Hoài Huế Restaurant

First impression upon walking in? Dirty.
But because our peers recommended this place, we stayed to try it.
We were seated at a dirty table, even though it was "cleaned" right before we sat down.
We asked if the food debris could be swept from under the table, but the server stated it was fine, that they were short staffed, and kicked what she could to the side.
I recommend scanning the barcode on the table for the menu because there's more options on it than the physical, dirty hard copy. Our group had a few different bun bo hues and a banh canh tom cua.
Everyone who ordered bun bo hue said, adding shrimp paste and sate (provided on the table) along with vegetables made it more flavorful.
However, they said it didn't taste as good as usual.
I had the banh canh, and it was ok.
There is nothing too outstanding to mention besides the three large shrimp balls that were filling. We ordered banh beo chen but it never made it to the table.
Wish we could've tried it but oh well.

Hoai Hue is truly a gem in the City Heights restaurant scene.
Specializing in central Vietnamese food, you will be able to experience so much more of what Vietnamese cuisine has to offer, aside from the typically known Pho or Banh Mi.
There is a parking lot next to the restaurant, but it can be quite tricky scoring a spot on this busy section of El Cajon Blvd.
It gets packed at the restaurant during peak meal times, so make sure you give yourself some time to get seated.
Trust me, it’s definitely worthwhile! Hoai Hue is a medium sized restaurant, very clean, well lit. If you’re not too familiar with Vietnamese food, not to mention central Vietnam’s cuisine, their menu has photos to help guide your eyes.
Also, the servers are all fluent in English so they can help you select from all the dishes they have.
Hailing from Saigon, central Vietnamese cuisine was not what I grew up with, but have had a few dishes and variations here and there.
I just love Vietnamese food in general so this restaurant was nothing short of delivering.
My family was visit San Diego and wanted to see how the Vietnamese food here was like.
I remembered how much I had enjoyed this restaurant, so I took them here. We got 4 orders of each item to share family style.
The Banh Beo was smooth and tasty.
The Banh Nam was soft and had the perfect ratio of ground shrimp to rice cake.
The Banh Loc was a a hit with everyone as well.
The Banh Canh Tom Cua was just delicious.
The broth was well balanced and they are very generous with the extremely tasty house-made shrimp balls.
Everything was so authentically delicious that my family added a bowl of Bun Bo Hue at the end just to try it, even though we were all stuffed! Just writing this review is giving me cravings for their food! So if you like Vietnamese cuisine, then do yourself a favor and head over to Hoai Hue and treat yourself.
You deserve it!

Excellent authentic Vietnamese food at Hoai Hue! We ordered the Mì Quảng Mặn #8, Bánh Lọc #1, Bánh Bèo #21, Bún Riêu #19.
Everything tasted delicious, really loved the appetizer #21 and the entree #8 flat noodles with pork and shrimp.
The entrees are pretty large portions, great prices for the amount of food you get.
Service is very friendly and food comes out quickly.
Highly recommend!