OMG! Overpriced Vietnamese food :( Sorry..you are paying for the ambience..not the food quality.. save your money and go to a cheap good quality vietnamese restaurant.. read more

After reading the positive reviews here we decided to try out Vanessa's Bistro last Friday night, our expectations were perhaps a bit high but we kept an open mind. We were a party of six and had made reservations for 7:00 pm. We arrived at 7:00 and were promptly seated (so far so good). The place was full but did not seem overly busy. We sat for 45 minutes before anyone other then the busboy acknowledged our presence. We finally stopped one of the waiters and asked if we could order drinks, he seemed to be put out but took our order. Shortly after ordering our assigned waitress approached the table to tell us that she didn't know we were there or that we were her responsibility. I can except that as an excuse on her part but certainly not on the restaurants part. The wine list was full of mediocre wines at very high prices, I expect to pay more for wine at a restaurant but these prices were excessive. We inquired about "corking fees", I thought they were average with the exception that the first bottle would be $15.00 and the second would be $20.00. It just seemed odd to increase the amount. We waited another 15 minutes before we saw her again to take our order, this is now over an hour since we had been seated, When the meals were served they were delivered one, then two then one at a time. Several minutes in between deliveries. By the time the last meal arrived it had been 20 minutes and the first meal was finished. We tracked down our waitress (since she had nothing to do with the delivery) to provide constructive criticism, "perhaps all meals should be delivered together or within a few minutes of each other. Her response was " The Chef knows" I thinking so it was planned this way? The food was not bad but not great. The Filet Mignon was bland, the Duck received a thumbs down. The Halibut was chewy and cold, it was the last dish served, might of had something to do with it. Desert was ok but not much to return for. When presented our bill we were disappointed to see that they had graciously included an 18% gratuity for some of the worst service I have ever received. I don't consider 6 people to be a large party worthy of the questionable practice of including ones own gratuity. We will not be returning to Vanessa's, and unless they either improve or have deep pockets to support a sub-par restaurant in a high dollar lease city like Walnut Creek. I suspect they will not last long in this location. read more

This place has delicious food and good atmosphere with inside and outside seating! My go to order is the curry tofu banh mi and I really can't sing its praises enough. It has some spice from the mayo and jalapeños, some tang from the pickled veggies, and a lot of extra flavor from the curry. Anyway, check this place out when you can! read more

Went there last night after walking around WC trying to look for new Restaurants to try out. We decided on VB2 since another Restaurant we really wanted to check out was Closed on Mondays. The food was not even at "ok" level.. the fish didn't seem fresh -- smelled really fishy and I'm a seafood lover. Normally I'd take down the entire plate but I just could not eat more than one bite. They had a huge selection of Tapas (small plates) and we tried 3 of them and had pretty much the same reaction.. I think if they make some serious improvements they can be better than the previous restaurant that occupied the same space. The Improvement? FOOD. Make it better. You have a lot of competition within a 3 block radius - 20+ eateries. Also, if you want to be an alternative Happy Hour spot, definitely gotta have the Liquor. Wine and Beer just wont cut it at least not if you want to be "Trendy" read more

Came here in support of my good friend who works here. Lo and behold, B and I were blown out of the water. I kid you not. The clouds will part and the lovely melodies of the Food Heavens will serenade you to your core. I say this with MUCH conviction. Started off with a glass each of the substantial Pinot Noir from Russian River Valley. I adore mostly anything from there. Anyway. Per our marvelous servers' suggestion, we started with the Shaking Filet Mignon salad in garlic brandy butter sauce. Broiled, possibly, in pure magical deliciousness. B mused it was broiled, due to the meat being SO phenomenally tender, so moist. We followed this with the Maple Leaf Duck Confit Lettuce Wrap with fresh basil & roasted peanuts, complete with chipotle & black bean sauce. A cornucopia of flavors, all saying hello and giving each other high fives. IN YOUR MOUTH. Since we had eaten earlier, we just wanted to sample some of the cuisine and were NOT disappointed by the two chosen dishes. Following through with the meal to completion, we ended with the Bread Pudding for our dessert. Not our first choice, but we trusted our wonderful server's suggestion. THANK YOU for the amazing teaser for our palettes. Shall return to reward our taste buds in the future. Very near future. read more

