Viet Grill

Fast and tasty food! Minimal seating. Better for grab-​n-​go. Servings are large, so good if you are really hungry, want to split a dish or to make multiple meals. The Bahn Mi’s are about 9″ and stuffed with meat. I, personally, like the pork version and usually eat half now, half later. The price is great deal at $ 4.25 Today I tried the Singapore noodles, which probably could have fed my whole family. I thought it was good, if not a little super-​market curry powdery. It had slices of pork, shrimp and scallops in addition to fried egg, carrots, cabbage and green onions. Their fresh spring rolls are also very good. Come Fall and Winter I will be trying their soups and more hot dishes and will update my review.
UPDATE: Their phở is great! We had some cold, rainy days and I ordered regular beef phở. The broth itself if rich and flavorful and the bowl is large and filled with rice noodles, paper-​thin onions and beef. You are also served bean sprouts, culantro (a close cousin of cilantro), Thai basil, sliced jalapeños, and a lime wedge on the side in addition to hoisin and chili sauces to doctor-​up your soup as you see fit. Again, large serving. I can usually get two meals out of it or it could be shared with a friend. It’s become a weekly addiction during these cooler winter days.

I’ve been here several times in the last couple years. Today was a Saturday afternoon when I stopped in for take out while running errands.
I stood at the counter for several minutes while the main cook had his back to me cooking and didn’t even notice I was there waiting. I heard someone in the back talking and he finally came to the front after several minutes and asked for my order. «Singapore noodles, please» I told him. «You want pork?» «No, just the regular Singapore noodles…» He told me he doesn’t speak much English. And so then the manager took my order.
The picture of Singapore noodles shows a bed of vermicelli noodles with an assortment of fresh vegetables and seafood sitting on top. What I got was a box full of yellow stuff with small bits of seafood and carrot strips that I could identify.
I took it home and picked through what I could– everything was mixed with a ton of red pepper flakes, making it very spicy, in addition to it being unappealing. I ended up eating less than half of it because of this (I generally enjoy spice– love southeast Asian foods!) But this was just too much. I ended up drinking 4 glasses of milk to calm my palate, but it was just not working.
So alas, I wish I could wholly endorse this as a quick Asian– fusion go-​to place in Carlsbad, but not until they improve customer service and good quality.

Pray that the Singapore noodle is cooked by the Asian guy. The other guy throws in a crap load chili peppers. It’s so spicy you’re just liquids to quench the flame in your mouth.

I tried the chicken bahn mi and it was okay. It’s not bad but I’d say it is at the bottom of my list of places I’ve ever tried viet sandwiches. Normally viet sandwiches are $ 3. This place charges about $ 4.50. I still give 2 star rating because the staff is very friendly and the store is clean. Good spot for a quick fix and you’re not feeling anything else around.

The food is always fresh and they prepare in the open. Love their ban mi, hit and sour soup, spring rolls and veggie phở too! Hard workers and very polite!

I was excited to find some Vietnamese food in Carlsbad so I tried the beef broken rice dice. It was very good and lots of food for a good price.
The second time I decided to get some pad thai & ban min sandwich to go. The bread for the sandwich was stale and way too hard/​crumbly. Also the pad thai was not good at all. My wife and ended up throwing away most of the food.
Lesson learned, only order Vietnamese food here.

Great place for Vegetarian options. I had the pad Thai with tofu and mock duck. The portion is great to share with another person. You’ve gotta try the Thai Tea Boba it is simply delicious and refreshing. The man at the counter was sweet and made my food really fast considering I was on my lunch.

I had the wonton soup for lunch, and it was great. Plenty of wontons, pork, Chinese broccoli, delicious broth (slightly too salty). A few dashes of Rooster sauce, and it was perfect for a rainy day.
I’ve had their sandwiches, too, and they are also terrific, though watch out for the jalapeños. And of course the phở is great too.
The place was crowded, it took quite a while to get it ready, and at one point the chef was arguing with one of the customers about what they’d ordered. And there is rarely close parking at lunch — I park on the other side of Staples.

some of the best Banh Mi I’ve had in North San Diego County.
Go BBQ Pork, you wont be disappointed!

