Y & Y Vietnamese Cuisine

Although I’ve eaten at Yummy Yummy a handful of times, I’ve never bothered writing a review for them. Mostly because my most recent visit dates back to my pre-​Yelping days (over eight years ago!), but also because, despite how long it’s been, I vividly recall never feeling all that impressed by their food. Granted, my experience was limited to just their phở, but I can’t say I ever felt all that motivated to try anything else either.
Fast forward a ways and my friend and I found ourselves at Y & Y for lunch (Yummy Yummy’s sister restaurant). In this case though, I was actually kind of excited since I was both trying something new while also indirectly giving Yummy Yummy another shot (I’ve been curious). While I can’t say how similar the menu looks, it’s definitely smaller in comparison. Just like the restaurant itself; it looks about half the size (if that), so don’t be surprised if you see a line.
Since I didn’t see my go-​to on the menu (Rare Steak and Tendon), I opted to get (#26) PHO TAI NAM — Beef Phở with Rare Steak and Well Done Flank ($ 9.25). As a whole, my order felt a bit small for the money. However, relative to the bowl’s size, there was a good amount of beef and the ratio of meat-​to-​noodles was fair. What’s more, the latter had just the right bite. Sadly though, the broth fell short. It may have looked the part, but it wasn’t as beefy as its appearance suggested and it needed more body.
As for the rest of the menu (starters, vermicelli, rice plates, etc.), I can’t say how good they might be, but the photos and reviews on Unilocal seem to do them justice. Still, for me, THREE AND A HALF STARS rounded down (for now). While it wasn’t explicitly bad, nothing about the food sets Y & Y apart from the majority of phở restaurants out there. Which is problematic since you don’t have to go very far to find something better (like Good Noodle a few blocks down).

Polite Workers there, perfect customer sercive except one short girl who looks like a manager. I used to go there a lot as a regular customer that short mean girl asks my id every time i order beer.(are you serious) Now i dont even order one anymore. She has no conversation with me whatsoever. She walks up to me with no facial expression. I tell her what i want. She wrote down, turned around and walked away. I am totally cool with that. I just do not give tips to her. The other guys are super polite. I say thank you. they always reply back you are welcome. no matter how many times. I am coming back for the guys not that girl.

Went here for a quick lunch with my mom.
I ordered a tomato and shrimp paste phở while she ordered a beef phở.
This place is pretty average. Nothing too special or amazing going on. Something that was nice was that you have the option for raw or steamed sprouts. That was interesting.
The food is decently surprised. The phở only comes in one size and I’d saw it’s about a medium at any other Vietnamese restaurant. This place is a bit pricier than other Vietnamese restaurants. Many of the non noodle soup based dishes range up to $ 20.
My phở was not hot enough. The flavor was lacking and there were only three pieces of shrimp paste. Our food had definitely been sitting at the counter for a while. The beef phở was much hotter and flavorful. Out of our two dishes hers was much better.

I was attracted to the fact that they are a sister company of Yummy Yummy on Irving Street.
Based on the five spice chicken with vermicelli & Imperial rolls… I have to say my experience is that the Irving St location is the better sibling.

Good Vietnamese food here, which makes me come back once in a while. On my most recent visit I ordered the #45 which is the imperial rolls with five spice chicken and vermicelli. I love imperial rolls and they were good here. I didn’t want phở with the soup, so just having vermicelli is perfect. Not too certain my chicken was ‘five spice’, but it was decent.
This place gets full quick but service is fast so people finish here pretty quick.

Sister restaurant of yummy yummy? Yup, finally got to try and it did not lived up the reputation it precedes. As someone mentioned below, it’s cheaper and smaller? Smaller, that’s for sure. The food is just mediocre. The famous lemongrass wings is just not the same. The bun rieu soup tasted nothing but the tomato. not authentic. Oh they charge for extra basil and cilantro ;(

I dont want no mediocre… I don’t want no mediocre!!!
I think this place is mediocre, at best *sigh* –_​_​–
OK, here’s the thing. The location is prime and I think that’s why they get so much business. There are just about a handful of Vietnamese restaurants in the area, but not so much a (pronounced fuh, not po or foe) Phở house. This place is kind of one of them.
$ 9.25 for one size bowl of phở, a bit on the pricey side.
The broth is visually oily. u can see little oil bubbles. and that’s just how they make their ph, and I don’t like it.
The broth is not flavorful enough! It’s not beefy, nor pork boney, or anise-​y, and perhaps cardomom-​ny enough! *Phở ingredients*
I’ve frequent this place from time to time and sadly, it’s never hit the spot for me. I’m Vietnamese, so I’ve had my share of phở. Bottom line: service is friendly, and if your phở craving ensues, and you’re in the area, then sure, go for it. But if u want better phở, hit the Sunset or the Tenderloin!

