bolsa vietnamese / mira mesa – san diego, ca

I’m gonna keep it easy for myself for Monday’s post and not post a zillion photos. Just a few from a few visits I made to Bolsa, a Vietnamese restaurant in Mira Mesa. I went to Bolsa once when I was in high school with my parents many moons ago… but never bothered to go back until recently when my dad was telling me about it again. It was like I totally forgot about it’s existence and I couldn’t even remember if I liked it or not. My dad insisted it was good though, so I convinced my co-workers to go here for lunch and I made a couple of more visits on my own. It’s now confirmed: I do like this place!

crispy-fried-egg-rolls

[egg rolls – $6.95]

I love these egg rolls because of the super extra crunchy wrapper. This angle kind of makes them look like chicken wing ends to me. Or am I just crazy?

I love munching of these wrapped with the mint and lettuce. I didn’t do that the first time I had them, but tried it later and found I preferred it that way. The mint gives it a little hint of fresh flavor paired in with the crunchy rolls. They have a meaty/veggie filling, just the right amount of each.

sauces-at-bolsa

[sauces]


These are the sauces that are served with various dishes. On the far right is the dipping sauce for the egg rolls (it is yummy). I believe it’s the same sauce also for the noodle bowl below. Above that is this ginger sauce that’s given to you when you order the Chicken Rice Noodle Pho (it is heavenly).

pork-shrimp-noodle-bowl

[noodle bowl thing with grilled pork and grilled shrimp]

I don’t remember exactly what they call this dish since it wasn’t on the Bolsa online menu I found. This is the same dish that I love ordered at Pho Cow Cali across the street (except I usually get it with egg rolls instead of shrimp). I kind of think of this as an all-in-one-dish, as in, you get salad, appetizer and entree, all in one bowl! It has cold noodles on the bottom with shredded lettuce, cucumber, carrots, daikon, and peanuts. They also put scallions on here. Add the included sauce and viola – a really fresh, bright bowl of yumminess. The grilled pork here is pretty good (though I do still prefer it over at Pho Cow Cali). The grilled shrimp were very nicely done with just a tiny bit of char.

chicken-pho-soup

[chicken rice noodle soup – this is a photo of the large bowl ($7.50) – small bowl is $6.50]

This is a photo of Matt’s bowl of chicken rice noodle soup, but I later shared a bowl with Lauren. On that first visit, our waiter asked David and Matt (who got the same thing) if they wanted white or dark meat chicken and they requested dark. When I visited with Lauren, they didn’t ask me and we ended up with white meat. The white meat was actually incredibly tender and very good – but I still would have liked to get dark meat. Have to remember to ask for the future! The included ginger sauce makes the Pho extra tasty. I liked dropping in a spoonful every now and again for a nice kick of ginger in the soup. The broth was very nice – good flavor, not too mild and complemented the chicken and noodles pretty well.

I find the bowls to be huge – always have – I can never finished a bowl on my own so I think they’re good for sharing or for leftovers.

pork-bahn-mi-sandwich

[pork banh mi – $4.25]

I went again one more time with Laura and we shared the egg rolls and these banh mi sandwiches. They have two available – pork and beef – and we did half and half and shared the sandwiches.

These are a little smaller than what I’m used to from Cali Baguette. The french bread is a bit thicker and not crunchy, but soft, almost more like an Italian bread. Those are also not jalapeno’s on the sandwich, but bell pepper slices (which I don’t like either). 

beef-banh-mi-sandwich

[beef banh mi – $4.25]

These sandwiches came with the usual fixings – carrot, daikon, cilantro and the bell pepper. There didn’t seem to be any kind of spread on the bread – just plain. A very simple sandwich, but still pretty good. I probably wouldn’t order the banh mi’s from here again unless I really just wanted to eat egg rolls and something similar since I prefer banh mi’s from other places. But it’s a decent sandwich. I think a little spread would do it good and I’d prefer a roll with a little more crunch then this one, but the soft roll wasn’t terrible. Just different.

All in all I’d say that Bolsa is a pretty solid restaurant with a nice variety of offerings. The chicken pho with the ginger sauce is pretty killer and I imagine those egg rolls will keep me coming back. There’s plenty of things left to try and explore on the menu, too, giving me plenty of options for the future.

Bolsa Vietnamese
9225 Mira Mesa Blvd, Ste 118
San Diego, CA 92126
(858) 693-3663

Bolsa-Vietnamese Cuisine on Urbanspoon


12 thoughts on “bolsa vietnamese / mira mesa – san diego, ca

  1. The cold noodle with lettuce and various toppings (I sometimes get it with spring roll as the topping if I don’t have much cash on me) is called “Bun” -pronounced “boon”. I have cravings for it…moreso in the summer. Great photos!

    1. Ahhh, yes! I totally forgot the name of that dish, thanks Cathy! I usually order it by number at Pho Cow Cali so I couldn’t remember it’s name. I have cravings for it, too, and usually it’s too much for me to finish in one sitting. Yummy though, at either place!

  2. Mary- next time you walk in (to just about any Vietnamese place, but Bolsa’s version is good) as you are being seated, tell them you’d like to order Banh xeo (baah-n shaow). It’s on the appetizer list, about $7, and they need time to make it. It’s a turmeric flavored/color crispy rice batter crepe folded and filled with shrimp, pork, sprouts and onion and served with the lettuce and mint and nuoc cham. A bit different than the spring roll and very good.

    1. Mary – another place that makes a good banh xeo is Pho Hiep Grill in Eastlake. theirs is nice and crispy and small. some places make them “big” which is a regional difference. i don’t like the bigger ones because they ended up as a soggy mess.

      1. Oh, nice! We don’t eat in Eastlake too often just because whenever we’re down there we never know where to go and we’re usually just dropping off/picking up children. I still want to go to that cupcake place you mentioned! So many places to try, so little time. 🙂

  3. I was just there over the weekend! This is my go-to place for chicken pho b/c I love the broth and the ginger fish sauce it comes with.

    Yeah, the fresh mint with the eggrolls is DA BOMB ain’t it?!! I’m always too embarrassed (or too scared to get charged?) to ask for extra extra extra mint.

    You should try to order a fried egg with one of the rice dishes – it’s something I do almost every time I’m at a Vietnamese restaurant. Something about a crispy, greasy, fried egg makes me happy.

    Your pics are devine BTW!

    1. Haha, Faye! I can’t imagine mint costs very much, I bet you could ask for extra of it! I always find Vietnamese food to be so refreshing with the mint and leafy stuff added into the food. I don’t usually order rice dishes since I like noodles better, but eggs and rice does sound good. I bet Jake would love it! I’ve slowly (very slowly) been introducing him to other types of Asian food that isn’t Chinese 🙂

  4. Hi Mary,

    This is Bolsa Vietnamese Restaurant!

    As a family-owned restaurant, I am helping my mom’s restaurant in her online presence. Even though this post is quite dated, would it be possible to include a link to our website on it? Our website is bolsasandiego.com

    Also, we would love to have you again! Please let us know and thank you!

    – Bolsa Vietnamese Restaurant
    info@bolsasandiego.com

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