Hanoi Old Quarter

There are few restaurants in our collection like Hanoi Old Quarter, a Garden Grove restaurant we’ve visited – or kind-of visited – three times. Hidden behind the Mall of Fortune plaza that’s home to the well-liked Oc & Lau 2, Garlic & Chives, and Pho Lovers, Hanoi Old Quarter caught our attention by naming itself after a historic district we’ve toured in northern Vietnam. On our first visit soon after the restaurant’s mid-2024 opening, it was mostly forgettable; we attempted a revisit one year later but left due to inescapable noise and claustrophobic seating, then successfully revisited on our third try in mid-September 2026, collectively sampling enough of the menu to comfortably write about the place.

With chairs and benches for roughly 45 people, the box-shaped dining room’s wicker lanterns, wood-paneled walls, and tile accents are similar enough to some spaces in Hanoi to pass muster as “authentic,” though the restaurant doesn’t specifically remind us of any place we’ve visited in the real Old Quarter. To maximize capacity, the left side’s tables are so close together that groups of four will inevitably sit right next to each other, and the right side’s tables aren’t much better. If there are loud kids in the place – as there were on our attempted second visit, when we left because there was no other way to escape the noise – the dining experience will be much different than it was on our first and third visits, when the restaurant was half or less full. Depending on when you visit and your luck, you could wind up with either one of these experiences, so those with either sonic or physical proximity sensitivities should probably skip this place.

Across our two successful meals here, we’ve tried two soups – the chicken pho ($16) and banh canh with crab and shrimp paste ($16) – that couldn’t have been more different. While the poultry-based pho was a pre-peppered, strong-brothed bowl of flat rice noodles, appealingly sliced roasted chicken, and green onions, the banh canh paired a richly red-colored but surprisingly muted broth with thicker udon noodles, nearly hair-thin shreds of crab, one medium-sized shrimp, several slices of pork, and shrimp paste fishcake that was better tasting and more texturally interesting than anything else in the bowl. If it wasn’t for bowls of fresh chilis and sliced garlic on the table, which we used to add flavor to the viscuous but plain broth, we wouldn’t have been able to finish the banh canh – the only time we can recall feeling that way at any Vietnamese restaurant.

We’ve also tried beverages from the short drinks menu, including a ca phe sua da Vietnamese milked coffee ($6) that was short-filled and largely ice but deliciously chocolatey, and a lemony jasmine green tea ($5) that was forgettable but nice enough in flavor. Three additional versions of the jasmine tea add various fruit jams for $1 more, while a version without lemon goes for only $3. Orange and/or carrot juices can be had individually or mixed for $6.55, with sodas going from $3.55 each. A $6.55 matcha latte and two other basic Vietnamese coffees ($5.55 to $5.95) constitute the rest of the options.