Dong Nguyen

The food is always hot and very good
The man and lady who works there speaks cantonese and will greet you upon arrival.
Space is small, a hole in the wall.
But..if you go, you will not be disappointed.
5/5 stars!

We've been coming here for years, and the food is still consistently delicious! Service is usually very quick and friendly. Bring cash because it's cash only.

Dried cornish hen with tomatoe paste fried rice: the chicken was so crispy and perfectly cooked! The chicken is lightly seasoned, but they give you a lemon with salt and pepper if you want more flavor.

Cubed steak with tomato paste fried rice: this is always my go-to here. I love the tomato paste rice paired with beef. The beef is seasoned, but it also comes with lemon and salt and pepper, if you want it saltier.

I love that the dishes come with a little bowl of soup with some veggies. It definitely makes the meal feel even more hearty.

We ordered hainan chicken rice at Dong Nguyen for to-go many times. It used to be 4 stars quality but now downgraded to 3 stars for me. They didn't give us much chicken meat this time and it was under cooked. Their fried noodle dish was salty and the beef quality was not good. Price was good and portion not small but it was hit and miss. I hope that they will improve their specialty dish (hainan chicken rice) quality.

French beef with tomato rice is all I get here. And it's consistently good every time. Large portions and a great price. They're also very friendly.

It has been over 10 years since my original review and with changes in palate, experiences, and my relationship with food over the last decade, I wanted to come back to share that my thoughts about this restaurant have never changed. Dong Nguyen remains home to comfort Chinese/Vietnamese style cuisine. I still get the hainan chicken + pork chop rice combo. Staff still greet me with excitement and warmth.

Minor noticeable differences:
- The pork chop is no longer bone-in. I've notice in my last several visits that they've started to serve it deboned and cut up. Some inconsistencies in flavor and texture, but nothing significant.
- Because of the pandemic, they had to close down the restaurant for some time. This led to a restructure that affected staff and the way the business operated. Once reopened, service was take-out only for a long time. When the business finally introduced dine-in service back to the public, most of the staff did not return. This definitely changed the ambience of the dining experience as the once hustle and bustle of customers/staff and steady sounds of the door chime are now far and few between.

While it makes me a bit sad, I'd like to think all the changes in the last few years have shifted customers to adapt to phone orders and takeout and that the business is still flourishing. Please continue to support small businesses like this one. I would be heartbroken if this establishment were to ever close its doors in my lifetime.

One other thing that surprisingly has not changed -- CASH ONLY!

I'd also like to note that Dong Nguyen and Savoy have very different takes on their hainan chicken dishes and I've grown to like and appreciate them both. So if you are coming here expecting to have what is served at Savoy, don't. Each establishment has its own unique flair. Please disregard my original review, this is my public apology.

Their HaiNan chicken are the best too 3 I had tried. Very low key and quiet place. But you will love their food.

I'm sad to give this place 3 stars.

I've been here a few times way before the pandemic happened. I'd always get the hainan chicken rice and it was amazing every time.

I stopped coming after I moved to Hacienda Heights and this restaurant just wasn't really on the way whenever I was on this side of SGV. I had to run some errands and decided to stop by Dong Nguyen since i wanted to support the boba shop next door (Moo Tea) after seeing a post on the fb group SGV Eats.

Hainan Chicken: the rice is delicious, just as I remembered it. Lightly flavored with chicken broth. The ginger sauce is yummy as well. The chicken however... although tender and moist, the portion was quite small and most of it was just bones. The portion in general for this dish is just off- takeout box full of rice with very little chicken. There was about 3 pieces with decent amount of meat.

Cubed Steak: the tomato rice is good but not strong in flavor. The steak tasted just ok but the portion size made up for it I guess. I took maybe 3 scoops of rice before I noticed a hair hidden inside :(

Each dish had 4 slices of cucumber and they came with soup. The soup had lots of green leafy veggies and a very small piece of the end of a chicken foot. If you're not a huge fan of chicken feet, don't worry the toe/claw part wasnt included. Loved the soup :)

...but I won't be coming back for a long long time. It's just not what it used to be.

Restaurant is located in a big 168 market plaza. Won't have problems finding a parking spot.

Cash & to-go only.

The tomato macaroni with shaking beef (bo luc lac) was so good. I love macaroni in general and the beef was extremely tender. It comes with lime and salt to dip the beef in.

We also go the tomato rice with Cornish hen. The hen/chicken was p small compared to the rice ratio. But it was decent.

This place is located in a large plaza w a lot of parking. This place is cash only!

This place was my go to spot for Hainan chicken in the 626 area and I have not been able to go to this place in the last couple of years. But when I finally got the chance to go I was disappointed.

It seem that they do not do dine in as all the chairs are stacked on the tables. Got my food to go and was excited to eat it and was a very disappointed The chicken hardly had and meat and mostly I was sucking the little meat off the bone. The rice was okay, but the chicken was not great. The sweet sauce did make the chicken any better.

I might come back to give them another try but it will be a while before I do so

I've been a regular of this place for 20+ years. Quality never changed and remains as good as usual.