Yummy Vietnamese fusion tapas! On Tuesdays, its half off tapas all day! We ordered the salt & pepper prawns, salt & pepper calamari, duck confit, chicken & veggie potstickers as tapas then also ordered a claypot rice. I wish I could have gotten a bit more daring with the tapa choices but its the sacrifices you gotta make when you bring a toddler with haha. Regardless-all of them were very tasty! If you have to choose between the two salt & pepper dishes, I'd definitely recommend the calamari over the prawns. Calamari was great. Tender and not overly chewy. Love the sauce it comes with! Gives it a nice tangy, slightly spicy twist. Loved the duck!! It comes with a side of lettuce, carrots and basil(?) that you can wrap it in. Dip that in the sauce and MMmmmmm! You can always ask for more lettuce too! The claypot rice was my favorite! Very flavorful and they dont skimp out on the meat and veggies!!!! The bottom was too burnt so that was a bummer. Hopefully next time itll be "toasted" to just the right amount. Ambiance is lovely. Definitely not a place to bring kids- but they were still kind to accommodate us and deal with the chaos that comes with. Incredibly grateful for that read more

Dear Michael (or whoever is the manager), Please read CA law. $'s paid for a groupon NEVER expire. Secondly try and make your customer happy instead of lecturing "its been valid for more than a year... yada yada yada....". You're in the business of serving food, not lecturing on the specifics of the law, expiry dates of a coupon I paid $30 for etc. etc. Best of luck and I'll damn make sure Groupon gives me the $30 back. You had a choice.... happy customer using a coupon they paid for (albeit post expiry) or piss them off. You chose the latter. ps: Groupon expired on Nov. 24th (day when you're closed.... nice!) read more

I've lived in Walnut Creek for almost two years now and have walked by Vanessa's Bistro hundreds of times. I finally was able to try this place out last week on a first date. The place was very hip and classy. I was expecting sky high prices but it was actually very reasonable. It was 1/2 price tapas night so we ordered three dishes to share and a few drinks. All of the food tasted good and had great flavor. The employees were friendly and attentive too. I'd definitely come here again... Hopefully soon. read more

Overall (6/10) atmosphere (5/10) food (6/10) drinks (6/10) price (5/10) I do not understand the hype of this place. I was expecting something really, nice, but I should've known not to eat here when there is a tv along with couches in a nicer dine in restaurant. The atmosphere is not very inviting and I think they would do better to either be a lounge or a restaurant (get rid of the tables, or get rid of the tv) Food was so-so, and a little pricey and you could find better elsewhere. I am not too thrilled about this place. Would I come here again? Probably not, unless someone really wants to try it and i might give it a shot read more

Oohh...Vanessa's, am I glad you found a second home here in Walnut Creek : ) Thanks to the Living Social deal I bought for Vanessa's, I was fortunate to have dined with them recently. Located in the heart of WC, smack dab off N.Main st, right next door to Tomatinos and across the street from Band of America, this place can easily be looked over compared to the other eye catching restaurants surrounding however, upon entering, it is anything but to look over. Ambiance pulls of an incredibly sultry, romantic, classy feel, with an incredible Merlot red and black color scheme throughout, dimmed recessed lighting, all creating an ultra sexy feel though, not lacking in class by the least. It was a Monday early evening and they had only about one other group dining in, which of course gave me the perfect opportunity to choose were I would like to sit. I ended up getting a nice table against the wall, perfect for sitting back and admiring the ultra cool ambiance. The gentlemen assisting me was extremely genuine and quite knowledgeable about the food variety's, wines and the culture of fine food in general. I was really impressed. They really have an outstanding selection of items to choose from with all of them looking quite appealing. They also have happy hour specials as well that I of course did not partake in, buy have a feeling I will soon : ) They have a really nice wine list as well. For my drink and by recommendation from my server, I decided to get a glass of Malbec ( cant recall the name) he also let me taste just in case before I made the final decision and it turned out quite nice. For starters, I decided to go with the Shaking Filet Mignon Salad in Garlic Brandy Butter Sauce. This was an outstanding recommendation from my sever and apparently it got major recognition and was featured in Diablo magazine. It turned out fantastic!! The filet Mignon pieces were cooked medium rare making it delicate and savory in taste. The sauteed onions were cooked perfectly and the light sauce in was just exquisite in taste! Definitely a winner! Next I ordered the Spicy Coconut Curry Chicken(White Meat) w/ Potatoes, Carrots, Bell Peppers, and Mushrooms however, I opted out on the potato's and finally I could not resist to get a side order of the Garlic butter egg noodles mmm... The coconut curry chicken arrived in a scorching hot bowl. It appeared at first to be a small amount of chicken however, once maneuvering around in the bowl, there turned out to be a quite generous amount of chicken and the flavor was flavorful with the right amount of spice. As for the Garlic Butter Egg noodles? I had to stop my self from downing the whole thing...which I ended up giving to my bf to do so which he loved! It was butterlicious!! Overall, I absolutely love the inside ambiance, the service was quite friendly and helpful and the food was just fantastic!! I really can't wait to go back! read more

