Initial Visit: January 5th, 2013
Rating: 4/5
Price: $

Description: People’s favorite soup shop in Peoria.

The year was 2012. The goal was to have fun at a local anime convention with a group of my nerdy friends and nerdy girlfriend. The goal prior to that goal was to try some Asian food to make sure we didn’t go hungry at Anime Zap! I asked if everyone wanted to try out Than Linh and I got a resounding ‘yes’.

We arrived to a small and cramped restaurant with… interesting… art on the walls. We took over one of the small tables and were given menus that were in English. Not that that helped much because I had no idea what anything was. I’ve been to many places of many different ethnic cultures but Vietnamese was a new one for me. I settled on a bowl of what I assumed was something spicy. Our waitress was super helpful in answering all of our questions and helping us pick things out. Without her, we would’ve ordered who knows what.

I swear this place was fast food. We had our food out before we got in to a good discussion about the convention that was our next stop. As our waitress stared to hand us our food, I could see that this was a disaster waiting to happen. The sheer size of the bowls plus our drinks and appetizers meant that we had to be careful navigating the table. This did lead to us bumping elbows but the sheer silliness of it all made it charming in its own way. We did have to be careful though. The bowls were massive and if anyone dropped anything, there would be a flood of hot soup coming our way.

I tried looking at their menu online and I think whatever I ordered is no longer on there. It was a fairly spicy soup with beef in it, I believe. As I dug in to it, I knew that the bowl would go away half consumed. It did taste pretty good for not knowing fully what I was eating but between the appetizers we ordered and the volume of liquid the bowls held, it was going to be impossible to finish. I wish I knew what I ordered so I could go back and try it again with a more diverse taste for food. I will say the soup did warm me in multiple ways on this cold winter afternoon.

It seems that every time someone mentions getting soup or Asian food in Peoria, people all point towards Thanh Linh. It’s everyone’s go to spot for some soup. I don’t think I’ve encountered anyone who hasn’t been there yet.

Since 2013, the restaurant has moved over a few buildings from where it was. I haven’t seen the new place but it’s on my short list of places to check out. Once I do, I will give it a new post all on it’s own. New building, the passage of a few years, and new experiences are enough to warrant a new post, in my opinion.

1209 W Main St
Peoria, IL 61606
(309) 495-0179

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ThanhLinhVietnameseRestaurant/
Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/thanh-linh-vietnamese-restaurant-peoria
Website: https://www.thanhlinhrestaurant.com/