Recently I was asked to review Viet Grill, so I dutifully trekked across town to Shoreditch of a Friday evening, in the hope that Viet Grill would woo me with its fine Vietnamese Cuisine. If wooing is what went on that night, then I should marry this restaurant and not Monsieur. The recent refurb of this bastion of Vietnamese food on Kingsland Road has turned it into a chic eatery with jungle walls, intimate lighting and unisex loos. As we sat chatting to our waiter about his recommendations, I spotted the shrine behind the bar. This was a 21st century shrine all glowing with the help of red neon lighting, and the wine bottles stood to attention in seriously regimented rows. In my closet-obsessive way I like that sort of attention to detail, with all labels facing forwards. So with such an organised and ueber cool interior, could the food possibly be up to scratch? I'm happy to say yes, yes and then some. Monsieur had been to Viet Grill at Christmas last year and although he enjoyed his Chicken Royale, he said that some of the party found their selections to be a bit underwhelming. But under the guidance of our kindly waiter, we were to experience near-perfection. If you decide to give Viet Grill a chance to woo you, here are the dishes that made our mouths water each time we remembered them for some days afterwards: The Lotus Salad, crispy and fresh with spliced king prawns and the softest pieces of pork; Beef Vinh a skewer of beef pieces so tender they almost dissolve in your mouth; whole oven-baked mackerel served with banana leaf and lemongrass this dish will make any fish-lover sing all the way home; succulent Chicken Royale made golden by a delicate soy broth; wash it all down with a bottle of Gewuerztraminer, which matches this selection surprisingly well, and keep your head by diluting your blood/alcohol levels with a trendy cylinder of Artesian OSS water all the way from Norway. Definitely book ahead, especially if you visit Viet Grill on a Friday night, as we did the place was pumping, filled to the brim with happy diners and showed little sign of slowing down when we left at 10.30pm. read more

I love this place so much that I've been to eat here on consecutive days... Everything is so fresh and zesty; there's nothing else to hold a candle to it on Kingsland Road. The menu is huge, and the dishes are very affordable, so you can make a pig of yourself without repetition. More than that, it's utterly utterly delicious. I wish I was there right now. I always, always, always get the 'Feudal Roasted Beef'. And then argue with my other half about whether or not it's better than the Beef Vinh (I think it is). The only reason I can't give it five stars is the wine - it's a well considered list, but dramatically overpriced. They need a couple of house wines in the £12-£13 bracket really. read more

Pics@Chopstix2Steaknives http://chopstix2steaknives.blogspot.com/2011/12/vietnamese-eateries-in-london-cay-tre.html We all gave out a laugh when we saw a little square on the side of the menu that said 'Recession proof meal'. That was a 2 course for £10 and why not so we went ahead and ordered that. From the appetisers, you get a choice of either the Grand Imperial spring roll, chilli squid or lotus stem salad. With the mains, you get to pick one from their main dishes and we all went with the vermicelli salad. At this price, you get a decent and tasty fare that you can't complain about. read more

