Nha Hang Quoc Te

It’s a disappointing day when I have to write a bad review for one of the original Vietnamese restaurants that I use to love! My family has been going here for years and although their food has always been pretty good/​mediocre, we’re so familiar with Quoc Te that we enjoy giving them our service in exchange for some «authentic» Vietnamese food.
After a few years now I’ve noticed that the quality of this place has gone down. A few days ago my sister ordered some noodles from them and found a BUG at the bottom of the to-​go box when she poured it out onto a plate. She came back & told them nicely. She wasn’t expecting a refund, though it would have been appreciated, she was just expecting an apology & to inform them of what happened so they can fix their sanitation. Rather than apologizing or try to make up for the bug in our food, the older lady assumed my sister was lying & did not admit that they obviously we’re not careful when putting our meal together.
We were willing to let it slide because this place was so familiar to us, but after her attitude we WILL NOT be coming here anymore.
Horrible service.

Easily 5 star food, I came in not even hungry and I ate everything!!!
That said you are definitely not going to be impressed décor wise. The place could definitely use a renovation! It has almost kinda has a dirty cafeteria feel to it. Also there is somewhat of a language barrier here and with so many items on the menu it could be a little confusing for some.
But for those brave enough to try their extensive menu will most likely leave very happy we tried. The meatball Phở was perfect, excellent broth, noodles, beefballs, exactly what I’m looking for in Phở… The egg rolls where equally impressive, small but fantastic.
So despite the drawbacks I will absolutely be back! Make your choice, judging purely on taste its awesome, my opinion. I can’t wait to try it again.
Happy eating!

First of I would like to say, this place is filthy, bad service and if you’re calling to put in an order don’t! Because they won’t try and listen to you! It’s like your service to them is not needed! Though the food is not all that bad they just need to have better service and workers!

I grew up going to this place with my parents, and now I enjoy bringing my kids here. The servers are always so accommodating and sweet. The food still tastes the same as when I was a kid imo. The che is a must have when coming here.

Sad that the convoy location closed down. But thank gawd that they have another location! Their ba luc loc is sooooo bomb. Their vermicelli with egg rolls and pork was yummy too. Also their sauteed coconut clams… yummm! Gosh i love vietnamese food. Not smart to be Unilocaling this late!

My dad was craving some banh cuon (Vietnamese rice sheet rolls) and he said this place made them the best in SD. Upon pulling into this plaza and seeing how empty it was inside I was very hesitant to believe him. In fact I even suggested we go somewhere else. Man was I wrong.
First off it was empty because it was still early. By the time we finished eating this place had people streaming in. This is a no frills Vietnamese joint, with a sweet old lady and man working the front. Usually how Asian places work is that they specialize in one dish and they do it well. That dish here would be Banh Cuon. For those unfamiliar banh cuon is made with rice sheets which are wrapped around a filling of ground pork and mushrooms. It looks very similar to the rice sheet rolls you get at dim sum. Now I highly recommend getting the Special banh cuon here as it comes with a bit of everything; slices of pork, shredded pork, crispy shrimp fritters, herbs, and bean sprouts. You top everything off with fish sauce. Everything about this dish was good, especially that mung bean shrimp fritter. I haven’t had this dish in a very long time but now that I had a taste of it I am already thinking of my next trip back. Aside from banh cuon they have your standard Viet/​Chinese dishes from phở to noodles to Americanized Chinese food. Menu is very large.
Another plus is how cheap this place was. Each large portion was about $ 7 so you can eat for 2 for under $ 20! Service is ok, the old lady is very sweet and nice. Overall a hidden gem among the other Asian places in CIty Heights. Def come here for the banh cuon!

They have some really great food. The Mongolian beef wasn’t overly spicy but it still came with mint leaves on the side. The pork wonton soup was refreshing and had pork wontons, pork strips, shrimp, turkey strips and broccoli; it was delicious. Also their spring rolls were great with the sauce that came with them.
The woman who was working brought us spoons for the soup and forks for the beef without asking but there’s plenty of chop sticks and Asian soup spoons provided on the table.

Best real home cooked style Chinese food, great price and open late. I always get the shrimp fried rice, crispy noodles and wonton soup ;)

I love it here. If you’re a real stickler for ambiance and service though it might not be for you. The seafood chow fun, clams, and salty fried pork are delicious, best in town in my opinion!

Used to frequent every week for quick dinner, food used to taste great, and portions were large. Used to. Now, food is mediocre, their food quality really dropped and the portions are really small. I love their fried salty squid but the portion is a quarter of what it was. Food also got more expensive.
Beware if you want to go anywhere after, you’ll smell really bad after eating there. Also nothing is really clean but like all Asian restaurants in the immediate area it’s nothing to point out.
I would say if you could make it up to the Quoc Te on convoy, much better food quality but they closed and it’s now Szechuan Chef.
All in all don’t go if you don’t want to smell.

come here all the time. great food and excellent customer service. also great selection in Desert!.

One of the best orange chicken and spring rolls I ever had! I went to a lot of Chinese restaurants and this is one of my favorite. The cool think is it’s a Vietnamese and Chinese mixed restaurant, which makes it unique and have a lot of varieties. The waiter Kevin was very polite and nice.

Let me start with a very useful warning. Do not plan to go somewhere afterwards if you mind smelling like the food. Very poor ventilation in this place, so everything that i being cooked winds up as a big smokey cloud that you dine in.
As for the food, it’s mediocre Vietnamese. Tried the combination phở, but was not impressed. Had to add plenty of the table condiments in order to achieve some decent flavor. Thai tea was delicious, but leave the boboa out. I know I know, usually boboa is the way to roll, but this stuff ruined the drink.
My advice, Unilocal some surrounding places, I’m sure you will find better.

