Cafe Hue (Reported Closed)

Recommends

everlastingcontrast

Joined 6 years ago

Hidden Gem In Pioneer Square. My wife and I have been regulars to this restaurant since 1993, and have always enjoyed the tasty ethnic food, warm atmosphere and charming ownership that Cafe Hue has offered for years. After being closed for close to 2 years, I'm extremely happy that they've reopened and going strong! I've liked what I've seen from the remodeling, the restaurant interior looks great with all the orchids, bamboos, lilys, flowers, and leather tableclothes. The menu looks slightly shuffled up with new delicacies, which is not a bad thing at all. I would highly recommend the Vietnamese Crepes, Seafood Hotpot, Mussel appetizer, and of course, the spring rolls. The only downsides to this otherwise great restaurant are the lack of parking spaces in Pioneer Square, and Pioneer Square's reputation of being a kind of "shady" place. The last thing I'll say about Cafe Hue is its versatility in appeal, it is a good family restaurant that you could take your kids to for healthy eats and yet is romantic enough that you could bring your wife to for your anniversary. It is a restaurant with an upscale interior and upscale-quality food and yet the prices are quite reasonable. Highly recommended!

Recommends

ghs

Joined 9 years ago

Beautiful interior and well priced. Will go back.. Very tasty and very reasonably priced Vietnamese food. The interior is beautiful with an exposed wood ceiling and fresh flowers everywhere. Charming owners. We'll be back.

Recommends

kate03054

Joined 6 years ago

Fresh and Tasty. Cafe Hue in Pioneer Square reopened in May after a 2 year hiatus. It's a family-owned Vietnamese restaurant-- the food is fresh and tasty and everything is priced around $7-$10 for dinner, with $6 lunch specials, 13 vegetarian dishes (the menu is huge), and some more expensive fare. Their new decor is sort of contemporary looking, with handmade wooden lamps and lots of live orchids.

The service is refreshingly gracious, and our waiter answered our questions about the menu thoroughly. At his recommendation I ordered the vermicelli bowl with skewered pork, which was sweet and savory. The noodles were flavored with fresh mint and a fish vinaigrette that wasn't at all fishy. The pork was ground and formed into meatballs before grilling, and it was smooth and sweet with no weird gristle (I hate gristle).

Dessert options include fried banana with icecream or Vietnamese dessert soups. The fried banana was good, crispy on the outside and coated with sesame seeds.

Doesn't Recommend

starcat1971

Joined 8 years ago

Mediocre Mediocre Mediocre. The best thing about this restaurant is the interior... one of those old places with high ceilings, brick walls and big windows. And I loved the no frills, comfy furniture.

But the food... blech. We ordered bun, a Vietnamese staple, along with spring rolls and bbq pork. The selections of bun were minimal and there was no banh hoi or anything like it. So finally I just asked for bbq pork and the waiter recommended a dish. The pork came as pork chops over cooked to a chewy texture and drowned in some sort of overly sweet sauce. The spring rolls had such a chewy skin I had a hard time eating them. The noodles in the bun were good and so were the imperial rolls on top. But the 'imperial rolls' were more like thai fried rolls than any sort of Vietnamese imperial roll I've ever had.

Recommends

seattles_best

Joined 9 years ago

underrated, overlooked restaurant. The food here is well, prepared, and very flavorful. Prices are reasonable, and the service is great. You don't have to go to Little Saigon or South Seattle for Vietnamese food. There's a great place in Pioneer Square.

Recommends

alphatridog

Joined 11 years ago

A great hole in the wall. This is the sort of place I love. A funky exterior, a pretty nice interior, and good ethnic food. I work across the street and this a spot I passed by for years. Now, I eat there at any chance.

Try the chicken curry, its a great presentation of a yellow curry by a vietnamese restuarant.

And if you haven't had vietnamese food, you are missing a real treat. Go now, before it becomes trendy!