Grain River Asian Bistro just blew every Vietnamese spot in the area out of the water. This place is the real deal--authentic, amazing, and honestly my new go-to when I'm craving something cozy and flavorful. The service was warm and attentive, and the pho... listen. It might just be the best pho in Tucson. The broth is rich, aromatic, and layered in a way that only true Vietnamese cooking can deliver. I also love how many veggie-forward options they offer, making it super easy to dine here no matter your preferences. And the desserts? They carry several traditional Vietnamese sweets you rarely find in the States anymore--such a special treat and a total standout. If you're looking for authentic Vietnamese cuisine that actually hits, Grain River is it. A must-try. read more

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Our favorite for Pho and Vermacelli Salad. Large menu, always fresh, great service. Also open on Mondays.

First time here and will definitely be back! Came here with my family on a Thursday night about an hour before close. Service was good and fast. The portions were huge. We loved everything that we ordered. The restaurant is also very clean. We started with the pork spring rolls and the sugar cane shrimp. I wish the sauce for the spring rolls was a little thicker and had more of the peanut flavor. The shrimp was delicious. Ordered the vermicelli bowl for myself with pork and egg rolls. I would have liked the egg rolls to be cut into smaller pieces so I could mix in the bowl with the pork, but they were crispy and had a good filling. Other things at the table was the combination pho, banh xeo, and Thai basil chicken, which everyone liked what they ordered. At the end of the meal we were given a complimentary dessert, flan, which was delicious. There is a large menu, so can't wait to go back and try something else. read more

Grain River Asian Bistro - Vietnamese Near Me - Tucson, Arizona

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This place is tops service clean excellent food and take out I didn't even make it home with the order I ate it parked in the car But when I was there the ambiance was nice a small restaurant but nice read more

We had the best pho to go from here. It was a rainy day in tucson and decided to order. The staff was amazing and food was delicious. Prices are fair and we didn't wait long for our food. If you're looking for great pho place this is the one. read more

Grain River Asian Bistro - Vietnamese Near Me - Tucson, Arizona

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Oh man, a good haul from Tucson, but glad I made the drive. This place is about 30 minutes from central Tucson and close to Biosphere 2. I read somewhere this place had good pho. I've been in Tucson for a few years now and I hadn't heard of them until this week. This is some of the best pho I've had in Tucson. I also got to try the egg rolls and they were fried perfectly and served with a good assortment of veggies. The pho dac biet had a good ratio of everything and the broth wasn't too greasy and had a good flavor. The restaurant is pretty modest and located in a strip mall. It's a clean restaurant that can probably seat about 30 folks. Yeah this place is good. read more

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We drove 30mins to get here-it was worth it! We wanted to order dishes we hadn't tried before and enjoyed everything! Our favorite was the sugar cane shrimp. So many layers of wonderful flavors. The BBQ pork was the most tender I've ever had! The shrimps were cooked perfectly- still plump & juicy. Just loved the broth. All served with fresh lettuce & herbs. We even fought over the pickled veggies. Highly recommended. Staff is very nice, just not very attentive. So sweet, but didn't clear our empty plates or refill water...maybe she was tired (-: read more

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After 2 visits, I am very confident you will agree: this place is beautiful, extremely clean, calming atmosphere, and delicious food!! Heaping portions of perfectly prepared recipes. My favorites so far: B3 Pho, Chicken Fried Rice, Salt and Pepper Wings. The complementary flan is delightful and the service is friendly and efficient. read more

Grain River Asian Bistro - B3 Pho, Salt and Pepper wings - Vietnamese Near Me - Tucson, Arizona

Enjoyed B1 and H2 Vietnamese soup noodle dishes. Generous portions of protein compared to other local Vietnamese places. Friendly service. We'll be back to try more Vietnamese dishes. Can't speak about the Chinese,Thai and Fusion selections as it seemed more Americanized. Definitely recommend the Vietnamese soup noodles. Was pleasantly surprised to find this quality of Vietnamese food in Oro Valley. read more

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Food was great!!!! Service was wonderful. Our new go to restaurant. Best Asian food we have found in the area. read more

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They can close Door Dash should go out of business. I am ill and have many restrictions to my food intake. So when I wanted to try new delivery I carefully looked over the menu. i cant eat chokebles like peanuts and like "thai" spicy food. i wrote No MSG no peanuts no cilantro. Yes spicy. the gal who took the order and called me back to tell me that I Couldn't eat the soups of any kind and suggested a curry red or green. I said the spicier one. the Door Dasher handed ne a cockeye box with much of of the food askew. The bag was tied closed and more often, as not I opened the bag I found 2 dishes that could kill me and one that was tasteless. more aligned with Chinese Cantonese of the 1960s read more

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This restaurant was on our route out of Tucson. Really wanted sushi but the other restaurant was closed so we ended up settling for this place..Orange chicken was an unpleasant radioactive orange color. Heavily dyed so much it stains your tongue. Chicken Banh mi was good, nothing special. I got a cup of the hot & sour soup which I enjoyed! We also had beef pho. Again nothing special. Decor could be more inviting. Service was a little slow. Overall will not be back. read more

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Third time we've ordered in the last 2 months. Ordered online each time and the food has been excellent every time. We usually get the Pho and one other entrée and an app. Would definitely recommend. It is kinda small inside so I'd make a reservation if we were to dine in. read more

Pad Thai was ok but nothing great. Hot and sour soup was sold out& we were told we'd have to wait another 10 mins for them to make some.

