Gao Bistro

Food is okay. I didn't like the way they made the 'banh beo'. The shrimp on top was grinded and blended into a paste. I've never had it like this. I usually have it with dried grounded shrimp on top. The service is good, attentive. Space is clean, with nice decorations. Plenty of parking in front.

New Vietnamese restaurant on Pleasant Hill road. They open in an area with stiff competition already for Vietnamese cuisine. So how do they stack up? First off, the interior is pretty modern. Not really as traditional in term of Vietnamese influence but still very pleasant on the eyes. They play traditional Vietnamese music in the background, sets the atmosphere of the place. A blend of new and old. The service is decent, came when they were not too busy. Hard to judge since it wasn't rush hour. The staff does a good job of making the place is clean and tables are stocked. The food here has a few dishes that are not too common in the average pho restaurant. I wouldn't really consider this place a pho restaurant although it is part of the menu. They cover a wide range of Vietnamese food. From rice dishes, noodles based, to sandwiches. For the most part most of dishes tasted good. Some of the popular items are the sugarcane drink, bun cha, and bun no. The pho is popular as well as most casual people would go for that usually. Overall, price wasn't too bad. Food was good. Service was fine. Not too much to complain about. Definitely worth the visit. It's not your average pho restaurant.

Went in for the first time to hopefully have a nice experience. We sat down and other people came in after us and gave them menus first and they never gave us menus and they kept staring at my father and I. So we just decided to walk out and they had the audacity to say bye. Honey you never said hello. Just racism to be honest. I have better experiences at other Vietnamese restaurants.

*** Update: As promised, I am giving better review since I saw some improvements, both from the timing and the waitress, in my last visit. Thanks for taking customer reviews into account. *** Love the food here. They just need to work more on the timing. They do not seem to handle rush hours very well. One of the waitresses, the kind of chubby one, was a little rude and never smiled. Hope they can improve on those, and I will give a better review.

Excellent Pho Soup! The broth was so rich with flavor. I’ve tried pho soup in a few different places and this place really impressed me. The gentleman who greeted us was very warm and welcoming, the restaurant very clean and organized, with simple chairs/tables and beautiful colorful silk lanterns hung along by the window. 4 not 5 stars is because our waitress didn’t seem to want to be at her job, she barely looked at us when we requested one thing. Also the soup had some chicken pieces that were fresh soft and tender, then a few pieces that where tough and dry with 2-3 day old chicken taste, if you ever eaten reheated chicken you know what I’m talking about. Regardless I will be back on rainy day (my favorite time) to enjoy some Pho Soup!

Gao Bistro can be found within the Assi shopping center on Pleasant Hill Rd. There's plenty of parking and the outside appearance is inviting. When you walk in it's modern and very clean. Pretty fancy for a Vietnamese restaurant and honestly at first I thought it would be high priced. I am pleasantly surprised to find that it is very reasonably priced and extremely tasty! Firstly, this should be known that the food served is not as common as other Vietnamese establishments. The style of cooking is from Central Vietnam versus the usual Southern tastes that can be found all over. So when you try this out for the first time don't expect the usual, expect it to be slightly different than what you're use to. But different in a great way! The egg rolls are ok, they are pretty thin and small with a little flavor and can certainly be improved. The spring rolls were great and you can taste how fresh the ingredients were. The rice plates are all delicious, the seasoning on the pork is perfect and the fried eggs are the perfect touch. The vermicelli is a large portion and they don't skimp on the meat. The banh beo is unique and a great appetizer for two or more people. Now in my personal opinion there are two star dishes, the banh mi and the fish cake noodle soup. The sandwiches are full of meat and they are far from dry. They are served toasted (I order mine not toasted) and they have a special buy 5 get one free. I use to have to drive to jimmy Carter and now I can just go around the corner. But it's not the convenience that keeps me coming back, it's truly the flavor and quality of these sandwiches. Now I've never had fish cake noodle soup and I was so happy I ventured out and tried something new. It was to die for! I absolutely loved the flavor and rich broth and there was plenty of fish cakes! Now the only thing left for me to try is the pho. But based on everything I've had so far I'm sure it won't disappoint. I highly recommend trying this place! I go there almost every other week!

Went here with mister and his brother on xmas day. I feel so bad for the waitress because she was by herself. There was 3 tables that was occupied while we were waiting for the rest of the tables to be clean. Be mindful that this place is very small and cozy, so their seating is very limited. We sat all the way in the corner which was fine with us. We ordered right away due to the fact that more people were coming in. Our appetizers came right away. We ordered bánh bèo and papaya salad for appetizers, which was delicious. I ordered bún bò, mister ordered special rice and his brother ordered mì quảng. My food and mister brother food came out first. We ated wholeheartedly, but mister food didnt come out until I got up and ask. I understand that they were busy and short staff, but this was really irritating. I finished all my food while mister just sat there and look. His food was warm almost to cold; meaning it been sitting there. I will try this place again on a regular day!