This is a hidden gem in Ames. I've been ordering from Le's Restaurant at least once a week for almost 2 years. I'd lovingly say the vibe of the restaurant is a bit "hole in the wall"-esque, but it's a fun place to relax or hangout with others. The food is INSANELY good. With a lack of Vietnamese food in Ames, Le's delivers. Spring rolls are always fresh and come with plenty of peanut sauce, pho comes with all the fixings, has amazing flavor and is inexpensive for all the food they give you. My favorites are the egg drop soup, chicken skewers, Singapore style noodles, braised eggplant, bok choy with garlic, and... pretty much everything on the menu. Sometimes your order will take a cute second to come out, but the owners and workers are extremely kind and make sure everything works out. My favorite Asian restaurant in Ames, I always recommend it to anyone looking for some authentic food! read more

Food: 5/5 Service 5/5 Ambiance 3/5 Le's Restaurant is truly a hidden gem for anyone craving authentic Chinese and Vietnamese cuisine. From the moment you walk in, you're greeted with warm hospitality and the comforting aroma of freshly prepared dishes. The menu offers an impressive variety. Service is consistently friendly and the owner seemed like a very kind person. read more

Orange chicken is not fried very well. Super sauce. Skin falls right off of the chicken chunks. Fried Rice is super blend. Doesn't have a lot of taste. The egg eggrolls are just downright disrespectful why you'd even burn something like that and then still serve it when it's obviously burnt is beyond me. read more

Le's Restaurant - Orange chicken, vegetable, egg rolls, and fried rice - Vietnamese Near Me - Ames, Iowa

Food was delicious & fresh. Service is friendly & prompt. Szechuan beef is unmatched. The aromas are exquisite. This is one of the better kept secrets of Ames, iowa. 10/10 recommend. read more

During my visit to Ames last week, I had the pleasure and opportunity to dine at some local restaurants that I had not before, nor did I know even existed. That's quite an admission considering that I had previously thought that my parents had eaten out at almost every place in the greater Ames area. Le's is a "hole in the wall" Vietnamese/Chinese restaurant that is located in the back of the Colorado Center. Dad and I entered from the back and near the "Massage" sign. The dining room was larger than I expected (over 2 rooms), which I found to be nicely appointed and relatively comfortable. The "Dad" of this family restaurant was a little gruff at first, but took good care of us overall. When I paid, he was very respectful and complimentary about my healthy 94 year-old Dad and his devoted 67 year-old son (me) out for dinner. I ordered my usual (Kung Pao Chicken), while Dad chose the Szechuan chicken. We both gobbled up our choices, and with the right amount of rice and spice. I should have stopped earlier and who knows what the calorie count was. And unlike what they say about this cuisine, I wasn't hungry afterwards. Le's also offers beer, although you wouldn't know it looking online or at the menu. read more

We got the pho and it was pretty good. The place could be cleaned up a bit more. There was only one employee when we went and no other customers so the service was quick. read more

I just got curry shrimp from here and it was FANTASTIC!!! Not too spicy. I could eat this every day! See pics. Hot, fresh and tastes so good! Friendly staff. Family friendly. Lot parking. Good prices. Marcy'sDinerTantrumScale 5/5- NoScreamingKids. This I will return repeatedly for I returned and am NOT happy. I got curry shrimp today and it included maybe 3 or 4 shrimp, tons of peppers(I'm allergic and last time there were NO PEPPERS) and the sauce was horrible. The last time, the curry shrimp was a 5 star, this time the curry shrimp is a 1 star. I've no idea what happened in two months, but it needs to go back to whatever or whoever was cooking two months ago. That chef ROCKED! The other thing I noticed is that the lunch meal no longer comes with an egg roll and the containers are considerably smaller. About 2/3 the size as two months ago. Same price, much less food. Today's hot and sour soup was horribly spicey as well. Family friendly. Ok staff. Lot parking. Marcy'sDinerTantrumScale 5/5- NoScreamingKids. So, I gave this place another chance recently and am glad I did. The egg drop soup was good. The egg rolls had good flavor. We got a beef dish, which was pretty good as well. Family friendly. Staff is ok. Clean. Lot parking. Prices ok. Marcy'sDinerTantrumScale 5/5- NoScreamingKids. CyHawkApproved. And the food comes out amazingly quick! read more

See all

Best eggrolls and fried rice. Food was delivered fast and service was decent. I would definitely go back.

