Diem Cafe

Closed — NnnnnnnOOOOOOooooooOOOOOOooooo!
Vietnamese crêpe, tofu curry, summer rolls — sailing into the sunset (or at least to Restaurant Row area?). We will be together again! I will find you! Wait for me!

My favorites:
Oxtail soup
Special #4 — Vietnamese crepes, summer rolls, spring rolls
Beef salad with summer rolls
Yumm…
This place has funny and nice owners, awesome food and great prices. It’s my regular spot for Vietnamese food, and I’m quite picky on Vietnamese food.
Sad to see them closing (due to a Buddhist temple opening up soon).

BREAKING NEWS: August 26, 2011 is their last day at this downtown
locale and their new downtown location is TBD.
My card-​playing-​lunch group and I are regulars here. We come for the delightful company of the owners, reasonable prices (cash only, by the way), quick service, delicious phở (pick one, any one), signature plate lunches (my fav: anything on their vermicelli), and their fantastic pick-​me-​upper iced coffee (~$ 2.75). Yes, fellow Unilocalers, this place doesn’t have the best phở in the whole wide world. However, in my humble Unilocal-​opinion, definitely one of the best in downtown and that’s still saying a lot.
Don’t hate, but congratulate Diem Café for their hard working staff, great food, and memorable owners.
Owner: For you, free. (Referring to my plate lunch)
Me: Really!!!
Owner: Yeeeaaah! But your cup water is $ 7.50.
Owner & Me: (Laughing)

Diem Café is one of my favorite places to pick up a quick lunch. Service is very fast; important for us Downtowners who are always in a hurry. During the peak lunch rush when the line is long, they still manage to get through their orders fairly quickly.
My normal order is the vegetable phở ($ 6)…well, scratch that, it’s actually the only thing I order. It comes with broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, and choy sum; plus the bean sprouts, basil and lemon they give you on the side. The broth is not oily — it’s great with a little Sriracha and Hoisin/​plum sauce. Portion size is enough to fill you up without putting you into a food coma (perfect!).
Besides location, what really makes me a regular here is the friendly man who is usually at the register. He’s polite, always says thank you, and will occasionally joke around with you. Gotta love a place that clearly shows they care about their customers!
Along with other businesses in this building, Diem Café will be closing at the end of this month. There’s a sign saying they are currently looking for another location, so I hope they find something nearby!

This is where I come if I want phở for lunch on a work day. They don’t put tons of msg into their soup. Besides phở, they also have a lot of other tasty items on their menu. I’m a fan of the bbq pork over vermicelli noodles. The pork is thinly sliced and it’s very lean. Other vietnamese food places in downtown serve pork with too much fat.

Located in the Tardus building, I used to eat at Diem Café frequently, but ever since they raised their prices, I haven’t been there.
However, they changed their menu again, and instead of ordering my usual «number 32», I now need to specify what I would like to order. I think she lowered her prices, or everyone else raised their prices, so I may be coming here more often again. Actually, seems like the going rate is for lunch is now $ 6 — $ 10 in downtown, even at lunch trucks, so she is reasonably in the lower middle range.
Stuffed Tofu w/​spring rolls — 3 star — This is my favorite plate, only because it would take time to make. I like the light red sauce that flavors the tofu stuffed with a pork hash mix. Comes with salad and I chose noodles instead of rice. The springs rolls are ok, and the noodles and spring rolls are tastier with the sweet dipping sauce. A pretty good sized reasonable average tasting lunch for $ 7.
Service — 3 stars — Although her tone may sound a little harsh, and I can’t understand her sometimes because of her accent, especially when I was asking about the new menu, she repeated herself for me, and was very friendly and accomodating. The food is served pretty quickly. She has complimentary lucky candy on the side to take with your meal. There’s also complimentary iced water in the restaurant to take with your meal.
Another note. This restaurant accepts CASH only.

Fast (despite the lines) and cheap lunch food. I usually have the beef phở and today I had the tofu phở was is basically the same broth except with tofu. It’s always just ok, heavy on the MSG side and light on the flavor… but it’s filling! My husband at the lean roast pork which was weirdly orange and it looked dry. He said it was good. My friend had the five spice chicken and spring roll combo which looked really appetizing.

«Overload. Shutdown. Reboot». No blue screen of death (BSOD yet)…the eventual consequences of my food brain after rapidly indulging their chicken curry.
The chicken curry is delicious — Vietnamese style with a hint of galangal or maybe something else.
The beef stew is also pretty good, the stuffed tofu special is great and the phở is OK.