I hate to be the one person to tear this place down, but really-- I had a terrible experience there last night. Friends had recommended it, making it all the more disappointing. To start off, the menu we were given once we sat down did not correspond with the one posted outside the main entrance. The prices were higher and the "recession deals" were absent. When I enquired, I was simply told, quite brusquely, that yes, the menu had changed. OK, but not even an admission that they'd been thoughtless in not updating their outside menu? No kind of recognition that it was misleading to customers? Secondly, a friend and I ordered tap water, only to be looked at disgruntledly The two waiters kept hovering and repeatedly asking if we didn't want any drinks. We weren't being cheap-- we just only wanted water! Two other friends ordered beers, but clearly this was not good enough. Thirdly, and most irritatingly, we ordered as an appetiser a seafood house platter priced at £8.50 to share between four of us. We were then told that the minimum order for this dish was two, something not indicated in the menu. We thought "what the hell" and agreed to order two. Well, what we were presented with was one-- yes, one-- rectangular plate containing about six deep-fried king prawns, a pile of deep-fried squid strips, a bit of salad garnish and one small-ish deep-fried crab. Huh? I thought we'd ordered TWO platters! So basically we paid £17 for a few nibbles each of a very poor seafood selection (and all of it deep-fried... probably to obscure the fact that it wasn't fresh). Any good points? Well, my friend's catfish was tasty and tender, and my friend's chicken was decent. My wanton soup on the other hand was mediocre, and I paid £8.50 for a "large" portion (i.e. the same portion you pay £6 for in any other standard Vietnamese restaurant). Add to this the fact that mains do not come inclusive of rice and/or noodles, and our bill skyrocketed. Don't be fooled by the fact that this restaurant has fancy decor and is always rammed. Go somewhere else on Kingsland Road or elsewhere; the service is bound to be friendlier and they won't trick you into paying loads for merely passable fare. read more

Had a wonderful meal here. The place was seriously buzzing when we arrived. Each dish was excellent, could hardly fault one, and several reached lofty heights. Service was excellent. Brisk, efficient and most affable. Recommended. read more

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A nicely laid out restaurant along Hanoi row (Kingsland Road/Hoxton) Id describe as generally ok food and drinks. The service did leave a lot to to be desired (literally). They got one of our party's order wrong, I suspect due to the nosiness of the place but then made a big deal trying to entrap us into suggesting we had ordered the wrong dish which we hadnt. They then proceeded to be quite unresponsive and moody with us. My food came without several parts mentioned on the menu as well (though the main dish was delicious). Definitely need to work on level and quality of service and noise to complement what is otherwise good Viet food. read more

Food, delicious vietnamese food! We sat at the bar which was a little quieter than the tables, and nibbled on the delicious dried Jack fruit. Cocktails were nice, food delicious. We had tasty squid, delicious beef vinh, refreshing prawn summer rolls and creamy fried aubergines on rice. Ice cream was slightly dissapointing though. read more

The best vietnamese in London, if vietnamese is not Pho. First of all, this place, no matter how busy they are, they have never turned me away because I haven't made a prior booking ! I've tried most of the dishes here in Viet Grill. Rule of thumb, i'd avoid all the dishes which sound like a variant of chinese stir-fried, as they would taste exactly that (boring). in other words, if you are familiar with chinese food, avoid the ones which you recognise on the menu :D If i could only order 2 things of the menu, they will be : - the oven-baked mackerel, which is so well done to the right level of moisture, crispiness, flavour - cassava vermicelli which is cooked with a special herb which renders the dish an unique flavour ! For pho, i'd prefer this other place in south london .... read more

First time I went here I loved the Pho and we were all happy. But I think they give a good service when they are EMPTY! I was meant to go to The Breakfast Club, but it was so packed and I was too hungry to wait. I figured I could do with some Pho. This time it was a little busy, but it was early afternoon, so they weren't rushed off their feet. The service was appalling. I've noticed this trend with some restaurants, where unless you are Caucasian or from the same country of origin as the workers they will not give you the time of day (I'm from the Far East too, but obviously not their kind). This time round the Pho was less than mundane and my friends chicken was still bloody, real nice(!). I ordered jasmine tea and what I got was a pot of extra, extra, extremely strong old tea. Ya know the kind where they just reuse the same pot of tea over and over, topping it up with a few leaves. I can usually drink quite strong tea, but it was unbearable. I rarely make complaints in restaurants as I don' t like to make a fuss. I asked for the tea to be changed as I could not drink it. The first challenge is to try capture the attention of one of the waiters. Obviously this is a difficult task even when they pass you and look at you, but you are still ignored. I had I raise my voice a little, which isn't something you want to do in a restaurant as it draws attention and I feel uncomfortable. I had to ask where my tea was as I was left waiting a while. I figured they were changing it as a whole. When I finally got it back they had just topped it up with a little more water. YUCK! It was interesting watching the waiters attend so attentively to the group of viets next to my table. A friend has also commented on how the staff can be quite rude. I believe a good experiance come from good service. I too am a paying customer and I would expect the same service as the other people there, but obviously I was wrong. read more