My boyfriend's family wanted to go after fellowship, so I was forced to eat here again. Welp, they've made some wonderful changes. There were 3 children and 7 adults, so we ordered many dishes and shared. The fried rice, spicy deep fried chicken, beef tendon, and lamb dishes were glorious! Most of us ordered authentic traditional menu items, and I even asked for dan dan noodles which aren't on the menu, but they still made it for me. I looooove restaurants that do that. Le's has moved up the ladder in the ranking of Ames area Chinese restaurants! I don't know if there's a new owner or new cook, but I'm loving this place now! read more

Le's Restaurant - Chicken wings - Vietnamese Near Me - Ames, Iowa

Hoo boy, this was a weird one. I've been to Le's in the past, but it's been a while. Gotta say; the cosmetic changes that they made have really brightened up the place. Went in today a little after 1 pm and the place was pretty empty aside from 2 other customers. My buddy and I both ordered the lunch special of garlic chicken (or, "garlic sauce" with chicken as the protein) but, where he ordered the fried dumplings for his appetizer, I went with--you guessed it--the spring rolls. They didn't have any drinks listed in the menus provided, so I asked the guy taking our order (Le himself? Le's son, maybe?) if they had Pepsi and he said yeah, nodded, and kinda pointed toward the other room, presumably at the glass door cooler lined with drinks. I said I'd take a Pepsi, my buddy ordered a Heineken. We shot the breeze for a couple of minutes and then a nice lady from the back came out with our beverages on a tray, accompanied by two glasses of tap water, no ice. Only, the Pepsi I'd ordered had somehow changed into a can of Coke. An already-opened can of Coke. The cap had been popped on my buddy's beer as well, yet there was a corkscrew provided to us on the tray the lady left behind. While we were trying to figure out if this was a hospitality thing, and if I had missed something/been unclear in ordering process, our entrees suddenly arrived. Sooo appetizers AFTER the entrees? Okay; a little unorthodox, but not the end of the world. As we started digging in, my buddy's fried dumplings came out (they were pretty good!) but there was no sign of my spring rolls and nobody gave any information when they might be coming out. A couple more minutes? Did they forget? No update was proffered from the sweetly-smiling lady. The garlic chicken was tasty, but I honestly couldn't detect any garlic flavor. Not that I'm asking for a ton, but there should be SOME level of garlic taste in there. Then I noticed something in my food (Hold on! let me finish; this isn't necessarily a complaint) that I couldn't identify. It was pale, segmented, shiny, and tapered down along its 1-inch length. I've included a picture of it, AND of another I found that had been sliced at an angle. I thought at first that it might have been a piece of baby corn, but baby corn has kernels; this thing did not. Maybe it was a bean of some sort? I moved it to the side of my plate and continued on with my meal when the spring rolls came out. Lo and behold, they were NOT the fried kind. I know, I know: if I'm eating at a place called "Le's Vietnamese", I probably should've expected Vietnamese spring rolls. In my defense, however, when I was checking the menu online, I saw a picture of the fried kind. Oh well; I like summer rolls. Unfortunately, these things--despite being very colorful--were extremely bland. There was a shrimp or two in there, along with carrots and the noodles, but the cilantro was completely absent, seemingly replaced with...iceberg lettuce. And not the fresh-tasting, crunchy kind of ceberg lettuce. The peanut sauce was good, but not really thin enough to lend itself to dipping. Ended up using a spoon to smear some on. I also put a few drops of soy sauce on there, which helped a little. Then I spied the little sauce caddy, and the little container that contained, what assumed to be, hot chili oil. Normally I don't go for hot things, and I've never really tried hot oil, but these rolls were crying out for SOMETHING. Unfortunately, there was a problem: there was liquid on top, and a LOT of sediment on the bottom. Not wanting to miss out on the truest representation of the flavor, I tried to stir the contents up a bit, but that stuff didn't want to move. Then I tried mashing up the "desposit" at the bottom and finally got something resembling a homogeneous mixture in the bowl of the tiny spoon provided and drizzled some over the spring roll. I knew something was wrong as soon as that stuff hit my tongue. I didn't taste chili flavor or 'heat' so much as I did 'mustiness'. I think the oil had sat on that table too long and had gone rancid or something. I spat my bite into my napkin and warned my friend against trying it. The rest of the meal passed without incident, and we sat for bit, wondering if someone was going to come by with a ticket or if we should just head up to the register. We did just that after another five minutes, and found our order-taker who rang us up. Nice enough guy, but I think he screwed up my total. With an appetizer listed at $7, and my lunch special being $6.99, how is my total $20.33 after tax? Was that can of Coke 5 bucks?!? Geeze; had I known, I would've sipped it slower. I don't want to bash on a 'mom and pop', but I don't see myself visiting Le's again anytime soon. Aside from the spring rolls being disappointing, the food was fine, but there were just too many oddities on this visit to warrant a higher ranking. read more