I came for tapas later Saturday afternoon (2:00 P.M), so the place was a little dead, but we had good service. We shared Saigon Beef Noodle Salad, Salt and Pepper Calamari and Chicken Rolls. The only little bummer for me is that the Calamari didn't include tentacles - this happens to be my favorite part, also the Calamari didn't seem to have any "pepper" in the batter - like the name implys (I'm a fan of salt and pepper calamari). Otherwise - everything was very fresh. If I have a hankering for small bites - I'll be back. I hope they get some outdoor seating. read more

This place is some kind of funky mix of Vietnamese, Chinese, and American cuisine. The result is pretty bad. The papaya salad was little to no dressing and was basically shredded unripe papaya with a couple of shrimps thrown on top. Not horrible, but just no real flavor. The potstickers we had were breaded or in some type of pastry puff?!? Really unnecessary and not great. The Vietnamese Banh Mi sandwich tapas comes with pulled pork. That's right, not grilled Vietnamese pork, but pulled pork. It's a very odd combination. Who thought of this? We also had the shrimp fried rice which wasn't horrible, but they put some kind of lime flavor on the rice. As with the rest of the dishes, it was a very odd pairing. The fish tacos were ok, but again, a strange combination of ingredients that did not compliment each other well. Why is a Vietnamese/Fusion restaurant serving tacos anyway? The drinks (being happy hour) were cheap and decent. I would not recommend the food here. That being said, we had a lovely server Bianca who was very nice and attentive throughout the meal. We had higher expectations based on the Yelp reviews, but I suspect some of these are fake. For a Vietnamese restaurant in the Bay Area, this place is inauthentic and not great. read more

So I"m updating my review because I think this is The Best Happy Hour in Walnut Creek!! Why? Tasty! Fresh ingredients! A good variety of flavors and tastes. Good options for drinks too. A nice alternative to the fatty cheap happy hour alternatives floating around the creek. Hip too! read more

In the cozy, smoozy, date friendly establishment know as Vanessa's Bistro. You are getting an Asian fusion dining that would rival any four-star dining from San Francisco with a higher price tag. With it's stylish decor and reasonable drinks, you can find yourself on the cusp of a good night out. (If I do say so Myself). Good thing to try here is any of the soups, and of course the spring rolls, I came with a medium-sized group and we shared and sampled different foods from each others plates. I'm not a big fan of tapas or small plates since I love to eat, yet I give this place the two-thumbs up, especially if you can come during "Happy Hour" (be cautious with your bill, you might end up spending a pretty penny) But try their "Shaking filet mignon salad" which was really good. A little like on the steak, but it's okay, SPRINGS ROLLS ftw! read more

One of Walnut Creeks gems that's covered in bucket of ROCKS! This Restaurant lounge is what Walnut Creek has been needing. The Drinks And food Are over the top. I will continue to support this small town family business. Freddy Sanchez owner/ operator the CLIP JOYNTE BARBER SHOP Walnut Creek read more

Took my girl out for weekday lunch which we both look forward to. Checked to make sure they were open. Sign said 11:00am on Friday, it was 11:03. Asked if they were serving and they said yes please come in. Nice chill music in the background. The soup came out, first bite, then very loud metal sawing 10 feet away. Thought something must be wrong so I got up to see. Someone was doing construction in the bar next to where we sat. The owner came out from the back looking perturbed that I should interrupt him with my questioning glance, then said he has to do this before customers come in. Were we not customers? He brought the remaining food where I asked for the check and paid it promptly and left. He seemed concerned that I didn't want a box to take it with me. Since he didn't acknowledge that we were 'customers', I couldn't trust that his bad attitude and disrespect didn't devolve into the treatment, quality, preparation, or 'additions' of the food he brought out. I know everyone has a bad day, but his actions ruined the pleasant lunch we had sought out and don't get enough of. Who pays to eat in a construction site? Not interested in dining drama. Guessing this isn't the first time. Make sure the place is full to avoid unpalatable treatment. Buyer beware. read more

