Vegetarian restaurant specializing in Vietnamese cuisine as well as offering other Asian dishes. Serves a large variety of dishes, including salads like papaya salad and banana blossom salad, plus meals with meat-substitutes, various rolls, pho, vegetable and tofu stir fries, and appetizers like fried mushrooms. Reported open March 2024. Open Mon-Fri 10:00am-3:00pm, 5:00pm-8:00pm, Sat-Sun 10:00am-8:30pm. May close without notice.
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3245 S White Rd, San Jose, California, USA, 95148
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- Outdoor seating
- Wheelchair accessible
- Accepts credit cards
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Last update on 20 Mar 2024 by EmmaEats
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10 Reviews
First Review by Miri18
DareZarballo
Points +44
My favorite restaurant! - Edit
Hands down my favorite vegetarian restaurant that has so many vegan options! The staff are wonderful; they really take pride in their food and making customers happy. Try the vegan duck bao buns! A staple favorite!
Read morePros: Food options , Staff, Ambience
Guest
EmmaEats
Points +89
Delicious Vietnamese food, beautiful presentation, nice atmosphere - Edit
There are three Vietnamese vegetarian/vegan restaurants in this area of San Jose: Golden Bamboo, New Hoa Dang, and Dilac (or Di Lac Vegetarian). They are all yummy, and probably not well known outside of the Asian community since there's less than 10 reviews each on HappyCow, so let me help by writing one!
Read moreThey're all local family owned, located in strip malls, and all casual dining places. Golden Bamboo is the nicest of the three in terms of inside restaurant decor and atmosphere. There's lots of Asian art on the walls. They also have some tables with umbrellas outside in the patio, but the view is just the parking lot. The service is nice but fairly standard for a regular restaurant.
The presentation of the food is superb at Golden Bamboo when you eat there. (Not sure how it looks for delivery or to-go orders) The various spring rolls come in artistic stacks. Some of the dishes come in hot clay pots with a small fire underneath. Very Instagrammable, but most importantly, super tasty! Authentic Vietnamese cooking, many dishes have the soy vegan fish or vegan meat, or you can get tofu or vegetable options. There's various noodles soups including pho, Vietnamese salads, and stir fry and curry dishes. Yum!
The only downside I can think of is sometimes they just close the restaurant -- I guess it's family owned and when they go on vacation or there's a family emergency, well, it's closed for a few days. And how do you know? By looking at the piece of paper taped to the door. Wish they would update their website or Google Maps or something.
Guest
andyjng
Points +5338
Another Decent Viet Veggie Spot - Edit
My friend and I ordered a few dishes to try with one another. We started with (#6) Muc Muoi, Salt & Pepper Calamari. Honestly, these came off more like mushroom nuggets. The batter was bland but the salt and pepper mixture was good. The side sweet and sour sauce was passable too. We also tried their (16) Bo Bia, their Autumn Wraps with jicama and other veggies. They were quite small but a refreshing change of pace from the mushrooms.
Read moreFor the mains, we split the (30) Bun Hue, the veggie version of Bun Bo Hue and their (45) Com Chien Thap Cam, a combination fried rice with mock meats and topped with fried onions. I thought the noodles were good with a tangy, spicy broth and plenty of mock meats. The fried rice here was surprisingly the real winner, and our favorite of the dishes.
While the food was okay, the menu to me was a bit confusing. Not only because so many of the items sounded very similar (can someone explain the multiple fried calamari/mushroom options lol), but because of what is designated as vegan. I asked our server what could be made vegan and he said all of it... yet when I got our receipt at the end, nowhere does it mention a vegan substitution was made. I note this as our Fried Rice was marked with "no egg" which made it vegan.
To me, why not just make your entire menu vegan and mark items that are vegetarian, if presumably everything is vegan minus a few dishes that use egg, or maybe some kind of dairy? *shrugs* I'm not 100% sure everything I had was indeed vegan (including the sauces) but you roll with the punches in this case.
Pros: All vegetarian menu
Cons: Unclear what menu items are fully vegan
Guest
SamanthaKTeng
Points +1469
Undecided - Edit
Apr 11 2021: After my negative first experience, we decided to try this place again because I had seen so many great reviews. I decided to try the golden bamboo noodle since someone had said “wow so delicious” and my husband ordered the autumn rolls again.
Read moreHe went in to pick up the order and said everyone was very friendly and calling him by his name. That was nice.
The golden bamboo noodle was pretty good but I didn’t feel like it was so delicious as someone else had said. I had it with rice noodle and I appreciate that they give you an option for egg or gluten-free rice noodle. I think it would’ve been better if the broccoli was slightly cooked instead of raw. I’d give it a 3.
We really like the autumn rolls though and that they don’t have faux meat in them. I’d give them a 4.
Overall I’d give this experience a 3.5
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Apr 9 2021: We had been wanting to try this place for awhile and so my best friend DoorDashed Golden Bamboo to us as a belated gift for our 1st wedding anniversary.
We had #57 "steam vermicelli with veggie bbq pork", #58 "steam vermicelli with grill pork", and #16 autumn rolls.
I took my first bite and I tasted dish soap. I pulled the lettuce out of my mouth and you could clearly smell the dish soap scent on the lettuce. I know what mint tastes like - this was not the mint. It seemed like the lettuce was prepped near the sink or washed and possibly grazed the dish soap bottle or someone accidentally somehow got a squirt of dish soap on the bundle of lettuce. My husband took two bites of mine and got the dish soap on the second bite. It was awful.
I was disappointed because the faux meat was called grilled but they both looked very fried and my lettuce had what very much tasted like dish soap in some spots.
I didn't finish mine because I didn't want to eat the dish soap and get sick (the soap taste was also bitter and horrible). I felt bad though because it's such a waste. My husband felt bad for me and ended up ordering a vermicelli bowl from somewhere else for me.
