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Hai Van Restaurant

MY REVIEW: The best Vietnamese I have ever had! My family and I went there for my Birthday and were very pleased with the friendliness, cleanliness and the portions were perfect. I had a pho bowl and it was awesome and the springrolls so fresh. I will be back when I am in the mood for a quiet nice dinner with the family.

And to top it off, they took my dinner off of the ticket and said happy birthday! it;s on us...never had a restaurant of any kind do that.

NAME: Kevin Murphy
SUBMITTED: 4/12/2013   LAST VISIT WAS: 4/11/13
FREQUENCY: Visited once

MY REVIEW: My last visit was 2 years ago--I can't be certain, but I suspect there has been a change of ownership. The place is more inviting because of new interior beige & taupe paint. The prices are a little higher. The staff is a lot older.

My Vietnamese waitress spoke very little English. So little, in fact, that I was amused. I was the only non Vietnamese customer. There was a shredded pork eggroll apetizer that I ordered. When she didn't comprehend, I pointed to it on the menu. She got serious and said, "Not for you" and then she pointed to Vietnamese Fried Eggrolls to indicate that was what she intended to bring, like it or lump it! At this point, I'm having too much fun to argue.

For the entree I told her that I wanted the wide yellow noodles with shrimp, chicken & pork that I saw on the blackboard near the front door. It sounded good, however, I must say the cornish hen with fried rice that she brought me was pretty good too!!

NAME: Caucasian from League City
SUBMITTED: 6/15/2012   LAST VISIT WAS: 6/12
FREQUENCY: Visited 2-3 times

MY REVIEW: Wow...only one review per year?

I wes there yesterday and was served the best bowl o' pho I've ever had. I was probably influenced by the recent cold snap but the balance of flavors was spot on, the sprouts & herbs freah and generous and the beef sliced thin and consistant. Superior to the trailer Pho on Beamer! I have also had their bun and it's delicious. Good eggrolls and great spring rolls. Friends have tried the rice dishes and no one has complained. Now I'm considering the pork chop and fried egg plate mentioned below.

NAME: Gourmand
SUBMITTED: 12/7/2011   LAST VISIT WAS: 12/06/2011
FREQUENCY: Visited 4-6 times

MY REVIEW: There were only about 10 patrons when I stopped in for lunch, the majority were Vietnamese and most of them were eating pho. I ordered menu item C5, char grilled pork, egg cake and roasted pork. It came with a huge mound of short-grain white rice, sliced tomatoes & cucumbers. Not mentioned on the menu, it also came with a sunny-side-up fried egg---a nice suprise. Good Vietnamese food tastes fresh and light, and this was a good meal at a good value ($5.75). Also had an appetiser of 2 very tasty fried Vietnamese egg rolls @ $2.25. For $8 I enjoyed egg roll appetiser and a plate that had fresh garden vegetables, 2 meats, egg, rice, and egg cake.

I noticed that the last review (more than a year ago) complained of skimpy portions and high prices compared to other Clear Lake area Viet restaurants. My favorite mom & pop Viet place in CL is N*ASA Fast Food (bad name, good grub) and it seems to me that Hai Van is neither priced too high nor has smaller portions than N*ASA FF. I think both represent good value with generous servings. And the menu selection at Hai Van is extensive. Both servers that day were young, as was a person who came out of the kitchen. But service was excellent, so was value. Hai Van is located in an older strip center next to a Viet grocery store. While it doesn't have a lot of atmoshere, it's clean and pleasant enough.

NAME: Sandy from League City
SUBMITTED: 5/21/2010   LAST VISIT WAS: 5/10
FREQUENCY: Visited once

MY REVIEW: Although we've been here before, it was a long time ago. That bowl of pho was great, as far as I remember it, but it seems something has happened to Hai Van.

