Com Tam Thanh

Pretty new to the San Jose area but damn food is crazy expensive up there but I did found a nice little rice place. This place gives you pickle cabbage just like mom made it home lol

FOOD
— Com Tam Bi, Cha, Thit Nuong, Tau Hu Ky, Chao Tom, Nem Nuong: consists of broken rice, pork skin, steamed pork egg cake, grilled BBQ pork, bean curd wrapped in shrimp, shrimp on a sugar cane and BBQ pork meat balls, topped with green onions. It also came with a side of lettuce, cucumbers, carrots, and daikon. This plate was huge. Every thing was okay, except I didn’t care for the chao tom (shrimp on a sugar cane) and the nem nuong (BBQ pork meat balls). Both lacked flavor. ³⁄₅
— Bun Rieu: vermicelli noodles with pork, crab, and shrimp meat, pork blood, tomatoes, onions, and green onions. The broth was a little bland. Not bad, but I’ve definitely had better bun rieu. ³⁄₅
SERVICE
We were acknowledged and asked the size of our party by 3 different staff members but we weren’t seated by anyone. The last person head nodded us in the direction of an empty table. My husband asked for a plate of cu kieu (pickled spring onions) and it never came. We were not impressed with the service here. ¹⁄₅
FINAL THOUGHTS
The food was mediocre, but it was better than the service.

I never really liked this place that much, but the last time I went, it was really disappointing. I ordered a com tam bi cha thit noung. They gave a very small amount of grilled pork. The fish sauce tasted funny too. It’s cheap tho, so I guess you get what you pay for. I don’t think I’ll be back.

This is my new go-​to place for Com Tam. I used to go to the Milpitas location until it was closed. Then I gave other restaurants a try, and I didn’t like any of their Broken Rice Dishes. Today, we gave this place a try with two dishes: Com Tam and Canh Bun. The Com Tam (Broken Rice dish) was good. The Canh Bun was just ok! I didn’t like the components in the bowl that much. The fried fish cake was too sweet, and the crab cake was tough and salty.
I will come back here if I ever crave for the rice dishes. I wish the restaurant is located elsewhere though. Traffic and parking down here is a pain…

Vietnamese comfort food. This place definitely has the best rice dishes around.
Their meet is marinated nicely and the «broken» rice had a nice texture to it. Make sure to use their fish sauce!
Also their nem nuong here is delicious.

Coming home to the Bay means one thing, hanging out with high school friends and going on explorations. & what’s better than starting your exploration with authentic noms?
& Going to San Jose means one thing’s certain, you can be sure to find affordable and authentic Vietnamese cuisine in Little Saigon. Upon my friend’s recommendation we headed to Com Tam Thanh for rice dishes and phở!
When you first enter and look at the location, it’s nothing fancy. It’s run-​down and not too pretty, but the places with the authentic noms aren’t always going to be the prettiest! So now you’re probably wondering, why the 3 star rating? I wasn’t too impressed, I can’t really put my finger on it but something in the back of my mind during my meal was that it was just okay and I’ve had better. Going to college in Southern California, Irvine specifically, which is near some really bomb Vietnamese eateries… Com Tam Thanh paled in comparison. The food wasn’t bad, it just felt average and didn’t wow me enough to be like this is a solid dish. I ordered a rice plate with shredded pork and a pork chop (I believe it was a pork chop).
Also, it wasn’t a big problem but the servers mistook one of my friends’ orders, which happens but was quite unfortunate. Oh and if it matters to you, the noodles used for phở were not your typical phở noodles, which wasn’t a problem — just different.
Overall the food wasn’t bad and it’s a good place to get authentic Vietnamese food, but I don’t think it’s anything to call home and rave about.
You pay at the counter and tell the worker what you ordered in order to pay. They do accept card btw & split checks, so that’s a definite plus — especially for college students or those dealing with the post-​grad struggs.

I like come than bc they give u rice and meat and a meat cake and that is the best idea ever how come safeway or other bakeries do not sell meat cakes bc I want a meat cake with chocolate frosting for my birthday every year

My experience here was very good and better than other phở places the service food was amazing and price is very cheap and everything is so good def coming back

Food is good, portions are decent, smoothies are yummy, and service is okay. If I don’t come for the broken rice plates, I come for their smoothies. Seating is ample, but I usually see it very packed during the evening. Parking is shit, though.

********************* 1276 **********************
Another popular Vietnamese in East San Jose, CA, the restaurant is specialized in «Broken Rice dishes,» but they also offer many authentic dishes from Northern Vietnam. This family runs has been here for almost 20 years. I love seeing the owner, in her 70s, she’s always at the cashier, beautifully make up, and has a biggest smile greeting you in Vietnamese. She’s one of the hardest working women I’ve seen and she makes killer dishes like this Canh Bun soup here, that there is no competitors can come close.
Canh Bun is quite similar to Bun Rieu, a Northern Vietnamese rice noodle soup with tomato based but serves with thicker rice noodle, almost like the noodle in Bun Bo Hue. The broth are from pork, shrimp, and crab based, accompaniments with fried tofu, congealed pork blood, shrimp paste, and steamed water spinach (Ong-​Choy), chive, chili and lime. The crab meat smashed in with shrimp paste then combines with eggs, it becomes fluffy, and it melts in your mouth when you eat it.
If you love seafood, tangy, and hearty flavor, try this special dish. CHEAP EAT, authentic Northern dishes here.
Parking is a pain here, so be patient when you come here, give yourself plenty of time to find parking in this ghetto plaza!

