Truong Nguyen Cafe

This opened up in recent weeks in the newly renovated Othello Bldg next to the Bank of America across Safeway. Often commuting at the Othello Light Rail station, I’d catch glance at their Open neon sign across the street. The least they would have, I’d imagine, is coffee… and the space is probably new and welcoming, right?
One recent week, I made it over. It’s very simple with decorative brick half-​walls, white paint and tiled ceiling… you are welcomed with a whiff of ambient gray, stuffy smoke. Apparently, you can smoke in here (hmm). There’s a few lottery machines, several tables with tin cans and a few flat screens with sports on. This seems like a common hangout for the Vietnamese smokers to just come, hangout, chill, chat and drink coffee. No menu, there’s a fridge with, I think, more coffee/​tea-​like drinks. You can enter on either side and the café counter is in the middle with cupboards from the 90’s. The guy and gal behind seemed friendly to me (perhaps the sole non-​Viet in there). Perhaps a similar newbie vibe as to what I’ve read on Billiard Hoang, just a little different. They mentioned no menu, just coffee here. I got 1 coffee and took a seat at a table while watching a golf game. I enjoy Vietnamese coffee. One interesting thing prior to this was that I’d looked up to see if this was related to the Vietnam coffee chain — I’m still not sure.
The feedback:
Indoor smoking?! Those ash cans and fan…
5 BUCKS for their small coffee; why do I think that’s not the actual price. Any downtown Vietnamese place has the same-​sized great coffee at $ 2 – 3.
If you smoke and enjoy coffee cafes with TVs, you may like it.