Visiting the ABQ this weekend and really wanted some local pho. I wasn't asking for multiple course sustentacugasms. I didn't need a religion-changing experience. I just wanted to get my culinary rocks off for the night with a spicy stranger. Alas, no love, my friends. No love. Checked out Cafe Da Lat on the reco of our hotel concierge. Ambiance was cute and the customer service both quick and friendly. The conversation overheard from the cybercouple on their first date at the next table over was quite amusing ("OMG, your Facebook updates are as cute as YOU are in person!"). And although the foodie fetish fulfillment had potential with 80 items on the menu, the follow-through was pretty phucked. The pho broth wasn't seasoned differently--it just wasn't seasoned at all. Same goes with the five-color rice and overlying seasoning pork. Yawn. Halfway through the meal I found myself contemplating painting the figurative culinary ceiling beige. Meh. Grabbed a pint of Cherry Garcia on the way home and called it a night. Wouldn't you know--sometimes a little self-satisfaction is just safer. read more

A friend of mine who recently visited Vietnam was craving some Vietnamese Coffee, so, one our way out of town to go camping we stopped here. The coffee was amazing as well as the food being excellent! The waiter was super kind and let us know of some neat places in California if we were ever in the area. The serving sizes were huge! If I am ever in town again, I will most definitely come back! read more

I didn't know Vietnam produced crepes. But they do! And you can get them here! They come crispy, decidedly unlike the French variety. Instead of being stuffed with goodies they are somehow...infused with them. Shrimp, chicken, bean sprouts, and other things that were tasty. The dipping sauce was maybe my favorite part, because it made all the flavors pop. Although the side of leafy green things (spicy basil?) totally bewildered me (I just ate them straight. This may have been gauche. I do not know), this was an excellent lunch. My friend got one of the soups, and we split an avocado shake, which you must go out right now and get. Go get it. It is delicious. It makes you think sweet thoughts of happiness. I think it would be especially refreshing in the summer, nice, thick, cool, creamy, just sweet enough but with a savory avocado-y undercurrent. I actually thought it tasted a bit more like persimmons, of all things. All in all, this place is clean, friendly, affordable ($7 for my entree!), gives you lots of memorable (in a good way!) food, fills you up without making you feel gross, and has avocado shakes. What's not to love? read more

My fiance and I went here on the fourth of July while on a roadtrip. I was craving a bowl of pho and I asked him when he said that he had no idea what that was. ._. long story short, this was a needed adventure and the food was great! I had a vegetarian pho bowl and he had the chicken. I'm pretty sure we've finally reached his inner asian! The waiters/waitresses are nice, but nothing above and beyond. The only downside, which is really no big deal at all, is that the ice tea is quite bitter. I put 8 spoonfuls of sugar in before i actually started to taste a slight sweetness. lol. I would definitely come here again when I need my pho fix (: read more

I expected a lot more from the food based on the reviews here. Disclaimer: I got take-out 1. Pork Buns: obviously steamed pre- packaged that you can buy at your local asian grocery store 2. Spring rolls: decent, had pieces of fried- egg in them which made them a bit different from the usual 3. Chicken, tomato, beef, shrimp dish with rice: none of the meats were tasty, small shrimps. too spicy. I ended up throwing most of it away. Bit disappointing since I had such high expectations for the place. read more

Mind you, I'm not an expert on Vietnamese food, but I live near San Jose in California, so I eat a lot of it. Since we happened to be in the area, we decided to try out Cafe Da Lat. We noticed that there were a lot of cars in the parking lot, which was a good sign. When we went in, there weren't any Asians in the restaurant, but it is Albuquerque. If there weren't any Asians in a San Jose Vietnamese restaurant, I would have turned around and left. My husband ordered the Vietnamese crepe (Banh Xeo), while I ordered a rice dish, Comdau Hu Sot Ca Chua (Tofu and Tomatoes, with Beef, Chicken, Shrimp). We were both thrilled with our dishes. We also ordered an appetizer dish of the spring rolls. Nice sauce, although I prefer the usual peanut sauce to the slightly sweet sauce that came with the spring rolls. The Vietnamese iced coffee was very nice. It was made with condensed milk as usual. There are some places that take a short cut with this and use milk and sugar rather than condensed milk. All in all, we found the place authentic and would definitely return. It was surprising to find such an authentic place in a city with such few Asians. read more