I’ve always enjoyed com tam here a lot better than Com Tam Thien Huong across the street even if my whole family thinks otherwise. He service here is a lot better as well. The servers are older and more friendly. The meat is thicker, more in portion, and tastes better. Even the side of soup tasted delicious. The portion was big enough for my mom and I to split and share. They have a very big menu with a variety of foods to choose from as well.
For dessert, I got the Sam Bo Luong which normally comes in a togo plastic cup. The liquid/​syrup was way to sweet for my taste, so I diluted it with half a cup of the water I was drinking and it tasted PERFECT.
This is my favorite com tam spot in San Jose. 8)

Tried this place to see if it is good for Com Tam. It was ok.
We wanted broken rice for dinner during our last night at San Jose and this place closes at 10pm. After 10pm, there are not that many choices open. Luckily, we made it 10 minutes before they close.
We ordered their egg rolls and my wife and I each had their com tam suon bi cha dishes. Their egg rolls were twice fried, would have been better if they fried it only once, I mean the filling was good, just not a fan of the extra added on to it. The com tam was ok. The rice was dry. grilled pork was a little tough. fish sauce was decent. egg cake was good. pickled vegetables needed more pickling. shredded pork was like most places, dry.
This place is ok, definitely can’t compete with Com Tam Thien Huong (CTTH) x2 (since there are 2 CTTHs located there, 1 inside the Grand Century Mall across the street and 1 straight across from it)

Sundays are usually the days I tend to visit this place. It’s very cozy and warm. Just like a typical Vietnamese restaurant, you’ll definitely hear Vietnamese music. But hey, that’s the nice thing about it because I feel more comfortable rather than hearing nothing. I always get the com tam suong nuong with a sunny side up egg the other plate in front of me was the same with just with bi. Yumm delicious! Overall, this is the place I recommend going to for Com Tam in San Jose.

Gotta give this place 5 stars.
I’ve been coming here since I was a child. It’s one of my dad’s favorite, if not favorite, spot for com tam. I’m never disappointed with the food. I always tend to get the same com tam plate anywhere I go: tau hu ky, thit nuong, and tom nuong. Too good. I love the tau hu ky here (fried shrimp thing wrapped in tofu skin)! One of the better ones I’ve had in the area. The people here are really nice, but this place does get really busy one weekends so don’t expect spectacular service when coming around peak hours. Other than that, this is a great place to get com tam!

My goto is the half chicken with shredded pork skin and fried shrimp tofu. I could live off this stuff. Sometimes the chicken is overcooked /​dry hence the one missed star. Can’t beat the price and quantity.

Com tam is very good here. Cheap and fast service. The soup on the side used to be delish and now it has no flavor and is bland. That’s minus one star. Otherwise.

One of the better broken rice place to eat in San Jose. The chicken was very good. The nem nuong was alittle dry for my taste. Overall, a good lunch.

Always delicious and quick but are they clean? Seems like there’s a million people clamoring around in the back room trying to pump food out. once in a while a door pops open and you see food everywhere in a un organized state. People are fast walking around grabbing fish sauce and other ingredients to toss onto plates. I saw a waiter drop fish sauce 3 times and a little old lady wiped it up with a the same towel all three times… The crowd here is rough too. They are hungry, they are fobby, and they don’t care about your personal space so if that means they bump your chair and don’t say sorry, or they toss their hair towards your back or talk so loudly you can’t talk to your date then so be it.
All in all it reminds me of a little piece of Vietnam. Good food cheap, nosy, hustle and bustle, cautious wonder of cleanliness, and tons of options.

#onlocationreview
Everything is really good at this Vietnamese restaurant… The only problem is how much they give you. For example, I ordered a fantastic French-​style Viet iced coffee with too much ice in it. Nice and strong with the traditional kick though. Or the disproportionate amount of meat to vermicelli in the bowl I got. Things like that.
Otherwise the ingredients seem fresh. My server was old and hard of hearing, but eager to please. He even gave me a sound dish recommendation (vermicelli with beef, shrimp, and eggroll)!
Right in the heart of Little Saigon, great eats despite feeling a little cheated.

My top pick for broken rice plates in the bay area, as I used to eat here often as a kid many years ago, and just revisited again recently.
I believe you can order just about any combination of items on your broken rice plate instead of mandatorily ordering by combo #. Tau hu ky: fried shrimp-​filled bean curd skin (tastier than I can translate, but greasy), bi: thinly shredded pork and pork skin, trung chien: fried egg (greasy, creamy, delicious), cha trung: steamed egg cake with mushroom, pork, noodle.
Plates come with a inverted bowlful of broken rice, pickled shredded carrot and daikon, nuoc mam (fish sauce, better with garlic chili paste added to it), a bowl of soup, and one to three pieces of pork chop, depending on how many sides you ordered and how big the pieces of meat are. On top of those is oily scallions.
The only other item I’ve eaten here that isn’t a com tam plate is the ca he (smallish, simmered, bony fish). The order comes with rice, onchoy, and a bowl of soup.
My guide for eating at places, especially for the first time, is to order whatever dish is advertised as the name of the joint. Com Tam Thanh means I stick to the com tam plates, and it has yet to steer me wrong.