The Best Vietnamese Food in Ann Arbor
Pho on South Main, shaking beef on East Liberty, and a banh mi shop that sold 1,700 sandwiches its opening weekend.
Ann Arbor's Vietnamese scene is not large. For a city this size with a university population and a long tradition of serious eating, you would expect more of it. What exists, though, is genuine. The restaurants here are run by people with direct ties to Vietnamese cooking, and the food reflects that. This is not a sprawling guide. Four spots, each doing something distinct, covering the range from a three-decade family pho operation to a cocktail bar built around Vietnamese-inspired plates.
If you want the region's best Vietnamese cooking without qualification, Flowers of Vietnam in Detroit's North End is the answer. A 45-minute drive on I-94, and worth every minute. For Ann Arbor proper, here is what exists.
Dalat (2216 S Main St, Ann Arbor)
Dalat has been in this business since 1990, when the Le family opened a small Vietnamese restaurant near Eastern Michigan University in Ypsilanti. They operated there for 28 years before relocating to Ann Arbor in fall 2018, settling at the fork where South Main meets Ann Arbor-Saline Road. That's a long time to learn what their customers want.
The pho is the reason to go first. Three decades of Vietnamese pho carries institutional knowledge that is hard to replicate. The broth is clear and clean, built slowly enough to register as beef rather than hot water with seasoning. The chicken pho has the simplicity that makes it a reliable order in every season. Bring the protein rare and let it finish in the bowl. The kitchen knows what it is doing.
Beyond pho, the menu extends further than most people expect. Bánh xèo, the Vietnamese sizzling crepe stuffed with shrimp, chicken, mushrooms, and bean sprouts, is one of the better dishes on the menu and arrives with the crackle of a properly made rice-flour crust. The squid stir-fry in pepper-flecked curry sauce has earned repeat customers. The tofu stir-fry, per the Ann Arbor Observer's review, is the kind of dish that converts people who usually skip tofu. Vermicelli bowls, rice plates, and a selection of vegetarian options round out a menu that goes well past the pho-and-spring-rolls basics.
Prices are among the most reasonable in Ann Arbor for a sit-down meal. Lunch specials run Monday through Friday, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., and the bento boxes are the right call if you want to try several things at once. Hours are Monday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Closed Sundays.
Saigon Social House (521 E Liberty St, Ann Arbor)
Saigon Social House occupies a larger footprint in the Michigan Theater building on East Liberty, in the space formerly held by Taste Kitchen and Red Lotus. Owner Sonca Luu, a Vietnam native who also runs Block & Brew Cafe next door, built this around a premise she stated plainly to the Ann Arbor Observer: "That's the main thing in Vietnam. Every family eats that." The pho is central. Everything else follows from there.
The menu covers more ground than Dalat's and does it at a higher price point. Three pho varieties (beef at $17, chicken at $19, surf and turf with shrimp and flank steak at $21) anchor the noodle side. But the dishes that separate Saigon Social House from a straight pho operation are the ones further down the menu: laksa noodles with their coconut-curry broth, shaking beef (hanger steak with gem lettuce and lime sauce, $22), and a selection of small plates that includes banh mi, summer rolls, and steamed dumplings.
The cocktail program runs alongside the food with Vietnamese-inflected names and decent craft execution: the Ho Chi Minh Chi Chi uses coconut and pineapple, the Mekong Delta Daiquiri runs on lemongrass rum and honey. The bar license adds a dimension that Dalat does not have, and the hours reflect it. Monday through Thursday until 10 p.m., Friday and Saturday until 11 p.m., Sunday until 9 p.m. make Saigon Social House the Vietnamese restaurant for a dinner that runs long.
QR code ordering is available, but the restaurant also takes reservations for a traditional table-service experience and offers a chef's tasting menu option. The format is flexible in a way that works for both a quick lunch and a proper dinner.
Peridot (118 W Liberty St, Ann Arbor)
Peridot is not a Vietnamese restaurant in the way Dalat or Saigon Social House is. It is a cocktail-forward restaurant with Vietnamese-influenced small plates, built around the culinary perspective of Duc Tang, who also owns Pacific Rim next door. Tang was born in Saigon and his cooking at Pacific Rim has long incorporated Vietnamese sensibilities alongside the broader pan-Asian menu. At Peridot, that influence has more room to operate.
The menu rotates, but the dishes that have characterized Peridot's kitchen include a sizzling crepe based on bánh xèo, here updated with corn, mushrooms, braised pork, and a yuzu-thyme dipping sauce. Crab fried rice. Whole branzino with rice noodles. Caramelized prawns over coconut-asparagus rice. Banh mi bruschetta with roasted pork and duck pâté. Tang's ketchup fried rice, a recipe from his childhood, has made repeat appearances on the menu. Per the Ann Arbor Observer's reporting on the opening, these are dishes rooted in Tang's Vietnamese heritage and expressed through a kitchen with broader culinary range.
The cocktail list is the other draw. The bar team works with lighter spirits, gins and rums rather than whiskey, and the drinks are built to complement the food rather than compete with it. Peridot has two levels, with retractable windows at the front that open the space in warm weather.
Dinner service only: Monday through Thursday 5 p.m. to 11 p.m., Friday and Saturday 5 p.m. to midnight. Reservations available. Prices run higher than the other restaurants on this list, reflecting both the ambition of the kitchen and the cocktail program alongside it.
Paris Banh Mi (609 E William St, Ann Arbor)
Paris Banh Mi opened in Ann Arbor to an opening weekend of more than 1,700 transactions, per the Michigan Daily's report on the launch. That number says something about the demand for Vietnamese food this city has been sitting on.
The concept is a Vietnamese sandwich and cafe chain, with origins in Orlando and locations across the East and West Coast. The Ann Arbor location is run by Phong Dinh. The banh mi here follows the French-Vietnamese tradition of the form: a crisp baguette, fresh-baked daily, built around protein options including grilled pork (bánh mì thịt nướng), with the pickled vegetables, fresh herbs, and chilies that make banh mi a distinct object rather than just a sandwich with Asian toppings. Prices run around $12 to $13 per sandwich.
Beyond banh mi, the menu extends to pho, vermicelli bowls, and a cafe program with Vietnamese coffee, boba, and specialty drinks. The Paris By Night is the house drink signature. Hours are expansive: Monday through Saturday 10 a.m. to 11 p.m., Sunday 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. The East William Street location puts Paris Banh Mi close to central campus and the East Liberty dining corridor, which is where a lunch-friendly banh mi shop with long hours makes the most sense.
This is a chain, not a family restaurant. The Ann Arbor Vietnamese Student Association told the Michigan Daily the opening mattered to them: "a place that actually gets the flavors we grew up with." Whether you read that as meaningful or marketing probably depends on what you order when you get there.
What to Know
Vietnamese food in Ann Arbor spans a wider range than a small city usually sustains. Dalat handles the traditional side at accessible prices. Saigon Social House does the modern interpretation with a full bar for evening dining. Peridot uses Vietnamese influences as one ingredient in a broader kitchen. Paris Banh Mi fills the fast-casual daytime gap.
The scene is not complete. A city this serious about eating should have more of it. But what is here is worth knowing.
For the region's most focused Vietnamese cooking, Flowers of Vietnam in Detroit remains the standard. The drive is worth it. Ann Arbor has enough now that you do not have to make it every time.