See all

I used to eat Chinese food at Le's Vietnamese. Their food was not bad, some were tasty. I was craving for some Vietnamese food and I gave it a try despite of all bad reviews. Well, I learned my lesson. The EatStreet delivery lady is super nice, but when I open the boxes I was completely stunned. What a crappy way to serve food like this. The vegetables were old and rotten (cilantro). There was not many options of meats. I was so disappointed about this. read more

Le's Restaurant - The serving of Pho - Vietnamese Near Me - Ames, Iowa

Food was pretty good here when I came a while ago. Although it is a Vietnamese place, it also serves tasty Chinese food that is also authentic. read more

Le's Restaurant - plate of food on a table - Vietnamese Near Me - Ames, Iowa

See all

Amazing food at an amazing price. Atmosphere is average but you can't eat atmosphere and i kind of like great places like this that just are what they are and do not over do decor. It has chracter just not hip or posh. Still, not a dive either. Check them out! read more

Flavor was good. I asked for extra egg and extra shrimp and this looks like a regular shrimp fried rice. The cashier was a bit short and seemed annoyed when I asked for a fork. I did not dine in but the dining area seemed fine. read more

The food here is so extremely salty it's almost not edible. I wouldn't recommend any of their proteins. However, noodles, rice, soups have all been average in my experience. read more

Hidden gem! You can get Americanized dishes here, but they also have authentic dishes. The food comes out super hot and fresh. The people that work there are super inviting and the overall vibe of the restaurant is cozy and inviting. We've ordered the lamb with cumin, the Vermicelli with pork, the spring rolls, the crispy beef, and the cold roast beef (with tripe) the spring rolls, and the chicken lo mein. The peanut sauce that comes with the spring rolls was delicious. I can't wait to try the pho next! read more

See all

This place is hard to find. Really a hole in the hole Chinese restaurant!!! NOT near as advertised as VIETNAMESE food! I would not suggest this spot to anyone and definitely would not come back. Inside was clean looking. Service was not so good until those couple of people that seems like the owners, checked on our orders. Food looks appealing on the menu pics but not as it's served. Seems like the food were watery and greasy except the "Salt & Pepper Shrimps"! read more

See all

Favorite sesame chicken in Ames. Great staff and hospitality. Definitely one of my favorite mom and pop places around. Have been eating here for years and will be coming for years to come. read more