I was just coming off a bad cold, and when I'm stuffed up few things are better than a great big stealing bowl of pho. Not from around here so this was my first visit. Decor/Atmosphere: 3.5/5 Tastefully decorated with lots of clean tables when we walked in. Lots of windows along two walls means lots of natural light in about half the restaurant, and and glass table tops created some annoying glare. Authentic Vietnamese music playing in the restaurant, which always sets the mood better than the Top 40 crap some Asian places play. Service: 4/5 Our server was prompt and polite. Took our order accurately and was always around for refills and such. Only complaint was that our food took a while to come out. Seemed like half an hour for us to get our entrees, which is unusual for pho. Food: 3/5 Spring rolls were ok. They had eggs in them, unusual for me but that didn't make them worse. Pho was only average. Given my physical state at the time, any bowl of hot noodles and broth would've been great. Though the pho was pretty good, the broth seemed to be missing something in the flavor department. All the fixings (sprouts, basil, lime, peppers) were fresh and made great additions. Iced coffee was good too. All in all, a decent Vietnamese place in Albuquerque. I was only in town for the holidays, so I didn't have the chance to try them again. But I'd come back again. read more

Another quick review of a Vietnamese place. Nothing special. "Egg rolls" that are a little thin to my liking and don't have the vermicelli, ground pork, and wood-ear mushrooms that I identify with the real thing. Also, a dipping sauce that is too heavy on the sugar and not heavy enough on the fish sauce. The chicken salad was pleasantly fresh with some nice flavors from fresh herbs but again, a dressing that was way too sweet. I like mine with more fish sauce, more lime, and no palm sugar (this tasted like just plain old sugar). I'll give these guys another shot because they aren't too far from me but I don't have super high expectations. We'll see... read more

Great food and service. We've been back several times as this is our new "go-to" Vietnamese restaurant in town.

This unassuming restaurant has class and style in addition to wonderful food and service.

Yes, it's in a sketchy part of town... But, it's worth taking the time to drop in for an authentic bit of Vietnam. The pho is perfectly done with rich, sweet broth and plenty of accompanying add on. The bahn mi is one of the better renditions I can recall (and at $3.95 a very good deal!). The crab and asparagus soup is light, but flavorful, and the pork buns are seriously addictive. The folks working there are very decent- attentive without being overwhelming. Seriously, this is about as good as Viet cooking gets. read more

1st time there. Had the sesame chicken. Very good! Generous portion sizes. Service is attentive, but not pushy. Cute little place! Can't wait to try other menu items. read more

A few years ago I wasn't as impressed with Cafe DaLat as I've been the last few times we've eaten there. The service is friendly and quick. The menu offers a large variety of dishes, including vegetarian. We usually get a type of stir fry with rice noodles and the ingredients are always very fresh and tasty. I'm especially fond of their stir fries with eggplant, my hubby likes tofu with veggies. Their prices are very reasonable as the two of us can have an appetizer and main dishes for around $20. read more

Cafe Da Lat - L7 stir fry cabbage, carrots, broccoli, & tofu. Yummy! - Vietnamese Near Me - Albuquerque, New Mexico

While looking for a place to eat when visiting Albuquerque, Cafe Da Lat fit the bill. The vegan Pho was tasty, and the noodles were delicious. So filling, that we went back the next night. If you are looking for good food that is affordable, this place is right for you. read more

A friend brought me in here a while back while he was back in Albuquerque for the weekend. He said it was one of the places he used to frequent often when he lived in town. The parking lot and building leave a bit to be desired and are sketchy. Once you make it inside, the restaurant itself is not nearly as bad. The food is fantastic. We had the spring rolls, which were delicious. I also chose the curry chicken which was wonderful. Not too spicy but just perfect. There was a large enough portion that I was able to take some home for lunch the next day too! Overall, the location is unfortunate, but the food is worth it! I recommend for sure! read more

The Pho (beef noodle soup) is to die for. The broth is delicate and delicious! read more

Cafe Da Lat - Vietnamese Near Me - Albuquerque, New Mexico

This is by far the best place for pho in town! Their spring rolls are da bomb and always fresh! If you haven't been here you are missing out! read more

I love me some pho and the fare at Cafe Da Lat was tasty, and priced on the upper end of 'reasonable'. The ingredients seem fresh and I didn't get the sense that my food has been heated from a batch-job prepared 4 days before. (I often have that problem with Vietnamese or Chinese restaurants...tastes like they only cook once a week.) The only drawback is that the service was shoddy. I needed a refill of my water twice and twice I had to be the one to go up to the front, glass in hand, to get it done. The waitstaff looked a bit young, early 20s at the oldest, and their sense of professionalism definitely needs work. Solve waitstaff problem and this would be a 4 star immediately. Improve the food beyond how good it is even now and this would be 5 star. read more

