After reading about Cam Ranh Bay being one of reader mulch’s favorite South Metro restaurants, I decided to head up there for dinner since I was flying solo tonight. Loving Vietnamese pho, I figured I’d get a decent meal before heading out for some frisbee golf with Josh.
I walked in just after 5 PM and found the large space nearly empty. A few tables were taken up with the booth closest to me occupied by two young women disappointed that neither were old enough to visit Vegas and complaining that their friends who were also not yet 21 already had children–a real bummer for them. I took a look at the menu and ordered the Shrimp, Crab, and Pork noodle soup with rice noodles for $6.95 and an order of eight “Hot & Spicy” chicken wings for another $3.75.
Soon after placing my order the traditional plate of cilantro, bean sprouts and a lime wedge arrived alongside my water just before the wings came out with a large bowl of sweet and sour sauce. The wings, while tasty, were in no way hot or spicy although they did sport obvious attempts at heat with a few red pepper flakes in the crispy breading. The wings were greasy and good but required my dipping them in the chili sauce available on the table in order to become even remotely hot. These wings were decent enough if you’re not into hot wings and were priced quite well for the number and as testament to their goodness, I’d definitely order them again but be warned that you are not getting what the menu claims.
Eventually my pho arrived and I asked if they had any other hot sauces in the back and after a moment the server responded that they had Sriracha if I wanted that. I said that I did and he came out with a cup filled nearly to the brim with the spicy chili sauce. I took my time poking through the soup to check out what was included and noticed that there was one shrimp, three chunks of imitation crab meat, and a few pieces of thinly sliced hot pink pork which was probably loaded with food coloring instead of the being colored by the marinade–but I’m obviously not 100% sure. When it was all said and done the pho was fine, although nothing in comparison to what I’ve had before elsewhere, and was appropriately priced (cheap) but I definitely won’t be running back to try it again. After eating a few virgin bites and noticing that the imitation crab meat flavor overpowered the dish (fish taste), I loaded the dish up with the Sriracha and finished off the meal making sure to get every last little piece of rice noodle before heading up to the counter to pay my bill.
My total bill came to just over $11 before tip and was most certainly cheap. I would definitely return to try something else but I definitely won’t be ordering the pho next time as I could find many different locations that offer much better soup for only a few dollars more. As I was leaving, and I’m not sure how I missed it on my way in, I noticed a sign that claimed that they have 99 cent bottles of beer. If anything, I’d be back just to eat the wings and drink a few beers ;-) Overall this is a nice spot along CR-42 in the true Heart of the City.
Have you eaten at Cam Ranh Bay in Burnsville? If so, what did you think? What would you recommend for people to try if/when they eat there themselves? What other local restaurants would you recommend if you’re looking for decent pho? Whatever you have to say about Cam Rahn Bay in Burnsville, go ahead and comment on and let’s hear it!
Address:
Cam Rahn Bay
1006 County Rd 42 W
Burnsville, MN 55337
Phone:
952-898-5366
Hours:
Sunday – Thursday 11 AM to 9:30 PM
Friday – Saturday 11 AM to 10:30 PM
Vegetarian entrees available:
Yes
See all the pictures from Cam Rahn Bay on Flickr here.
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August 6th, 2009 at 8:04 pm
Have not been to Cam Ranh Bay, but did see the .99 beer sign when buying some beverages at MGM next door last week. Since this is in such close proximity to the MaxSun building, once MSPD gets his business operational I will have to give it a try on the way home from the retail portion of “Skin Flicks”. Was the sign any more specific on what bottles of beer were .99 and were there specific hours that the beer was so cheap?
August 6th, 2009 at 8:06 pm
I think that there may have been some MSG in the pho (I forgot to ask) because my tummy was rumbling a bit as I left so I didn’t really look too hard but I don’t remember it saying anything specific for either point.
August 6th, 2009 at 8:48 pm
good review… I agree their pho isnt the best, but then i always stick to beef pho, I avoid the fishy stuff. I just dont know many other pho locations SOTR… Eat Street is the place for that.
Stick to the Vietnamese specials.
I tend to eat beef bunh when i am there… which is basically a grilled beef salad with rice noodles and garnish… season it on your own with fish sauce, soy, and sambal oelek or sriracha…
next recommendation is the stone bowl “bi bim bop” at Hoban… make sure you order the stone bowl one though… that is the authentic one.