Love the food, service and cocktails. My favorite is their drinks. Food is delicious and they are small servings and the perfect size. I love going to eat there with my wife. I recommend you make a reservation. read more

I had been thinking of giving this 3.5 stars until a waiter (I think it was the owner) came out, asked how we liked the noodles and I said "What's in it"? I knew it had salad greens, rice noodles, fish sauce, cilantro, marinated beef and lemongrass, probably some garlic, maybe shallots, roasted peanuts, cilantro, lime, but wait...what's that bizarre flavor? I said "I've traveled all over, I love southeast Asian food, but I've never had that flavor before". He said "oh - there is some...it's kind of like basil, but I don't know the word in English - I will bring you some". Okay - he brought us a dish of it and as soon as I tasted it, I said "that's IT!" I was soooo happy! "What's it called in Vietnamese?" Ramrau. (I'm guessing - wildly - on the spelling). This alone was worth at least $50 to me. He told me where I can find it - a local Asian market. I was so happy. The rest of the food? We started with the tuna carpaccio and I have to say, they kind of wrecked it. There was too much going on and it totally obliterated the taste of the fish. Then the duck ravioli - 2 of them were undercooked - the pasta tasted like dough. The other 2 were good. Then the Saigon style noodles with lemongrass and the afore-mentioned ramrau - overall, the dish was a little bland. We thought it needed just a touch of acid (lime) and/or maybe some siracha. Next we had the lemongrass chicken in coconut milk - very good - and a side of bok choy - also good. Rob loved how eclectic the wine list was and the way it was organized, although they had a wine listed as Primitivo and described it as a zinfandel, which it is definitely not (this is a common misconception). His other gripe is that the wine is overpriced - they give somewhat small (4 oz) pours for the price that another restaurant would charge for a 6 oz pour. Worse, the service was not great when it came to the order of things - for example, they brought our tuna out before they brought out the wine - aaah! We just sat there and waited for the wine. t. And later, when we wanted another glass, they were slow to bring it - not good for the customer, but also very bad for the restaurant, since the vast majority of their profits are from alcohol. Also, some very small nitpicky things: Rather than give us new silverware, they took our old silverware off the plate and left it on the table. There was no need for this because they set the table with more than one fork. They also cleared the plates before I was finished eating - I know a lot of restaurants do this, but why not wait until everyone is finished?? As I said, it would have been 3.5, except for the nice gesture of the (presumed) owner, taking the time to tell us what was in the noodle dish and then bringing us a sample of the ramrau. We do think that they are trying hard, and hope that they take this as constructive criticism. Now I need to cook some Southeast Asian food! read more

Superb service. Good food. Lots of variety. Date sucked. read more

I had higher expect ions for this place considering all the reviews and they have an existing place in Berkeley. All in all, I thought it was just okay...nothing really stood out besides the fact that the plates were of small proportions and pricey. The food wasn't bad but I just felt like most of the flavors were flat. They have an extensive wine list but again nothing on it seemed unique. For the prices and what this place serves, I would recommend Eleve (which also just opened down the street). read more

On the plus side: I like what Vanessa's has done with the new location. The floor plan & decor are far more logical and appealing than what Bosphorus did there. But the food was just . . . passable. Nothing made me close my eyes, lean back, and say a silent little "thank you" to the FSM. (You know what I'm talking about. Picture your reaction after each bite at Va de Vi!) After so many people raving about this place, I expected at least one moment of foodie bliss. But nope. Nada. Oh, but sweet Beezus, what is up with their tap water? Do they get it from a funky fishbowl? 'Cause I swear that's what it tastes like. Even though I wanted a second or third cocktail, I refrained, because deep down I wondered if they purposely served such grotesque water just to force us to keep buying liquor. I wasn't gonna play into that trap. ;) As my dad would say, "Don't piss on me and tell me it's raining!" read more

