19 Market

Saigon lemonade is yummy!!! Great place to hit up after sharks game and relax while letting the traffic die down… relaxing atmosphere too

The Vietnamese tacos are great! Also loved the lychee martini! It is a bit pricey but if you are craving a lychee martini this is your spot!

Ambience ¹⁰⁄₁₀
Service ¹⁰⁄₁₀
Food ⁸⁄₁₀
Price ¹⁄₁₀
Came here with my friend for the groupon. The ambience is great, the interior design has a very modern look and it’s nice and tidy. Since there weren’t a lot of people the service was good, but i’d be worried for anymore people for the one waitress at the ready. I got the shaking lamb and my friend got a seafood fried phở. The phở was cooked almost as a pancake and had scallops, shrimps, and other little seafood bits. All I can say in her stead is that it was filling. The shaking lamb was cut into cubes and was very tender over a salad and couple cherry tomatoes. The sauce could do with a tad bit less salt, but it was well seasoned nonetheless and I liked the little bit of heat that came with it. Overall decent experience, however as some other people have mentioned here already, you don’t get rice with the entrée, which is very odd indeed. For already shelling out 20 for the lamb I do not understand why they cannot have the rice come with it without an extra payment of 1.50. All you get for 20 is a few chunks of protein and no carbs? So as far as price goes, this is definitely not the best value. But hell if you’re rolling around in cash and you have a swimming pool filled with dollar bills, have at it.

Overall experience was horribly underwhelming. Here’s why:
Walk into restaurant at 8PM on a Tuesday night — literally not a single other soul in the place — note to self here: next time this is the case, don’t bother giving the place a chance.
Waitress very attentive and friendly and great at keeping water glasses full, she recommends shaking beef with side of rice — I take her advice.
This is a $ 20 entrée that is ~8oz «filet mignon» on a bed of greens with the side of rice at $ 1.50. Rice turns out to be a literal icecream scoop of rice (4 – 5 big bites worth). The best words that my friend and I could come up with to describe what they served as a side of rice were «petty» and «paltry». Like wth, if you’re going to be stingy enough to charge for a side of rice with an entrée that needs a huge side of rice to fill anyone who weighs over 90lbs, at least serve a good portion.
The shaking beef was basically reheated sugar/​soy sauce soaked beef (maybe filet but couldn’t even tell the way it was overdone/​not freshly made) and soggy red onions that had this nasty bitterness funk to them b/​c they were old or not prepared right.
Person I’m eating with orders steak and fries ($ 17 entrée). «Steak» is the kind of beef you get in beef chowmein and is grey sugary/​salty blah-​ness. Again, disappointment.
The absolute highlight of the meal was their cold water (it was still 85 degrees outside) and the potatoes from the steak and fries.
Recommend not going here if you’re looking for good food.

Another review that needs a follow up: my friends and I had just started a round of drinks at Original Gravity and were on our way to the San Pedro Square Market. However, none of us were in a rush, and the cool jazz emanating from 19 Market made us head in for a pit stop.
We decided to switch up from beer (because their beer selection was lacking) and check out the drink menu. As a Miami and Tampa boy, I went with their take on the Mojito. It was ok. Definitely no Columbia Mojito, but it went down fast.
As we were waiting on drinks, as I was a bit hungry, I decided to check out the actual menu. With small plates starting at $ 10, tonight was not the night to try them. The menu did sound great — both small plates and dinners, but we were there for drinks, and decided to try back at another time.
Regardless, the music was fantastic. Should have gotten the name of the band because I appreciate live jazz music, and the atmosphere was right for it.

Went here for dinner tonight. Had a pomegranate mojito… that and the mushroom bruschetta were the best things. Ambiences was meh-​, and the other veggie items were standard. It’s fine to dine if you’re around the corner and need somewhere to go, but if you want extraordinary… I wouldn’t recommend it.