I ordered my favorite «Tomato crab noodle soup» (good as always) and their price went up a little! Friendly servers ^^

What I have seen in the restaurant: I seen a worker in the back behind the counter drop food on the table and returns it back on the plate, umm ok… I also seen a cook or dish washer drop a plate on the ground and it shattered into small pieces. I also see the waiters aren’t that mean, okay altitude and service.
Besides that, I think the food does taste pretty good though. I like the chicken rice dish and pork rice dish.
Overall, I think the food is pretty good, and fairly clean I guess, but the price isn’t very cheap. They should maybe lower the price by $.50 so get a Five Star atleast.

my go-​to spot for bun bo hue when in inner richmond! really hits the spot on cold days (and let’s be honest, there’s more than just a handful of those in sf) or after a good workout when i want to gain back all the calories i just worked off!
the bun bo hue broth has great depth and flavor. the bowl comes packed with noodles and all the different meats you expect to see in bun bo hue, but isn’t overwhelmed by onions and cilantro. just the way i like it! the «regular» is probably a «large» anywhere else, so it’s great value for your money.
there hasn’t been too long of a wait here during weekend lunches when i’ve dined between the peak hours of 11am-​2pm over the past couple of months. i’m hoping that doesn’t change now that WINTER IS COMING and i’m expecting more rainy days (more like praying for snow) in the near future.

When I’m in the Richmond and craving Vietnamese food, I think of two places: Turtle Tower and Y&Y.
FOOD: the usual go-​to dishes are the bún bo hue and the banh Hoi. Bún bo hue is tasty and flavorful, full of ‘content’. Banh Hoi portion is smaller than the usual expected portion, comes with only ten rice sheets/​wraps and a bit skimpy on the pickled carrots and mint, but the plate is more then enough for me to feel content/​full. The grilled beef is really really good, one of the best Vietnamese charcoal grilled beef I’ve had in the city. Husband usually gets the phở tai or phở duc biet, he likes the beefy-​ness of the soup and the beef is beefy and of good quality.
SERVICE: staff are nice and often more friendly compared to other Vietnamese restaurants. They always take our orders correctly and repeat what you ordered to check that they had it down correctly.
SPACE: not a big restaurant, but seating is comfortable. Well lit. The place and dishes/​utensils appear clean.
When there is a wait (usually lunch on weekends), sign onto the waitlist that is on a clipboard by the entrance. Many people order take-​out, especially for dinner on weeknights, so don’t hesitate if you don’t see the restaurant crowded. People start to spill in after 7:30−8pm on a weeknight. They accept credit card! Phew!

Small and Nice place to dine. Suitable for lunch and dinner here. Casual and nothing fancy or complicated. Authentic Vietnamese Cooking and I love their Phở. Definitely a place that I will visit frequent ^^

I went yesterday and I wasn’t disappointed. Although the wait was long for our group of six, the waitress was super sweet and accommodating.
After getting seated, it took awhile to get their attention to take our orders. The waitress kept taking phone calls in the middle of taking our orders.
I ordered the Combination Phở Beef Noodle Soup and thoroughly enjoyed it. Standard phở, but huge portions. If you’re hungry and on a budget, check this place out.
The broth wasn’t too salty. The noodles were cooked well (although they could have left boiled it 2 – 3 seconds longer). The meats were standard. I was hoping for more beef tendon though.
For $ 9.95, I left the restaurant feeling way over fed, but content at the same time. I was satisfied, but I’m damn sure I could have split that bowl with another person.
Overall, this is a decent phở restaurant that I wouldn’t mind going back again.

It has been awhile since I was last in the Outer Richmond District of the City. I have been on this Vietnamese food quest and today was just another place to add to my list. My lady picked this place from my bookmarked places on Unilocal and we decided to try to this place.
After finding a parking place I realized that I had been around this area before and had never seen this restaurant. There is a coffee shop across the street from Y & Y that I had been to before. Once I realized that I was familiar with the area I proceeded on towards Y & Y. First impressions, this place is small. Took a seat inside and was given a menu and began to review the menu items. I knew I wanted BEEF and that is exactly what I go. My lady got the SPRING ROLLS and some barbecue chicken with rice.
I got the spicy beef soup and it was AMAZING. This was the first time that I could not finish my meal. I was even taken back that I left food in the bowl. They give you a big portion for the soup so you had better be HUNGRY and ready to CHOW DOWN.
Good stuff here. Plus, they open early in the morning compared to some other places that do not open until noon time, that’s always annoying.
A nice place to come for lunch or brunch.