My boyfriend and I ordered takeout and overall, everything tasted good except the egg drop soup. Now, I love egg drop soup. I must order it with every meal so I've had a lot of different egg drops and this one tasted like warm water. However, the meal was ready to pick up when my boyfriend scheduled it and our entrees were satisfying! The chicken was breaded which I prefer it not to be but that's okay. The portions are decent sized. My boyfriend and I both had leftovers. If you're craving Chinese, especially later in the evening (they're open until 10-10:30 pm depending on the day of the week), this place could satisfy that crave! read more

Le's Restaurant - Vietnamese Near Me - Ames, Iowa

Great food! Love the Pho because you get so much bang for your buck and it's delicious I usually can't go wrong with any of the dishes that I have tried here. Carry-out and DoorDash options are very quick and efficient as well read more

I'm a bit surprised that I've never eaten here before because this restaurant is roughly a mile from my house, but better late than never. What prompted my wife and I to try it tonight was the fact that we finally had one bad experience too many with another Chinese restaurant in town, and were looking for an alternative. We were pretty happy with our meal. Our original intent was to order takeout but when I attempted to do so, I discovered that I couldn't just pay online and then pick up the food-- you had to pay for it in the restaurant. Since we are attempting to minimize the amount of time we spend in restaurants these days, we decided to have the food delivered instead. The delivery charge is a reasonable $2, and in this option you can pay for the food online. (I'm not sure why you can't do this when ordering takeout.) The food arrived roughly on time (maybe five minutes late, which I think is within the bounds of reasonableness) and was completely accurate. It was also quite good. I had the pineapple chicken, one of my favorite dishes and one that I cannot readily get in other places. It was very tasty (pieces of chicken and pineapple, with a mild and flavorful sauce) and the portion was huge; I assumed I would get one leftover meal out of it, but wound up getting two. My wife had the cashew chicken. She liked it but wasn't as wild about it as I was; she thought it could have used more cashews. (However, she will be the first to admit that she likes a lot of nuts in dishes like this.) She upgraded from the complimentary white rice (that I had) to fried rice; it was good, but neither of us is convinced that it was worth the 3 dollar surcharge. We had some walnuts in the pantry and she thought that adding them to the dish worked very nicely. She, too, got two leftover meals out of her order, one of which she generously donated to me. There are other menu items I am interested in trying (the crispy beef and house special pork cutlets; unfortunately, not all menu items have pictures attached to them) and I hope to have the opportunity to do in the near future. read more

I ordered Ma Po Tofu and Vegetable Egg Rolls to delivery and everything was delivered on time and fairly cheap. The Ma Po Tofu was delicious but the veggie egg rolls looked great however, after biting into them I noticed the filling looked like meat and therefore wasn't able to eat them because I wasn't sure what was in it. Would recommend this restaurant to others and will return in the near future! read more

Le's Restaurant - This is the photo of the veggie egg roll I received and am not quite sure what it's filled with - Vietnamese Near Me - Ames, Iowa

This place is nasty nasty nasty. I just ate it and hope I don't get sick. I should have read the reviews before ordering. There's gotta be atleast 8 eggs in this nasty moo sho pork. Also the hot and sour soup probably 3 eggs in it. I guess they use the eggs for filler idk. Disgusting read more

Le's Restaurant - Moo shu pork. - Vietnamese Near Me - Ames, Iowa

Blech! What a disappointment. When I came across a Vietnamese Restaurant in Iowa on Yelp I was really pumped to try it out. We drove to Ames from Webster City (about 30-45 minutes) only to wish we would have stayed home. The service was great! I wish that their food matched up to this quality. We ordered two boba smoothies, fried chicken wings, spring rolls, and two shrimp and pork Phos. Let's start with the boba. They were multicolored and multi-shaped little CRUNCHY balls floating in the sweetest smoothie I have ever had. I am glad that there were only about 5 or 6 bobas per smoothie as they were inedible. The fried chicken wings were awesome and, looking back, I wished I would have just ordered a few of these. The spring rolls were nothing more than a pile of wilted lettuce with one shrimp sliced in half. The rice paper was super chewy and the peanut sauce was watery. Now for the really bad...The Pho tasted like it came out of a box. What Vietnamese place does not make their broth from scratch? There was absolutely no flavor. The noodles were also very bland and were so thick they made me wonder if they were really rice noodles. They did not provide basil or mint, so we were left to spice up our soup with lime and cilantro. I literally had to dump sriracha and chili flakes into the bowl to get any bit of flavor out of it. So much for Vietnamese food in Iowa... read more

