I spotted Mint Leaf when I was at L&L down the strip mall and decided to check it out (different day, silly!) and ordered the Pho Ga (chicken pho) with the +$1 substitution of grilled lemongrass chicken in place of the usual shredded chicken. I was glad I did the substitution. The pho was served with the broth & noodles in one bowl & the grilled chicken on the side (see my pic). I took a sip of the broth and my heart sank. That stuff was BLAND! The noodles, however, were very well cooked and amazingly not clumpy! I can't remember the last time I've seen pho noodles floating wispily in the broth with not a one sticking to another (ok, probably never). Dejectedly I tried some of the grilled chicken . . . wait . . . this is pretty tasty! I dumped it into the broth and crossed my fingers and lo and behold it enhanced the entire flavor of the broth with some of the marinade and charred bits now floating around. Not the best pho ga around these parts. I definitely wouldn't order this with the regular shredded chicken because I doubt it would add as much to the bland broth as the grilled. Maybe the Pho Bo (beef pho) and other dishes are better. I'll probably give them another shot since they don't bill themselves as a Pho restaurant. read more

Mintleaf Vietnamese Restaurant - Pho Ga w/ +$1 grilled chicken upgrade - Vietnamese Near Me - Alameda, California

Literally everything here is good!! The rolls are incredible. I love the summer roll with coconut shrimp, avocado,pickled carrots, and vermicelli. The garlic noodles with prawn and scallops are so indulgent and delicious. I ordered a fried chicken bahn mi and loved the miso slaw and bread. The sweet potato fries and dipping sauce were an unexpected surprise too! Not so traditional, but very yummy. read more

Expensive but it's California so everything is unreasonably expensive. Other than that, the place is great. The food is fresh, flavorful, and you get a good quantity. read more

Not sure if they use MSG in their recipe, because I didn't ask. I developed a wicked MSG headache after eating the Sweet and Sour Pho with pineapple and okra. read more

Dropped by with the family. I've been going here for a while now but decided to post a review. I ordered the steak salad and a fire wings appetizer. Both came out good. The service was prompt and friendly. They were attentive too. read more

Mintleaf Vietnamese Restaurant - Steak salad. The romaine lettuce is roasted too. - Vietnamese Near Me - Alameda, California

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Love this place, BUT wow, really could use more vegetarian options! Seven salads and 6 of them have meat! Really? Come on, man. Yes, they can remove the prawns but they will still charge $15. Why not a vegetarian salad for $___ and the prawns are an add-on. Vegetable pho says it could be vegetarian but, um hello, it comes with chicken broth. Why? Please owners, make these adjustments. Thank you! Be careful vegetarians. read more

Just picked up some curry that I payed 24.84$ for & they filled the container barely 2/3 of the way. Won't be coming here for food again. read more

Mintleaf Vietnamese Restaurant - Sweet Potato And Curry Chicken Clay Pot - Vietnamese Near Me - Alameda, California

Love the food! veg pho! Great service! Thank you for making yummy food! An Alameda staple.

Hometown favorite. Great menu variety for all tastebuds and consistent food quality.

Consistently good and I just get the pho and some rolls. Always fresh and food is ready when they promise. I need to try other menu items.

Food is delicious . Fried banana & ice cream very yummy Fish & chips is sooo yummy. My grilled pork is really good too

Not too shabby. Decent viet place in Alameda with good food. Though the service can be improved. Went there alone for dine in pho and there were other servers there that didn't give me attention. They just stood around and talked to each other or to their friends there while I was waiting for water and the check. Waived them down a few times but they apparently didn't notice I was done eating 15 minutes ago and needed to go to my appointment. read more

Great neighborhood restaurant. Food is always consistently good. Easy to take out. Friendly staff.