Been here twice before. As for the pricing, pretty expensive for Americanized Vietnamese food. First time I went here was during Silicon Valley Restaurant Week where they had the prix fixe meals. I love their Bo Luc Lac (Shaken Cubed Beef) with rice and Papaya Salad. I get pretty full quickly. Service was slow because there was only one waiter, who by the way, was like superman. (He kept the one additional star) He was on it while there were at least 6 – 7 tables, but they knew it was dinner time they should really hire or get more staffing. Second time I went was for lunch with a couple coworkers and they felt like it wasn’t up to par with the Vietnamese food I’ve taken them to before. Sorry probably won’t be back. :(

I haven’t eaten here and I don’t think that I ever will, given that they wouldn’t honor a measly $ 30 Groupon for a table of one. I had to read the fine print twice to see that it’s technically true, but the way it’s presented is obscure and misleading («Limit of one coupon per table of two or more»). If they only want tables of two or more, they should say «minimum party of two» clearly on the offer. BOO. Too bad for them, because I nearly always spend more than the Groupon and I tip like a banshee…
Looking down at the comments of others, I seem to see a pattern of a management that is keen to alienate its market. Oh well.

I wouldn’t come here for dinner, but the lunch deals are pretty sweet! For $ 12.50 I got a huge bowl of chicken phở + 2 vegetarian imperial rolls and a dessert pudding!
Ok maybe that is still a little pricey. But the phở was decent! The chicken was a tad overcooked, but the broth was delicious! And the bowl is HUGE! Took it home and used it for my dinner meal and it still filled me up.
The vegetarian imperial rolls were so good! Only problem is they forgot to dry mine on a paper towel or something cuz mine were dripping in oil and it got all over me :(
I liked the dessert pudding too! It tasted like coconutty kheer (indian dish).
Service is 5 stars! Keep in mind this review is actually 3.5 stars but I’m rounding up and feeling generous since the 49ers are going to the Super Bowl and I’m in a fabulous mood!

Came here due to a Groupon Deal. Lesson learned with Groupon and Downtown SJ.
Outrageous prices for what you get at dinner. $ 19 for a tapas size «bo luc lac» shaking beef. $ 24 for a 3 inch x 3 inch Lemon Seabass. To add insult to injury, my food comes out and the waitress delivers the entrees with no rice, and asks if I wanted to order rice. Foolish of me to think at these eye-​gouging prices, it would come with rice since it’s an «Entrée». Pony up extra cash buddy for two pellets of rice. Instead, I opted to order the garlic noodles, and waited since the waitress never told us that the entrée comes with nothing. $ 9 bucks for that tapas size garlic noodle.
Service was sub-​par, would never recommend it and I will never come back. Still tipped $ 9 bucks on a $ 54 bill. Too generous. Another mistake by me.

Great Contemporary Vietnamese restaurant. They have very good portion sizes and any of the fish dishes, (especially the Chilean Seabass in Claypot,) and the Duck Spring Rolls are very tasty! I also highly recommend the Tamarind Prawns and of the house cocktails. The Lychee Martini is divine. Not too sweet or lacking of the «spirits».
The service is solid and may be stretched a little thin at times, but their sincerity and professionalism really shines with all tables. A great little place to go to before a show or date!

*********************** 738 **************************
Authentic good Vietnamese food, friendly service, and great cocktail for a resto, and reasonable price in downtown Man-​Jose. I come here when I’m in downtown to see my lawyers, or take my nieces to do activities here.
The food is always consistent, I can always count on some of my Fav dishes here, especially when the owner is here, shes’s really nice and we can chat about where we are from.
— Vietnamese Chicken Salad — with shredded chicken meat, green & red cabbage, carrot, basil, roasted peanut, crispy shallot & sweet chili vinaigrette. If you go to Viet Beer places, this dish is that good, except half the price!
— Shaking Beef, lighter, watercress, sauteed onion, good.
— Garlic noodle, if you are on diet, don’t eat this dish, I have to work out extra hour for this, but it’s so worth it!
— Any fish dishes here are great, guarantee! Steamed Lemongrass Seabass is so good here.
— If you are no familiar with Vietnamese food, try their fresh rolls: Duck spring roll, Vegan Imperial roll, Crab & Avocado spring roll, but Grilled beef roll is my FAV!
— If you are a VEGAN, plenty of choices for you!
Sit at the bar, the cute bartender can get you some nice cocktails as well! Sometimes the service can be slow because its packed. My FAV time to come here is NOT lunch, but dinner on week night!

