I'm going to a Vietnamese restaurant and I've never had Vietnamese food. What should I get?!

It depends on the type of Vietnamese restaurant. Upscale Vietnamese is a bit rare and is as diverse as any regional Chinese type restaurant.

Most low end Vietnamese restaurants do Pho which is typically beef noodle soup. Try one with Chicken (Ga) or steak (Tai), and then move on when you get used to the flavor profile.

Most Pho places have spring rolls and egg rolls. The Spring Rolls are not cooked and contain pork and shrimp with a lot of veggies, they are dipped into a peanut sauce. Egg rolls are deep fried, a bit smaller, and are served with lettuce. You wrap the deep fried egg roll in lettuce and then dip into a fish sauce.

Com is rice and is a common category. It is basically a meat with rice dish with some side veggies. If you pick shrimp or BBQ something it will likely be grilled and is a good choice.

Banh Mi is a sandwich on really good french bread. Don't do ham, which is an American version. Do Chicken or BBQ pork. These sandwiches are cheap because they have only a little bit of meat and a slaw of daikon and carrots with cilantro and hot peppers. You might need to eat two depending upon how big they make them. Be careful of the peppers, they're really hot.

That's a good start and remember that VIetnamese food is very diverse so don't get stalled at Pho like most people, keep trying new stuff.

I'm fat.

The salad rolls (g?i cu?n) are a great appetizer. A translucent roll with a dipping sauce. It usually has shrimp. but they may have it without if you ask.

Vietnamese ham sandwich (bánh mì) is really tasty and very popular, and served on French bread

I can't resist Vietnamese chicken soup (ph? gà) at Vietnamese restaurants.This is my favorite dish. Thai basil and sprouts as well as sauce are generally served on the side, you can spice to your flavor with a bottle of Sriracha, but be careful, as you don't like spicy.

The best thing to get at a Vietnamese restaurant is pho (spelled with a dangly question-mark looking thing over the "o"). It's pronounced "fuh," just like you would say the f-word without the "k" sound at the end.

Pho is Vietnamese noodle soup, and is pretty darn tasty. It's not a wildly exotic taste, and even people who are picky eaters or new to Vietnamese cuisine will enjoy it. Typically, it's a seasoned broth vaguely similar to chicken broth, packed with noodles and your choice of meats. The menu will have several options for which meats you can get; I recommend flank steak (basically sliced beef) or chicken. The bowl is huge, and definitely is an entire meal on its own.

Pho is traditionally served with a variety of side items which can be added according to your preference. Typically, it is served with fresh basil, lime wedges, bean sprouts, and jalapenos. They're all good in the soup, although you'll want to avoid the jalapenos. I recommend taking it easy on the lime, since a little can change the taste of the soup pretty dramatically. Vietnamese condiments usually include Sriracha, a hot chili sauce resembling ketchup, and hoisin sauce, which is sweet and (I believe) plum-based. Other condiments are common, such as basic soy sauce, and crushed chili peppers in oil. The condiments are traditionally used by applying a line of whichever sauce you choose to the inside of the rim of the bowl. A couple of inches is usually sufficient. Then, scoop up some noodles or meat and incorporate a little of the sauce at a time into the soup. Mix well and taste; you can leave any unused sauce up at the rim of the bowl.

If you can handle a little heat, Sriracha tastes great, and is rapidly gaining popularity in the U.S. A little won't be too much to handle, and it doesn't tend to upset your stomach the way some other spicy foods can. Regardless, you'll enjoy pho with or without Sriracha.

Get Pho. It's really good. It's basically a soup of noodles, sprouts with veggies and meat. Usually it's not spicy, but tell them anyway.