The food was delicious. I purchased a vegetable soup and my daughter had the filet mignon. My problems were their inability to find my online order and the food is expensive. read more

As someone who frequents the restaurant, I am the most disappointed in today's visit. I called & ordered iced drip coffee for me & my coworker. The guy on the phone said to come in 15 minutes. 20 minutes later, I walk over to get it. I could tell from the new guy's face that he had forgotten to make it. He even gave his coworker an "oh shittt" look. Which was fine, people forget. But the next thing he said to me was, "I thought you canceled the order because I told you to come in 15 minutes, & it's been more than that". SERIOUSLY?? So now you're going to pin it on me?! And he went on & on about it! LOOOOK, just be honest, say you forgot to make it, & I would've been okay. Don't go rambling on with a lie & placing the blame on me! Finally, I said, "YOU KNOW WHAT? FORGET IT!" As someone who works nearby & work with the general public, I referred A LOT of people to eat there. I won't be doing that anymore. No thanks!! Also, I'm grumpy because I did not get my coffee!! read more

Banh Mi here is good, baguettes are a little tough to bite at both ends though, I find myself having to break it to dispose before eating. I usually get chicken banh mi. Pad Thai here has a Vietnamese mix to it because of fish sauce, but very delicious. I don't really like Pho noodle soup here because it is not authentic. Maybe their specialty is not pho and just wanted to add it in the menu. Service is very slow, they do take longer than normal to bring out your food (regardless of ehat you order). Usually Pho should not take that long, maybe 10 mins to prepare and bring to you, but if you eat it here, be sure to have 30+ mins to spare. read more

The things here are always alright. I have only been here for lunch and my favorite thing to get is their lunch special Lemongrass Chicken with Garlic Noodles. Their service is friendly, but thankfully, not to the point where they come by and ask you how your food tastes while you're mid-bite into your spring roll. Their food is tasty. There hasn't been anything that was made incorrectly or tasted funny, but there hasn't been anything that seemed truly outstanding. What I appreciate about this place is that there's a giant parking lot, which makes it for a better option when you're in Jack London Square Area, are crunched for time, and want some quick Vietnamese food. read more

Yum! it's in a strip mall - unpretentious and approachable. THE FOOD IS SO GOOD! We got the spicy potstickers and the shrimp/pineapple springrolls (I was skeptical about the pineapple, too; but both were hella bomb!). I got the vermicelli bowl and the grilled tofu was so so good! My friends were happy with their hot and sour soup and eggplant/tofu dish! Will absolutely be back! read more

Mint Leaf. Fresh. Real fresh. Tasty? The best. Love this place! Smallish restaurant (looks like it seats 26-30 guests). Great place for vegetarians. Today I had a late lunch and ordered my go to meal... the Sandwich Combo with tofu (one has a choice of grilled chicken, beef, pork, or tofu) pickled carrots and onions, cucumber, cilantro, jalapeño, and house mayo in a French Baguette, plus an Impeial Roll, and broth or salad) Man, that is some really good healthy eating, especially for lunch. Give up the corporate fast food and give the Mint Leaf a try, I think you'll ask yourself why you never ate there before. read more

This is our favorite Vietnamese take out restaurant. We love the beef pho, bun rieu, bun bo hue, imperial rolls, spring rolls and any vermicelli noodle dish if it's too hot to eat soup. We frequented here before the pandemic and recently visited and I'm impressed with how well they have shifted. I was never once concerned as their sanitary protocols were all there: hand sanitizer available, wiping of credit card, social distancing markings on the floor, and mask required. I'm happy to see restaurants like these (so deserving of our support) to pivot during this tough time. Without a doubt, will be returning. Just a tip... soups should be served very hot. We get it pretty hot but once I get home... I heat up the soup again to get it even hotter. Makes take out pho much better! read more

Too much COVID unsafety in the kitchen. Not safe. I thought there would be a change based on my previous complaints but I returned today and the same cook was wearing no mask and again talking non-stop to the other cook while he worked. When he saw me, he turned his back, pulled the mask over his mouth. A minute later, he covered his nose as well. When the mature hostess and host (managers?) are working perhaps he wears his mask properly, as on my second visit on 12/27/21. We should not trust this place!!!! read more

Closest Vietnamese place near my work so I've tried their pad Thai (3/5, flavor is always off and when I ask them to make it Thai spicy, their spiciest is like 3/10). Pho (4/5) broth is good, had it a couple of times. Their bbq salads are good, amount of food in the container could feed up to 2/3 people. Bun rieu (2/5) flavor isn't strong. read more

The place was packed on a Friday afternoon. I ordered to go and the sweet potato curry was amazing! The place is tiny and designed basic. They have outdoor seating. Food was ready fast. Definitely would order from here again. read more

Update: Hour changes not posted on Yelp yet. Mon-Fri 11:30a-3:00p / 5:00p-9:00p Sat 11:30a-3:30p / 4:30p-9:00p Sun 11:30a-3:30p / 4:30p-8:00p read more

Mintleaf Vietnamese Restaurant - Vietnamese Near Me - Alameda, California

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I brought my mom here for lunch this past weekend. She liked her seafood noodle soup, while I enjoyed the grilled pork vermicelli. Parking is easy at the strip mall. The restaurant is accessible for someone who needs a walker on wheels to walk around. The owners are very accommodating to my mom, holding the door for her to ensure safety. read more

Love these guys -- delicious food, friendly folks and conscientious staff. Thanks for being my go-to Vietnamese restaurant.

