I give it 4 stars for what it is. This hole in the wall Vietnamese / Hawaiian BBQ spot is no frills. It's a good meal for a reasonable price if you don't mind a cramped space. My friend and I got the vermicelli noodle noodles with egg rolls; he got beef and I got 5 spice chicken. I liked his beef better because it was more tender whereas my large piece of chicken had a bit of gristle stuck in it. The portions are quite large and you could split a meal or take leftovers for later. Their location on Valencia has more seating and their location on 16th is much smaller but they share a kitchen. The waitress / hostess was friendly, offered us water refills, etc. read more

Sunflower Authentic Vietnamese Restaurant - Chicken vermicelli bowl and beef vermicelli bowl - Vietnamese Near Me - San Francisco, California

I was headed to a movie premiere next door but needed a meal after a workday and a commute from across the Bay. I have seen this cozy nook for years when in the area. Since I have a soft spot for mom and pop shops and some evenings call for comfort food, I walked in and was greeted warmly. I chose the table closest to the cashier and was promptly offered ice water and the menu. I opted for the garlic noodles and Thai tea. My dinner was a treat, hitting all the right notes of warm, rich, and sweet with some heat provided by the hot sauces available. I enjoyed having a birds eye view of the busy kitchen and watching steam rise as meals were plated. read more

Sunflower Authentic Vietnamese Restaurant - Vietnamese Near Me - San Francisco, California

This restaurant is great! Delicious food at cheap price. But the restaurant is open only Saturday and Sunday. If it is closed, just walk about 50 meters away to 16th Street. It is the same restaurant. read more

My go to local pho spot. The portions are a good bang for your buck. They have some Hawaiian options on their menu too. The service is usually very fast and kind. It's a small spot so if you come with a group, hopefully it's not busy and you can get sat. What's confusing is they have a sister spot with the same name on 16th street. read more

Sunflower Authentic Vietnamese Restaurant - Menu - Vietnamese Near Me - San Francisco, California

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Food: 5/5 Service: 4/5 Ambiance: 3.5/5 Overall: One of my go to's when I'm in the mood for garlic noodles. It's reasonable and good in my opinion. The extended review... Food: Garlic Noodles with Shrimp - So these noodles are DELICIOUS in my opinion. I've been going here for a long time and it's remained consistent for years. Sometimes I even have enough for lunch the next day. So buttery and garlicy I LOVE IT! Service: Friendly and attentive service. Ambiance: A little nicer a setting as opposed to the location right around the corner. You won't smell quite as much because the kitchen is contained. read more

Some people think this spot is popular for Vietnamese on Valencia. They have a door on 16th and one on Valencia. I was excited to try it finally, but it was a bit disappointing. I got the chicken noodle soup(pho) and it wasn't that good. Maybe the broth was missing something or there weren't enough chicken pieces. There was a big pile of noodles and I didn't want to finish all of the noodles. They had sprouts to add, but I didn't use them. I squeezed some lime. I felt bored by the dish and underwhelmed. Ah well. My friend got chicken fried rice and he packed it up for later. read more

Sunflower Authentic Vietnamese Restaurant - Vietnamese Near Me - San Francisco, California

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A good portion of delicious garlic noodles. I was deciding between the shrimp or beef garlic noodles but decided to go with the beef. Love the fresh garlic flavor. Noodles were chewy. The beef was tender beyond believe. Delicious. $11. read more

Sunflower Authentic Vietnamese Restaurant - Garlic noodles with beef. Delicious. - Vietnamese Near Me - San Francisco, California

**OH NO!!! We just ate at Sunflower-- and the menu has changed!! NOT FOR THE BETTER(in my opinion). Now they are serving Chinese food (WHY??), which has knocked out Vietnamese dishes (hot&sour soup, vietnamese/veg crepe, and on and on -- the best dishes are gone.. OUR FAVORITES-- ALL ... GONE!!) I like this place... but less.... PREVIOUSLY WRITTEN: A simple place with great food- it's easy and tasty. I always enjoy this place, and it's a favorite of my mom's. Never have had an issue with service. read more

Ok here's the problem. They make the worlds BEsT Vietnamese soups so I continue to go there. But the service can be mean as F*ck to the point that I barely want to tip. When I went there the other day the place was empty, I was literally the only customer. They were blasting KOIT horrible 'light rock less talk ' elevator music with long long commercials. I asked if they would turn it down. No they would not. Ok think I'll go around the corner to the other Sunflower that isn't as nice inside but the servers are! read more

Ok some of the items are a hit and miss depending on the chef that day I guess, usually I love their shrimp fried rice but one time it was full of onions like three different kinds which is two to many onions. Otherwise the food is ok and its convenient for me to pick up on my way home. read more

Sunflower is one of my favorite Vietnamese restaurants in SF. I've been going here for 20 years and haven't been disappointed until today. I ordered my favorite lunch special and was surprised/confused when it arrived with egg drop soup? If i wanted Chinese, i would have gone to Big Lantern. Also, the veggie Imperial roll came with a sweet Chinese style sauce that was nowhere near as good as their usual Vietnamese sauce. I overheard the waitress telling another customer that they have a different chef now, and have removed many items from their menu. . Don't get me wrong, the food was good, but not Vietnamese. I'm very sad. Please bring back the hot and sour soup and the other dishes that your loyal customers love. read more