**** What a terrific dining experience today at this restaurant - Christmas Eve afternoon :) Food was terrific ... especially the (huge) flavorful crepes and spring rolls ... Environment is spotless and very comfortable. We collected a large Pho to go ($19) to enjoy from our Hotel Christmas Day ... more on that later ;) Complimentary small serving of Flan is appreciated. * Only complaint I have is the (clearly posted I noticed later) credit card convenience fee of 3.5% Out of principal, I generally won't do business with entities who tack on this additional fee. read more

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Great pho! I am also in love with their chicken fried rice and orange chicken. They're probably tired of making my order so much. The staff is really nice and the place is clean. I love their food. Highly recommend stopping by. read more

The food is tasty but full of MSG. So, if you turn red, get a headache, or get swollen, MSG might be the culprit. Unfortunately, they or DoorDash handled it badly, and much of it was at the bottom of the bag. read more

Grain River Asian Bistro - A mess. - Vietnamese Near Me - Tucson, Arizona

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ordered out, so don't have much to say about the ambience, however, the food was good, comparable to my other favorite pho restaurant in Colorado. Service was good, nothing to complain about at all read more

The new Vietnamese iteration of the bistro is fantastic. Staff are wonderful, friendly and welcoming, food is fantastic, I've very much enjoyed everything I've tried and very much looking to returning! read more

Very delicious food, nice waitress, great service, large portions, Viet, Thai, Chinese, sushi all was delicious. I would definitely return when we are craving Asian food. read more

Grain River Asian Bistro - Fried rice with pork, shrimp, chicken, and beef. - Vietnamese Near Me - Tucson, Arizona

I tried again with Grain River Asian Bistro and while I didn't enjoy the food my first time there this time was a better experience. The pho is absolutely delicious and is a good broth to fillings ratio. I also had their shrimp and pork spring rolls and the peanut dipping sauce is so tasty. If you come here get their Vietnamese dishes...they do those very well! Best to steer clear of their Asian fusion section...not as good based on my experience last time. read more

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Love the atmosphere. Service was excellent. The pineapple fried rice took a little longer than everyone else's food but worth the wait. Restaurant (and restroom) were immaculate. One of our party really raved about the fried tofu. Definitely returning soon! read more

Grain River Asian Bistro - Pineapple fried rice. - Vietnamese Near Me - Tucson, Arizona

Absolutely horrible food. Chicken fried price had zero flavor. Pad Thai had so much tamarind spice it was bright orange. HORRIBLE TASTE TO IT. WILL NEVER GO BACK. read more

Great little restaurant making delicious asian dishes. Although the menu is an adventure through Vietnam, they also offer Chinese and Thai favorites. We had a mix with an order of Chinese fried rice and an order of Thai red curry beef that was delicious. Rounded out "the tour" with some Vietnamese Pho that was clear and flavorful. Service was attentive and efficient and our server was pleasant. read more

First visit since the change in ownership - I'm impressed with the new Vietnamese food! The ambiance/interior is little-changed from the former owner. The menu has a modest selection of Vietnamese entrees, but they have some unusual dishes like the sugar cane shrimp. The service was excellent - our server was extremely friendly and checked up on us a couple of times to make sure we needed anything. We were offered a complimentary order of flan after our meal, nice! The bowls were very good, but could use a little more flavor, maybe some cilantro? My wife prefers the herbs and bean sprouts served on the side so she can decide how to much to add, that may be a nice addition. I really liked my wife's sugar cane shrimp - great texture and flavor. It's *so* nice to have a real Vietnamese restaurant in Oro Valley. I hope lots of folks stop in to support them. I know we'll be back as often as possible! read more

Grain River Asian Bistro - Beef vermicelli bowl - Vietnamese Near Me - Tucson, Arizona

