I have been to Bien Hen several times and we always enjoy coming here. It's less busy than OC Lau and the food is almost the same as OC Lau but I will say OC Lau is still just a bit better. When OC Lau is so busy this is the next best options to go to! The restaurant is small but I believe in time they can expand their store to a bigger location. So that they can fill up more parties. Service here is a hit or miss. Sometimes they check up on you and other times it gets busy where they tend to the bigger parties. But everyone is attentive and will answer your call. For food, we enjoying getting their squid appetizers, the Thai seafood hotpot and the grilled catfish is a MUST GET everytime we go. I have ordered their seafood items and they still have a good amount of flavors to it. If it's your first time here, I will say you will have a good experience!

I know this is more of a seafood "nhau" place but I was dying for some family style dinner. I've had their seafood here before. My go to place is currently closed so gave this place a try. Ordered clams with basil, rau muon xao toi, cha ca thi la, canh bau and ca kho to. Clams were ok. Not as good as the ones you get at Chinese restaurants. Rau muong xao was ok and portion is felt too small for the price. Cha ca chien thi la looked too brown and instead of golden but flavor was not bad. Came with some type of reddish sriracha mixture dipping sauce and my daughter and I agreed it doesn't go well with it. Better to eat it alone. Ca kho to was ok too. What was disappointing was they left the skin/peel in the bau and I'm not keen on that texture. I can eat the skin if it was steamed but since it was sliced pretty small and brought out not fully cooked, skin tastes undercooked to me. Don't worry, the flesh will be fully cooked if you let it sit for a bit. What kinda of shook me was the total. With rice added, fresh coconut and taxes, my total was $105 minus a small change. That's quite pricey. In terms of service, my water and coconut was the LAST thing to come out, after we've already started eating. ‍ We asked for to go containers and got flat containers for soup and clay pot catfish ‍. Come on guys, let's think a little bit, ok? Overall, I don't think I'll be ordering the family style dinner again. Edit: had the catfish day after with extra chili pepper in ahead of time. So much better.

Great food always at this restaurant. We always go for the Cat Fish Wrap. The Mango Salad was also very delicious as an appetizer while we waited for the catfish to come out. The staff is friendly. Check in on Yelp before you go.

Great service. Fantastic food. The staffs go extra miles to make the customers happy.

Vietnamese fried catfish!! This review is old but the food is So good here and we also ordered the razor clams and grilled bloody clams. If OC&LAU is too busy, this place serves as a good alternative if you're craving clams/escargot. Service was okay but can't complain about the food. The catfish was delicious and was perfectly cooked, crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. I love Vietnamese food and this place hits the spot if you're ever craving Vietnamese fried catfish. Making your own spring rolls out of the dish is def part of the experience and they give you a good amount of veggies to pair with the rice rolls. Their escargot/clams are also very good.

Authentic Vietnamese restaurant that serves delicious fried fish. It is so crispy and flaky, pairs nicely with fresh herbs and wrapper. My family also got the fish hot pot, the broth was delightful and flavorful. Service is a little slow due to the restaurant getting packed. Parking can be hard too because of the popular plaza. Ambiance is nice good for a casual dining or special occasion. Wait also wasn't long for how busy it was!

It was over an hour wait for OC & Lau so we figured we'll try this place. It's a great alternative since there was little to no wait! Food was pretty good as we ordered the garlic butter escargot, fried salmon belly, shaken beef, five spice deer meat, and razor clams. If you like the small escargots, then it's the coconut swirly escargots but if you like the bigger ones like I do.. make sure you order the normal bigger ones ! I was surprised how the food came out so fast. Once we ordered, the food came out within 2-5 minutes, wow ! Docked one point solely because service was lacking. All the waiters were nice.. however one particular lady helping us had an attitude and looked like she hated our table since we didn't speak Vietnamese and she somehow couldn't understand us. I asked for shaken beef (just the meat alone) and she said it comes with rice or noodles. But I see it clearly on the menu that there are diff options with or without carbs. After a minute she said yes we could order the meat alone lol... anyways it was cool, would come again to try the fried catfish everyone was ordering !

What can I say besides for 5 stars, everything was tasty for a reasonable price. 100% percent would bring my boyfriend here the next time we're in the OC area, he's a seafood fiend and this would be his dream come true! We also saw 4-5 people get the grilled catfish to-go, it looked pretty good. Cá trứng Nhật chiên giòn (Fried preggo fish): little fish as long as my fingers, fried to perfection and filled with roe. I could eat a lot of these, not going to lie. Heo rừng nướng chao (wild boar with fermented bean curd): It tasted like regular pork, but the skin was more springy than normal; think wood ear mushrooms or pig ear. Cơm niêu cá kho tộ (braised fish with crispy rice): It tasted nice and homey; I kind of want to make some braised fish after having it, it made me kind of nostalgic for some home cooked meals Mực xào cải chua: thick, meaty pieces of squid with mustard greens. The squid was cooked well and wasn't rubbery. The pickled vegetables also helped balance what was otherwise quite a heavy meal. Lươn chiên giòn: This is the first time that I've had a whole fried eel. I wouldn't say I'm the biggest fan, but I can appreciate the texture. It's similar to fish, but it doesn't flake away like you would expect fish to--I guess it's more muscular in taste, if that makes sense?

Yummmmm I love this place! It reeks of the epitome of Vietnamese comfort/street food. Come here with the expectation to get down and dirty. Their catfish is baked and deep-fried for that crisp. Fresh vegetables, and definitely hospitable, and Service is indeed good when beckoned. I always take my out of towners here if they want some good old Vietnamese food.