Love this place so much. Always fresh and super flavorful. Great customer service and always consistent. I have tried lots of items and everything is always so good! Their vermicelli bowls are my favorite as well as the chicken banh mi read more

I came here for the first time. The service was great, food was good, restaurant is clean, portion is average, but price is a little expensive. The cheapest lunch dish/entrees is like $12 as of February 2020. I would have given it a 4 stars if the price is cheaper. read more

Mintleaf Vietnamese Restaurant - Saigon Style Rice Plate with brown rice, $12.50 - Vietnamese Near Me - Alameda, California

Great place to eat clean fresh and tasty Vietnamese food. Friendly staff. Small but feels hourly and welcoming. read more

It's alright, food is good. But not scratching craves good. I was gonna rate at least 4 stars but I found a tiny bug floating in my pho broth (more protein I guess lol, but it kinda ruined my appetite). Still I would come again if I was in the area. read more

I'm always looking for a new place to eat, especially if it's Vietnamese. I found Mint Leaf while browsing places to bookmark on Yelp, and I'm sure glad I followed through to check this place out. Last minutely called up some long lost friends from high school and made plans with them to eat here. Me and a friend came here together but were early, so we decided to wait for our other friend to arrive and sat at the tables right outside. We weren't sure if this place intentionally has outdoor seating or if it was just meant for people to sit and chill, but a waiter came outside and asked if we were ready. Therefore, contrary to what their Yelp profile says, they DO have outdoor seating. It was a nice, sunny day, and we felt like staying outside to enjoy the summer breeze! We came around 4, which happened to be happy hour. Be sure to check out their happy hour specials from 4-6 on appetizers, beer, and wine! While waiting for our other friend, we decided to order the Mint Leaf Roll based on the pictures from Yelp. It came out within minutes and it had to be the BEST spring roll I've ever had!!! The peanut sauce is definitely the culprit - it's the sauce of all sauces. Please don't eat your rolls dry, dip that shit into the peanut sauce. Soon enough, our other friend arrived and we all put in our orders. We decided to order another appetizer from the happy hour specials and got the Prawn Spring Roll. It wasn't as great as the Mint Leaf Roll because it mainly consisted of plain noodles and not much else, but the peanut sauce did it some justice. I wanted to take some of that good-good home but the waiter probably got suspicious and took it away with the rest of our dishes before I could even think about swiping it. I decided to order the pho ga based on other reviews and because I felt like having soup to sip on. Unlike most other Vietnamese restaurants, this place is generous on the pho! The bowls were large for $8 and there was plenty of noodles and chicken. The pho started out really good, but I had to constantly add Sriracha and hoisin sauce to make up for the plain taste that I eventually kept getting. It could've used just a bit more to give it that edge it desperately needed, but other than that, it came really close to being the best bowl of pho ga I've ever had. The total came out to about $40, which I was highly pleased with for all the food we had. I couldn't have asked for better service - I felt bad for having had our waiter constantly come in and out of the restaurant, but he was a good sport about it. I wanted to order dessert because of the all the dessert porn pictures that others posted, but it completely slipped my mind after the satisfying meal we all had. I left a generous tip for our waiter along with a note on the receipt that said, "Thanks for the great service! Look out for my Yelp review :) P.S. the peanut sauce was AMAZING!" Hopefully he follows through and reads this Yelp review because I've never had such delicious food and great service at a Vietnamese restaurant. Seriously, though, the Mint Leaf Roll with the peanut sauce is a must. You ain't Vietnamese until you've had this. I've been on the hunt for a Vietnamese restaurant that compares to the ones in SoCal, and Mint Leaf is exactly that. This place is definitely one of my new favorites for Vietnamese food, and I can't wait to come back! read more