I just got home from there and I ordered the com tam for to-​go and the rice wasn’t cooked yet… Yea, we called and they said to come back and they’ll refund it. But anyways they have really good food like Hu tieu ap chao I think thats how you spell it but its DELICIOUS. Com chien, etc, and there Che ba mau Well yea, I love this place I just will never get the rice.

I came here just once a few months ago — ordered one of the multi-​family sets. The food was mediocre, the service non-​existent (except to take your order). What stands out to me is that the food was sub-par…it tasted watered down and not flavorful.
I ate as little as possible.
Haven’t been back.

I think this place is great and all these people reviewing with bad feedback have their head’s up their asses!
I had a great dinner here. Super, super nice people working here. Service was the best. Place was about a ¹⁄₃ full. Started off with the Vietnamese egg rolls and they were very good. Never seen them short and thicker like that before, but super tasty. Great balance. Got myself a iced french coffee and it was a little above average. I enjoyed it, but have had better.
Then I got to the magical bowl of roasted duck egg noodle soup. Absolutely one of the best I’ve ever had. Easily in the top 3. So, so, so flavorful. Duck was beyond sweet and delicious. Huge chunks in there. Kind of guessing they get it from Tom’s BBQ next store. The broth was sweet and spicy. Scallions, basil with some chilli and Sriracha and it was the perfect mix. Noodles were about average, but perfect portion for the bowl.
I highly recommend this place and will be back to try several other dishes. This place is super legit even with all these other fools on here hating on it. City Heights has a gang of great spots to eat. So thankful I’m close by.

This place is kinda sorta on the verge of nasty. I only know of one good thing, and thats the lemon grass chicken if I remember correctly.
Everything else is not that great.
I mean … I suppose if you’re one of those people who «want to try everything at least once» … then, go ahead. But, I would rather go to Quoc Te 2 … which is on Convoy. It is much better a place.

Lunch with a friend.
City Heights… I guess.
Got lost, and drove all the way down to where tower bar was.
After having to make about 3 u turns I finally ended up in this small ‘strip mall’ where Quoc Te is located.
Damn myself for looking for the restaurant on the wrong side of the street. whoops.
Parking sucks, the spots are small.
WAAAAY smaller than the one in Convoy.
The lady had to come back 3 times because I got caught up in conversation with my friend. Good thing she didn’t mind.
I ordered the Young Chow Fun (fried rice) and my friend ordered the Seafood Noodle thing.
The rice was pretty good. Nothing special. Added a little bit of the spicy sauce they have at all the tables.
The noodles were pretty oily, but edible.
Tons of leftovers, and it was pretty cheap.
They had one of their kids cleaning the spoons and forks with his grandpa, and he got yelled at in vietnamese by one of the ladies – probably his mom. Asians don’t care much about child labor law, it builds character and discipline. haha
Yea, if I’m going to go to return to a restaurant in City Heights, it needs to be a good one.
The Quoc Te in Kearny Mesa is better.

I’m Vietnamese; born with chopsticks in my hand and raised on Vietnamese food.
The food here was reasonable BUT there was a cockroach in my drink. **barf** and that is more than enough a reason to say «never again».
(i would have given it NO stars if it were an option.)

Last night Lindsay and I found ourselves in the City Heights area just about the time my stomach started to eat itself for dinner. It was one of those situations where the hunger came on as quickly as the effectsof my afternoon coffee subsided. You know how it is.. .when you get the «hunger breath» and you know it’s time for sustenance.
We just happened to be passing an old haunt on University Ave., Quoc Te when all this was happening.
Now, I’ve got to tell you that Quoc Te was the first place that I had ever sampled Vietnamese phở, deep fried spring rolls with lettuce and mint, chicken porridge, vermicelli with charbroiled pork, etc. and the first place that got me hooked on all of the above. But after trying other spots around the city I realized that I was getting a lukewarm experience at best. I stopped going to Quoc Te about two years ago in favor of other establishments that I have recommended elsewhere, but every so often (usually when I’m starving and within two blocks of the place) I’ll stop by to check the old girl out. I mean what we had at one point was so damn good, right? Maybe she’s changed. Maybe I’ve changed. No way to tell but to give it another shot.. .
The deepfried spring rolls are as good as ever. Even though it’s pretty damn hard to screw up deep frying a spring roll and wrapping it in lettuce and mint, I thought we might be back on track towards re-​establishing our former love.
Lindsay’s vermicelli and charbroiled shrimp with shells came out next. I felt really bad for her. The vermicelli was undercooked. It was missing the chopped peanuts, shredded carrots and radish and mint that always give it so much flavor. And the worst part was that the shrimp was like mush in the shell. Obviously frozen. Not just frozen but straight from the deep freeze to the char-​broiler. nasty little suckers that just ended up on a side plate, denied their destiny. I felt like my old girl was a little jealous of my new love and subjecting her to a meal of undercooked vermicelli, lettuce, and fish sauce was her way of exacting revenge.
I ordered the beef ball noodle soup, my old favorite. Either I’ve come a long way baby or my old girl has done some serious backsliding. What a tragedy. The broth had a suspect layer of grease floating on top and yet was completely without flavor. The basil served on the side was dry and wilted. And the little pickled serranos I added for some flavor are still fu%^ing with my gut.
OK.OK. It’s over. I get it Quoc Te. But you don’t have to be so damn mean about it.