Just went back the other day and was reminded of how much I like their lemon grass chicken and papaya salad. Did not receive the guff this time about the rice. *Phew*

Whenever I’m feeling under the weather I come here to order the chicken phở. There’s something magical about homemade chicken noodle soup. It really does make you feel better! The broth is simple and delicious.

What can I say that hasnt already been said? Small place does tend to fill-​up during lunch but orders are doled-​out quickly.
Several specials on hand with a menu (see photos) that specializes in phở, vermicelli, rice and vegetarian plates. I had the two entrée plate with garlic chiken and lean roast pork — both very good for the quantity and price ($ 7.75). Vietnamese iced coffee was good at two bucks as well.
Like the previous poster, I too noticed that the affable Vietnamese gentleman at the counter failed to put my payment in the till until a few customers had placed orders so who knows what creative accounting is going on! And like another poster had mentioned, this guy has a sense of humor and is worth the few minutes of your time to chat him up!
I will return to this place again. ML

I love this place for the Oxtail soup especially, the other plates are great too and the prices good but what is always on my mind when coming here is the Oxtail soup. So cheap! at around $ 8 where else are you going to find a good bowl of Oxtail soup for that price that is also very good? The man at the counter is always cracking jokes and is a very pleasant fellow with a accent makes him even more hilarious and funny.
Seating inside can be tight at times but there is more seating inside the building although it can get crowded there too at lunch.
Parking is a bit of a challenge as you will need to find a reasonable parking structure nearby.
The place does get quite crowded because of the good and reasonably priced food but the line seems to move pretty quickly.

I like this place, food is pretty reasonably priced, and reasonably tasty, too. Service is pretty quick despite the long lines at lunch. I always call in beforehand, just in case. They are always willing to make substitutions on the shrimp summer roll, since I don’t eat shrimp. The spring rolls (they call it golden rolls) are small but tasty. The phở is good, but like other Unilocalers have said, not the best I’ve had.
What’s funny about the lady who works the counter and register is that she only rings up every 4^th or so purchase. I never really noticed it, and suspect it is to save time, but someone told me that it was so that she doesn’t have to declare as much on her taxes. Who knows if that’s true, but now I ALWAYS notice now, and watch for it!!!
Hmmmm, so maybe she saves on taxes … maybe that’s why the food is so cheap? :)

I really like this place! I’m not much of a phở eater, so I’ve only had the other plates here. I usually end up getting one of their specials. Portion sizes are generous for the price and everything I’ve tried was tasty! My favorite special is the one that comes with a spring roll, a summer roll, and a chicken crêpe. I was a little worried about the crêpe, but that ended up being my favorite! It’s not your typical crêpe; has a coconut-​y flavor rolled up with chicken & bean sprouts. They serve it with peanut sauce. Yum!
Service is quick, but the restaurant can get crowded and hectic at lunchtime with everyone waiting around for their food. The older guy who works there is a character!

I work in the area, so I’m always looking for different and yummy places to eat around ward. A friend of mine told me there was a Phở place in Ward Warehouse that was THE BEST! I told him, «psssshhhhh, that is not possible. How is a place in a shopping center better then all the other Phở restaurants in Honolulu?» So wanting new food options, I went there for lunch and was surprised not only at the prices, but at the taste. Their spring rolls were yummy (it’s hard to mess up), but also their phở chicken was exceptional. The broth was on the sweeter side with a stronger star anise taste, but very lovely. On top of that, THE PRICES ARE HELLA CHEAP! This place is definitely added to my «must visit eateries during my lunch break.

Not best phở in Hawaii, but one of the most inexpensive and very convenient if you work in downtown. My co-​workers and I usually have the #1 (Beef Phở) at least 2 or 3 times a week, and with the total at just around $ 5.00, you get quite a lot of bang for your buck.
For the phở aficionados you may miss the long jagged edged ngo gai and the jalapeos which are di rigeur at most Vietnamese restaurants, but other than that, a great place for quick and yummy phở!

This Vietnamese take-​out place is smack in the middle of downtown Honolulu. The stars are for the cheap prices. The Phở here is under $ 5 bucks. Taste wise — I’ve had better, but it’s not bad. Other dishes — that are pretty good include the chicken curry, their spring rolls are okay too. Then they serve this yellow sticky rice (yeah yeah, that’s Thai, but they have it here and it’s pretty good). As far as location — there’s no parking so really, it’s somewhere to go if you’re looking for a quick bite to eat in downtown Honolulu.