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Man, Grain River Asian Bistro does a LOT of things well. As good as the food is - and it IS - believe that headliner caption photo on Yelp here - those sesame balls absolutely blew me away. We're very fortunate to live right in the area, and we've only been there once but we will definitely be back many times. The service really got to me, too. Warm and very friendly and not in a fake or lip service way at all. TRULY excellent service. Very welcoming and warm young women running the place, and I felt they truly appreciated my business. I will admit we started out pretty tame on our initial visit (which was takeout) and just got pad Thai and fried rice, and I know a lot of you are wondering why not the Pho and many other Vietnamese specialties - which looked GREAT, by the way, as I glanced at the dining room, yep they all look great, but we'll get there. And I liked the pad Thai but liked the fried rice even better. But it was those sesame balls that I am still thinking about. You know how some athletes perform at a level higher than the entire rest of the league? Well, that's how I feel about these sesame balls. No other pastry, no other DESSERT has compared to these sesame balls. Light, fluffy, sweet - and just the perfect amount of sweetness, I honestly went into it wondering if it would be too sweet like some Vietnamese iced coffees I've had (not the one at Grain River, either, I haven't tried their yet, just using it as a comparison for level of sweetness), but it struck the absolute perfect sweetness level for me. And the TEXTURE. And the filling - just the right amount, and delicious. And the sesame seeds on the outside? You can taste the sesame flavor. I've had a lot of desserts and pastries, too. And oh, by the way, I've since stopped by again and picked up some Nhu Lan, another dessert, to go, and WOW yet AGAIN! That one I'll post the photo for (sorry, forgot photos on the others). And just a lot of intangibles that work well too. Like the ambiance, it's clean and modern and well decorated and just comfortable. And I think the small dessert/beverage displays behind the counter are an added plus. Think I saw some coffee flan if I'm not mistaken. It's like you take a glance while you're doing your business at the register, and a million thoughts flood your mind ("Ooh, THAT looks good" x 100) As I said, don't let me get you too distracted on the unbelievable desserts, I've got many reasons to return for the food and to experience the sit-down service. Grain River is going to be very successful under their new management. And they well deserve it. They are working hard, serving up excellent food in a cheerful, inviting atmosphere. read more

Grain River Asian Bistro - Nhu Lan - Vietnamese Near Me - Tucson, Arizona

Some vegetarian Thai and Vietnamese items including bahn mi, noodles, veggies. Food only keeps a couple days, so order fewer planned leftovers. Green beans: very good, recommended, but ask them to go light on onions Vegetarian pho: very good, but broth is slightly sweet & cinnamony which is not my preference. Comes with lots of veggies, cooked tofu, cilantro, basil, jalapeño, lime, bean sprouts, chopped scallions... all very tasty and as it should be. Lo mein: ok Pad Thai: ok Tofu bahn mi: the regular bahn mi vegetables -pickled daikon, etc- they used were good, the bread was good, but I wasn't convinced by the stir-fried tofu & onions they used as the main filling. Broccoli: not good, bland Vietnamese vegetarian stir fry veggies: meh, skip Pad se ew/chow fun: bland, not like either dish should be, skip read more

Ordered tame out and everything was as expected or better. Salt and Pepper shrimp (Vietnamese) was excellent. read more

Great experience! The new ownership nailed it! The menu is authentic with a lot of great options. We went with the soft shrimp spring rolls for an appetizer - very fresh and comes with a nice peanut sauce. For our entrees we had pad Thai (way better than Mali Thai down the road) and the steak Pho. Great flavors and everything was fresh. All of our food came out quickly and was hot. Portions are quite large and great for sharing or for taking home leftovers. Prices are reasonable. Atmosphere is comfortable, clean and well decorated. Service was also great, two young gals running around tag teaming the tables. We'll be back for sure! read more

Grain River Asian Bistro - Taro Boba Tea - Vietnamese Near Me - Tucson, Arizona

This was our first time here and everything was so good! The staff was kind and very attentive. Great atmosphere in the place (which I overheard is under new management). Our server, named Diana I believe? Was incredible. I got the Mongolian chicken and my fiancé got the Bun Bo Hue. The Mongolian chicken was cooked perfectly and had a unique slightly charred flavor which I loved. Veggies were nice and crisp - great flavor. The soup had lots of developed flavors. It was mildly spicy but the waitress let us know that she could have the heat customized for us. My fiancé ate the whole bowl and slurped the remaining broth.. needless to say, it was very good. We also got to try some of their flan which they make in house, it was such a nice treat at the end of our meal. We will definitely be back! read more

Grain River Asian Bistro - Mongolian chicken - Vietnamese Near Me - Tucson, Arizona

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Amazing Vietnamese inspired Asian collab menu. All the flavor of Chinese dishes without all the oil. Then there's the Vietnamese dishes especially the Pho. Very good and attention to authentic detail makes this place a 5 Star eatery. read more

Grain River Asian Bistro - Ceiling fans are a perfect example of what they offer here. Above and beyond the standard . - Vietnamese Near Me - Tucson, Arizona