The autumn rolls were pretty good though...I was excited about this place after seeing previous photos and reviews. I wouldn't doubt that it's probably usually a good place to come to but because of this first experience with dish soap in my lettuce (not saying that I think they do this all the time...maybe this was an unlucky one time thing for me)...but this kind of ruined my first impression/experience.
Guest
RoseOfVega
Points +36
I'd dine here even if I wasn't vegan! - Edit
Best Vegan restaurant Patio to dine on. You'll forget your in a strip mall and be taken in by the delicious foods and lovely ambiance. Definitely try the Pho! But everything here is delicious. Be sure to order vegan, as some of it is considered vegetarian (likely do to the sauces). Great service and staff and food! I'd dine here even if I wasn't vegan!
Read moreoh and definitely try that curry! My mouth is watering just writing this!
Pros: delicious foods, lovely ambiance, Great service and staff
Guest
veganpatch
Points +5252
Nice Restaurant - Edit
The restaurant is a good size and very nicely decorated. The staff is knowledgeable, organized, attentive and friendly. The menu is very extensive and we had trouble deciding what to order. The restaurant is vegetarian rather than vegan and we do wish they would denote the vegan options on their menu however it's nice that they request on their menu to advise them if you are vegan. They do denote when they offer egg noodles which is nice and they do allow customers to sub for rice or rice noodles. Due to a prior review indicating some of their fake/veggie meats contain whey we asked the waiter. The staff seemed very knowledgable.
Read moreVeggie Meats:
All fake meats contain flour and mushroom and are vegan, no whey is present.
Curries:
The curries have dairy milk and coconut milk in them and we were advised they can't be made vegan.
Fried Rice Dishes:
Some fried rice dishes come with egg but customers can request no egg.
Egg Noodles:
They didn't mention egg noodles (and I forgot to ask) but I would imagine those are not veganized egg noodles. However you can sub for rice or rice noodles. I don't know if there is a charge/fee for this substitute.
The waiter brought us water while we waited for our take out order to be ready and made conversation. He and the other staff were all very kind, attentive and genuine. The water was actually really good. It was flavored, I think it was just lemon. The order was completed very quickly and the food was hot. The waiter also made sure to include chili sauce which was really nice. The pricing on their take out menu is outdated. Expect to pay about $1 extra per meal or per their in house menu.
$9.99 Spicy Beef Noodle: Nice, very spicy
$9.99 Golden Bamboo Noodle: Wow so much flavor, really delicious. This is our favorite dish so far.
$10.99 #37 Chao Nam Mushroom Porridge 🍄: I'd never had this dish before and have been considering getting it. I'm really glad I did. It was really good. Super filling. The portion was a good size. I still prefer pho but this was a good change.
$13.50 #51 Nui Xao Bo Stir Fried Macaroni with Veggie Beef: This was recommended to us by a staff member. We are really glad we tried it. The. Macaroni was cooked well, the veggies were fresh and not overcooked and the veggie beef was really good. The portion size was also good. Recommend.
The parking is a large lot and we didn't have any trouble finding a spot on Saturday for dinner. The restaurant is in a strip mall area.
We really enjoyed our meal, the ambiance of the restaurant, the friendly, attentive and knowledgeable staff and look forward to returning.
Pros: Friendly, knowledgable staff, Great ambiance to the restaurant, Try the Golden Bamboo Noodle
Cons: Some dishes cannot be made vegan
Guest
badgirlsvegan
Points +2092
Gotta get my Viet soups! - Edit
My favorite things here are the soups and porridge. It’s a comfort food for my Vietnamese soul and they do it oh so well! Bún huế is da bessssst!
Read moreGuest
SimeonTrieu
Points +29
One of the best - Edit
From the grapefruit salad to the salted fish fried rice, I enjoyed the taste of the food and atmosphere of this restaurant. I always leave inspired as a vegan chef.
Read moreGuest
NathanPonce
Points +20
So Fresh - Edit
As someone who doesn't eat solely vegetarian in a meal very often I was pleasantly surprised that the food was entirely meatless. When we arrived we were greeted by warn and friendly staff and seated. Since it was our first time we asked our server Thomas what he recommended on the menu. He was very helpful in helping us choose different dishes on the menu. When the food arrived the presentation was executed to perfection. We ordered as a starter the Pork Spring Rolls and Golden Bamboo Eggrolls which were full of flavor. As our main dishes we had Shaken Beef Rice Plate w/ Brown Rice, Bun Bo Hue, and Mango Salad. The meal did not disappoint and we were left extremely satisfied. I would highly recommend this restaurant to my friends and family.
Read morePros: Staff , Food, Value
Cons: No listed alcohol selection
LarzKazakoff
As a vegan looking for vegan food I am disgusted by this review and the inaccuracy of the labels. What the heck?
Read moreGuest
Miri18
Points +45
Nice Atmosphere - Edit
My first impression was good as the restaurant is nicely decorated. I sampled their salads and a soup. The Green Curry I ordered was too spicy for me. One of the personnel (don't think he was a waiter) came by and asked how everything was. I made a comment about the Green Curry and they did not charge me, which I thought was very fair. The person that waited on me didn't pay much attention. I had to ask for a ladle and bowl for the soup. The prices are a little high for my taste, They serve a lot of fake meat and egg noodles. That makes them NOT vegan, only vegetarian. Some of the fake meat may have whey in it, too. However, I wasn't totally disappointed.
Read moreUpdated from previous review on 2017-02-22
Pros: Nice decorations and atmosphere, Salads and soups are tasty, Didn't charge for dish not liked
Cons: Bit pricey, Service could be a bit better, Vegan options should be clearly marked
Guest
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