NJ Dining: Nha Trang Place

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Nha Trang Place
249 Newark Ave, Jersey City, NJ
(201) 239-1988

In my previous post about Binh Duong in Bloomfield I talked about how I love to eat Vietnamese food, particularly during the hot summer months. My favorite traditional-style Vietnamese restaurant is Nha Trang Place, in Jersey City — which just happens for me to be the most pain-in-the-ass one to get to, because of all the traffic and lights associated with getting there. But if you persevere, you will be rewarded with authentic Vietnamese cuisine of the like that compares with the best in NYC’s Chinatown, and even in places like the New Orleans suburbs where the best Vietnamese food in the entire country can be found.

Nha Trang storefront on Newark Ave in Jersey City. Nha Trang has an ample parking lot next door, it’s a huge restaurant. You will also see signage for “Miss Saigon” and “Pho Thanh Hoi”, which were the two previous incarnations of the same restaurant that they never bothered to take down.

Nha Trang is the best traditional Vietnamese restaurant in Northern New Jersey. Click on the “Read the rest of this entry” link below for more.

This pretty shrine of offerings in the entranceway was being displayed during our last visit.

Nha Trang is cavernous inside, utterly dwarfing any other Vietnamese restaurant in New Jersey in terms of seating and also in its menu offerings. The only thing it compares to is similar restaurants in NYC’s Chinatown.

Service at Nha Trang is fast and efficient. One word of warning though: if you order a whole bunch of dishes, they will all land on your table pretty much simultaneously. The Vietnamese really have no concept of “courses” as everything all comes and is eaten at once. So I suggest only ordering a few dishes at a time.

Goi Cuon, aka Shrimp Summer Rolls, with Peanut Sauce.

Cha Gio, fried spring rolls.

Accompaniments for spring rolls — pickled vegetables, lettuce and mint wrappings, and chile/fish sauce condiment for dipping.

Wrapping up a spring roll.

Spring Roll, ready to eat.

Vietnamese fresh lemonade soda drink.

Durian Shake.

Grilled Pork Meatball Appetizer.

Pork Meatball, wrapped in a thin rice paper and lettuce/mint/pickled vegetables.

Steak Salad over Watercress

Chicken Salad with Peanuts

Spicy Rare Beef Salad with Lemongrass. I really liked this one.

Condiments for Pho soup.

Pho Tai, anise-flavored beef broth with rare beef and rice stick noodles. An excellent rendition.

Shrimp with Oyster Sauce

Pan Fried Rice Noodle with Beef

Rice Noodle (Bun) with grilled steak cubes

Sliced marinated grilled pork chop over rice. Excellent.

Vegetarian Fried Rice

Green Vegetable with Oyster Sauce. I think the green vegetable itself is Chinese Yu Choy, but I’m not sure. In any case, it was quite tasty and went great with the fried rice.

This is a grill-your-own lettuce wrap dish I saw other patrons at another table eating.

This is the bill we got at the end — each dish has its own letter code. It looks awfully like the activation key codes for Windows Vista!

The refrigerator case in front had some interesting looking desserts and beverages, but we didn’t partake of any.

The restaurant also owns a grocery store next door. Apparently, on Saturday afternoons, they make Vietnamese sandwiches, or Banh Mi as they are called. I’ve never been there at the right time to get them, though.

Check out the condiment section! They got every flavor of Sriracha sauce you could possibly want.