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poor customer service - got my order wrong, lied and said they were busy or on the phone, they were not as I was just there and there were 4 people there , she said she was alone, she was not as there were atleast 3 people working. I would not have left this had she apologized , tried to refund me, tried to do ANYTHING to make it right. She did not and just tried to act like she did nothing wrong. Just admit it, you made a mistake. But I will not be going back when she is working. read more

I love Thai food and this place has great food. I noticed the last time I was there the Pho Ga broth had more spice flavor than chicken; which, was disappointing. I love the spices used but don't want them to overtake the broth. The service is what is lacking in this restaurant. We were there at 5:30 on a Thursday night. The restaurant was not busy, with most tables available. As more people came in, mostly couples, I kept hearing the waitress saying I'm sorry (because she didn't get to them in a timely manner) we are so busy. There were two waitresses working; although, one of them left the restaurant during their "busy" time. I asked for more water and that waitress left without getting me more water. I don't know if the "busy" is in the kitchen or where but they were not busy. read more

I've lived all over the country and have eaten the best Vietnamese food you can get in the US. I've also eaten at all the Vietnamese restaurants in Tucson over decades. There're some good ones here, I admit, but the one that blows me away is Grain River Bistro in Oro Valley. I've wanted to go for a long time but didn't get around to it until this week. I went back twice because it was that good. The authenticity and complexity of flavors is on full display here. We had huge shrimp Banh Mi ($11.50) and grilled Pork Banh Mi ($10) Grilled Pork Bun (rice vermicelli) with egg rolls ($15) and ended with complimentary flan (also delicious.) I heard their Pho is amazing and they have a number of traditional broken rice plates, Vietnamese crepes and of course summer rolls--goi cuon--with shrimp and pork. Prices are reasonable, portions are very large, and service is great. The food is made to order and takes a long time, so prepare to wait. read more

Grain River Asian Bistro - Vietnamese Near Me - Tucson, Arizona

We only had Pho Ga, but the broth was fresh, the chicken well cooked and the condiments ample. Pick up time was quick and the server was delightful. The menu looked great and will go back to eat a full meal. Nice and clean restaurant. read more

New management just took over, and the food is delicious, and the service is excellent. I ordered chicken dumplings as an appetizer. It was great. Then I ordered a pork belly sandwich which was outstanding. I highly recommend this restaurant. read more

I am ecstatic that I found this hidden treasure at the northeast end of Oro Valley. Grain River Asian Bistro (in the Walgreens and Gaslight Theater shopping area) has changed ownership and has added a very much appreciated extended Vietnamese menu and Boba!!! There is still a fantastic selection featuring other Asian style cuisine. Everything we had from the mango Boba to the flan (that was an added complimentary bonus) delighted our taste buds with every bite. Our starters were the soft spring rolls that included the shrimp and the pork along with the pork fried spring rolls. The soft spring rolls were huge and were served with a yummy peanut sauce. The pork fried rolls were served with an absolutely delicious sauce and greens. For our entrées, we had the pho, the rice vermicelli salad with beef and fried pork rolls, and then the breaded shrimp and candied walnut dish that was served with a healthy amount of broccoli, cucumber, tomato and lettuce. Each dish came out at its proper temperature and was cooked to perfection. I can't decide which appetizer or entrée was my favorite. They were seriously all that delicious! Prices were very reasonable. There is a 3.5% charge if you use your debit or credit card. I prefer this way so that we have the option of paying in cash and reducing our bill. Most restaurants automatically add in that 3.5% in the price of the food regardless of which method you choose to pay. The restaurant was well lighted and extremely clean. Good atmosphere. There is seating indoors only. All the employees were cheerful and kind. We were even given a complementary sample of their flan, which was off the charts! If you love Vietnamese food or even Asian food, this is a must! read more

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First time in since the change of ownership. My wife and I chose the Vietnamese appetizers and entrees. They were wonderful and not priced too high. The bobas were a little different from the popping bobas from other places, but they were equally as wonderful! The servers were very nice and did a great job! The inside was clean and new feeling. The condiment bottles at the table were clean and full. We went in the early afternoon, so the place wasn't too busy. I really love Vietnamese food, and this is some of the best I have had! We will definitely be going back! The only criticism I have is that they charge 3.5% on debit and credit card payments. However, their prices might have been a little bit lower and might compensate for the extra charge... read more

This is our 2nd visit. We were unimpressed the first time but we alway like to give a second chance. None of the dishes had any sauce. None. Totally lacking in flavor. I don't understand how they have 4 stars. Must be the stupid snowbirds because this place is not good. $90 and we threw most of it away. read more

When COVID-19 mitigation closed dine-in options, Grain River jumped on social media to let neighbors know that they're still open for carry-out. We ordered the other day, and my partner asked for more spice to his pad thai. Got it home and, oh yeah, happy camper! I ordered the milder version that I prefer, and we also ordered a veggie fried rice that served as lunch for 3 days! Good food, ample portions, and open for carry-out! read more