Huong Viet - Vietnamese food at the Eden Center, Falls Church, VA

Huong Viet Restaurant

The Eden Center

6785 Wilson Blvd
Falls Church , VA 22044
Tel: (703) 538-7110

This is as authentic as it gets. No question Huong Viet is the flagship restaurant of the famous Northern Virginia hub of Vietnamese food - THE FAMOUS EDEN CENTER at the busy Seven Corners intersection in Falls Church.  

This is arguably the best and certainly the oldest restaurant in the Eden Center - Huong Viet has been serving its delicous food for 23 years.

Huong Viet has received the Washingtonian Magazine's Best Bargain or some other kind of award every year at least for the last 10 years, and when you come here you'll soon know why. The family-style dishes here are all mouthwatering. 

Ethnic dives aficionados, like us, know to expect spotty service, and Huong Viet is no exception to that. Not all staff speak English and proactiveness is rewarded when asking for a water refill. Nonetheless, our waitress was knowledgeable and helpful, describing dishes and suggesting options. Wait staff are quick to take orders and food is quick to come out; tables are quick to turn over.  This restaurant seems to do a lot of takeout service, as diners were stopping by in a steady stream and leaving with lots of bags of delicious goodness.

Our 3 appetizers and 3 entrees were all terrific. Flavors are delectable. We ordered fish, chicken and veggies that all complemented each other wonderfully. Dishes are family-style, meaning if you order chicken, you get a plate of chicken with a few lettuce leaves and carrot slices. Any additional veggies must be ordered separately. A large bowl of white steamed rice accompanies each meal for no extra charge. Please see our photos below with the food description in captions. All were absolutely delicious!

Decor is humble, showcasing the multiple awards along all the walls. Tables and chairs are clean, but, as ethnic dives go, a shabbily charming.

MOST IMPORTANTLY - THIS IS AN ALL CASH OPERATIONS. We did not see an ATM on premises, so come prepared.

Each item on the menu deserves to be ordered and savored, so we will have to visit many more times to make our way through the extensive list of choices.

To top off your meal with some sweets and a change of scenery, stroll a few doors toward your left as you exit Huong Viet for a refreshing and naturally sweet Sugar Cane drink.  PLUS, DO PICK UP some fabulous Lotus Cookies from the Kim Phong Bakery to take home! Each time you eat a cookie, you'll remember the great food of Eden Center.

 As you enter the U-shaped Eden Center, the restaurant is on the LEFT

 Cheerful entrance showcasing awards and press

 Wonderful Shrimp Pancakes Appetizer

 Delicious Spring Rolls - veggies with pork - Appetizer

 Fresh Spring Rolls with Veggies - Appetizer

 Fantastic Fish in a Clay Pot

 Perfectly grilled and seasoned Lemongrass Chicken

 Chinese Broccoli and Shitake Mushrooms in a spectacular garlic sauce

What a great meal!

Refreshing, naturally sweet Sugar Cane drink freshly squeezed from raw sugar cane in a special juicer in front of you

Great semi-sweet Lotus Cookies from Kim Phung Bakery

Viet Royale - Vietnamese Restaurant - Falls Church, VA

6767 Wilson Blvd
Falls Church, VA 22044
(703) 533-8388

(This restaurant does not seem to have a website.  If you would like to see the menu, go to Northern Virginia Magazine)

If this were not a blog about our dining experiences in local area restaurants, we could do a better job adhering to the age-old good advice “if you have nothing good to say, then don’t say anything at all.” In the case of Viet Royale, we would be all mum. But this is a forum where we offer to readers our views, and as we have done on numerous occasions in this blog, we can only relay our own experiences, so here goes.

Viet Royale is located inside the famous Eden Center, which is the Vietnamese community’s dining hub in Falls Church. Apparently, this particular restaurant has been around for 20 years and in 2007 band 2008 even made it to the Washingtonian Magazine several times. Maybe something has changed since then, or maybe we just went on a bad night. Granted, it was very crowded, so we may be in the minority of not having had a good experience.
 
We called in advance to reserve a table for the time we planned to arrive, but were told they only reserve on the half-hour. When we arrived at the time we planned, which was 6:45pm, the 5 of us were seated at a huge round table that would have comfortably sat 12 people. Requests for a smaller table were futile. The man told us that had we told them we were coming earlier he would have made the table available earlier. Duh!!!

Our order was messed up so many times that we lost count. Almost every person in our party had something wrong with their order. We kept having to ask for our water to be refilled every single time. We were then charged for a dish that was never even brought out! Good thing someone in our party caught the mistake, since the bill was all in Vietnamese. It was indeed a busy night at the restaurant, so we can understand that the staff was running around, but we just felt unwelcomed.

Warning to anyone who likes spicy dishes – the dishes they call spicy in this restaurant are definitely not. But they were not even mild, they were bland.

We really think that if we had ordered the Pho we would have been less disappointed with the food, but we will not return to Viet Royale to find out. There are lots of other great Vietnamese restaurants in this area where we would rather go. This place was a “royale” disappointment.