CoBa 53
“Followed by chicken In the clay pot, spicy beef with vermicelli & salad, & snapper with kind of a sweet & sour sauce.”
“I ordered the Thit ba rui kho- caramelized pork belly braised in coconut sauce.”
“Presentation gets a thumbs up: the chicken and bok choy were carefully placed on the bed of chicken rice.”
CoBa 53
Takes Reservations: Yes
Delivery: Yes
Take-out: Yes
Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
Bike Parking: Yes
Good for Groups: Yes
Waiter Service: Yes
Price range.
$$ Price range $11-30
8 reviews
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My boyfriend and I dropped in here a couple months ago with a Groupon. Our first reaction when we opened our menus was definitely shock at the high prices, but I guess that can be expected given the location. I'm used to comparing any Vietnamese food to the kind I grew up eating in Houston, home to one of the largest Vietnamese communities in America, so I definitely came with a bit of apprehension, but I'm happy to say the food tasted just like home, albeit with prices twice as high (although the Groupon helped temper that).
We shared a Tom Cuon, which perfectly filled the craving that I had been having recently for spring rolls. But, I was surprised at how small the order was. I guess when they say "small plates," they really mean small! I ordered the Pho Bo and added beef balls, while he got the Ga Kho Xa To (Curry Lemongrass Chicken Clay Pot). The broth on my pho was incredibly flavorful, and my pho actually came with a pretty good sized serving of meat, although I wish there had been more of the sliced sirloin and less of the brisket. I remember my boyfriend's Curry Lemongrass Chicken tasting good, but being a tad dry for my taste. It was also an incredibly small portion. Meanwhile, my pho was large enough to probably be a portion and half. It helped justify the high price, but I would've been happier off with a smaller portion I could finish off. The disparity was really strange and definitely left him feeling a little cheated.CoBa 53 might do better to offer a small and a large size of their pho, allowing for a cheaper, but more appropriate, size/portion.
The ambience is definitely a step up from the pho shops I'm accustomed to, but I guess that's where the higher prices come into play. The service wasn't very good though. When we went, there was only one other couple eating and it still took forever for the server to come by every time we needed something (i.e. to order, for water, etc). Overall, the food would probably garner 4 stars, but taking into account the prices and the service, CoBa loses one.
I am a fan because of the wonderful authentic Vietnamese food, and even more smitten when you account for the general ambiance and decor. I always look forward to eating at CoBa because I can count on a great dining experience – wine, great conversation with friends and excellent food. No hassle, memorable times.
My favorites are the red snapper, calamari and clay-pot salmon. Even though I now live in Chicago, those dishes keep me going back whenever I visit NYC – which is soon, for the Christmas holiday.
I grabbed a banh mi to go here and it was super quick, well-priced (for this kind of place), and really yummy! The peppers on the sandwich were spicy, and they were generous with the pickled veggies, which I loved.
We heard CoBa was doing hot pot for dinner and promptly made reservations to try it out. I think it was around $35 for all-you-can-eat hot pot for 2 hours, with an additional $10 if you want unlimited drinks from their hot pot drink menu (a slimmer version of their normal cocktail, beer and wine list). Sweet deal!
– THE FOOD:
Vietnamese-style broth for hot pot was a great idea — we chose their normal broth (very pho-y) and a tamarind-based broth for the second. Super flavorful compared to other hot pot bases.
– THE SERVICE:
1 star for the service — not sure why the food was so slow coming out of the kitchen especially since we cook it ourselves?!
* Made reservations for 8 and were seated at 8:50 without an apology. We were told we should have "told them we wanted hot pot".
* We were seated with 3 cups of water for 5 people with no menus until we flagged down a server 10 minutes later
* We never actually got a server — nobody came to take our order or even gave us a smile. Instead we continued to flag down servers passing by for the whole course of our meal.
* Drinks we ordered never came. Drinks we didn't order came often and the server would sulkily stomp away when we said we didn't order it.
* "Unlimited hot pot" meant we would order from the server what we wanted, and they would bring us a new plate of meat, vegetables, etc. when we were done with it.
* They gave us a tiny plate of meat for 5 people — we would eat it within 2 minutes and then spend the majority of our meal with an empty table trying to flag down servers for more food, sauce, water, ANYTHING. At some point, I suppose our basic needs were deemed too demanding for the wait staff as they took to ignoring us after a while.
* And because we spent our time not eating and trying to get more food, the owner kept trying to take our hot pot away 'because we were done'.
Overall, we spent over $50 each to have a small plate of meat and veggies. Most of us went home and ate more food. I understand hot pot service is wildly different from a normal dining experience, but I'd hope they would have planned for that. Every other table were full of unhappy hot pot diners waiting for more food.
I love finding tiny local restaurants that no one knows. CoBa is a charming, small hole in the wall that will take you on a trip to Vietnam. Although there are only a few tables and the decor is very casual and minimal, everything about this place was impressive. Our waiter was one of the sweetest people I've ever met. He was the only server during the shift but he successfully waited on every table by himself, kept a smile on his face, and was very attentive. I got the pho and sandwich combo for just $12, which comes with a bowl of sirloin pho and a choice of sandwich. I chose to get banh mi ga, which is the grilled chicken. I of course had to order Thai iced coffee. My mother ordered tea which came in a traditional stone pot that kept it hot. The food came out right away and was incredible. The pho's broth was perfect and noodles were al dente. The chicken in the sandwich was seasoned well and cooked just right. The break was soft on the inside and had the perfect crunch on the outside. Perfect portions for lunch-not too small but enough so I can finish. I recommend this place to everyone and so far everyone has had the same great experience.
I had wanted to come here for a while and had gotten into the city early and walked to the restaurant-i got a series of small plates-spring rolls with a lime dipping sauce, mango salad with shrimp, spare ribs with crushed peanuts and shrimps in a rice situation with a peanut dipping sauce. All were delicious-I would recommend and return.
Yikes! Avoid this knock off Vietnamese joint in Hell's Kitchen.
After waiting for over 1 hour to get my delivery (and I live only a few blocks away but was too busy to go pick it up myself), the food arrived cold. Had that been the only issue, I'd probably just let it go…however the food cost $15.00 plus tax and tip and was VASTLY OVERPRICED. I got the Dinner Bun Ga Nuong (lemongrass chicken with rice vermicelli). The chicken was smaller than a little cutlet and the noodles were dry and flavorless. My limited knowledge of Vietnamese cuisine would have turned out more flavorful food. It was seriously smaller than a lunch portion (definitely under 8 oz of food) and was completely devoid of flavor.
I had hopes for this place since there are basically no other options for Vietnamese in HK…but I should have gone with my gut and stuck to only getting good Vietnamese food from somewhere in the Chinatown area.
Gosh, it was so bad…
Came here with a couple of friends for an early dinner on a Saturday. It had just opened for the day so the place was really empty. Ordered the tofu chien (lemongrass crusted tofu), muc chien don (chili-pepper calamari), five-spice quail, and the pork belly banh mi. The tofu was alright, nothing special. The calamari was also alright, nothing special. The quail was dry and disappointing. The pork belly banh mi was average and tasted like any other banh mi. Our server was patient and friendly as we were waiting for the last person in our group to arrive. If you are looking for a casual Vietnamese restaurant, CoBa 53 is not a bad option, but don't expect anything great.
Taste | 3
Atmosphere | 3
Presentation | 3
Service | 4
OVERALL | 3