See all

I did not know that it was possible for food to be this good. I change what I order every time and each dish I try becomes my new favorite. truly spectacular. my top favorites are the Le's Tofu and the Yuxiang eggplant. My non-vegetarian friends adore the chicken and mushroom stew and bao read more

Establishment was nice and clean, the location may seem confusing when entering as it is a plaza connected to other businesses. We came in for dinner in hopes of finding a Vietnamese menu but were surprised with a mixed menu of Chinese food, Korean, Vietnamese, and Thai food as well. No problem I have options to choose from, but as I flip the pages it can be overwhelming as I have doubts in what could be their specialty. Mixed food it is then. Our appetizer arrived last; but our food was nice and boiling hot just how I like it. We ordered: Vietnamese Vermacilli- Not you authentic dish, barely and pork as it was minced very finely and very greasy not impressed. Cabbage and Pork- Great spicy flavors, I only received 3 thin slices of pork mostly fat again very oily I felt as if I slapped some lipgloss on my lips. Chicken and mushroom stew- Now this was amazing! Very flavorful, huge portion and your choice of bone in and bone out. When I told the lady about the other dishes her response was "western culture does not understand" and informed us that we were not looking at the "American side menu". So beware and ask were that "side" is. Long story short ask before you order so you don't get surprised. read more

See all

fantastic food and service my go to place when I am craving great food. i recommend the Pho and crab Rangoons actually everything is great

Great food and service! Ate inside and employees were very nice and quick. My table got orange chicken, general Tso chicken, sesame chicken, szechuan pork, mongolian beef, egg rolls, dumplings, and rangoon. We enjoyed all of it. Our favorite was the orange chicken. read more

I'm so sad. We ordered Le's tonight and it's always been soooo good! What we got seemed like it was from a totally different place. We have ordered (I thought) since they changed ow era and it was always so good. Tonight we were very disappointed. The egg rolls weren't the same (very salty), the fried rice was also too salty and the fried dumplings and egg rolls were both chewy, not crispy. I'm sad to say.... we probably aren't ordering from them again. Mr. Le was my painter/wallpaper guy for years and we loved this place. read more

Oh my gah!!! Egg rolls, to die for! Kung pow beef, mouth watering. We were the only two in the place. Only off thing was we ordered tea but it was more like half lemonade half tea. Wasn't bad just wasn't expecting it.. read more

Food and service are very good here. Recommend ordering 1 "hot pepper" of spicyness .

My first time eating at Le's and I found the food very tasty. Their were many repeat customers which is always a good sign. Varied menu with all the typical favorites. Under new ownership. read more

I just want to say that I used to eat at Le's Restaurant quite often but I never really interacted with the staff. Now I can say that unfortunately due to my experience with the staff I will not be supporting Le's Restaurant anymore. Today I called the restaurant and I asked for a bubble tea but I asked if they were able to make it with ice and not blended into the blender and the guy hung up in my face so I called back and I said "You know you just hung up in my face right?" and his reply was "Well I don't know what you want, what do you want?" and I repeated my request and asked if they could make my taro bubble tea sweeter and his reply was "No we're too busy for that." I asked "So does that mean that I can't have a bubble tea?" and he said "Well you are saying that you don't even like the way we make our bubble tea so why do you even eat here?" and I tried to apologize because I am assuming that he must have misunderstood me and he hung up in my face again. I was really hurt because I actually have done business with them since I moved here to Ames two years ago and now I will never do business with them again. I don't think anyone should do business of any kind with a company that does not care for their customers. The reviews for this restaurant are already low and I'm sure that they are aware of that but I hope the best for them and God bless them. I wanted to leave this review so that hopefully it will help someone and also help Le's Restaurant do better in the future. read more

This place sucks. After ordering their Beef and Noodles I spent 11 hrs in the ER with terrible food poisoning.

