Cuu Long Vietnamese Restaurant - Restaurants On Oahu Aiea, Hawaii

Cuu Long Vietnamese Restaurant is located in the busy Pearl Kai Shopping Center, so the parking is a little challenging. They serve average typical Vietnamese fare such as pho, appetizers, rice dishes. The food is good but not great.

My favorite item on the the menu is the Sour Soup. Cuu Long's soup has a sour and spicy flavor which is really good. I normally get the Chicken Sour Soup, but this time I tried the Vegetable Sour Soup. They use interesting ingredients such as the taro stem, which adds a unique flavor which is really good. The Vegetable Sour Soup was teeming with the taro stem, which were cut up into thin slices. It has a spongy texture which soaks up the great flavor of the soup. I've tried sour soups in different Vietnamese restaurants in Hawaii, but haven’t found a better one than at Cuu Long.

On the other hand, their pho is just average. The beef slices are a little thick and tough. The tendons are not as gelatinous as I prefer. But they are good enough. We also ordered summer rolls, but the rice paper was a little dry - I think it had been pre-made and sitting around for a while. The shrimp in the summer role was kind of fishy too.

Cuu Long's Sour Soup deserves 4.5 stars, but I’m giving the resaurant 3.5 stars for overall taste.