I decided to return to this location after they have been closed for some time. As I was looking at the menu, the waitress took my menu away. She even looked back at me after the fact. Very rude. I wanted to order my usual Vietnamese Hot n Sour soup that is still listed on the menu, but was informed they no longer make it and had me try a Chinese Style hot n sour soup. Authentic Vietnamese Restaurant is false advertisement. I was willing to order the 5 spice chicken and had my Visa out, but due such inconsiderate service, I lost my appetite and walked out. This location was my go to before they closed for that temporary period of time. read more

We were craving Vietnamese and wanted to go to Mau up the street. Unfortunately it was closed (strange for a Sunday night), so we came here instead on the recommendation of a friend. Place is just OK. Hole in the wall, a little grungy. The waiter was a bit of a tyrant - refused to seat us till he saw every member of the party (the entire group was in the restaurant but one person went to the bathroom!). We were taken to an ugly table at the back of the restaurant near the kitchen - did not feel clean or appetizing. Still it was a cold night and we took what we got. Service: Not friendly. I don't think the servers were Vietnamese. They brought things out in random order (appetizers after main course, curries before rice), and forgot to bring out one of our appetizers. Food - the good, bad and ugly. Noodle Soup - good. Hot and Sour Soup - Delicious! Claypot Special - amazing. Just delicious - the flavors are like a party in your mouth. Shaking Beef - Very Good. Veggie Dumplings - Terrible - avoid. Order the spring rolls instead. Veggie Curry - OK nothing special. Most popular items were big soup bowls and fresh spring rolls. I highly recommend the clay pot special. Many tables had the green beans which looked very good. The carafe of red wine was a great deal at 7.50. Wine was surprisingly good. They forgot to bring out our imperial rolls but charged for them. When we pointed it out to the waiter he go upset, so we had to show him all the dishes we were served to prove we did not eat them. Mixed bag, but fine for a quick bite. Try to get a table closer to the front of the restaurant. There is seating on the 16th St side of the restaurant and my friend says the service is much better on that side of the restaurant. read more

Awesome noodles & broth! Clean, no frills but my favorite warm your heart take out!!!

Service here isn't really good (they have me the check shortly after my food arrived?) and the garnishing and table settings are questionable. Admittedly, the beef pho broth is good. I suspect that the owners aren't actually Vietnamese though as they were speaking Canto. The menu has no Vietnamese names for things, or pictures, which made it extremely difficult to order. They didn't understand me when I spoke Vietnamese either (used northern then southern dialects) which was strange. All in all it was just OK but if you need a quick bite and are in the area, it'll do read more

The place is ok, kind of a little hole in the wall. The food is amazing and its so reasonable. Ive been twice and loved what I ordered both times. I would go there again and again. read more

Meh. The combo fried rice had no flavor, aroma or presentation. Lemongrass chicken w/ green beans was slightly sweet (which it shouldn't). The imperial rolls were the most decent of the three items (not good, just decent). First & last experience. read more

Sorry to report that Sunflower has a new chef with a new attitude and it's not good and neither is the food!

I love this restaurant! Amazing Prawn and Garlic Noodle! Love the catfish claypot. So yummy!

On the menu, imperial rolls and veggie imperial rolls are the same price. Cool. If you order a meal that comes with imperial rolls but you want the veggie ones instead (say, because you're Jewish and don't eat pork, for example), that'll cost you an extra dollar. EDIT: make that ONE imperial roll. I'm really, really tired of local businesses just looking for ways to screw customers because they feel like they can. read more

OK, this place is definitely more of a 3.5-4 star place, but the current 2.5 star rating is ridiculous. The food is delicious, the portions are fantastic and it's quick. It ain't fancy and the service is whatever - but that's not why you are coming here. You are coming here for simple, tasty Vietnamese food. read more

Great food, annoying waiter. Alll the food came really fast and was delicious- however, our third friend was a bit late and the waiter wouldn't let us order...anything. Not even a drink, until she got there. Not to mention he asked several times over the course of 10 mins where our other friend was in a not that crowded restaurant. Weird. I'll still go back though... read more

Won't go here again. The food was good, but the place was dingy, and staff was extremely rude. When we were leaving, left a small tip, (about 10% based on service). Rather than asking why the tip was small the waiter decided to tell us how much we should tip him (he figured 20%) and wrote in the "proper" tip on our receipt. Rather than argue, we ignored him, paid cash, and left. The waiter then began cursing behind us. Never had such an experience before. read more

My wife and I first found this place in 2005. It was AMAZING. Everything was delicious. My favorites were the soft shell crab and the prawns. Fast forward a decade and we were heading to the bay. I looked up Sunflower only to find that it was closed (I know there is the sister spot on the other side of the block, but didn't want to go there. Don't ask me why.) Last weekend, we were headed up to Cal to tour for my daughter and celebrate my birthday. I gave it a look just for kicks. I wanted to go to that once amazing spot for my bday dinner. Low and behold it was open!!!! We went. It was AMAZING, again. Just like before, except no crab. But that was okay. Everything else was a fantastic as I remembered. Especially the prawns and garlic noodles. Wowzers. I see that several people had problems with the service. That was not our experience at all. Having see the reviews, we went in expecting some challenges with the service. So, we began the visit with kindness. They responded with the same kindness. The rest was a pleasant experience. The food was great. Just like we remembered. This time was even better, since we got to share this place with our now teenage kids. read more