We only tried the pho and fried dumplings... so I can only judge for that but good size, kinda hard to find but worth it if you like dumplings! Our pho wasn't that great... meat was over cooked, lacked favor.. had cilantro instead of basil.. but would go back to try again! read more

Le's Restaurant - Vietnamese Near Me - Ames, Iowa

It seemed like the boss and Yelp worked together to delete so many reviews but truth can never be deleted. There was a customer who gave them a negative review （simply saying their foods were not tasty）and then received a threaten from the owner. That was absolutely not acceptable. read more

Let me start off by saying Le's was once one of my favorite restaurants in Ames. They are under new ownership and BOY have things changed! I went here yesterday with my parents and husband and no one got exactly what we ordered because nothing came out as it was on the menu. Second, our appetizer came out AFTER our food (and I reminded her we ordered it...) and was cold. It took until we were leaving for them to apologize for this also. Go at your own risk! read more

After weeks of eating fried foods, steaks and bbq on this business trip, we all had a major craving for Asian food. We did a search on the nearest Vietnamese restaurant and Le's popped up on our radar first. I'm Vietnamese and also live in SJ so I have high expectations for Vietnamese food. Asian food in Iowa? I think I'm asking for too much. Service was very good. I will admit that. We were immediately seated, given enough time to order our appetizers, got our Vietnamese coffee, and was given ample time to order our lunch stuff soon after. My lunch: Combination vermecelli: vermecilli with stir fried pork, egg rolls and shrimp. Vermicelli was cooked right. Pork was ok, though not in the traditional sense. There was no basil, mints, or any of the usual herbs. I think that this stuff may not be easily acquired in Iowa. Nuoc mam was americanized and over sweetened. Spring rolls: I couldn't finish my roll. The rice paper was kind of wet. A lot of the herbs were missing once again. Rolls contained pork, shrimp, vermicelli, and lettuce. No mints, basil, leek, or cilantro. Peanut sauce was bland. Vietnamese coffee: This tasted pretty similar to what you can find in SJ, so props there. I was sad they pre-made the coffee in the kitchen, so we couldn't see it in the making at our table. Overall menu: mostly americanized panda express type of food. Only close to authentic food is found in the last section of the menu. If you're coming here to find authentic Vietnamese food, I would say that you are looking for the impossible. Taste is catered more for the American pallete and definitely not for the Vietnamese. I am going back to San Jose. haha read more

This place is not a vietnamese restaurant anymore. Since the new management bought this place, they slowly removed the vietnamese menu. However, I am not complaining since their chinese food menu is delicious. If taste place is my favorite for spicy food, Le's is a better choice for cleaner palate, but still tasty authentic northern chinese food. The restaurant is located inside a plaza but the place is spacious. They changed the menu so everything looks good in it. Beware that the pictures in the menu are not the exact representation of the reality. I would also say bring somebody who can read Mandarin since I feel like they have a secret menu displayed which I can't read These are some of my recommendations on food that is found in the menu - Hot and Spicy Chicken - Shanghai Buns with Pork - Beef with radish soup - Sezhuan style green beans - Other food that is not in the menu, but the pictures are displayed in front of the restaurant. I never remember the name of the dish, but I usually just see which one looks good and point it to the lady. Their lunch special is also cheap and they do delivery services. P.S. Do not try their bubble tea. They have a long way to improve it. read more

Pleasantly surprised to find this establishment... literally it's hidden inside the corner of an off the street office space strip... good food and actually authentic though they don't carry everything you'll usually find in a big city typical vietnamese restaurant. Strong word of advice: stay away from the bubble tea and drinks. Whatever they're not out of tastes god awful fake and full of artificial color. read more

See all