While we were greeted quickly and sat down quickly too, it still didn't feel quite like a warm welcome. I had high hopes after seeing a container of fish sauce, which most places don't actually offer straight as a condiment, and a Vietnamese family eating at a long table, but by the time the food arrived, it was clear what was wrong. The portions are extremely skimpy, perhaps half of the portion you would get at CL's other Vietnamese restaurants with equal or lower prices, and the vegetables are not as fresh as those areas. The bean sprouts are an exception, fortunately, and the stir-fried spicy lemongrass chicken on this bowl of bun stole the entire show. The nuoc cham was far too bland, tasting either very watered-down or with poor-quality fish sauce.

As for the pho that my father ordered, it was also nothing particularly remarkable. The vegetable plate is rather small, although it is fresh and I'll give them credit for that, and there were only a few pieces of meat, which were also below par. The broth was good, with a strong star-anise taste, although some may not like this. The portion was, of course, quite small, about 55% of the large pho I can find somewhere else for about the same.

While the chicken itself was good, I felt let down by the flashes of good cooking amongst very mediocre details, and with very poor value in addition. I hate to give negative reviews out, but I was still hungry for a banh mi from down the street afterwards, and I could have likely even have had two - still for $3 less than Hai Van. Sorry, but this doesn't make the cut.

NAME: Andrew
SUBMITTED: 3/21/2009   LAST VISIT WAS: 3/21/09
FREQUENCY: Visited 2-3 times

MY REVIEW: well I've been going there since I was a baby ahah. I know everyone there.. and its gotten to the point where they can remember my order :D #4 (just meatballs) and the guy ALWAYS remembers my order. which is awesome. They've done alot of redesigning so it looks alot nicer, and cleaner. This is the only pho place I go to besides Pho s*aigon in longpoint. The food is great

NAME: Elizabeth
SUBMITTED: 10/10/2008   LAST VISIT WAS: 10/10/08
FREQUENCY: Everybody here knows my name...

MY REVIEW: This is the most relaxing restaurant in the area. I have been dining there a couple times a week for the past five years and the entire family knows my husband and I. The food iss superb and the service is conistent. I found this site looking for the phone number to place a last minute order!!

NAME: Naila H.
SUBMITTED: 7/21/2008   LAST VISIT WAS: 07/08
FREQUENCY: Everybody here knows my name...

MY REVIEW: I really love this restaurant. It is perfect in every way. Since I moved here from New York two years ago my family and I haven't found a restaurant with excellent food like this restaurant. Its one of a kind and definitely worth the trip. I love the pho bo vo vien. It's my favorite, I order it evry chance I get. The waitors and waitress treat you as if you were a king or queen. They definitely get an A+ rating for such specular services.

NAME: Elle
SUBMITTED: 8/30/2005   LAST VISIT WAS: 08/05
FREQUENCY: Visited 4-6 times

MY REVIEW: This is a great restaurant! I'd have to say, the pho here is just delicious. My mother lives out of town, and before that, I could only eat her pho cooking. After I tried Hai Van, I was truly amazed of the taste. They cook their broth with beef and chicken bones only (no artificial flavored stuff) which is usually very rare in some restaurants. Not only is the pho good here, the rice plates (com chien bo luc lac) is awesome! It's a family owned restaurant and everybody there knows my name. If you're ever on the south side of Houston, you got to stop in for some really good food!

NAME: Lan N.
SUBMITTED: 7/10/2004   LAST VISIT WAS: 07/04
FREQUENCY: Everybody here knows my name...

MY REVIEW: The food here is great, and I come here at least once a week. The service is also great, and it is ran by a very nice family. So you know you will be expecting some good homemade vietnamese restaurant. It's a vietnamese cuisine restaurant. I love their rice noodles, and their rice platters are really good (especially the com ga ro ti). If you want some good homemade vietnamese food, this is the place to go if you live in that area. Also, if you are not full off the great food, try the "3 color" dessert (che 3 mau). Very good!

NAME: Vy
SUBMITTED: 11/30/2003   LAST VISIT WAS: 11-2003
FREQUENCY: Everybody here knows my name...

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