August 6th, 2009 at 11:26 pm
Ate there a while back. Food wasn’t bad, but everything I ordered was especially sweet, as I recall. I don’t remember now what I ordered (which will surprise the he11 out of Mrs. Mooses, who believes I recall every crumb I’ve ever shoved in my pie-hole). I remember they made a mean cup of Vietnamese coffee. Like Bill, came for the spice and went away a bit disappointed.
August 7th, 2009 at 7:16 am
I wonder if it’s related to the Cam Ranh Bay in Eden Prairie, which used to be really good, but has really declined, sadly. Last visit there I ordered an egg roll and a spicy chicken dish. The egg roll was half empty; the spicy dish had no spice whatsoever. I asked the server if maybe my order had been confused, and was told it was my fault for not putting the chili sauce on myself. Such a shame–they used to make a really mean spicy dish. Haven’t been back, and probably won’t be, unless I hear that things turn around.
August 7th, 2009 at 8:16 am
My problem with the tabletop chili sauces are that they are just too salty for my tastes and while I used it for the wings, it still wasn’t hot enough and the flavor was just off for me. I should have asked for the Sriracha from the get go.
August 7th, 2009 at 8:32 am
I also think the flavor is different when it’s cooked with the spicy ingredients versus just pouring them on afterward. The best part, of course, was being told it was my fault that the dish I’d ordered spicy wasn’t.
August 7th, 2009 at 9:05 am
The food at teh eden prairie location is hit or miss, usually though as a rule the dinner is better than the lunch menu-item for item.
I have been to the burnsville one once and it was not as good as the E.P. location on a bad day.
August 7th, 2009 at 9:30 am
Cam Rahn Bay is one of my favorite’s!
Beef over rice noodle is the dish I order the most.
The beef salad is plentiful with tons of meat and tomatoes.
I recommend trying it at least once!
August 7th, 2009 at 10:18 am
I’m not a huge Eggroll fan, but I do like their Eggrolls. I used to eat at the Eden Prairie Location for lunch regularly (before moving to the lunch-food hell that is South Bloomington), and enjoyed it. I have eaten at the Burnsville location a few times, and it was always good (but nothing spectacular).
August 7th, 2009 at 9:42 pm
They used to be really good, then they opened in Eden Prairie and closed the Burnsville location. Then they reopened the Burnsville location and it wasn’t good anymore. The recipes are obviously still the same, but they became sloppy on the quality, attention to detail, and cleanliness.
August 7th, 2009 at 10:05 pm
Two words for Cam Rahn Bay: Tiger Pork.
Oh. Dear. Lord. Ridiculously delicious. I think it just barely qualifies as food, though. Does thinly-sliced deep-fried pork have any nutritional value whatsoever? They serve it with broccoli, though. That should count for something.
September 13th, 2009 at 7:45 pm
There is now a Third Cam Rahn Bay restaurant opened in Plymouth~ they are all 3 owned by the same family~ back when the first one opened in Eden Prairie it was the sooo delicious but the quality and service has noticeably declined~ what a huge disappointment!! I have yet to visit the Burnsville location my favorite menu item has always been the Egg roll over Rice Noodle.
October 9th, 2009 at 10:50 pm
Oh my gosh…each and every time we go to the cities to go shopping we stop in Burnsville and go to Cam Ranh Bay to eat. The servers there actually recognize us and we feel very welcomed!! We always order the egg rolls and cream cheese wontons. They are delicious!! We then order two or three entrees for the entire family to share. We traveled there (2 1/2 hours from home) for my sons birthday last year as this is his very favorite restaurant! We absolutely love this place. It is beautifully prepared and wonderful. We love the sweet and sour chicken, cashew chicken and many other entrees…but definitely cannot pass up the egg rolls and cream cheese wontons!! I usually don’t comment on restaurants but this by far is our family’s favorite place to eat :)
October 10th, 2009 at 10:26 am
Val,
Are you sure we’re talking about the same place–the one in Burnsville by Burnsville Center Mall? Because, honestly, it’s not really worth driving 15 minutes to, let alone 2.5 hours. It’s just like any other strip mall Asian restaurant that you can find in every single town across America–especially the Midwest.
January 4th, 2010 at 5:24 pm
This place is close to my home and has been the favorite for my family for about thirty years and that is going back to when they were in an old converted gas station by I35 and Hwy 13 and then in Eden Prairie before moving back to Burnsville. Our favorite is the TRIPLE DELIGHT.
January 11th, 2010 at 12:07 pm
Bill, the soup you ate was hardly pho. If you eat there again, I recommend the com tam (broken rice platter) with the pork chop and pork meat loaf. The steamed walleye in ginger sauce is pretty good but overpriced considering it only serves about 1 person. The deep fried version in black bean/meat sauce (can’t remember which one it was) is also good.