Mintleaf Vietnamese Restaurant - Mint Leaf Roll! - Vietnamese Near Me - Alameda, California

Mint Leaf is a small, tidy little Vietnamese restaurant with clean decor and an overall inviting atmosphere. Being Vietnamese, I rarely go out to eat Vietnamese because I got so much of it growing up. Still, every so often, I have a bit of a craving for my native dishes when mom and dad aren't cooking. Hubby and I strolled in yesterday for a late lunch on a Saturday. There were a few tables that were occupied, including most of the few situated outside as it was a beautiful early afternoon. We were warmly greeted immediately upon entering and got to choose our seats. We ordered egg rolls to start and shared the pineapple curry fried rice, which I ordered with a side of fried egg. (I have a penchant for ordering fried eggs with most of my Asian noodle and rice dishes) In addition, we also had the traditional iced coffees, drip-style with condensed milk. The egg rolls were hot, crisp, flavorful and accompanied perfectly with the customary fish sauce as well as a side of Sriracha. I was curious about the fried rice...it's something I've never encountered in Vietnamese cuisine, but topped with that fried egg, in addition to fish sauce, it really hit the spot! The iced coffee was tasty and strong. I was glad we walked to lunch from home because I definitely needed to walk it off! Prices are reasonable, service is friendly, and I wasn't disappointed by anything I ordered. I'm looking forward to visiting again to try more dishes! read more

I had purchased a restaurant.com coupon for Mint Leaf because I had yelped it beforehand and it had great ratings... I cannot say the food is bad or disgusting, but this is not GOOD VIETNAMESE food. It's like a Panda Express for Vietnamese food, good only for those that do not know what the real thing tastes like. I ordered the beef carpaccio, which was presented beautifully but was lacking the sweet, lemony, spicy sauce ontop of it. It came with just a little ramacan of fish sauce and we tried recreating the sauce with lemon and siracha, but that didn't help much. The papaya salad was lacking a lot of flavor as well. It also came with just a side of fish sauce. Seems to me that the restaurant is recreating dishes, but totally disregarding what it is suppose to take like. The only thing I thought was good was the lemongrass beef ontop of a sizzling platter. It was well marinated and the beef was very tender. I'm sorry but I would not recommend this place to anyone who is seeking REAL and AUTHENTIC Vietnamese food. read more

Mintleaf Vietnamese Restaurant - beef carpaccio - Vietnamese Near Me - Alameda, California

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This is my favorite place to get a rainbow salad. They have a delicious ginger lemonade. They also have a few clay pot dishes that I like. There is something for everyone here. I frequent the restaurant often. read more

This is my second trip to this place (first time was few years back!) and could not be more happier to be here again with my family! We LOVE the rolls and the garlic noodles!! Service is great. Servers are attentive and constantly check up on you. It is a small place so if it's packed, sorry, gotta wait. They have outdoor seating, however, just 3 little tables. On a hot day, I wouldn't recommend sitting outside. Our favorites: *Jicama Roll - FTW! It's got shredded jicama, eggs, sausage, fried shallots, mint, lettuce, and hoisin sauce. YUM. Their rolls are freshly made and the jicama is just delicious. (5/5) *Mint Leaf Roll - FTW! It's got mango, jicama, grilled beef basil, lettuce, and house peanut butter sauce. The house sauce is just delicious! And, I love the mango component in this roll. (5/5) *Garlic Noodles - FTW! Who feels guilty after having too much garlic?!? Not us! This is soooo delicious with the freshly chopped garlic immensed into the noodles. Noodles was well-cooked...not too dry or too soft. (5/5) We also had: *Saigon Style Rice Plate ("Com Dat Biet") - Jasmine rice with your choice of pork/pork chop/beef short ribs/chicken or tofu. Served with rolls. I had the chicken. It was ok. The chicken was kinda dry. (3/5) *Wonton Noodle Soup - Shrimp and pork stuffed wonton. My mom enjoyed this soup. Wontons was well-cooked and not too dry. She REALLY enjoyed the soup broth! (4/5) *"Pho Dac Biet" - Comes with sliced beef, flank and brisket. My dad and brother really liked this pho and the broth. They weren't that thirsty after the meail...no msg?! :) (4/5) Overall a nice enjoyable place to have lunch. They also have it at the Berkeley location. At THAT location, they serve smoothies and fresh juices. WHAT!!! I hope they will have that at the Alameda location soon. :) read more

