Tay Ho

Tay Ho is a Vietnamese restaurant in the West End of Richmond, Virginia.

The first time we visited, I had never been to a Vietnamese restaurant. I don’t mean it was my first time having Vietnamese food in Richmond; I mean, ever. I had been missing out!

Tay Ho seemed like a good introduction to the cuisine. Our server helped me decide what to try. He suggested the pho – as he should – but the raw vegetables that come piled on the broken rice dishes were calling out to me that day. (It was late summer, we had just moved to town, and after traveling halfway across the country, I guess I just needed a salad fix. Road-trip food isn’t generally all that healthy.)

We decided I couldn’t go wrong with bbq chicken, so that’s what he brought out to me. My husband had a noodle dish and our daughter had pho, but somehow I didn’t get pictures of those!

Hubby also got a strong cup of Vietnamese coffee. He loved how strong it was, but the sweetened condensed milk was too sweet for him, so the next time we came to Tay Ho he had them hold the milk. That was more like it!

The only reason my husband and I hadn’t tried Vietnamese food before moving to Richmond was just that we didn’t really know anyone who could make the introduction. The evening we stopped at Tay Ho, hunger drove us! We had been going all day, looking at furniture and just generally doing the chores you have to do when you move somewhere new and by the time we passed it on West Broad Street we were starving! Hunger emboldened me, I guess, and as soon as we sat down I confessed to the server we had not tried anything like this before. (I later found out my daughter had had pho, so she wasn’t a complete newbie.) My favorite thing, to be honest, was fish sauce. How did I not know how delicious it is? I don’t love a lot of types of fish, so fish sauce hadn’t been high on my list of things to try, but I always intended to get around to it. I should have done it sooner.

The staff were all so helpful at Tay Ho and the food was so good. We agreed this was the best Vietnamese meal we had ever had! (Ha ha.) We talked for months about going back when we had time, and finally we did. The second time visiting, we weren’t starving and it didn’t seem as wondrous, but it was still great.

Tay Ho Vietnamese Restaurant
www.tayhorestaurant.com
7927 West Broad Street
Richmond, VA 23111
(804) 346-8888
Tay Ho Facebook page
TayHoRVA on IG