We come to this place prob 4 times a week! The food is amazing and the guys behind the counter are super cool.

Let’s just get one thing straight. I LOVE banh mi sandwiches. They are one of my favorite foods. It’s actually the only thing I get here, because they’re so good. Every time I come here, I get the food promptly and correctly (I get no mayo). Highly recommended for banh mi!

Worse phở place I have ever been to!!! For a «dac biet» specialty bowl of phở, it was horrible!!! Small bowl for 7 something dollars and it does not include ALL the different meats that should be included in a speciality bowl of phở. After all, isn’t that why I paid extra for the special bowl? Total disappointment. I guess because I grew up with Vietnamese food I could be a little critical. But, in my opinion, it’s a jip. I would drive an extra way to have better food. If your desperate, go. If not, please do not bother.

This is a very interesting spot. Was craving for some decent Vietnamese food and since spending 4 days in Del Mar we decided to make the trek to Carlsbad since it was on the way home. On my way here, I did not expect to find a place on the same caliber as «Little Saigon». This place is definitely not good for a group, I came in with a group of 4, and it was almost near impossible to get a table. There are 6 small tables enough to fit 2 people per table and they have one long counter towards the entrance that fits maybe 2 more people. The concept of this place is like any other fast food/​food to go spot in Westminster/​Garden Grove order at the counter and you’ll get your food. It is mainly catered to non Asian demographic so the taste is not quite what you’re use to if you are use to the strong bold aromatic flavors from the Little Saigon area.
What we ordered:
–Eggrolls: These are not your typical Panda Express egg, it kind of had a slight Vietnamese style eggroll to it, but it still had a lot of filler (cabbage and clear vermicelli noodles).
–Wonton soup: Not good at all. The broth has a ton of oil, so upon the first sip of the broth, you just get a ton of oil in your mouth. It was also extremely bland, you have to add some s&p, hoison and sriracha to get some type of decent taste out of it. The wonton I guess was decent in taste and the egg noodles I am surprised were cooked well. Would I order this, no thanks.
–Char Grilled Pork Vermicelli: The fish sauce and the pork were way too sweet for my liking.
So, would I come back here? Maybe if I was out in the Del Mar area again for a few days and was craving some Vietnamese food to satisfy me.

Spring rolls are decent. The banh mi, however, is the worst I’ve ever had. The bread is wrong — it’s thick and dense, not crisp, and served cold. No pâté or mayo. The pork is mostly fat and connective tissue. I should’ve gone with my first instinct and driven the extra few miles to Banh Mi San Marcos.

Stopped by for lunch since I work nearby; this was my first time. The man at the counter was super friendly! Service was fast. I ordered a chicken bahn mi… It was alright, but I feel like the baguette is just toooo big compared to the contents (meat and veggies). So one bite was veggies, and the other bite was meat, instead of getting all in one.
I’ve had better bahn mi in San Marcos, but I’ll still come back to this place because of the friendliness, quick service, and convenience of location (Palomar Airport area).