Wow - this place turned me off at first impression. We made reservations and were running about 10 minutes late, so we called to let them know. They said no problem we allow a 10 minute grace before we let someone take your table so we said great. We walk in and check in with the hostess - and she said 45 min wait? I was like, wait, didn't I just talk to you? she said yes and we gave up your table. I pulled out my iPhone and is said 11 after. So I asked - so your telling me that you sat someone in the last 30 seconds because we were 30 seconds over the 10 minute limit AND i called you? She said yes - we walked out. We will never return and assure our friends never do either. PS: In regards to Micheal's response below. For him to try to justify why a table was given up when: 1) a phone call was made letting the hostess know we will be late and never once on the phone did the hostess explain a table would be given up the SECOND the clock stuck 10 after 2) we literally walked in the door at 10 after - we were not even a minute past, yet somehow the table was given up in "a split second decision" Is unprofessional and clearly does not understand the situation. read more

This review is mostly for the crappy attitude of the staff. I purchased a Groupon for this place, the only requirements were to have a reservation, and to use the whole value in one visit. I called when they opened, it was a Monday afternoon. Told them I had the Groupon, they told me I could ONLY use it during dinner hours, not lunch, and that started at 300. That was fine with us, so we made a reservation for 330. When we arrived, we were told to sit anywhere, so we sat up front in the lounge area. It was apparently Happy Hour, but there was only one other table of 2 there at the time, nobody else. A rude asian guy (his pic is on the wall with his family, so I assume he is an owner?)came up and told us we couldnt use the Groupon value for ANY drink specials or tapas during happy hour, ONLY full priced dishes and drinks. I explained that caveat wasn't written anywhere, he said the deal wasn't written properly. I said "I don't really see how that is my fault", but it was only $30, and we were planning in apps, drinks, entrees, the whole thing. He then snapped rudely that we werent allowed to order ANYTHING from the happy hour menu, regardless of ordering full price items, that they refused to accept the Groupon as part of the deal, and then he stormed off to the bar area. Another asian guy (also in tge family photo)came out frombehind the bar and said there had been a mistake on the Groupon, but that they would "take care of us", (don't know what that meant, we got no discount or drink or anything). We decided to just order an app and a couple drinks since we were already there. Drinks were good and strong, and the app we ordered was delicious. We decided then to go somewhere else, but used the restroom prior to leaving. ***GROSS ALERT***. A female staff member (white with dark hair in a bun), went into one of the stalls, and when she came out, she left WITHOUT WASHING HER HANDS! Also, she left remnants of herself behind in the stall, in the form of bloody tissue in the toilet and on the seat. Needless to say, we won'tbe back, and will be calling Groupon to complain. YUCK read more

Average food, worst customer care EVER! Tapas are average... Well they manage to burn the fish tacos... So I would say less than average. Owner has the worst attitude I've ever experienced in a restaurant! You can read yourself here how he responds to the bad "well deserved " reviews! Really mental! Go to Va De Vi... It Is just round the corner if you want tapas! Forget about this place! read more

This review is long overdue... came here once for dinner thanks to a groupon deal, and i am now here for happy hour at least once a week. This place is consistently delicious, and the service is fantastic (Michael & Jimmy are awesome). Don't miss the tacos, the salt & pepper calimari or prawns, and the shrimp fried rice! Frankly, everything I've tried is wonderful so I don't think you can go wrong with anything you order. Without a doubt, this is the best place in WC for happy hour: $5 drinks (well made drinks at that) and $6 tapas. You cannot go wrong! Just don't take my seat at the bar... read more

Had a late night snack there last night (Saturday) and had a horrible experience. Their posted Saturday hours at until 12am Before we walked in we asked the waitress. " are you still serving food" she said. Yes! It's 10:53pm Okay great we come in and another waitress runs to our table and stares at us! She says the kitchen is closing in 10-15 minutes so you have to hurry to order. We place our drink and app order and tell her to give us a minute since our friends haven't arrived. She returns a few minutes later. The bar is closing she says you have to put your drink orders in. My response was well its 11pm don't you close at midnight? She says yes but we are slow so we are closing early! Wtf? The girl has a horrible attitude our food seemed pre made because it came out seconds after we ordered it and our drinks were warm since she brought them out 15 minutes before we were even ready for them. Mind you this whole time new customers are walking in and ordering! This place used to be great but I just don't suggest it anymore. Service sucks! Don't waste your money! We wasted money. Very disappointing. read more

