Vanessa's Bistro 2 Vietnamese Restaurant

This place is bad in too many aspects. I feel I'm pretty generous in my reviews very rarely do I leave a 1 star but this meal for 4 cost me 160 ish and gave me food poisoning. The food itself along side being expensive was bad. I usually like to leave alternatives in my recommendation but I only know one place in sanjose that serves similar food that isn't bad. The bahn mi was about 90% bread and 10% crab. The fried chicken was decent but they clearly cut the chicken so thin to make it seem like it's more than it is and as a result dried out the chicken. The spring rolls were chewy and was more rice than roll. If you see this review GO SOMEWHERE ELSE even if you're looking for Vietnamese food look else where.

Went on a Saturday night. Great food, quick service, but very small portions for the price. The calamari was delicious, but several other restaurants within a few blocks offer calamari at a lower price or much larger amount. The menu on the website has outdated pricing, but I attached the menu from when I went in Aug 2022. Many of the restaurants in downtown Walnut Creek, including Vanessa’s, offer great happy hour menus/prices though. I’d recommend this place for happy hour. The Moscow mule was good, had the perfect amount of “kick”. Spring rolls were also good and the bean sauce was also a bit spicy but delicious with or without it.

Vanessa's Bistro honors the classics with subtle elevated twists. For example, the notion of tuna carpaccio sounded odd to me but it was absolutely one of the best preparations of tuna I've had in a while - bold and amazing. The poke was well balanced by the addition of diced sweet peaches against the classic umami of poke. I ordered an old-fashioned that was prepared with just a touch of coconut and banana liqueur, which sounds like a food crime, but was a beautiful tropical note to the strong whiskey flavor. Vibe was a relaxed chic feel. I recommend.