I’ve never given any negative reviews on Unilocal — all of the tips/​comments I wrote were compliments. I have visited this restaurant twice, and both experiences were very disappointing.
On my first visit, I ordered a side of rice and a Thai Tea. They charged me $ 3 for a baby bowl of rice (probably because of the location, so it’s forgiven). Their Thai Tea tasted and looked really artificial, and it was premixed (if you’re a TT fan, you know what I’m talking about). It was one of the worst I’ve ever had.
So today, I decided to give them another chance, since it’s the closest phở place from work. Bad idea. I didn’t want to wait, so I called in to order a pick up. I had to repeat 4 times to order ONE thing. Maybe it was the reception or something, so again, it’s forgiven. I got in line, paid and tipped the cashier. He told me my ticket number and he knew I was picking up my phone order. He just took off and did his own thing until 10 numbers later, guy #2 finally asked me about my order. It’s been sitting on the counter the whole time… ARE YOU KIDDING ME? Guy #2 did apologize but I was pretty mad aka hangry at that point.
Could it be worse? I guess it could…
The noodles were soggy and in little pieces when I tried to eat it with chopsticks (shown in picture). I have never seen/​had anything like that at a phở place (even to-​go), and I’ve been to a lot of phở places in different areas. I’m assuming it’s the time my phở spent on the counter.
So here are the reasons I’m good on this place:
1. Service
2. Food
Bonus: Limited space — there is no way to wait for your to-​go order in the store without being in someone’s way.

Viet Grill is one of the only phở spots in the area. It’s a solid place to get your fix without needing to drive out of Carlsbad.
We ordered the chicken noodle soup, which is the chicken phở with the addition of vegetables. The broth wasn’t as rich & flavorful as I’d have liked, but overall the soup was super hot & hit the spot on a rainy afternoon.
The banh mi was similar to the phở in that it satisfied the craving. It was hot, fresh, & very reasonably priced.

There is no where to go for phở in the area. Considering it is somewhat of a fast food grill in a small shopping center, I think Viet Grill is great!
The staff is very friendly. There are a few tables inside, I usually take my food to go.
I always order rare steak phở. They give you a tun of broth and a decent amount of meat.
In conclusion if your looking to fulfill your Phở craving, this is a good place to go!

This is down the street from my work, like less than ½ a mile. I’ve been avoiding trying this place because of the subpar reviews. I finally caved today. I was gonna get Subway but just wasn’t feeling it. They are convenient since they are open early and my lunch break is around 10 am.
I got:
Grilled Pork Bahn Mi $ 4.25
If I’m feeling a bahn mi while at work, I will usually drive a little further to San Marcos for Bahn Mi San Marcos. This place’s wasn’t too bad. Found it a lil weird they grilled the sandwich panini style almost after they put in the pickled carrots. The peanut sauce they use in it is tasty, different from a regular bahn mi I feel.
Spring Rolls $ 3.49
I think they use iceberg lettuce in these. I wasn’t that big of fan of them. The sauce was good with a good consistency though.
Good place if you want a quick grab and go lunch.

My wife and son found this place while getting a hair cut the other day. We finished our bi-​weekly Costco run and it was time to eat. They remembered this place because the menu had a few different items on it, so we decided to give it a try.
Overall it’s a Vietnamese restaurant with a twist. They also serve Italian pannini as well. Strange but true.
For the most part, we stuck with the Vietnamese menu, ordering rare steak phở, hot and sour soup and fried rice. The hot and sour looked good. Well stocked with lots of veggies. It was my son’s order, so I didn’t have a chance to swipe a bite. I ordered the rare steak phở (phở tai). It was ok, not overwhelming. Pretty standard, but didn’t have the flavor that other places I’ve been to had. My daughter had the fried rice. Didn’t really touch it. Not sure if it was the flavor or appearance or what. She didn’t really reveal much about why she didn’t like it. However, there is a familiar sushi place next door which may be one of the reasons why she didn’t eat it.
We ended up getting her a cali roll from next door to finish off her dinner.
Overall experience was pretty average. The service was great though. Friendly and prompt. The portions were pretty good as well. Not sure if this is a good thing or not, but the sliced steak in my soup was slightly thicker than other phở i’ve had elsewhere. However, again, the amount of meat seemed to be slightly more here. Costwise, the phở are a little pricier than I’ve been accustomed to for phở. They also use plastic plates, bowls and utensils. Kind of fast foodish if you will.
If I’m in the neighborhood and craving phở, I may be back.
Keep on Unilocal’n!