I would like to start by saying that Vanessa's approach to Vietnamese with a twist of French flair is very creative and I appreciate the gesture. However some flavors need to be a little tweaked - if you are going to talk the talk you got to walk the walk. We ordered the duck wraps, calamari, quail, hamachi carpaccio and the sweet and sour soup. The best dish by far were the duck wraps - tender, juicy, fresh and with a bit of crunch from the peanuts, yum! Unfortunately, the other dishes fell short - one sauce was way too sour, the quail was over done, and the seaweed salad that accompanied the carpaccio was practically non existent. I think with a few small changes these dishes could go from 2 to 4, or even 5, stars. There seem to be a lot of other people that enjoyed this place so it is possible that I visited when they were having an off night. I am willing to try Vanessa again, perhaps during their happy hour. read more

We came in, and could not get seated except in the very front lounge area. We had a cocktail and ordered their sweet potato fries. Cocktails were not great, and the fries bordered on terribly soggy with grease. . . we skipped having dinner there and went elsewhere. Guess Vanessa's is ok for a . . . well, I don't know what. read more

I really want to like the spot more. I've been here twice now and the menu sounds great but unfortunately the food is usually a little less than impressive. A group of three of us ended up dropping by Vanessa's as everything else in Walnut Creek at 8 o'clock on the Saturday had to wait a longer than an hour. We were seated right away which was great. We ordered a few different martinis I will save the bloody Mary Martin he deserves five stars!! The tomato sauce is beef-based and it's kicked up a notch with Sricha. I have the Thai basil gimlet which was actually sweeter than I would've liked and the cucumber jalapeno martini which was decent. Our table also had Vietnamese coffee at martinis which were great. Now as far as the food is concerned we had that all he pokey which just was generally very disconnected and needed some sesame oil to bring it together. The beef carpaccio which had two big chunks of onion in it which kind of ruined it. The fish tacos which are decent but needed salt and pepper. The quail which actually was pretty tasty including the sauce that came with. The salt-and-pepper shrimp which is basically just fried shrimp which was meh... My favorite dish that we had was the Dungeoness crab salad very well-dressed and balanced. The service was rather slow which ended up being fine since we weren't in a rush but just beware. I would pop in here again but would make more of a concerted effort to make reservation somewhere else next time were in Walnut Creek for dinner read more

Came to Vanessa's with some friends for an early dinner on a Saturday. Based on the menu and the Yelp reviews/pics, we thought we were in for a delicious meal. A one word description for our food is underwhelming. We ordered some items from the happy hour menu and the dinner menu including the papaya salad, salt and pepper shrimp, beef carpaccio, salmon/tuna poke, salmon tartare, spring rolls, and duck. The beef, poke, salt and pepper shrimp were all pretty good and seasoned well. Everything else was really bland and didn't have much flavor at all. None of our food tasted like traditional Vietnamese food. We left the restaurant dissatisfied and annoyed. read more

Great place to come chill and hang with friends after work. Staff and management is great. read more

Vanessa's Bistro - Vietnamese Near Me - Walnut Creek, California

Super disappointed by Vanessa's Bistro :( I was so excited to try it out when I first saw it open up in Walnut Creek. The interior design is very cool, with loungy seating/tables near the front entrance. I suppose I may have also been sold by the bevvy of cute girls that seem to frequent there. However, when I actually went, the food was over-priced, the portions were small, and the taste was mediocre at best. I thought there was incredible potential for French/Vietnamese fusion, but their I was thoroughly disappointed. A sriracha aioli steak sandwich sounded good, until you realize that you've paid $14 for roast beef, carrots, a french roll and sriracha sauce. Their duck confi fried chicken wings weren't all that impressive at $8 either. I suppose I'd give it another try if I went at it with a different approach. Next time it'll be drinks and appetizers only... but that will have to be at someone else's suggestion... I'm not going back on my own volition. read more

It was the second time we ate there. Our first time was great, this time around was not so good. Probably because it was a busy night before the holidays and the place was packed. We ordered the tuna/salmon poke, since we had it before and really liked it. It was very disappointing, watery and not fresh. You could tell it had been prepared ahead and sitting in the fridge. We also had the prawn and scallop curry, which we had last time and were impressed with. It was ok this time, but there was not much to eat. We also had a special, sole stuffed with crab, which was better than the rest, but we could barely taste/see the crab. We skipped dessert... not sure we will come back. Quality has gone down a bit and the menu has not changed in 6 months! read more

