Binh Minh

The best goat hot pot! Bo luck lac is also superb. Price cannot be more reasonable.

One of the smaller pots is good for two. My friend and I got the ox-​tail option and the vegetable soup base. It was filling but we made a mistake of eating too much of the green chili. They didn’t have any milk to cool it down so we went to soyful to negate that.
Staff is friendly and attentive since it wasn’t that busy when we went.

Came in at 9:09 for dinner and the host said they’re closed.
I told them that their Unilocal hour said they are closing at 10, but the owner said «I am too lazy to update the Unilocal hours» quote unquote. Which is unprofessional and probably take 10 finger strokes away from changing their store hours. Which would help informing their customers not to waste gas drive here.
+ the sign clearly was lighting up with the word said «open» not «closed»
–see picture!
Furthermore when I questioned about the time the owner said it with a tone that I think he tried to come up with an excuse
Never go back here again wasted gas and time.

my first time good try here, got the goat/​xo tail pot. althrough I dont have any meat just the noodles, tofu and taro but taste good enough to leave a positive review

Started off with the trio platter. All 3 were wonderful starters but the red one was a clear cut favorite (probably grilled shredded goat meat).
For the main course, we went with the #1 oxtail hotpot, bo luc lac, grilled squid and the baby goat ribs. The beef was one of the most tender and best marinated bo luc lac’s I’ve ever had. The hotpot and grilled squid dipped in the lemon sauce were amazing too. As for the baby goat, I liked it but just not as much as the other dishes.
Service was average; really nice people but messed up a few times. They messed up our order, and then they totally forgot another dish towards the end.

Great goat hot pot here, i buy here very often. The place is clean and the service is quick. and the prices are pretty light on the pocket. :D

Goat, lamb and hotpot lover. I was so excited when I saw this location right beside soyful deserts. However, my excitement short lived, the food is mediocre, the goat hotpot is over priced. It comes with frozen taro, dried tofu, veges and the soups has only a few pieces of goat bones with meat dangling on it. me sad…

Oh my god! The goat hot pot is so so good! Must try! Also the seafood hot pot is good as well! Try them!

I came here 3 times. The first and second time we ordered ‘de^ la’ lo^t’, ‘de^ nuong’, ‘lau de’. They were all good. But the last time, I ordered ‘long doi heo tuoi’ and the quality was pretty poor. There was a lot of pork blood (which we dont eat) and little of other things. I wasnt sure if it was because of late lunch, but I wouldnt order the dish if I know it would be that poor quality. That’s why I gave Binh Minh 3 stars.

This restaurant’s full name is Bình Minh Lau De #2. It’s a Vietnamese restaurant focused on goat hot pot (lau de) and appetizer dishes featuring goat, duck, and rabbit.
The restaurant seats about 30 inside and has some outdoor seating for warmer days. I went here on a Friday evening around 8:00. There were only two other tables filled at that time, but it quickly reached indoor capacity by 8:30 p.m. All the other diners were those whose primary language is Vietnamese.
Looking around, hot pot seems to be the popular item to order. Since we didn’t want to be super stuffed from eating a late dinner, we opted for the De 3 Mon ($ 20) and Luoi Bo Nuong Ngu Vi ($ 15) appetizers. De 3 Mon is goat prepared three ways — steamed and sliced, seasoned and grilled, and as small, fried sausages. Luoi Bo Nuong is sliced, grilled beef tongue seasoned with lemongrass and mixed with grilled eggplant, okra, and red/​green bell peppers, all topped of with a sprinkle of toasted white sesame seeds.
The appetizers were served with a variety of Vietnamese herbs and came with two dipping sauces — a shrimp paste sauce and a preserved bean curd sauce. Both sauces were prepared a little on the spicy side (which I prefer), so be forewarned if you can’t handle a bit of heat. For those who enjoy extra heat, they automatically give you a small plate of whole chilies. Bottles of Heineken and Corona are $ 3. (The two token beers for Vietnamese folks.)
As others mentioned in their reviews, service wasn’t anything special, as typical in Asian restaurants. The servers came by in a timely manner to take our order, even when we weren’t ready to order the first time around. They also came around occasionally to refill water. Sounds fine so far, right? The only thing is that it took 10 – 15 minutes to get our check, and that only happened because I finally flagged them down. (We neatly stacked our dishes so it should’ve been obvious that we were ready to go. I avoid flagging servers down from across the room because I think it’s rude. In this case, I experimented to see how long it would take to be noticed. Maybe my check experience was a fluke or you just have to flag down servers, which isn’t atypical in Vietnamese restaurants.)
Overall, the two dishes were good, but pricey. At an Asian grocery store, beef tongue tends to be $ 2.99/lb. or less so $ 15 for an appetizer seems a little high. If the dishes were about $ 5 less, that would seems more reasonable. Hence, three stars given the price point.
To end on a positive note, I appreciate a restaurant like Bình Minh because it offers traditional Vietnamese cuisine in San Jose where Vietnamese food is prevalent, but is typified by phở noodle soup, broken rice dishes, and other mainstream Vietnamese fare. I could always use some goat, duck, and rabbit in my life and in my stomach so thanks, Bình Minh.

My friend and I have been trying hotpot places in San Jose and heard some mixed reviews so we decided to give Binh Minh a try. We ordered the small goat hotpot. The waiter never came to check on us, but I didn’t expect much from any asian restaurants for good service. The goat hotpot came with mustard green veggies, a bowl of tofu and taro along with a fermented tofu dipping sauce. The hotpot didn’t have too much flavor in it and the goat meat had a smell in my opinion. Maybe if they added more spices it would help but the hotpot was not good. The only thing I liked was the veggies dipped in the fermented tofu, but I can do that at home. nothing special about this place.

