Shallot Asian Cuisine

This is a good, fast place for lunch. I had the shrimp phở and it was yummy but lacking a lot of flavor. I added the chili sauce which helped bring more depth to the soup. Very generous portion sizes. I ordered the small and couldn’t even finish it.

I rarely leave less than stellar reviews, but unfortunately this place didn’t do it for me. It’s clean and quick. I stopped by here after I had a meeting in the area and was impressed by the rating. It was perfect for a quick lunch on the go and some of the other things people were ordering actually looked better than what I got. I ordered the filet mignon phở. The broth was really lacking flavor. I dumped siracha and hoison in it to make it paletable, but overall i was underwhelmed.

How does this place get so many stars?
Worst Phở Ever. Maybe I have high standards for Phở since I am from the Bay Area, but really. this phở is terrible. The soup is watered down, and the noodles had this weird texture. as if it was undercooked.
We came here for dinner, so we had table service. the server was nice, but just cannot express how much we were disappointed with the food…

Quite disappointing. In fact that was the worst phở I have ever had. Very bland. Poorly balanced. Greasy. Actually, really greasy. Ugh. I mean I’ve had better phở in Cleveland. I was expecting so much more.
Good points: very clean. Good staff.
I would like to come back, but I won’t get their phở again.

Overall good Vietnamese food. The prices are average. They provide good customer service. If you like to dine in, the restaurant is clean, modern with plenty of seats.
I like that they are open from morning to night so you can pick up food whenever you like. I usually make a request to have my chicken ban mi separated so it doesn’t get soggy on the way home or I like the spring rolls without the pork and they always honor my preferences.
A great location right off of the 805 freeway. Plenty of parking too.

Shallot serves some fantastic phở, giant portions, and all the garnishes you could possibly desire. They are not fast, however so expect to spend some time here. Parking is also based on luck, but that’s not Shallot’s fault.
On one of my visits, my phở took over 30 minutes to prepare. 25 minutes into waiting, we were told that they ran out of broth. While they were apologetic and gave me a card for a freebie, it would have been nice to know about the broth issue when I ordered and/​or sooner than 25 minutes later, as I would have just ordered something else. I come here on my work lunch break, so time is limited. My following visit, I only waited about 10 minutes for the same dish.

rating is solely based on their phở. i know when i usually crave some phở, its for that deep broth taste that hits the spot. this place does NOT deliver. the broth is weak and the noodles are overcooked.
if youre looking for phở, go somewhere else.

My lab partner and I went to this place because it was the closest restaurant that has vegan food to where we were studying. They have a vegetarian section on their menu, so of course I had to check the place out! I ordered over the phone, and the man taking my order was very nice and repeated what I said to make sure he got it right («no peanuts on my vermicelli please!»).
We got there and the food was all packaged and ready. The prices were okay. The vermicelli was okay — nothing too special about it, and nothing too terrible about it. My partner got the chicken salad and he also said it was okay. Neither of us finished our meal entirely. I’m not sure if I’ll get the same dish again. Maybe the next time I come here, I’ll try something else.

Pretty good food but the slowest service ever. Eaten here multiple times with an average wait of 25mins for my food.
Phở is mediocre and parking is scarce.
Best thing on the menu is the R6.

Ordered some dinner via delivery (through
) and was very pleased with the quality and taste of the food. I ordered the following items:
— The fresh rolls, which were good, but i prefer them without pork and only with shrimp. The peanut sauce was well balanced and not too sweet.
— The pork chop and shrimp rice platter, which was great. The seasoning was very tasty and the pork chop was tender.
— The side of noodles was a hefty portion for $ 2.00 and were delicious!
— 2 cookies, very soft and yummy.
— Iced coffee with condensed milk was awesome.
The prices were great and portions were big. Plus the taste of the food was great, so i would definitely order again when I’m in the area.

I love this place! I come here for many lunches and late lunches during my break at work. The owner is always so friendly and welcoming. It is always tidy and sanitary and the food is delicious with fresh, healthy ingredients.
My favorite menu items are the banh mi sandwiches, spring rolls, avocado smoothie, and I definitely love the homemade cookies.
5 star service and 5 star food.

Good quality Vietnamese food at a fair price. Good ambience. Location is right off the 805 exit.
I generally liked everything i had there though
–Shaken beef: delicious!!! The beef was so tender and full of flavors. Came with a lot of onions which was so delicious and gave a right crunch to the dish. A little pricier than other dishes but so good. Recommended.
–Pork Bahn MI: so much pork and it’s not fatty. I love Bahn mis in general and shallot’s Bahn MI is delicious. Their Bread is good too!
–Egg rolls: I appreciate how they don’t fill up the egg rolls with a bunch of vermicelli and little meat like other places! It was packed with meat filling! However it tasted average for me.
Also they don’t use msg in their phở!

I didn’t eat all day so I wanted to find a place that was pretty cheap and would be filling. I found shallot and saw pretty nice reviews for the location. I saw many people recommended the shaken beef so I decided to order it. When I was the price it was 12.95 and thought that it was gonna be filling for that price. Boy was I wrong.
When I got the plate, to my dismay there was not that much food. For 13 bucks I was expecting much for food than just a plate that was much less than panda portions. The beef however was pretty good but overall I was still starving and sad that I had spent 13 bucks.

I came here for the banh mi, but by the time I got there, they were all sold out of bread so I wasn’t able to order it. SO. I got a pork vermicelli instead, which was okay but a bit disappointing.
I thought that the noodles and meat were fine, but the sauce was a bit weirdly oily. I thought that the dish could have used a bit more acid (a hint of lime? some more pickled vegetables?) to help cut through the oiliness of the dish.
I did, however, like the fact that you get a 10% discount for checking in after 4 PMs and on weekends. I’ll definitely be back to try to banh mi, but I wouldn’t order the vermicelli here again.

