Essence Drinks and Dining

Such an amazing and authentic spot! If you're looking for some real deal Vietnamese cuisine, this is the place! The staff are incredibly nice and the food was spectacular.

The restaurant just renovated. Super good Bo ne. Many other to-go foods to try

Andy

Essence is a very friendly and sincere restaurant! The hospitality provided by the employees makes you feel at home and the food is delicious. I normally order the Bo Ne, Garlic Noodle with Grilled Shrimp, Garlic Noodle with Wagyu Beef, and Beef Rice Porridge for the family. Restaurant vibes are modest and casual. Definitely recommend for loves of authentic Asian food!

Diane Leong

Come here for some authentic Vietnamese cuisine & drinks!! They have Indoor and outdoor seats available! Nice outdoor vibes with lanterns. Love that they open early at 7am and close late at 10pm! Options for breakfast, lunch, and dinner! Service here was great. The staff was very nice explaining items on their menu. What I tired- - Grilled Pork Spring Rolls -Viet fried rice cake with egg; great appetizer to share! - Beef Wagyu on Skillet. Served with salad and bread - this was my favorite and definitely recommend! - Garlic Noodles with Wagyu Beef - Pan Fried Pho with Seafood & Veggies : one of the best pan fried pho I had. it was very crispy and flavorful! -Crab Meat Udon Soup, Shrimp, Shitake Don't forget to order their drinks too! They were very refreshing! -Avocado & Durian Smash -Sour Sop Smoothie -Pennyworth & Coconut Juice They also sell snacks on the side too! Definitely will come back here !

SKY NGUYEN

Absolutely phenomenal food. Excellent service. A bit messy and dirty. Outdoor smoking was permitted with doors wide open. 5/5 bot chien. Perfectly fried to perfection. Comes with papaya salad, which was a nice touch. Garnished with shallot and onions. One of the best bot chien I've eaten. 4.5/5 bo ne. Steak with sunny side up, pate, mushrooms and banh mi. Steak was decent but everything else was textbook breakfast. Even the banh mi was nicely toasted. 4.5/5 shaken beef. Great flavor. Couldn't go wrong with this dish. Egg coffee with foam was great as well.

Nguyen Ngoc Kien

The food are real good. The server seem got abit overwhelmed when i got there. We order an organ porpridge(cháo lòng) and vietnamese steak skillet (bò né). The extra touch on the salad go for the steak are real good. Remember to call for fired dough stick( dầu cháo quẩy) á it not coem ưith the propridge.

Kristina

I got Togo, high quality food and good portion. Everything looks fresh and tastes amazing. The images online menu didn’t look that good and my images doesn’t do it justice. But the food is excellent, I would come here again I got the grilled pork, every was packaged with detailed and care. And the food taste very fresh and clean it feels like they just made it. The salad it comes with is fresh and high quality mix green salad with hand made pickled onion & carrot. And cherry tomatoes Keep in mind: They probably won’t read you notes if you order togo. If you really need to make a changes just call them

Kelly Phan

Great place for casual dining. They have extensive menu and all the dishes I have tried are tasty. I usually come here for their bo ne and ube coffee. Family friendly. They also sell Viet snacks and dessert.

Chanh Tran

Nice and clean restaurant. Excellent choice for family dinner. Staff 👍. You can choose either sitting inside or outside to enjoy the beautiful CA Spring weather. Fried rice with shaken beef tasty and yummy. Definitely will come back and highly recommended

Duc L Duong

Lòng Phở and bánh canh are tasty, we came here on a Thursday cozy morning, perfect weather for munching our Vietnamese Yumyum warm and healthy foods. The Owner’s Daughter is super nice too, she came out and greeted us, and took our order also recommended to try their Combo Sticky Rice 🍚… it’s right next to Com Tam Sa Bi Chuong too.

Thang Nguyen

I have been back here several times since it opened a couple of weeks ago for my most favorite Wagyu. You should definitely give it a try if you haven’t — Steak is juicy, pâté is uniquely pungent, mushrooms are well-sauté like how I want, but more importantly, the quality is consistent as my anticipation. It comes with a perky and moist baguette. Note that the wagyu comes in medium rare, on a cast-iron skillet, which is perfect for me.

Chris Rowe

Heard about this new spot from a friend. The food was very good as we had the Salmon Spring Rolls, The Bo Ne Mushroom tastes amazing and great price! The Ube Cream Coffee was also 5-Stars. We will come back to try more dishes for sure!

Jared Strand

Such an amazing and authentic spot! If you're looking for some real deal Vietnamese cuisine, this is the place! The staff are incredibly nice and the food was spectacular.