We had a group of 6 here on a Thursday night. Too be honest, when a friend made a reservation to this place, we thought it would be more trendy. The food and drinks here taste average. First round of drinks, didn’t take like had enough vodka, until one of our friends requested to add a bit more
Appetizers:
1. Crab Puffs-​dipping sauce was ok. It tasted better with the grilled beef onion rolls spicy sauce.
2. Grilled Beef onion rolls-​was alright.
3. Seafood potstickers-​average
Entrees
1. Shaking beef – a bit salty, rice wasn’t offered.(Xanh is better). Next time, waitress should offer rice.
2. Catfish in the claypot-​average (Xanh is better)
3. Grilled salmon with spicy green beans-​average
4. Grilled lemongrass lamb chops-​was ok
5. Garlic noodles
We all 2 – 3 rounds of drinks. Overall, average food and high prices. Price wasn’t worth the food. Too be honest, we were pretty disappointed, especially we bought 2 friends that were out of town here.

This place is a upscale Vietnamese restaurant. It’s good. Everything was good and the portions were a good value.
I’ve been here twice and have not been disappointed. They have draft beer here too.

I’ve always passed by this place when I park at the San Pedro parking garage and always wondered about it. So when I saw a Groupon for it, I figured it’ll be an opportune time to give it a try.
THANK GOD I DID (get the Groupon, I mean)! Because without the Groupon, it woulda been $ 65 for 2 people which I feel was not worth it.
The atmosphere of the place is nice. I didn’t know they had a full bar there which was nice. The restaurant alone is quite small however it looked like there may have been a closed off section in the back which is maybe used for private parties or overflow when it gets busy? However, upon entering there was no one who greeted us. We stood there awkwardly and wondered if we were supposed to seat ourselves as in some phở places until finally, the bartender/​hostess/​waitress came to seat us.
They had tons of cocktails which all sounded amazing. I picked Life’s a Peach which was very good. For appetizer, we had the satay chicken skewers. I was expecting it to be served with peanut sauce but was met with a sweet/​tangy orangey clear sauce which was good but just not what I was expecting. The skewer sticks were burnt to a crisp and fell apart when I picked it up.
We struggled over what entrees to order as most were over $ 20 and we weren’t looking to spend «Santana Row restaurant» prices. We settled on ordering the Shaking Beef and Lemongrass Chicken. The meats were both quite tasty. The Shaking Beef is recommended (if you decide to go there after reading this.). Very tender and marinated deliciously.
As far as service. I had to physically go up to get one of the two waitresses to ask for the bill as we were sitting there after they took away our plates for at least 15+ minutes waiting to be asked if we want dessert or anything. The service there was similar to service at a typical phở place. Seat yourselves. keep the hospitality at a minimum. only approach if you’re being waived down… That’s fine for a phở place where the bill ends up being $ 15 for 2 but NOT for a place where the bill ends up being $ 60 for 2!
So all in all:
Price: 1 cocktail + 1 beer + 1 appetizer + 2 entrees = $ 60 — $ 30(Groupon) + tip = $ 35
Service: Minimal.
Future return possibility: Zero

Mango chicken was lean and sauce was tasty. Catfish in claypot was small but cooked well. Fish fell apart in mouth. Garlic noodles could’ve used a bit more flavor though. We used sauces from the other dishes. We also didn’t like that the noodles were only luke warm. Nice ambience but pricey for the portion size.