i went here a bit ago with a large group of work peeps on a sunday night. we had the foresight to give them a heads up, so they had a table ready to accommodate us. being hospitality folk ourselves, we like to think that we dont do all those annoying things large groups in restaurants do. right. sure. we tried, hows that. i organized starters for the table, getting way too much food, naturally. we each got a main and some rice and side noddles, and a couple bottles of wine. while the service was a bit disorganized and the food came out way disjointed, it was super tasty. even though there was way more food then needed, we managed to finish off most of it. and the best part: between 10 of us, the bill came to 30 quid each. including tax and extra tip. boom chicka. read more

Sometimes you need more than a roast dinner on a Sunday... I've spent most of February dreary craving the clean spicy notes of South East Asian cuisine. Partly because I've been a bit ill, partly due to a (slightly unusual) craving for healthier food and mainly because when done really well it's bloody lovely. All things considered then, it was inevitable I was going to end up on the bottom end of Kingsland Road at some point. Home to a concentrated community of Vietnamese expats along with the shops and particularly the restaurants that support them. For me, I've had some great times at Song Que, abrupt perfunctory service and canteen style decor aside. One of the other gems on the street is the Viet Grill, sister to popular Cay Tre in Old Street. There are another 4 or 5 that I've been recommended to over time too, it's almost enough to make you hug a hipster and spend more time in the East End. It's more designed than many of the cheaper cafe options along the road, fishtanks built into the walls upstairs and down, a well designed bar area and rather garish wallpaper. The tables are plain dark wood, bottles of chilli sauce stood waiting, kept clean by constant turnover. Don't get me wrong, it's not as canteen-like as Song Que, but it's definitely not somewhere you can linger over a coffee. We went for the Cà tím nng and the Ph cun to start (all of the menu items have the original Vietnamese authentically written alongside, though you won't hear many of the slim jeaned trendies who mainly fill the place these days parlaying the ting Vit). In translation, a silken steaming pile of slowly braised aromatic aubergine topped with spicy, caramelised minced pork and thin noodle wraps with strips of beef steak and herbs. The porky aubergine was revelatory. One of the tastiest things I've eaten this year so far. Our mains were more of a mixed call, though more of choice and judgement than quality of the food. My partner went for the Pho. Hot, spicy and packed full of rice noodles and fragrant broth, it's the dish that keeps going. I went for the Tamworth pork belly, served in a caramelised coconut juice with a side of jasmine rice. Pleasant enough, with the subtle more-ish heat of star anise and a chilli kick in the coconut juice, the texture wasn't doing it for me. Fat braised down, skin of gelatine, maybe it's my expectation of pork belly. One or two of the quivering cubes served with a crunchy salad and side (some of the veg percolating in the pho would have done the trick), but as it was, it was a lonely single texture, and rather a lot of it. one to be avoided unless you're dining with a group. Worth a note that there's a pre-six o'clock and lunch menu, great value at £6 for a large bowl of pho. That being said, a small bowl will do most people, and free you up for other choices on a menu of spicy delight. read more

reserve on Toptable. get points. and eat good food here! this was the first Asian restaurant I've been to where the prices are fair (for london) and the food tastes good. Unfortunately, I didn't order the typical Vietnamese food (like beef noodle soup, vermicelli w/ meat, or rice plate with meat) so it's tough to measure how this restaurant compares to the usual Vietnamese restaurants I eat in California. I ended ordering a seafood and rice plate, imperial roll, and shaking beef. For those dishes, I thought they tasted delicious. I recommend the seafood and rice -- it's worth your money. If you want some good Vietnamese/Chinese type of food, it's worth giving this restaurant a try. Better yet, reserve it on Toptable (UK version of OpenTable + Poor man's version of Yelp). You can't afford to not use Toptable if you plan to be in London for a week (or more). read more

The food was excellent. Just the waiters were way too present and we felt watched all dinner long.

