This Vietnamese restaurant is a great casual spot that’s open for lunch and dinner.

When Matt Ho’s family restaurant closed up in 2017 in San Francisco, he always imagined opening up a place of his own. Bodega SF opened in 2022 after successful pop-ups and showcases all your favorite Vietnamese dishes but slightly elevated. Note that they’re open for lunch and dinner where the dinner menu is more robust with options. We however went for lunch and ordered several of their signature dishes.

Pandan Almond Spritz and Mango Calamansi Spritz.

We started off with a few mocktails and both were refreshing but not as sweet as I would have liked. They had a sugarcane calamansi juice which would have been much sweeter so maybe I would have preferred that drink instead.

Nem Cua and Bun Cha Combo (8.5/10).

We got the nem cua and the bun cha which both come with lettuce, fresh herbs, and vermicelli noodles so our waiter combined the order so we wouldn’t have a ridiculous amount of lettuce and noodles. The nem cua were crispy rolls stuffed with fresh Dungeness crab, shrimp, jicama, carrots, and shiitake mushroom. It was very light considering it’s a fried item. The bun cha was pork meatballs and slices of pork belly with pickled carrots and kohlrabi in a delicious fish sauce marinade that screamed umami. Both starters were great with the fresh lettuce, herbs, and vermicelli noodles.

Hoi An Chicken Rice (7/10).

Next was the shredded chicken dish with turmeric lemongrass rice and broth. Overall a solid dish but not as strong as the starters.

Pho Hanoi (8-8.5/10).

The beef bone broth for the pho was really flavorful and was served with thicker noodles than I’m used to. The beef filet in the pho was also tender and wasn’t overpowering in the soup. The pho was served with a Chinese donut, also known as youtiao, which was an unexpected but fun and tasty accompaniment.

I’m interested in coming back and trying their dinner menu since some of their popular dishes are only featured then. Service was friendly and prompt and overall we enjoyed the food so my rating is a 7.5-8/10.