Alise Restaurant & Banquet

Yo..... Why is it empty every time I visit?! This spot used to be Starfish, but they switched names to avoid being confused with the sushi joint in NB. Total different vibe. This place is like authentic Vietnamese Drinking/ Karaoke Street Food Cuisine. But here's the thing, folks--the food is solid! Seriously, you should help them stay afloat, because this place is serving up some legit Vietnamese street food.The coconut snails? Absolutely delicious. My daughter gave them a solid 5/5 for "slurpability," so there's that. She said the snails are easier to get out at this place. The garlic noodles with Bo Luc Lac were a bit on the mid side, but the beef was tender enough to make you forget about it. The noodles lacked a umami taste, like where's the MSG, bro???? 3/5 And let's talk about the salt & pepper fried chicken feet. I know, I KNOW, but don't knock it 'til you try it. I'm dreaming about those crispy, salty little feet now. 10/5.Bun Ha Noi? So savory, so flavorful--5/5.Authentic? Yes. Delicious? You bet. Decor? Meh. But how are they supposed to update it without customers, right? So go, eat, and help keep the dream alive.

We like this place for Vietnamese catfish. It was called "Starfish Restaurant" before but they changed the name because it was similar to an Asian fusion restaurant in Laguna Beach. It's now called "Alise Restaurant & Banquet", and is located in Fountain Valley. We were craving catfish before going to Irvine Spectrum. Our first thought was going to this place because we have been there many times. We got there before 1:30 p.m. and then we ordered a small-size catfish ($35) for both of us. (note: We should have ordered ahead of time before we got there, the server informed us that we had to wait 45 minutes but we still wanted to wait) While waiting, we ordered the egg rolls ($9.99) as appetizer, they tasted heavenly and so crispy & crunchy! About 45 minutes later, our fish dish came and it looked amazing and it was not that small. We used the rice paper to wrap the fish meat, lettuce, cucumber, sliced carrots, and noodles (it came with the complimentary small dish of rice noodles), after I wrapped it then I dipped it into the delicious fish sauce. The fish sauce tasted authentic as usual. The fish cooked perfectly and we liked that it had a lot of peanuts, green onions, and fried garlic! hubby and I both finished the whole fish but we were soooo full! Too bad we don't have any good and authentic Vietnamese catfish in SGV (tried the one in Rosemead but it was okay) so we always go to OC to have authentic catfish.FYI, small-size catfish is enough for 2-3 people, medium-size catfish costs $45 (4-5 people) and we ordered large-size catfish for about 5-6 people in the past. They also have many different kinds of Vietnamese food on the menu.

The food was really good! I loved the crawfish and was impressed it was live and in season. They also had salted plum soda which I was very excited for. The staff were super nice and attentive. It was a large restaurant and had music playing. It seems good for events or just dining in. Parking is easy because it's in a large parking lot.

The food here is okay, just don't try their seafood (shellfish) because it tastes terrible and I think they are frozen food, not fresh seafood based on the taste. We ordered quite a few but their seafood turned out to be really bad. It doesn't taste fresh and each of my family member try one bite and no one touch the seafood again. The fried catfish is okay, but not as good as other restaurant. Their papaya salad with squid (gỏi mực) is really good though so I will give them credit for that.The restaurant was pretty empty but it taste quite long for them to prepare the food. The servers and the environment are okay. Overall, I would not recommend.P/s: We came here when it was near their close time so maybe that explains the bad experience.

This restaurant is tucked away in a strip center. The decor is old but it appears very clean. The menu has changes on it written and taped on. Presumably price increases as everywhere seems to be going up. The service is nice and done with a smile. They know the menu and can recommend items per your desires or popular items. They came back a couple times to check on us. The food came out fresh and hot. The flavors were tasty and very typical of the dishes we ordered. The sizes were okay. Not large nor small. Just about what I would expect. This place is good for big parties as they have a large room off to the side for big gatherings. The front area is smaller and good for couples and families.

Love their lunch specials. Limited items however we tried Bun Rieu and Shrimp garlic noodles and both of them were very tasty. Service was excellent and plenty of parking. Will come back to try other dishes. They have a separate room for private events in the back.

Love this place!!! Com chien ca Mang is my fav. The clams shrimp Cajun style is so bomb! Ong choi. I like eating outside! The passion fruit juice is really good too!! Can ga chien nuoc mam is delicious. The fish sauce wings are so good. This place is kids friendly

The live crawfish boil was possibly made in a Vietnamese fusion style which was buttery sweet spicy. The crawfish were fresh, firm, and great. The razor clams didn't quite seem as good, not sure about freshness but a bit salty. While the service is kind and fast, the food can be hit or miss. The atmosphere shows that it's still under renovation, the decor doesn't look to be finished just yet.

The food is tasty, staffs are nice and friendly. I like the outdoor street food at night. They also accept EBT.

This is one of the closest Viet restaurants to our house which is why we tend to order here for convenience. Food is average to right below that. Once before, we ordered ca nuong and was told to pick up in 40 mins. When time came, we arrived just to be told they had forgot to make it for us. They tried to make it better by saying they will deliver it after they are done which is another 30-40 mins. It was a set back as we were very hungry. Since they delivered and try to make it better we let it go and didn't place a review. The same exact scenario happened again this evening. Our dinner is usually 6pm. It is now 7:30pm. We came at the time they told us it would be done just to find out they never made the cat fish! They said 20 mins they will deliver and it's been about 40 mins and nothing has been delivered. No more chances for this place.