Mai's Vietnamese Restaurant
- Price Range: $$
- Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
- Attire: Casual
- Good for Groups: Yes
- Good for Kids: Yes
- Delivers: No
- Take-out: Yes
- Waiter Service: Yes
- Wheelchair Accessible: Yes
- Outdoor Seating: No
- Alcohol: None
10 Reviews for Mai's Vietnamese Restaurant
I've been eating at Mai's for over ten years. The food isn't always perfect, but it's usually good. And what a great place to take a bottle of wine or six pack of beer and enjoy the company of friends without the distractions of loud music or the glitterati. This is a place for regular folk who want decent Vietnamese food and don't care much about "atmosphere" and the usual Dallas nonsense. Try the egg roll bowl.
People thought this was:
Useful (1)
Cool (1)
Located at dumpy Fitzhugh and Brian St, I've been going to Mai's for almost six years, at least once a week. Last month, the owners finally started remembering my coworkers' names. Well done, Mai's!
Mai's has good, solid food. Some days it's better than others, but I always like what I get. It's become a bit of a ritual -- 3 shrimp rolls with peanut sauce and then one of three items: the shrimp clay pot, the shrimp curry pot or the garlic shrimp lunch.
My coworkers usually get the Pho, which they absolutely love. Me? I'm not such a Pho guy. (Get it? Pho guy?)
I've also tried the crepes once and found them to be very tasty.
The prices are low and the service is pretty quick, so it's a great place to come for a quick lunch if you don't have a lot of time. The only downside is the crap location and the elevator music they pipe in 24/7.
Bottom Line:
Good, solid Vietnamese food at low prices! Bring your homeless repellent.
Three and a half stars and a place on my "best of."
People thought this was:
Useful (2)
Cool (1)
We ventured over to Mai's today for some lunch. We were immediately seated and helped by the couple running the place. I ordered the pork imperial roll. It was wrapped in rice paper and came with peanut sauce for dipping. It was delicious. For my meal, I had the pho with beef. The jalapenos that came with it were super fresh and so spicy...loved it. I found the broth to be extremely flavorful and the beef perfectly lean. Anyway, the meal was great and I thoroughly enjoyed my hearty and relatively inexpensive lunch. The decor was shoddy, but it did not detract from the good food and fast service.
Update: After having much better Pho elsewhere, I am having to lower my rating. I do, however, still think Mai's is worth a trip if in the Uptown/Downtown area.
People thought this was:
Useful (2)
Cool (1)
This BYOB restaurant in East Dallas is a mainstay for great food at a low price. Atmosphere is almost an afterthought, although it has improved considerably in recent years -- adding large format photos of Vietnamese scenes. Menu highlights include fresh Imperial rolls with shrimp or tofu, hot clay pot dishes with veggies and rice, and traditional iced coffee or tea sweetened with condensed milk.
People thought this was:
Useful (3)
Cool (2)
The flavors are muddled. The pho is pale and lacks flavor. The chao tom (charbroiled shrimp paste wrapped around sugar cane) was practically rubber. The curry chicken was amateur. If we're talking about Viet food in just the downtown area, then Oishii does pho better. Vietnam Restaurant does noodle dishes better. I've been told that the quality has declined over the years, but I was never particularly impressed to start with. The ups are that it's BYOB, it's Western-friendly, it's never so busy I can't get a table or so empty that I feel awkward, and I didn't have to get on I-75 to get there.