The service was interesting. We were celebrating my younger brother’s birthday and we wanted somewhere that served meat and vegetarian and above all be interactive. We chose here and requested 2 different hot pots, one vegetarian and one non-​veggie. To our dismay, the vegetarian one had meat floating around it and they promised us that it is vegetarian. REALLY?! So did the meat jump in there by accident or do they not know what the definition of vegetarian means? Also, who serves out wine and appetizers AFTER the main course? Someone teach these people how to serve out food properly.

I love this place! Its a great choice when you are craving for goat meat. There is a milktea place next to it so you can enjoy both of them at the same time. Also, I love their customer service, their workers and the owner are very friendly. Would recommend this place!!!

It always smells so good every time I pass by on my way to Soyful, so I actually went to try it with a few friends since I have been having this thing for hotpots. Anyways, we ordered a number one (Goat hotpot) since our server said it was the most popular. I didn’t get a chance to try the other items, so this review is solely on my experience with the Goat hotpot.
It came out with the soup base with goat meat already inside, vermicelli, egg noodle, veggies, tofu and taro on the side. Obviously, this place did not have a variety of add-​ons to put into your hotpot. Maybe we had to order more? Our server was friendly but she didn’t explain much to us.
As for how it tasted. The broth has a weird flavor to it and it tasted kind of bland. The meat wasn’t that great either and there was a lot of fat. Well, maybe I am not used to the taste since my friend mentioned that this is more like those traditional hotpot like what they would serve back in Vietnam… Maybe it’s an acquired taste or something. I don’t know, but, let me just say that no one from my table liked it and that it was probably the worst hot pot I have ever had… Maybe the other stuff on their menu might taste better, but the hotpot was definitely something else…

Their goat hot pot is really amazing, and I don’t even like goat. The snails were incredibly tasty. We will be back for sure. Thanks for giving us a trip back to Vietnam for the evening! EAT HERE!!!

This spot was such a disappointment and leaves me with something to be desired. I’ll get to the food first and talk about their terrible customer service after.
Food = 3 Star for being very average
Service = 1 Star. Even with the expected sub-​par service that you get from Asian places this was worse than that.
Ordered:
Appetizer: Goat 3 ways. BBQ Goat Meat, Goat Sausage, Fried Goat wrapped in bean curd? (I forget what the 3^rd was) ($ 20)
Entrée: Goat Hot Pot Large ($ 35)
I was happy to hear that there was a goat hot pot spot in the area and was pleased to hear that it was close to home. I just got done traveling from Southeast Asia and was in Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand for a month. I had Lau De (Goat Hotpot) a few times in Vietnam and it was amazing. I wanted to relive the memory give this place a try but I’d have to say the food here is lacking. The hotpot was so bland and the cuts of goat were so meager. Most of the meat cuts we got were either off the bone or small piece of meat and «skin». The taro was cut and I won’t tell them how to prepare their food but if they cut the taro and fried after it taste better when it’s tossed into the hotpot. This was how I had it at a few spots in Vietnam. Anyway, food was very bland and very average at best. I wouldn’t say this is a fair representation of what a good goat hotpot could be.
Now for the service. This was mindblowingly terrible, even for an asian restaurant. When we arrived it started off ok. What I would perceive to be the owner greeted us with a smile and had the waiter get a table ready and get us seated. The owner asked if we wanted to be seated inside or out. We asked to be seated outside since we were eating hot pot and it was already hot outside as it is. After that the owner never came back to check up on his. There were only 2 other parties in the restaurant and one of them seemed like people he knew. We asked for waters and ordered our food straight away. At this point everything just went downhill. We were completely forgotten. I don’t feel that I should ever have to leave me seat to get service and the fact that we had to get up and walk up to the register to get service on three difference occasions was just terrible. First the gas for the table top cooker ran out and I tried to flag someone down. The owner was just sitting in the corner eating his food and drinking his beer. His wife, I’m assuming, sat behind the register the whole time and never even tended to the customers. She was facing us so I’d hope she would see us but unfortunately that was not the case. The 2^nd time we needed napkins. There were no napkins on the table when we got there so mid-​way in I had nothing to wipe my hand. I flagged the waiter down and I swore we made eye contact and I sh*t you not he looked away and walked towards the tables to clean them up and bring the dirty stuff to the kitchen. We again had to get up and go ask for napkins. At this point the meal is even less appetizing and I just wanted to leave. The other people with me were still finishing up their meal so I just gave up and lost my appetite. The last time we tried to flag someone down was to pay our bill and again we had to walk up to the counter and pay.
I would never take anyone here nor can I recommend this place. I rarely give bad reviews but this place needs to shape up. I would understand if this was their first shop and they just opened but this is their #2 location and it’s been open since June. Now I need to find another place that will fill this goat craving.

Great food! Tried the Lau De and liked it because the goat meat did not taste too overwhelming for me, considering I’ve NEVER enjoyed eating goat due to the distinct taste. Meat was soft and melted off the bone. Broth was flavorful and had the ‘chao’ (fermented tofu) flavor taste which was good. Other dishes smelled great too. The place itself is a bit small but other than that no complaint. I will come back :)

All I have to say is good! Good! Only the be thui cause that’s the only thing I tried and would order it every time. I buy togo only for this place.

Try this place if your looking for something exotic. You won’t find the normal American poultry or red meat here but you will indulge in fresh game including deer, goat, lamb and veal. Everything on the menu is what I wanted to order at lunch but had three dishes and finished all of it. The food is traditionally perfected and you can even see the difference in traditional level from the 3 special dipping sauces to the special vegetable leaves straight from a recipe out of Vietnam. Well that’s because this is a sister store and I am very impressed and will definitely come back.