Hanoi 36 Streets

Woodland is a town just about twenty minutes northwest of Sacramento. A quick hop on Interstate 5 and you’ll be there in no time. This town has a very large Mexican population and thus there are many Mexican restaurants here. Recently, Woodland has expanded with more and more different cultures moving in - and with that are restaurants from different cultures. Hanoi 36 Streets is a new Vietnamese restaurant that opened just a few months ago. A few years ago a Vietnamese restaurant opening would have been unheard of and a total shock. Today, it’s a welcome surprise… and even better is that the restaurant serves good quality Vietnamese cuisine.

Hanoi 36 Streets is located further in town and off of their main street in a quiet strip mall. It’s certainly one of those restaurants where you’d totally miss it or even know about it if you weren’t looking. There’s a large parking lot and plenty of parking. When you enter Hanoi 36 Streets you’ll be greeted by a nicely decorated, modern restaurant. It’s modest exterior when you look at the strip mall is totally different than the vibe you get inside. Everything is neatly placed, clean, and there are lots of tables and seats available.

On my visit to Hanoi 36 Streets, it was near closing time. At the time of this review, the restaurant closes everyday at 8:00pm. We got there at 7:30. I felt a bit bad coming this close to closing time, but we were here and I knew we wouldn’t keep the staff long. My party of 4 was able to get seated immediately and the waitress who served us was great. Though we came in near their closing time, I didn’t feel any rush from her at all.

The menu is full of traditional Vietnamese cuisine. If I had come for lunch I would have seen how their bahn mi sandwiches were, but as it was dinner time I felt that getting the pho was appropriate. Just having bahn mi sandwiches in Woodland is awesome though.

The pho comes in both a large and a small size. I was pretty hungry so I elected for the larger size. It came in a very large bowl and it certainly was something that would fill me up. The noodles and meats inside were plentiful. Overall the pho was good. I would have liked the broth to have a bit more richness and character, but this one still had a good flavor to it. I ordered the pho with a number of beef items inside and my friend who came with me had the shrimp. Seeing their bowl, I felt that they certainly didn’t skimp on ingredients. Thumbs up here!

The other people in my party both ordered the cold vermicelli noodles with grilled pork. Like with the pho, we found the portion to be pretty large. On top of the main dish, they also came with netted egg rolls. The netted egg rolls are a crispy and textured standard egg roll. These are fun to eat and pretty unique. I hand’t ever had one anywhere else before. As for the grilled pork vermicelli, both who had it really enjoyed it as the cold noodles were refreshing on the hot summer day that we came in. The grilled pork had a robust flavor that paired nicely with the accompanying vermicelli noodles.

To drink I wanted to try their lychee lemonade. This drink came with some fresh lychee fruit inside. I hadn’t had fresh lychee in a while and was pretty surprised to see the actual fruit in my cup! I really enjoyed the fruit, but the drink was a little on the sweet side for me.

Hanoi 36 Streets has quite a bit more on the menu, and I’m excited to come back and give more items a try. It’s awesome that Hanoi 36 Streets is here in town now. The people of Woodland really should come out and give it a try!

Website: www.hanoi36streetswoodland.com

Address: 638 Cottonwood St, Woodland, Ca 95695