Came here for my Aun’ts birthday banquet. She had around thirty– eight guests. We took up half the main room of the restaurant and had one server.
We had a Prix fixe menu of about 40/​person. Each table had 10 people. My main problem with this place is that we got ripped off… badly. The food was extremely mediocre. You get can better Vietnamese food elsewhere. We had a total of 8 courses and we only got 2 plates of each course to each table.
Spring rolls: Cut into smaller pieces. I liked the peanut sauce but the roll is very very scarce of meat.
Pulled Pork in Lettuce Wraps: BBQ flavor, just pork, no crunchy noodles to balance the flavor.
Papaya and Mango Salad: One of the better dishes of the night.
Shaking Beef: Very chewy meat.
Green beans and mushrooms: Extremely small dish for 5 people. I just don’t understand. We are paying 40 a person, the least you can do is give us a normal size plate of green beans.
Tiger Prawns and Garlic Noodles: I enjoyed the prawns but I can make better garlic noodles.
Chicken Curry: Worse dish of the night! Dry meat complete with under cooked potatoes.
Mango and Sticky rice: I like that the dish comes with tapioca but in reality, you’re gonna need the tapioca because the rice is hard and rubbery.
Not sure if ordering from the menu is better but I highly doubt that I will ever return here.

I was invited to a surprise birthday party at 19 Market in San Jose this past weekend and the facility was very nice and better then average. There was room for the forty or so people attending and everybody seemed to have a good time. It was spacious enough for talking, greeting and dancing.
Appetizers at the served at the party:
Spring Rolls– pork and shrimp, very flavorful.
Chicken on skewers– moist chicken with a light teriyaki sauce, very tasty and not overdone.
Calamari — nicely deep fried, crispy and not greasy. Nicely accented with spices.
19 Market features a full bar with a wide assortment of beers and distilled spirits. The bar tenders were attentive. Another nice feature was the parking garage was within walking distance and price reasonable… yay!

OMG I think this is the worst Vietnamese place I’ve ever been to. I thought it was impossible to have worse service than at a phở place (c’mon, let’s be honest. You don’t go to a phở restaurant and expect good service. You expect an angry person taking your order, tossing glasses of water and bowls of phở on the table, and then ignoring you for about 10 – 15 minutes at which point, they toss your bill on the table).
So how can this place suck worse, you ask? Easy!
First of all, my friends and I went here on a Friday night (after watching the Cirque show), so it was about 10pm. They supposedly stay open till 1 or so? No one was in there so I thought the owner lady would be excited to see a group of 7 walk in. We look at the menu and most of us decide to get phở. She suggests that we order the large size because she says the standard size (which is priced at $ 7/​bowl… already a little pricey for phở, in my opinion) is an appetizer portion. That convinces most of us to order the large (which is $ 12/​bowl) but one friend sticks with the $ 7 portion. She keeps pressing us to order appetizers so we ended up getting crab wontons and calamari.
The calamari comes out and its heavily breaded. Its sooooo greasy that when it came out, I started feeling kinda nauseous. I definitely did not take a bite of that. My friends ate some and said it had no flavor whatsoever. The wontons looked alright, but super tiny (about the size of a quarter).
The phở comes out and the small bowl is barely bigger than a cup (imagine a cup of miso soup at a sushi place). The spoon barely fits in the bowl, lol. My chicken phở comes out and its got maybe 6 pieces of chicken breast. Completely dry, flavorless chicken breast. My bowl of soup tasted like chicken broth (but watered down). No flavor at all, and definitely not worth my $ 12.
We were having a hard time getting refills on our water. I also ordered a coke (which tasted like water… it was like 5 parts water, 1 part coke syrup). I killed my glass of water and soda within a minute or two (I was really thirsty) and it took me an additional 10 minutes to get a refill. Ugh, for sure we will NOT be back.

Came here for happy hour on a 6:30ish Thursday. $ 5 certain drinks and appetizers. Us girls were a group of 6 and we were able to sit at the lounge area across the bar.
Nice bartender. He helped us take pics of us girls and makes jokes with us. Maybe because my friend knows him though.
Food: Small portion appetizers.
Clams, fried chicken wings, mushroom bruschetta, baby back ribs, chicken kabob. I like the baby back ribs the best.
Almond champagne was good, but i think the bottle was open before so there was no bubbles.