Date of visit: 8÷11÷2015
I don’t typically think of Sorrento Valley as an area with great food, but Shallot’s proved me severely wrong. After a long work day, Issac and I decided to stop by here for a quick dinner before going downtown. Although this parking lot is usually busy during lunch time, we had no issues with parking for dinner.
The menu is very easy to order from as there is a letter-​number combination that correlates to each dish. Everything is also easily differentiated between the type of dish (i.e. appetizers, phở, banh mi, etc.). The owners obviously spent a lot of time making ordering easy for their customers.
Egg Rolls. The egg rolls here are thinner than the typical egg rolls you get at a Vietnamese restaurant, but just as tasty. They are also typically served with lettuce leaves to wrap the egg roll in, but Shallot just provided a tasty salad to go with the egg rolls. I thought that was pretty cool because not everyone knows what to do with lettuce leaves, but most people know that they can eat the salad.
Filet Mignon Banh Mi. This was definitely the highlight of dinner. At banh mi shops, it’s either the bread or the meat that is phenomenal. However, at Shallot, both are phenomenal and compliment each other amazingly. I also loved that the cilantro pieces were big and easy to pick out (I’m not a fan of cilantro), and that the sandwich wasn’t stuffed with cilantro as filler. This is definitely a dish to try!
Overall, I will definitely be going back to Shallot because it’s in my work area and has phenomenal food for a fair price.

Shallot is awesome! Delicious, healthy food at affordable prices and quick if you’re in a rush. I ordered the asian chicken salad and the filet mignon banh mi. The meat in both dishes were tender and seasoned well. The ingredients were fresh and the bread on the banh mi was was soft on the inside while crispy on the outside.

If I could give this place 10 stars, I would. This place has been opened for over a year now and I feel like I have been missing out on a lot of good food since I only discovered it today! I love eating at this plaza and never really had an inclination to come here until tonight. I joined Maria C. and Mia L. for a quick dinner and I was really surprised to find a very clean and beautiful Vietnamese restaurant in San Diego! Yes, clean. All other Vietnamese places are «dirty» feeling but not Shallot!
I met the owner, Huey, tonight and he was super friendly! He took the time to come and talk to us and entertain us with the story of the restaurant! I really admire business owners like him and I will be coming back again and again just because I admire his hard work toward the craft of owning a business! He actually listens to his customers and gets feedback and that is why Shallot has such high ratings!
I ordered the chicken salad because I wasn’t very hungry. To my surprise, the chicken was marinated deliciously and the homemade Asian sesame dressing was refreshing and perfectly coated the lettuce. When I usually order chicken with my salad at other restaurants, I get a little piece of bland chicken but not here! The chicken was perfectly marinated and the salad came with a huge piece of chicken!
Huey also bakes his own chocolate chip cookies and we were lucky enough to get to try them! It was so soft and perfectly sweetened with the right amount of chocolate chips. What a way to end a long day for me!
I will be back next time for a sandwich because that’s what Huey recommends! Thank you Shallot and Huey for a delicious meal! Thank you Maria C. for bringing us here!

The best time to come here is at 4pm! It is empty and they give you 10%off your order with a Unilocal check in :)
Secret menu item is they have a kids beef phở including a beverage for only $ 6.95! The portion is big too… shhhhhh.
The owner Huey is so sweet and always so welcoming to me and my girls.

Shallot Asian Cuisine is a new Viet eatery in Sorrento Valley off Scranton Road. I had dinner here a couple of weeks ago and really enjoyed their food.
As an appetizer, we ordered their shrimp spring rolls ($ 5.95 for two) which were fresh and absolutely fat with shrimp! The flavor was delicate and delightful. I much prefer these to fried egg rolls.
My entrée was the Phở, a staple in Vietnamese restaurants. I ordered this with shrimp ($ 8.95 for regular size). Again, plenty of fat little shrimp swimming about in the soup. The flavor was well-​balanced and neither too salty nor too fatty. An excellent broth.
None of the offerings in Shallot Asian Cuisine contain MSG, which is an unusual but welcome difference between this place and so many others. The bahn mi is made with locally-​baked bread — we didn’t try these, but will do so next time. I have high hopes!
As we were finishing, our waitress brought out a couple of egg rolls for us to try. Even though these were not as wonderful as the spring rolls (to me), they were nevertheless tasty.
One sign of a caring restaurant is the cleanliness of the dining room and the bathrooms. The dining area was spotless and the men’s bathroom was immaculate, so I imagine that the kitchen is similarly tidy and clean.
Shallot just opened in June of 2014. The food is really great, so I expect it to be here for many years to come. Be sure to support this nice family-​owned place!

Hail to the cleanest and friendliest Asian restaurant I’ve discovered in years! Tasty food with NO MSG, yay! Shallot Asian Cuisine is in a fairly new strip mall next to a business district in Sorrento Valley.
My large Phở with Fillet Mignon for $ 10.95 was full of flavor goodness, and my Phở was fairly lean, for a beef broth soup. Our shrimp spring rolls came with 2 for $ 5.95, and they were packed full of shrimp.
Surprise…they gave us a complimentary egg roll to try, and it was delicious, with a great fresh, crispy texture.
They also have wine and beer, plus iced vietnamese coffee and Thai tea.
Can’t wait to return! There wasn’t a wait at dinner, and overall I liked it better than Phuong Trang in Kearny Mesa. I hear that Shallot Asian Cuisine is packed for weekday lunches, but it’s not crowded for weeknight dinners nor on weekends. Look for a current Unilocal discount with check-​in after 4pm on weeknights or on weekends all day.