The places wasn't all the bad, however, my friends (that I loving refer to as my Asian Invasion) have been on a Pho kick to find the best in the city. On this quest, we stopped at this place to see how the Pho was. It wasn't. It was a little bland. They didn't give you a lot of extra things to add into the Pho, such as limes and sauces. Pretty much, I've had better Pho. I'm not sure about the rest of the items on the menu. read more

Agreed with the blandness. Excellent presentation and nice lighting/design, but as a pho lover, I found the pho bo depressingly small in quantity and not particularly tasty. My lemons and bean sprouts were far from fresh. I've found street vendors with better pho. Having said that, a 'large' bowl of pho only costs 6 pounds before 6 pm, which is pretty cheap fare for London Also, typical of London restaurants, the waiters here took ages to bring the bill even when there are few customers read more

I was brought here by a friend who lives in the area, and who mistakenly made a booking for a neighbouring Vietnamese place on Kingsland Road. He had the prawn bun xa, which looked great. I had the mushroom photo, which was also very good. I added an egg yolk, because I am a big egg-in-soup fan, but £1.50 is a bit much of a markup, in my opinion. Nevertheless, everything was delicious, and I might even go out of my way to come here again. Service was friendly and quick, and we got out before the Friday night rush of diners. read more

Sister restaurant to Cay Tre, this place serves basically the same menu. The food was generally delicious, the beef in the bo kho (beef stew) could have been a bit more softer. Only gripe is that sometimes service can be slow here. read more

After a long walk from street art site seeing around the merry ol' Shoreditch hood, we ended the expedition by having some Pho for lunch. Mind you it was drizzling all day and it was rather cold, a good remedy back home for such weather was a big ol' bowl of Pho Tai! I ordered the Pho classic and it definitely wasn't the same as the broth back at home, but I actually didn't mind it. The broth here was clear and tasted simplistic which with a richness in flavor. The only complaint I had was the vermicelli since it was soggy, but it wasn't enough to deter me from enjoying the broth. read more

Awarded as one of the best cheapies in town, with a dozen of positive reviews posted on the main door, I couldn't refrain from popping into this 2 storied vietnamese restaurant on a lazy Sunday evening and checking on me what the buzz was about. Straight after ordering our drinks, opting for some traditional jazmyn tea, we dive into the quite wide menu, that offers basically a long list of soups and evoking main courses. I felt sort of lost and decided to ask our waiter for the most convenient choices, that turned out to be a small size soup and any kind of roast- duck, pork, beef or chicken to name a few-. He recklessly suggested a big bowl of soup for starter, which would be a mistake as the portions are massive; honestly I reckon a large bowl can hold a liter of those succulent soups!. This is not necessarily bad but I have always had a soft spot for finishing my meal, difficult task to accomplish if your starter call fill up a mammoth The main courses were also abundant, tasty and beautifuly presented, and, what is most, healthy enough to get your less lenient doctor approval. Say goodbye to mixed feelings after a heavy and rich meal out.. I also admit that the service was very considered and on the spot all the time, matching our standards with no problem. To round everything up when the bill arrived on the table we were surprised for good, way under 30 pounds all together, making that place a one to definitely keep in mind. read more

The best Vietnamese in London by a country mile. The ingredients are fresh, the portions generous and the dishes simply delicious. If you don't know what to choose, go for the smiley faces on the menu and you can't go wrong. I had a frogs starter (almost my duty when in an english group being french and all that) and the tiger chicken and tried a dozen other dishes from the party: all fantastic. Now I want to go back for a soup session. read more