People thought this was:
Useful (2)
Mai's is a place I've been visiting for a long time now and I can't say it's really hit or miss, if I had to go one way or the other, I'd say it's a hit in my book. You can bring your wine right on in, no corkage fee, the rocket shrimp always come out the same, quite tasty with seemingly fresh Romaine lettuce and cilantro and some kind of plum dipping sauce which I always load with the spicy Sciracha Rooster sauce that burns the dog out your tongue. But this approach can never go wrong with a first date as she'll just be drinking more wine, increasing your chances of making that first move and all, lol. Just kidding, more about the food. Most of the grilled items are flavorful, the soups are decent although I've found better Pho down the street at the appriopriately but unimaginatively named Vietnam Restaurant, which now has a corkage fee(only 5 dollars but still a bit off-putting). The owner, Mai, is not the most personable sort, very limited conversationalist and all but his wife, Hana, who has quite a bit of sex appeal for a lady her age, is very pleasant and helpful. Sit near the fish aquarium, there's this cool-looking baby sharklike fish in there that I've watched grow from a fishlet to a sort of sharklet or whatever you call it. He's fun to watch, especially after a few glasses of wine as he kind of terrorizes the other fish, snapping at them, tearing small chunks of flesh from the other more docile fish. Quite an entertaining dinner performance if you ask me...and there's no charge for the show, lol.
People thought this was:
Useful (3)
Cool (5)
When I think hole in the wall, I think Mai's...You are on the East side of town in S.Dallas and there is this vietnamese restaurant that looks like it could be a pawn shop. Bar-ed windows and video cameras surround the place, as I believe this is a potential spot for local theft and break-ins.
HOWEVER, when you step inside to this place, you are transformed into temporary Vietnam. Vietnamese decor and soft lighting compose the dining areas and people are enjoying their meal. The menu itself is very authentic with an abundance of items that you can order. My favorites (what I order EVERYTIME) are ...
1) I start with the Shrimp Spring Roll that comes with the peanut sauce
2) I have my Cafe-Su-Dua (vietnamese ice coffee with condensed milk)
3) Chicken Clay Pot--This is sooo good! Vermicelli with chicken and black mushrooms on top of rice, all in a clay pot. This can also be made spicy, which I recommend.
Time and time again--this is what I ALWAYS have here.
During the week, people on lunch break from Downtown Dallas and surrounding fill this place up and on weekends, the place can be busy as well. This is a sure gem in the city!
Mai's is one of the better Vietnamese restaurants around uptown. The prices are alright for this area and the food is good. It would be better if they did not put msg in their food, but maybe I could ask them to hold back on the msg next time.
My friends love the clay pot rice dishes. I tried the shrimp one and it was good. The canh chua ca (sweet and sour fish soup) is pretty good. It comes with rice noodles/vermicelli, but I prefer it with white rice. It is byob, so that is plus. The place is a mom and pop restaurant that is kind of run down, but I am fine with it. Its been around for 25 years, so they must be doing something right. Mai's has better Vietnamese food than Green Papaya, which is pretty Americanized and overpriced. It was pretty full when we walked in, but the food came out fast.
People thought this was:
Useful (1)
This is the first place I ever had Vietnamese food and the first place I take people who have never had it. I love there beef Bun Bon Xao- you know its the rice noodle dish with, spicy beef, shredded lettuce, sprouts, carrots with great sauce that you pour on top. The also have excellent spring rolls. My husband like the Pho soup too. This is a great hole in the wall, right next door to Jade Garden Chinese.
For the price, it's pretty good. As others have said, atmosphere is non-existent.. BYOB makes this place a winner for me.
Food: got the shrimp imperial rolls as I had read they were a hit. Not so, they were just full of rice noodles (not much else) and were more of a utensil to get the tasty peanut sauce to my mouth. The chicken curry clay pot was great but be careful about ordering your food "spicy." It is not a joke. The fried rice was good, but only after adding soy sauce. My friend ordered the shrimp that comes on rice noodle triangles with cilantro and lettuce on the side, and I will order those the next time I am here, they were really good.
I also ordered the vietnamese coffee with condensed milk and beleive this is also over-hyped.
People thought this was:
Useful (1)
Cool (1)
People Who Viewed This Also Viewed...
Related Lists
-
Top Restaurants
Some of my favorite dining destinations in the… -
My Personal Best Of…
My favorite places to drink, dine and spend my…
Hot and New
- Namoo
13 reviews
Dallas, TX
- Ve Ve Restaurant & Bar
1 review
Dallas, TX
- Chosun Kalbi
5 reviews
Dallas, TX
- Henk's European Deli & Black…
9 reviews
Dallas, TX
- Green Papaya Cafe
18 reviews
Dallas, TX