Nha Trang Restaurant

NOTE: I read every review of this place before going there and too many reviewers have called this wee place a "hole in the wall". Sorry, that implies a "dump" to me. THEY ARE WRONG!!!!  This is a very tidy, clean and charming small restaurant!!!! Don't ignore this place, thinking it's a dive, because it's just the opposite.
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I found this delightful restaurant via the Places app on my tablet. What a loss it would have been if I had never found out about this place! We live 1.0 miles exactly from here and when we arrived, it was very early (4:30 p.m.) so no one else was in the place. A wee Asian girl brought us the menus and then "Mom" came out for our orders. No piece of paper, she commited 5 dishes to memory! "Dad" then came out with our beverages: two stunning drinks made with FRESH orange juice and club soda. OMG, they were SO good we had 2 each. We ordered for appetizers roasted B.B.Q. pork on shrimp crackers and shrimp/salad in rice paper. The B.B.Q was to die for! Honestly, we fought to the bitter end for each piece, it was THAT good. I ordered Spicy Catfish in Coconut Curry (mild) and my friend ordered Chicken with Lemon Grass. We both found ourselves marveling at the service, the atmosphere, the freshness of the food and drink and were sad that no one else was in the place. Finally, around 5:30 p.m., people came in, but only to pick up food to take home. How much did we like everything? While still eating, we were planning the next time we'd come here and what else we'd like to order!

Do yourself a favour: skip the $$$$ Lincoln Park food and hightail it over to this place! Parking is on Belmont Street; might be a lot or off-street parking elsewhere. Right on the Belmont bus line and by Milwaukee, but we drove.

I am sorry to say this is not the place to go for Pho and that it wasn't really even edible. I really really wanted to like the food and like this place b/c it's so close, its  a family owned place, and I was so craving even some average Pho.

If you are looking for a mom and pop type of place, then this is it. This is the TRUE mom and pop; it was quite endearing to walk in and see a family run a restaurant. Older couple with their two kids and just watching how happy they were to cook for you made my day.

As far as the pho, I have had better but it did remind me more of a homemade pho that I would have at someone's house. For appetizers we had the chicken curry spring roll which by far was the best spring roll I have had. It was a new concept for me and I enjoyed it.

Overall, it was a great place and I would definitely return there on my next visit to Chicago. However, if you are looking for great service, fancy table settings then don't go; it might not meet your standards.