Aikeni T

The restaurant just renovated. Super good Bo ne. Many other to-go foods to try

Great place for breakfast and lunch with open outside patio for everyone to enjoy coffee. Pork ribs are seasoned perfectly and very flavorful and savory. Rice and salad paired well with the saltiness of meat. Hot corn milk drink hit the spot afterwards. Super Duper Fantastic and always fresh. Lots of customers waiting every day. Come and enjoy 😉 😘 😊

tinnie bui

Great place for breakfast and lunch with open outside patio for everyone to enjoy coffee. Pork ribs are seasoned perfectly and very flavorful and savory. Rice and salad paired well with the saltiness of meat. Hot corn milk drink hit the spot afterwards. Super Duper Fantastic and always fresh. Lots of customers waiting every day. Come and enjoy 😉 😘 😊

My family came here twice, during our trip to Cali! The first time, I had the Bún Riêu, fried belly salmon and fried squid. It comes with a green sauce that’s sour and spicy— really good. I wasn’t a big fan of the fried squid BUT the salmon belly is to die for! I don’t know any other place that has this dish. The Bún Riêu— which is crab meat and crab paste with rice noodle soup and you can add snails as an option, which I did. The dish super flavorful, balanced between the sweetness from the tomato, shrimp and pork and saltiness from the crab. It has lots of toppings and they nailed the broth 💯 The second time, I tried their Wagyu Bò Né which comes with a piece of wagyu steak, fried eggs, pâté and mushroom. You eat it with Vietnamese Baguette which was super fluffy on the inside and crunchy on the outside. My mom had the Bánh Canh Cua, which is also made from crab but this time the broth and rice noodle is thicker. It was also very tasty but the portion could have been better. For drinks, I had the corn milk. You NEED to try it. This is the best corn milk I’ve had in the States. Would definitely recommend you trying this out. It’s authentic, super yummy and the price is good!

Essence is a friendly place with nice staff. It gets busy on weekends. Their Bo Ne Wagyu dish is super tasty, definitely worth trying. Overall, Essence is a good spot for a delicious meal with a welcoming vibe.

This place has a little bit of everything. The food is good and the service is really good. They have some items on the menu that doesn’t exist. 😸other than that it’s a place to check out.

Truc Duong

My family came here twice, during our trip to Cali! The first time, I had the Bún Riêu, fried belly salmon and fried squid. It comes with a green sauce that’s sour and spicy— really good. I wasn’t a big fan of the fried squid BUT the salmon belly is to die for! I don’t know any other place that has this dish. The Bún Riêu— which is crab meat and crab paste with rice noodle soup and you can add snails as an option, which I did. The dish super flavorful, balanced between the sweetness from the tomato, shrimp and pork and saltiness from the crab. It has lots of toppings and they nailed the broth 💯 The second time, I tried their Wagyu Bò Né which comes with a piece of wagyu steak, fried eggs, pâté and mushroom. You eat it with Vietnamese Baguette which was super fluffy on the inside and crunchy on the outside. My mom had the Bánh Canh Cua, which is also made from crab but this time the broth and rice noodle is thicker. It was also very tasty but the portion could have been better. For drinks, I had the corn milk. You NEED to try it. This is the best corn milk I’ve had in the States. Would definitely recommend you trying this out. It’s authentic, super yummy and the price is good!

Mia Ly

Essence is a friendly place with nice staff. It gets busy on weekends. Their Bo Ne Wagyu dish is super tasty, definitely worth trying. Overall, Essence is a good spot for a delicious meal with a welcoming vibe.

Nick B

This place has a little bit of everything. The food is good and the service is really good. They have some items on the menu that doesn’t exist. 😸other than that it’s a place to check out.

Food was okay, not as good as I had expected, a little oily for me and lacked of flavor. The service was fine, the floor and menu needed to be cleaned more thoroughly. They were too sticky when touched and stepped on .

I usually uber eats for my mom banh canh cua. she loves their banh canh & canh bun. i live far from her so i never got to see the portions. my mom saod usually the soup is fair but today the soup is just a little over half of the container , thats what makes my a little upset & furious. the funny part is the CRAB lol.... u guys are being a lil cheap there. my baby can finish that crab in half of a spoon. seriously stop being extremely cheap

Not sure what cut wagyu was used but it was mildly tender, no marbling. The sizzling wagyu order took about 30 mins, too long for this type of establishment

Leona NgH

Food was okay, not as good as I had expected, a little oily for me and lacked of flavor. The service was fine, the floor and menu needed to be cleaned more thoroughly. They were too sticky when touched and stepped on .

T Ph

I usually uber eats for my mom banh canh cua. she loves their banh canh & canh bun. i live far from her so i never got to see the portions. my mom saod usually the soup is fair but today the soup is just a little over half of the container , thats what makes my a little upset & furious. the funny part is the CRAB lol.... u guys are being a lil cheap there. my baby can finish that crab in half of a spoon. seriously stop being extremely cheap

al N

Not sure what cut wagyu was used but it was mildly tender, no marbling. The sizzling wagyu order took about 30 mins, too long for this type of establishment

While service was friendly and attentive, Phở was the ONLY better dish out of the 4 dishes ordered. Bánh canh tôm was not bad but it lacked seasoning. Calamari on the other hand looked great (presentation wise) but not even crispy. Wings were a HUGE disappointment! Tasteless and appeared to be fried w/o care or marination; hence the wings smelled & tasted gamy.

AD

While service was friendly and attentive, Phở was the ONLY better dish out of the 4 dishes ordered. Bánh canh tôm was not bad but it lacked seasoning. Calamari on the other hand looked great (presentation wise) but not even crispy. Wings were a HUGE disappointment! Tasteless and appeared to be fried w/o care or marination; hence the wings smelled & tasted gamy.