Nothing deflates your balloon like salivating over a menu before you reach a restaurant, knowing what you want, taste buds dancing in anticipation, and then you find out you can't have it because the oven is broken. Welp, so much for that crab sandwich. I opted for the crab salad and spring rolls. Both were mediocre in my opinion, but I can say we received good service. I had such high hopes with there being so many great reviews. 3 stars not for the oven being broken, I understand things happen. 3 stars for the food that was just OK. read more

Wanted to check out the other tapas place in Walnut Creek for lunch but they were closed that day and stumbled past Vanessa's. This place may have a completely different vibe in the evening, but for lunch, one of the first words that popped into my mind about the restaurant was "pretentious." The decor was trendy, with a bar and a long narrow row of dining tables. The waiters were young, dressed in black, and the host though not rude felt cold and uninviting. He asked if we had reservations (the place was virtually empty). Reservations for a late lunch on a Sunday? Do people do that? Yelp has this place listed as $$ but the tapas are more like $$$. We spent almost $70 on lunch and didn't even walk away with leftovers. Ahi Tuna Carpaccio - very very thinly sliced raw ahi. The sauce tasted just the teriyaki sauce at the mongolian bbq place, Oodles of Noodles, in Brentwood. It wasn't bad but drowned out the flavor of the ahi. $8 a dish for about 1oz of meat was overpriced. Skip this one. Filet Mignon Carpaccio - ok, so we didn't really know what carpaccio was before this but apparently it means very very thinly sliced pieces of raw meat. This was beef obviously. The sauce on this was lemony and gingery and melded better with the beef than the ahi dish. If you've ever had the raw beef dish at authentic Vietnamese restaurants, this is pretty much it. Except about 5x more expensive and still not as good. Again, $8 for about 1 oz of meat. Maybe 2oz. I'd also suggest skipping this one. Fish tacos - This is only the 2nd time I've had a fish taco and I gotta ask, they don't have much flavor, do they? Couldn't taste the fish though the sauces on the tacos were good. 3 small tacos for around $7. Nothing to write home about. I'd say skip this one too. Beef ribs - 2 pieces of big beef ribs. This was the first thing we had that we actually LIKED. The piece I got was an end piece and had no bone. The flavor was very strong (but I liked it) and the texture of the beef was very tough and leathery. When I noted the texture to my bf, he was surprised and said his was very tender. I tasted his piece, which was an actual rib, and it tasted and felt completely different than my piece. He didn't like the stronger flavor of my piece, but I liked both. Around $7. This one I'd recommend trying but hopefully you don't get the leathery end piece. So that was all we were going to order at first, until we got to the end and realized we were still hungry. So we ordered: Buttered garlic noodles - This was a side dish and turned out to be our favorite thing here. It was just garlic noodles so not a piece of culinary masterpiece but they were soooo addictive. I would've been happy with just an order of these. $6 and enough for 2 people to share to accompany an entree. Duck confit entree - A quarter leg of duck over some fancy potato and bok choy. I liked it though the flavors were understated. Bf said it tasted like they didn't do anything with the duck, which they may not have. Ok but not great. $13. The food here is overpriced, though if you consider the amount of service that is required in making and serving small plates, you can understand why they would have to charge more (extra labor). Our waitress was spot on in bringing out the dishes immediately after we finished the previous dish, and she was friendly in a muted way. (I'm not calling her a mute, I just mean she wasn't gushingly friendly but more of a polite friendly.) I had been curious about this place so I'm glad we tried it but there's no doubt we won't be back. The vibe is a bit too trendy for us casual slobs (we're suburbians!) and the food is way expensive and just not that good. read more

Tapas and cocktails for $6? Sounds great, right? Meh. We ordered the chicken wings, and some noodles and sushi plates. While the price was right, something was amiss flavor-wise. I don't recall how great the drinks were either. That says something, cuz nothing really stood out. Maybe it was an off night in the kitchen, or maybe we limited our food order. I'll have to go back and give it another shot! read more