I love this place. I tried a bunch of the slew of Vietnamese places in this area (where they all seem to be). I tried the ones others claim are the best, but for my taste, Cafe da Lat reigns supreme. They have a huge menu and I admit I haven't tried most items. But their pho is excellent along with every other dish I've tried. My personal favorite items are their egg rolls, the ground pork with eggplant and the chicken clay pot. Another fave is the F1, am enormous noodle stir fry with beef, chicken, and shrimp for an extremely reasonable price. The owner and his wife are very kind and helpful. I hope to see Cafe da Lat thrive for many years to come. I've already been going there for over 5 years, and it's consistently great. Best Vietnamese in ABQ, imho. read more

I used to totally love this place but they have really let me down. I drove all the way from Unser and Arenal to get spring rolls and specifically asked for peanut sauce. No go. No peanut sauce. No apology. I'm done. I want to support local but this place has screwed me too many times. Go to Pho#1 or Vietnam 2000. I'm very bitter. read more

We've been coming to Cafe Da Lat for 13 of the 16 years they've been in business. We no longer live in Albuquerque but whenever we're in town for shopping and other errands we make a point of enjoying the best tasting and most reasonably priced Vietnamese food in town. The ingredients are always wonderfully seasoned, the vegetables fresh, and we've never had better spring and egg rolls in our lives! Our only problem is that we keep going back to the dishes we already love and not trying other dishes I'm sure we'll love just as much. And the service is incredibly attentive and friendly. One of the reasons I wish I still lived in ABQ! read more

If you're looking for some good pho that's inexpensive, this is the place to go. I will say this is not located in the best part of town, but felt safe while at this establishment. It also is just far away enough from San Mateo to not catch the walking traffic. Since Central is under construction, I'm a big fan of visiting and supporting local restaurants so try this place! read more

I get take-out from them ALL the time! They are friendly, fast, and I love the vegetarian pho they make me!

Ok, so this review is now 3 months behind schedule - my bad! Just blame it on the fact that when I was last in Albuquerque I was down with a terrible cold and then promptly forgot that I'd be here until now. We came here on the recommendation of a co-worker of my boyfriend's. While it was in fairly sketchy part of town, it was actually quite comfortable inside. Service was unobtrusive and prompt...now let's see if I can remember anything about the food... I believe that we ordered the spring rolls and banh mi for the appetizers, followed by a bowl of Pho for me and a rice combo plate for my boyfriend. The banh mi was decent - I'd have preferred that the bread be more toasted. The spring rolls were pretty good, although the wrapper was somewhat chewy and not that appetizing. The pho was decently flavored, although I remember coming here because I was told that they had a spicy broth. I couldn't figure out the menu enough to even begin to identify the spicy broth. Overall a pleasant experience, even though it was in a kind scary and sketchy area. That being said, there are other places in Albuquerque that I'd rather go when I'm craving Pho. read more

Among all the Viet restaurants here in ABQ, this one wasn't really up to my expectations. The last time I was there, I had to wait quite awhile for my water, food, etc. Although, the waiter did the best he could & was nice/patient about it. This restaurant is particularly good for groups -- hence, my party was around 5-6 people. read more

The ambience is really "romantic", prices are decent, portions are generous. I didn't have much of an appetite so opted for the fried egg rolls. I was a little disappointed that they didn't have a lettuce for each egg roll and had to cut the lettuce in half. Other than that, we approve ;) read more

Favorite Vietnamese in Albuquerque. Staff is super nice as well. Love the chef's special fried rice with charred pork. Spring and egg rolls are also very tasty. read more

I've only been to Cafe Da Lat once, but am very impressed. I had the stir-fried vermicelli with tofu and vegetables and the soft spring rolls/summer rolls/ what have you. I was late picking up my to-go order, but the noodles were still chewy and the vegetables were perfectly done, still a little crunchy. The food wasn't greasy at all and the flavors were just right in terms of intensity. My order was 100% correct, too. Perfect! The spring roll sauce didn't have fish sauce in it, which was very cool. A lot of places will serve it with tofu spring rolls in a completely vegetarian order, which leaves me to make my own sauce at home to go with a take out order-- kind of a pain. The rolls are huge for the price, with a good noodle-to-vegetable ratio, and are as fresh-tasting as if I made them moments before in my own kitchen. The prices are very reasonable and communication is easy. The person working the counter was extremely nice. The inside is tastefully decorated, with hanging lamps that emit just the right amount of light. I'm a take out person, as I find that food tastes better with Jersey Shore and my own beer, but I definitely want to try dining in at Cafe Da Lat. read more

One of my favs in town. Love the lime beef, pho, and spring rolls. James is so sweet (owner).