February 19th, 2010 at 7:50 pm
I love Cam Ranh Bay, although I’ve never had the pho, I’ve had many entrees that have been excellent. Most asian restaurants (especially south metro) just don’t seem to have much flavor. Cam Ranh Bay does. As for heat, they tailor their heat for typical midwestern tolerances. Trust me, my mother probably could not have eaten that soup! Just tell them how hot you want it, they give me a scale of 1-10 and I usually go with 5…and I like it hot. Best entrees for me? Chicken Pan Fried Noodle, Spicy Shrimp Noodle, Triple Delight…all ordered with custom heat level. Plus you get so much there is always enough left to take to work the next day.
August 2nd, 2010 at 1:54 pm
*Didn’t want to continue the Vietnamese food discussion in the Ramy’s thread so I posted this here, hope it’s OK Bill*
Michele Olson, He probably remembered that because there is a Saigon Palace in Burnsville off of Contruction Pkwy, I mean Kautz Pkwy, I mean Burnsville Pkwy. I can’t remember if I’ve eaten at SP, but I have been there when friends were eating there. It looked OK, nothing special. There were a few items on the menu for a reasonable price that I’d come back and try if I were ever in the neighborhood though.
MPSD, thanks for the info. I’m looking for a good SOTR Vietnamese place. So far SP and Cam Ranh Bay haven’t made me a repeat customer as I always end up getting Vietnamese in STP or Eat St. I saw some poor quality pics of the menu on Urban Spoon and I will definitely try Classic Saigon in the next month.
May 3rd, 2011 at 9:01 am
My wife and I really like this place, although not for the pho. We got spoiled from the wonderful noodle houses in the Dallas area, and the pho here, although not bad, is definitely not like those we’re used to.
The portions of what we did get were very large and we took a bunch of left-overs home with us. I got the egg-foo-young and a side of pork fried rice. Plenty of food, good sauce – very satisfying. My wife got ‘special’ beef pho and liked it, but not like those in Texas.
We also had the combination appetizer plate and liked most of the items there.
Over all, we’ll definitely be back, but are still looking for an ‘authentic’ Vietnamese noodle house – that was our Saturday afternoon treat after shopping, and the Metroplex had their Vietnamese neighborhoods with several restaurants to choose from – sigh.
May 4th, 2011 at 12:36 pm
Steve,
You’re not going to find any good pho places SOTR. You need to go to Eat Street or University Ave. for that (I can recommend a few places).
As for Cam Ranh Bay, I would recommend their Com Tam Bi Suon Cha if you go back.
If I want pho and am not willing to drive to Eat St. or University, I’ll get it at Kim Son on Lyndale & 86th St. in Bloomington. While not spectacular, it hits the spot.
MSPD on here recommends Classic Sai Gon Restaurant in Eagan. I haven’t been there yet but I’ve been meaning to get there sometime.
May 4th, 2011 at 1:13 pm
I have had Pho at Kim Son in Lyndale. While I am not a huge fan of Pho in general, friends love it there. Seemed ok to me.
May 5th, 2011 at 10:46 am
Yeah it’s not great by any means but good enough for suburban pho. I would recommend their Beef with Fried Potatoes.
May 6th, 2011 at 10:59 am
We absolutely LOVED Quang, which I presume is on Eat Street. DH and I met for lunch when I was having tests at Abbott a few months ago. We got there when the place opened and in less than 30 minutes, it was full. We each had a pho and appies, and the bill was less than $20 IIRC.
May 6th, 2011 at 1:33 pm
Quang’s is my favorite on Eat Street. It’s almost always packed though. The sandwiches are very good and I’m not sure I haven’t eaten an entree there I didn’t like. My family has been going there since they were located across the street in the strip mall and only served banh mi and pho. My only complaint with Quang’s is the cashiers at the front (likely the owners) can be very short and unsavory.
Next time sparksals, get some dessert: che Thai or che bau mau (tri-color dessert), you won’t regret it.
May 6th, 2011 at 2:20 pm
Thanks for the info, Dan. I only learned of Eat STreet in the new year when DH and I decided our quest would be to try new restaurants as much as possible this year instead of going to the same old, same old.
My hair dresser is on Lake Street near Calhoun, so I now make my appts later in the day so we can have a date night down in that area.
We went to Tum Rup Thai last time and it was FAB. Probably the best Thai food we’ve ever had in the US – and we’ve been to a lot of places.
June 15th, 2011 at 10:06 am
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