my bf ordered the house special. I thought it was just okay, I felt that there wasn’t that much flavor to the dish. the food is definitely cheap ($ 6 – 7 a bowl) but I don’t think it’s worth the wait and I was underwhelmed by the dishes.

The soup was right on, it was so good and it wasn’t crazy flavoured but so right on… the place is kinda small but it’s worth the wait…

If you are looking for a seriously OG noodle place then this is your spot. Service is spotty at times so don’t expect much. What you can expect is some good noodles. After my two visits my favorite is still the Hu Tieu Nam Vang. Egg noodles & Rice stick noodles with, pork, beef ball, fish cake, shrimp and chicken with soup on the side. There is a sauce on the bottom of the noodle so mix that up and put some of your soup in. Then add some bean sprouts and any hot sauce for flavoring and you got yourself some good noodles.
I’m going to have to explore more of the menu on future trips.
Note: CASH ONLY

On our way back from San Diego, my family and I were hoping to find one more amazing restaurant for lunch before our flight back to San Jose. Wanting to have some Asian food, we stopped by Trieu Chau for some noodle dishes.
There is plenty of parking in the plaza since other food establishments are in the same area. However, be warned that it’s not located in the best looking place. And walking inside of the restaurant isn’t any better either. All you have are chipped-​painted walls, round old tables, and ugly chairs. Décor was definitely not a strong point.
We were seated very quickly (since it was 11 am on a Monday morning), but there was quite a number of people eating inside. The second we sat down, the waiter (an older man) hovered over our table and asked us what we wanted before we even opened the menu. The one thing I hate the most is when people rush me into choosing a dish and I did not appreciate his impatience. And when we asked for five bowls so that we could share the appetizer dish, he looked at us as if we were crazy. Sorry that we all don’t want to eat off of the same plate. RUDE!
My family chose a crispy noodle dish with seafood to share and for my own personal entrée I chose a dry phở-​noodle dish with fish and a bowl of broth on the side. The amount of time it took for our food to be served was SCARY FAST. Our appetizer came out in two minutes and following right behind were our entrees. It made me suspicious that they probably just threw everything together because the food was already pre-​made. NOT A GOOD SIGN.
Taking the first bite, the first thing that came to mind was: underwhelming. It was almost as if they gave you the aroma of the flavor, but the actual taste itself was hanging back somewhere else. My sister had to ask for additional sauce in her dish because it was way too bland to eat. The fish in my bowl was alright, but nothing went together. Every component felt separate and none of the flavors married into one cohesive entrée. As for the crispy noodle dish, I barely touched it. There was a strange aftertaste to the sauce and the seafood (which also consisted of imitation crab) was cold.
While the prices here are cheap, the service is horrendous and the food isn’t any better. We left feeling wholly unsatisfied and full in a way that was just not good. I will certainly not recommend this restaurant for food so eat at your own risk.

The knock on Trieu Chau at times has been that their broth is a bit inconsistent. Some days, the pork bone broth of their noodle soups was rich in flavor and other days a bit watery and bland.
Well over my past several visits, I’ve noticed that their broth has been consistently on mark, in terms of the flavor. In fact, I just dined here today and the broth was absolutely perfect, possibly the best since I’ve started coming here. I used to eat my noodles dry (kho) but these days, I find myself opting for the noodles in the soup due to the improvement in their broth.
No other Chiu Chow noodle place in the area compares to Trieu Chau and it’s probably my favorite noodle soup joint in all of OC!

A Chinese/​Vietnamese establishment.
Walking in, it was a small shabby restaurant interior and exterior. The tables were dirty and the waiters were just in the front all chatting. We had to ask for menus because I guess they were too busy chatting away. As he comes to our table, he throws the menu at us. Are you serious… I don’t have to give you money, you know.
House special noodle (7.90)
I got the dry while the bf got soup and we both opt for egg noodles. The broth was very light and clean flavored, which my bf loved. I got a bowl of soup where you pour over the noodles and my broth was definitely saltier, which I preferred. The egg noodles were a bit tough for my liking. I wish I got to try the rice noodles. But they give variety of meat, all which was very tender.
You can ask for
— dry or soup
— egg or rice noodle
It’s hangover food more than anything. Too bad they close at 5 pm.

Get here early or expect to wait! Located in a busy strip mall with congested parking is this mid size Vietnamese/​Cambodian restaurant, where an old asian guy will seat you, take your order, serve you, and get you out as quickly as possible.
Anna was in the mood for the doughnuts, which they make only a small batch and sell out quickly. We got there around 11:15 and we got the last batch of the doughnuts, which are long strips of fried dough, and you dunk them in your soup. What makes their doughnuts popular is they’re a bit sweet. Not overly sweet like a glazed American doughnut, but a tad sweet just to tease the tastebuds.
Usually I get the fried noodles, but today I wanted an egg noodle soup, and ordered the duck soup. Anna had the Trieu Chau rice noodle soup, which seemed to have a medley of everything but the kitchen sink.
As I said, they get you in/​get you out. Our food came within 15 minutes, and it was a nice big bowl of egg noodles and chunks of duck (bone in).
Like many asian places, they like their food salty and/​or with MSG. It’s been 2 hours and I am thirsty.
2 bowls of noodles and an order of the doughnuts set me back $ 16 and change. I just gave them a $ 20 and provided a decent tip.
Cash only!