Where do I start? I probably come here at LEAST 3 times a week with my friends, who equally love everything about this place! The drinks are delicious and the food is always tasty and fantastic. My friends and I not only come here for the amazing food but the service is spectacular. The servers, bartenders and owners really make you feel at home. Their service is unsurpassed by any other and you really see everyone working together as a team! Love this place and it's definitely a treasure in walnut creek! read more

Vanessa's Bistro - House cab, let's be friends, gin martini and their steak with cumin prawns! - Vietnamese Near Me - Walnut Creek, California

Not impressed by any means, the order was not what they menu promised. The 4 potstickers did not contain any vegetables nor chicken, although the waiter was polite enough to explain he has made suggestions to the staff to make changes but they do not listen. They were very bland and the portion was small for the price of $10 . You can get better portion and deal at Cheesecake Factory or any other place that serves Tapas menu. Disappointed to say the least, I do not understand what the hype is about. Maybe I will return just for drinks but def not worth the $$$ for sure! Go elsewhere better value at nearby lounges/restaurants. FYI if you order the Lychee martini, be prepared to see something that resembles the male genitalia part. (See photos I posted for better description :) ) read more

Vanessa's Bistro - What I thought was suppose to be " CHICKEN AND VEGETABLE" potstickers very bad - Vietnamese Near Me - Walnut Creek, California

See all

I definitely did not pick this place to try because of the name of the restaurant. ;) My sis and I wanted to catch up via dinner in Walnut Creek and we decided to try Vanessa's Bistro 2. My first impression of the place was that it looks nice - that it looks like a restaurant version of a poppin' club in the city. The ambiance was definitely nice. I liked the zen decorations and I felt like I would have decorated the place the same if -I- were to own a restaurant like this. I must say that the wall fountain by the bathroom was entrancing. We booked a table via Open Table so that was convenient. Unfortunately our table wasn't immediately available and so we waited for about 10 minutes. It's ok -- we were not in a rush. The hostess was really talkative and nice so it didn't make the wait feel that bad. Plus, smartphones entertained us. We got seated and were given our menu. The selection was pretty nice. We ordered garlic noodles and claypot chicken. Along with that we started off with lychee martini and some white wine. It's too bad we couldn't wait 45 minutes until we could get happy hour prices. It's interesting to me that there's a happy hour that start at 9pm from Thurs-Sat! We were sharing our orders so we got extra dishes. Both dishes were very flavorful but there weren't a lot of "main" ingredients; for example in the garlic noodles, there weren't a lot of prawns nor veggies. We had a lot of noodles left over (ah! the carbs!). Same thing happened with the claypot chicken. We ate the chicken and veggies but there was a lot of rice left over. =\ If I were to party it out in downtown Walnut Creek (and avoid the whole SF scene), I definitely would do dinner here, get my drink on and then go clubbing. read more

Customer service is not good here - I'm surprised people had a good experience. Maybe it's unfair to write this because they might actually have good customer service, but I certainly did not get that and I think I'm right. My friend had warned me about this place a few months prior but I chose to experience it myself. I went here for dinner on a Friday night with friends. We had reservations so we were seated right away. My two pregnant friends could not decide on what to order (which is totally acceptable because they're pregnant so LET THEM BE) and the waitress looked so irritated. She couldn't even hide it on her face. I asked how big the portions were for the overly priced dish I was asking about and she gestured a width with her hands that indicated it was a large dish. Sure enough, the meal was NOT the size of her charade and I had to order another overly priced dish just so I could feel full. I'm fine when it's small portions but don't exaggerate the size; it just irritates the customer. She even got one of my friends order completely wrong but of course, it wasn't HER fault (from the expression on her face). The food was not that good. I've definitely had better. I ordered the spicy coconut curry chicken dish and I think there were 4 small morsels of chicken in the small bowl. For $13 it would have been nice to have some more chicken. My second $7 dish to fill me up was the vegetable pad thai and I think I counted 10 noodles...So weird that they skimp on the amount of actual food you're eating. Instead, they give the illusion of more food by piling on unnecessary items on it. But if you pick at it, you'll find the main item is certainly lacking in the dish. What irritated and upset me the most was when the hostess came up to us and told us to leave because they needed the table for another party. Are you serious? We just paid for a $100+ meal and wine and you're asking us to leave? I will never come here again until management cleans up their staff's attitude. The food I can probably live with since it might just be their style...just not mine. read more