I only had the one dish which was the spring bowl but I thought it was extremely tasty and with lots of nice fresh herbs. My dining partner ahd the seafood on jasmine rice and wasn't as impressed she thought the squid was rubbery and the scallops tasted old. But forget the homeamde lemonade it is mostly ice! Still I like this place best out of the ones I have tried on kingsland road, it has the tastiest food and the best decor. read more

Had a disappointing meal here. The service was very very slow. The starters were great but the mains not so much. More of a flashy cocktail place then a genuine Vietnamese spot. read more

One of the most posh vietnamese restaurants on Kingsland Road, so prices are a couple of pounds higher, but then you get to dine with nice fish tanks and swanky tables. I saw some very large groups dining on a Friday night and they all looked very happy. I'd recommend booking ahead if you'd like to eat at 8pm, as the restaurant filled to capacity between 8 and 8:30. It got very loud, as the interior is all hard wood. I wouldn't come here for the pho or the bun, I've had better elsewhere. It's better if you branch out, try the curries or the sizzling beef. Service is the usual madcap rush typical of a very busy restaurant. We had 3 people offer to take our drink orders after we'd already ordered drinks. Two of our mains were served, then the rest of the meal trickled in, including our starters. At the end they asked us, politely, to vacate so that other diners could be accomodated. But that was only after we'd chosen not to order dessert or coffee. So if you know what to expect, it can be a very pleasant dining experience. read more

I wasn't impressed at all with my plate of "Sizzling Seafood". The word "sizzling" was entirely inappropriate. It was bland. The bottles of wine were painfully overpriced too. I wouldn't go here again. read more

Best Vietnamese I've had in London, largely courtesy of the starters which were gorgeous. The dumplings, soft rolls and calamari were all perfect - fresh, filling and delicious. In comparison the mains were a slight disappointment: beef brisket a little dull in flavour, chicken royale just chicken with a slightly bland sauce. The sitting duck curry was much better, but I wish I'd ordered the mackerel which apparently is really great. read more

A friend of mine once said "Viet Grill is where East London goes to get fed." It couldn't be more true. While it's smart, modern, airy decor may put off some looking for a more "authentic" Kingsland Road Vietnamese experience, it is about as well run and well appointed a restaurant as I've ever known. It's beyond reasonably priced, the food is very good, and the wine goes beautifully with the food and is served in big beautiful and varietal-appropriate glasses. While I was living in London I used to come here at least once (sometimes twice, sometimes three times) a week to "get fed". Personal favourites include the Pho, the Duck Curry (heaven), and the Spring Bowl. read more

This is my favourite on the 'Pho Mile'. The beef pho here is really really good... for me the best on this street, but... they lose one star as the waiters here sometimes (it seems) operate in a Viet Grill in a parallel universe as they just don't notice you sat their for long periods.. Great food though. :) read more

The food is good. The atmosphere is nice compared to other Vietnamese places. A nice buzzy vibe and pleasant surroundings. The food is loaded with msg so be warned. I love the salt and pepper squid and you can see those big splinter-like crystals glistening all over the surface. Portions seem to have become smaller. There are better choices for value. This place is a crowd pleaser so I usually take friends here. read more

for appetiser we tried spring rolls it was fresh and beautiful looking! and for main dish we tried mekong fish in claypot ( i think this is their popular dish) and pork with aubergine , both are very good. read more

Viet Grill - top: mekong fish in claypot bottom: pork and aubergine - Vietnamese Near Me - London, XGL

We were seated and were literally the only customers there. Waited 15 minutes while three girls who worked there at the bar chatted and sipped on tea. Tried to capture their attention with no luck and walked out. Confusing menu. read more

This place does the best Vietnamese food. Always lively and attracts diners from all over London. There are a large range of dishes to choose from on the menu, and so always hard to decide what to eat! The prices are very reasonable and you'll leave the restaurant very full! read more

go the quail curry! although i've had better pho in other countries, ive yet to find a better pho in london. we usually get the quail curry main, and the 'recession menu' - go either pho or lemongrass pork/chicken vermicelli and the calamari for entree. yum! read more