This is our favor Vietnamese restaurant in all of Albuquerque! Wonderful owners, outstanding food and great service! We stopped by last week for takeout in these crazy times. As usual all was fresh and delicious! read more

I don't have a lot of experience with viet food so take this review with a grain of salt. I ate here for lunch and I was the first customer in the door at 11:15. I had an iced coffee, pork buns, and stir fried noodles. The iced coffee was served in a French press at the table. It was very good but took a good 10-15 minutes to brew. The pork buns were quite tasty and a good value. 3 of them for $2.75. The stir fry was decent, the portion size was awesome the meat and veggies were cooked well and the price was right. I did not like that there was a sweetness to the dish. This is probably a standard viet flavor. Knocking a star off for cleanliness. The window sills were very dirty. The chair stiles had a thick lair of dust on them. You can tell that deep cleaning is not on the weekly (or monthly) to do list. read more

Cafe da Lat is OPEN for takeout! And still wonderfully delicious! Support this local business by picking up dinner from Cafe da Lat.

I've driven by this place many times and have never stopped in because the parking lot is usually empty and that always scares me. But today was an exception because my usual Sunday afternoon restaurant venture would have to be put on hold due to a Christmas party. From the outside this place looks mediocre at best. It's stuck in the middle between Nobhill and the war zone. When I got inside it was dark and there were very few customers but the place was clean. I wouldn't put this place as a fancy restaurants but he was definitely not a dive. The menu selection is vast. It actually took me a while to figure out what I wanted because I was trying to see what was different from this menu versus other restaurants. I settled on their pork/shrimp spring rolls and the mixed pho of beef, tripe, and meatballs. I will say that their spring rolls are amazing as well as very inexpensive compared to other restaurants. The pho was just average but plentiful. Although the condiments were fresh, the soup was served warm and not hot. The sauces were not in bottles but in jars which made it difficult to dispense. I love me a lot of hot sauce and trying to get the quantities I want from a toy size spoon was just silly. My conclusion of this place is that the price is perfect, the flavors were more or less there, and I wasn't scared to be in the restaurant as I am with some other ones. Although I will say that the staff could be a little bit more friendly, not to say they were rude or mean but they were distant I will probably try this place one more time. read more

This was my first experience eating Vietnamese food, and let me tell you, I am hooked! The food here is SUPER fresh, and flavored to perfection. The portions are huge, prices low, and the romance is plenty! The spring rolls are really great, and different than any I have had before. I had the eggplant and pork, which I highly recommend. My favorite part was the jackfruit smoothie. My friend who is filipino told me about the fruit, and she is right---it is delicious! Oh, and did I mention the servers are great? They give you just the right amount of attention/space, and are very friendly. The only disappointing thing is that my bf doesn't like Vietnamese food...oh well. Anyone out there need a lunch buddy? read more

I really am becoming a Vietnamese restaurant snob especially with all the options to choose from all over Albuquerque. My local go-to Viet restaurant was closed so figured I would bust out my phone check Yelp! for the next best thing and so I landed up here at Cafe Da Lat. When I walked in I heard the crickets chirping as I was the only one in the restaurant besides that the restaurant was dark, clean and service was prompt. I ordered an order of spring rolls and wasn't a fan as the shrimp had a really strong seafood smell and no peanut sauce? After the rolls I decided to go with a Vermicelli bowl with pork, egg roll, and shrimp and wasn't to thrilled. The pork was bland, shrimp had a heavy seafood smell, egg rolls were soggy and sweet, and the bowl was loaded with dry vermicelli noodles. So lastly would I come back? Probably not. read more

Their coffee is to die for. Their other food is delicious. The presentation, the taste, and they're nice people. The food here has a purity of taste that others don't have. read more

Cafe Da Lat is not to be missed! All the food I've tried is delicious -- fresh, fresh, fresh and so tasty. Pho is wonderful -- I had #B2 tonight -- and my husband's #F1 was beef, shrimp, chicken, pork, rice noodles and a variety of bright vegetables. Very generous portions. Love the friendly wait staff and the ambience of soft lighting. Prices are very reasonable; Albuquerque's very best value. Try the spring roll appetizer, too ... delish! read more

Still a great place to go. I love their ban me and wonton soup. I have never had a bad experience here and the staff is always friendly.

i live 3 hours northwest of ABQ and while my co-workers & friends often drive to ABQ for the fun & fine dining of the many franchise restaurants, I only dream of Cafe Da Lat and their Bun Thit Nuong - the grilled pork with vermicelli & crunchy little fried eggrolls, drizzled with the perfectly blended nuoc cham sauce!!! Oh! I wish i had a bowl right now!! The strong iced coffee completes the meal . . . read more

Decent Pho. Large menu. Okay spring rolls. read more