I like Yummy Yummy, so the roommate and I decided to try Y&Y. Ordered delivery a few weeks ago through Eat24 (
).
4. BBQ pork rolls ($ 6.95)
17. Raw beef salad with lemon juice, fish sauce, mint leaves, onion (no peanuts) $ 9.25
25. Combination beef noodle soup: with rare steak, well done flank, beef balls, tendon and tripe ($ 8.95)
36. Shrimp paste and tomato paste noodle soup, spicy ($ 8.50)
C. BBQ chicken sandwich ($ 4.95), add Pâté (+$ 0.50)
I loved the raw beef salad. Great mix of flavors with the citrus, fish sauce and mint. My shrimp and tomato paste soup was also pretty good. I like my soup super spicy and fishy, so I could have used even more shrimp paste and spice. The pork rolls were good. Nice bbq flavor. The sandwich was kind of bland. Not much pickle flavor from the veggies, spice from jalapenos or freshness from cilantro. Plus, there just just the smallest swipe of pâté. I expected a little more than that.
The huge disappointment of this entire meal was the phở. The roommate and I have had our fair share of mediocre bowls of noodle soup, but Y&Y’s phở broth tasted like water. Granted, it was beef flavored water, but it was pretty bad. No amount of sriracha or hoisin sauce could save this soup. The roommate said this was the most unsatisfying bowl of phở he’s ever had!
Ordering through eat24, we were charged a $ 3 delivery charge and a $ 7.04 service fee. This is the first time I’ve been subject to an 18% service fee. I’ve paid some small delivery fees before (anywhere between $ 1 and $ 3), but I’ve never had my order subject to a service charge that high. Not sure if eat24 or Y&Y is getting this charge, so I won’t count it against them. But one thing to note is that it is more than Postmates, which has a 9% service fee.
I don’t understand why people like Y&Y’s phở. Maybe it was an off night, but I’ll stick to Yummy Yummy instead.

Y&Y was a mixed bag. I thought there were some good dishes and some that just didn’t do it for me. The bun bo hue was alright. I thought some of the spices in the broth were too powerful to the point that I couldn’t enjoy the flavor of the meat and the noodles too. It needed a bit more balance. The five spice chicken phở was alright. However, my boyfriend thought it was very good. He enjoyed the broth and the crispy skin of the chicken. Since the broth was clean and simple, it paired well with the fried chicken. Still, I wasn’t completely sold and don’t think I’d order it again. I thought the clear winner, though, was their imperial egg rolls. These were probably some of the better ones I’ve had in a long time. The wrapping was perfectly fried (nice and golden!) and the filling was delicious. I love that it came with a small garnish of greens and noodles too.
The service was fine. The restaurant isn’t very big, but it’s orderly, efficient, and bright. It appears they have a solid clientele and a diverse one too — younger, older, Asian, non-​Asian, etc. Even at an off-​hour (we went around 2 PM), it was relatively busy. Overall, Y&Y is alright but I’ll need more convincing to go a second time.

I stumbled across this place as everything was shutting down early for New Years Eve.
It’s a little awkward waiting to be seated as it doesn’t seem like any one person is in charge of it or that they have any kind of a system, so you awkwardly stand hovering over other diners in the doorway because the tables are so close to the door.
Luckily we were seated in the back (I’m sure the seats in the front are cold from the door opening and closing so often).
For an appetizer we ordered the spring rolls, they’re okay but there’s really not a lot that’s in them and they’re not rolled tight enough so everything falls apart after your first bite, but the presentation is nice.
Otherwise we ordered two different bowls of phở. One with rare beef and beef balls, and another with rare beef, beef balls and tripe. We were actually surprised that the broth was really good! We didn’t need to add a lot of sriracha or hoisin to either dish.

Y & Y is definitely one of my favorite phở restaurants in SF. Its sister restaurant is Yummy Yummy in Inner Sunset, which I also really like!
I almost always order Phở Tai at any phở place I visit, and this is hands down the best I’ve eaten. It comes with so much meat and unlike other Phở Tai I’ve had, Y & Y’s steak is actually served rare and cooks in the delicious broth. The meat is really tender and the texture of the noodles are perfect. Definitely hits the spot. I’ve also ordered their BBQ beef spring rolls both times I’ve been here because they’re so good. I love living so close to amazing Asian food.
Tip: they’re closed on Tuesdays.

The banh can cua was soso. I think my canh is better and this other place in Milpitas called Truong Thanh.
The consistency was watery and the noodles were very soft. They break apart when you touch them with your chopsticks.
Also it only comes with two TINY claws for crab meat.
It was lacking flavor as well.
I did enjoy the grilled clams but there were only 12 clams in this dish which came out to a dollar a clam. The portion was too tiny, I could’ve probably had three more plates.

Heard that this was the sister restaurant of Yummy Yummy on Irving. My boyfriend and I finally came around to trying out the place and ordered the same dishes we usually do at Yummy Yummy.
The verdict:
Bun Rieu — He and I prefer for the bun rieu at Yummy Yummy more. The broth here at this location was really lacking the tomato taste.
Bun Bo Hue — Both of the bbh at both locations are quite similar. However, my bowl of bbh here did not have much noodles and meat compared to Yummy Yummy. My noodles were also either overcooked or just broken.
Vietnamese grilled clams — He and I both agree that Y&Y’s clams are well «washed». We didn’t not taste the sand like we did at Yummy Yummy which we did not enjoy eating very much. The downside is that we weren’t given as much clams for the price compared to Yummy Yummy.
I really enjoyed how Y&Y is much cleaner and newer compared to Yummy Yummy. Would we drive all the way to Y&Y or drive down the street to Yummy Yummy? We are still deciding …