Simply solid lunch spot. Generally decent value for the price when you get the "Taste of Mint Leaf" can almost feed 2 by itself, and add in Bahn Mi combo to share and frankly a delicious and filling meal meal for 2 for less than $40. read more

Interesting fusion. Fast and friendly service. Nice beer selection! Trying to find someplace new to eat for dinner, yelp once again helped us in finding Mint Leaf. Just inside Alameda through the Webster tunnel, Mint Leaf is tucked inside a small strip mall. On a Sunday evening, it looked like it was probably the only place open in the whole plaza. We were seated right away, and there was only one or two other occupied tables. But somehow, within a half hour, most of the other tables filled up. Our waitress was very friendly and attentive, and if she didn't have answers to our questions, she went and found out right away. I was surprised by their booze menu. Only beer and wine type stuff, but there was a pretty good selection. They have a vietnamese beer called Hue (different than the standard Saigon or 33), as well as Erdinger Hefeweizen, Hitachino, and Moretti! They also had a few flavored sparkling sakes I had never heard of before. For our meal we got the Clay Pot Paella ($12, coconut rice topped with chicken, calamari, prawns, and seasonal greens) and the Seafood and Pumpkin Curry stew ($12, prawns, scallops, catfish, and calamari with pumpkin stewed in red curry). Our food came pretty quickly. My dish was the paella, and it was good, but not overwhelmingly so. Pretty simple, and I felt the portion was a bit small for the price point. I only had three shrimp, but an okay amount of calamari and chicken. Everything was cooked well though, nothing overcooked. The coconut rice was rice cooked with coconut milk, and there was a lot of good veggies. The curry stew was pretty tasty and actually had the most pieces of pumpkin I have ever seen in a pumpkin stew by far! There seemed to be a lot more seafood in this dish, and definitely a ton more tentacles. For dessert we went with the crispy cheesecake roll ($6), which was pretty much cheesecake stuffed into a fried egg roll, topped with caramel, banana, and crushed nuts. Pretty tasty! It maintained its crunchiness somehow even though the cheesecake portion was room temperature or a bit cooler. It also went well with my bananaish Erdinger Hef =). Although I felt that the prices for the dishes we got were a bit on the high side, they were also two of the highest priced dishes on the menu. There were a lot of interesting sounding dishes that were cheaper, and we will definitely be back to try out some more of them. read more

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Love the service. The sweet waitress always remembers my name. I love the beef vermicelli bowl and it's enough for lunch and dinner for me. Highly recommend! read more

I always felt like if i wanted to eat at a really good authentic phò (vietnamese) restaurant, then i had to go to a sketchy a** place! Not the deal here! Far from sketchy. This place is soo clean, nice simple decorations. For some reason it felt so organic and fresh. Lol. ( i dunno but thats how i felt) I ordered the chicken phò, which the chicken was shredded but soo yummy. Will def be coming back here. I was really impressed w the service. The young boy who was working there was very professional. He checked up on us, brought all the sauces to our table w/out us having to ask for anything. Our waters were filled up right away. My friend got the roll which was BIG and tasty. Cant wait to come back! read more

Mintleaf Vietnamese Restaurant - Vietnamese Near Me - Alameda, California

The location of this place was kind of dry, there wasn't many people around. I was in the area and my friend told me this place has the "best" pad thai. I thought that was funny because it was a Vietnamese restaurant. There are many Vietnamese dishes to choose from and some of their appetizers sound pretty good. I ordered the pad thai, it came out less than 10 minutes -The noodles were regular pho noodles -The chicken breast were tender -The shrimps were cooked perfectly -There were very little bean sprouts and I wish they had green onions -THE SAUCE.. It was amateur, the sauce tasted like hoisin sauce, Sriracha, and water all mixed up and stir fried with the noodles Overall, the presentation of the dish was nice and the service was cool. Maybe it was what I got that made the experience not that great. But they should stick with serving Vietnamese food, after all they are a Vietnamese restaurant. Pad Thai? It should be called pad viet cause it taste like pho without the broth.. I would form back, but I will never get the pad Thai ever again. read more

Mintleaf Vietnamese Restaurant - Shrimp and Chicken Pad Viet - Vietnamese Near Me - Alameda, California