"Rhode Island Best Bargains"
So many Asian restaurants offer more than one cuisine, but here the focus is straight-ahead Vietnamese, with many intriguing dishes to explore, including salads with spicy grilled beef, chicken, or shrimp; "special rice," cooked with garlic; and the most delicious eggplant dishes on the planet.

"Minh Hai has brought out the flavors, pure taste of Vietnamese cuisine"
When I invited J and C to join me at a new Vietnamese restaurant in Cranston, J told me about M, a friend whose mother made amazing spring rolls. A native of Vietnam, she was a terrific cook who loved to share the bounties of her kitchen. How lucky then to have M join our table...

"Minh Hai has Bo Tai Chanh"
Try this recipe at home!

"Chef's Secret: Marinated beef
is a Vietnamese treat"
Owners Minh and Hai Huynh were happy to share that recipe, which is reminiscent of beef carpaccio in that it includes thin, almost shaved strips of meat. But this dish is finished with equally thin slices of lemon encircling the plate...

"Uncommonly bright and fresh flavors"
If I tell you that I was close to tears upon discovering that my take-home bag of curried tofu and vegetables had been left behind, could you understand just how good it was? The new Vietnamese restaurant Minh Hai is cooking up home-style food that could make us all book flights to Saigon — or drive to Park Avenue every day...

"You dont' have to be flush to eat like
a king in Rhode Island"
Everyone loves a bargain, especially living-on-a-shoestring college students and those just-moved-to-Rhody residents who eat out a lot while getting settled...

Andrew T.
Cranston, RI
4/6/2010

“I have been going to this restaurant for years, and am happy to see it continue to do well because the food is excellent, the prices good, and the staff very friendly.

This is a small family-run business in a decent-size location, and it's definitely worth the trip. I am a vegetarian but there are ample selections on the menu; I usually go with the Lat Xa for the entree but I have tried several different items in the vegetable section and all are very good.

My girlfriend usually has the beef vermicelli bowl and loves it. I have not had a lot of other Vietnamese food to compare it to, but my girlfriend has, and we both agree it is excellent. I particularly recommend the tofu rolls for an appetizer - the tofu is wonderfully crispy and the thick dark peanut sauce is dreamy.

Service is good and the staff are very friendly. My only (very slight) criticism is that at the end of the meal sometimes they need some affirmative prompting to bring the check (so keep this in mind if you're in a hurry!), but I don't really fault them for it, I think they just don't want to interrupt any conversations or make anyone feel rushed.

But overall excellent food for the money and definitely on our "short list" of local places to eat out (along with Thai Orchid right down the road, also on Park Avenue).”

Minh Hai is one of those great places that can be overlooked. And that is a mistake. Right in the heart of Cranston is one of the best Vietnamese restaurants around.

The Beef with lemon slices is out of this world, refreshing, and balanced. It keeps me coming back for more. And everything else I have had is excellent too.

They are inexpensive, and are a BYOB, with a store across the street.

Mark D.
Warwick, RI
6/2/2009

Victoria K.
Cranston, RI
4/11/2008

Wow! What a delicious surprise! My first time trying Vietnamese food and I already strike gold. Though the decor is simple, the service is great (even though I was only picking up take-out, the employees were very friendly), and the food was really impressive! When perusing the menu, I wasn't sure what the "safest" dish was to order, but honestly in the end

I'm sure that anything would have been prepared equally deliciously. I tried a combo dish of flavorful and juicy grilled chicken, an "imperial roll" (a Vietnamese egg roll), and grilled prawns, all served over yummy rice and with a salad on the side (spicy vinaigrette, a lovely surprise). Anyway, long story short, I like Vietnamese food now! Yippee!!

Thanks, Minh Hai Restaurant!