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Pho Garden
Category: Restaurants Vietnamese Vietnamese [Edit]
2109 Clement St(between 22nd Ave & 23rd Ave)
San Francisco, CA 94121
Neighborhood: Outer Richmond
(415) 379-8677
- Hours:
Mon-Sun 10 am - 10 pm
- Good for Kids:
- Yes
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Parking:
- Street
- Attire:
- Casual
- Good for Groups:
- Yes
- Price Range:
-
$
- Takes Reservations:
- Yes
- Delivery:
- No
- Take-out:
- Yes
- Waiter Service:
- Yes
- Outdoor Seating:
- No
- Wi-Fi:
- No
- Good For:
- Lunch, Dinner
- Alcohol:
- Beer & Wine Only
- Noise Level:
- Average
- Ambience:
- Casual
- Has TV:
- Yes
- Caters:
- No
- Wheelchair Accessible:
- Yes
614 reviews for Pho Garden
Review Highlights
"Everyone is always taking the pho challenge."
(in 334 reviews)
"Their garlic noodles are excellent, by the way."
(in 51 reviews)
"Spring rolls with made fresh and were delicious."
(in 64 reviews)
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614 reviews in English
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Review from Shawn C.
San Francisco, CA
1/30/2012
came to pho garden for lunch on a saturday afternoon.
extensive menu. service was quick. started with the vegetarian papaya salad. thin slices of papaya with fried tofu and ground peanuts. super delicious.
then the vegetarian pho. the ingredients were fresh and the broth tasty. broccoli, carrots, baby bok choy, mushrooms, tofu, and sprouts. a lot of noodles. definitely a big bowl.
no complaints here. -
Review from M C.
San Francisco, CA
1/17/2012 1 photo
Bad food at an inflated price.
Came here to try their Pho and it was bad. There were 2 sizes, a regular which cost as much as a large at other locations and their challenge size at $22.
I am glad I got the regular only. The bowl was small that it didn't fit the beansprouts. Then the soup wasn't even hot enough to cook the beansprouts. The quality of the food was so bad that I felt tired afterwards. -
Review from Shannon L.
San Francisco, CA
1/4/2012
I love Pho. I have for a long time. But not all places make veggie Pho and even fewer make delicious veggie Pho (and veggie spring rolls).
Pho Garden has it all. A great wait staff, fast food service, excellent food (huge quantities), low prices. I loved them already and then I saw their commitment to being sustainable.
http://phogardensf.com...
They have won me over for good. Way to go! -
Review from Meagan B.
San Francisco, CA
2/8/2012
Came tp this place with a friend to watch him attempt the Pho Challenge... That was definitely worth the trip (He failed miserably) haha. The food I got was not very good, and I didn't end up eating much of it. It wasn't bad enough that I would say it was going to make anyone sick or anything, but it just wasn't good, and I wouldn't order it again. Then, once my friend finished his attempt to win the pho challenge, I tried some of the "meatballs" in the soup..... definitely some "mystery meat" in that big bowl of soup if you ask me! Not likely I will be back here. But it is definitely fun if you are watching a friend try to down the giant soup. I will say, the potstickers we ordered as an appetizer were pretty good.
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Review from Jennifer V.
San Francisco, CA
2/2/2012
Fresh Spring Rolls with Shrimp+Combination Pho+Coconut drink=PHOking goodness!
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Review from Dieu C.
Santa Ana, CA
12/27/2011
How any human being can finish 2 lbs of beef and 2 lbs of noodles within 60 minutes is beyond me. But apparently, there has been quite a few people who have accomplished this. On my first real SF trip this past summer, I got the opportunity to experience this huuuuge bowl of pho...with two other girl friends. Let's just say, our esophagus was stuffed up to the pharynx and our pho challenge bowl looked unscathed. The bowl can literally feed a a handful of a hungry refugee family.
If you can somehow, miraculously, finish this massive bowl of pho, you can be put on their wall of fame and receive the $22 meal AND the bowl for free. In our case, we shared, which added an extra cost of $4. It was definitely worth it all and more for an experience you can only find at Pho Garden in Norcal.
On another note, the pho here is actually pretty good. I'd say share the bowl with half a dozen friends. It'd probably be cheaper than each getting a personal bowl. :p -
Review from Dave C.
1/4/2012
I love Pho. I eat it at least once a week. I found out about this place from my brother. He told me they have this challenge where if you can eat two pounds of noodles and two pounds of meat in one hour you will get the meal free and get to keep the huge bowl. Since I love challenges I had to try it. I drove down over the new years eve weekend. It was a 1900 mile round trip.
I got there on New Years Eve and a few hours before I got there I stopped at In-N-Out burger. I think this was a mistake. The Pho Challenge is huge. The bowl is comical. I think an average family of 4 can share one and still have left overs. I started with the noodles which never seem to end but I did mange to get most of them down in 15 minutes. I then started on the meat. The meat balls and steak was ok. If it wasn't for the challenge I think this restaurant would only rank mediocre. The meat is very chewy. The tripe and tendon was horrible. I hate to use it as an excuse but the chewy meat is one of the reasons I didn't finish the challenge. When time ran out the Waters's told me that I could have order the soup without the tripe and tendon.
The next day I was going to head home after a great night on the pier of San Fransisco, but I figured I won't be back for a while and decided to try the challenge again without the tripe and tendon. I started fast and got all the noodles down in 15 minutes again. Then the meat wasn't a huge problem. I got down to the last 10 oz and my stomach just wouldn't take anymore. I had no choice but to quit. Two huge bowls in two days was just too much food for my stomach. I drove 1900 miles to lose twice to the challenge. I hang my head in shame.
Overall I will come back to finish this challenge on a later date but if it wasn't for the challenge I wouldn't come back at all. -
Review from Gun-Ik P.
12/26/2011
I tried the pho challenge and failed.
The pho itself wasn't very good. I thought it was really lacking something. The noodles were a bit plain, and the soup was pretty boring, too.
You'll hear lots of tips and tricks on how to beat the challenge. To be honest, the best lesson you can learn is trying it once. It's real easy to talk about it, to draw up battle plans and what not, but it's all talk until you try it. Get the first pound of food in your stomach and everything changes. Looking at the bowl when your brain is telling you to stop is, in itself, a challenge.
Good luck to all the challengers! -
Review from Greg K.
12/23/2011
All I can say is Bun Bo Hue which may sound like bunboy. It is awesome.
1. Ambiance - Very casual. This is a noodle shop! I liked the seating arrangements from tables for two, to round tables for six and tables for 4. Just the right amount and mix. We went there with a party of 11 and they took reservations and accommodated us very nicely.
2. Parking - God sakes, you aren't in Kansas Toto, so be prepared to do the SF Parking thing by cruising and juking and having patience to park! It is worth it.
3. The Food - Ahhh.
Bun Bo Hue - My all time favorite. It is not pho noodles but great pho shops have this. It is an authentic dish coming from Hue, the last imperial capital of Vietnam. IT has double boiled soup base, vermicilli noodles instead of pho noodles and tons of pork and pork bits. Although I did not discover the congealed pork blood or the pork knuckles / pig feet which is found in other places, I did order this very spicy and found the soup to be quite tasty and satisfying. I give this a 4 star itself.
Fried Egg Roll - Very nice. Can't go wrong here!
Vietnamese Crepe - First time I tried this and found it to be amazingly good. Resembles a huge omelette with bean sprouts and meat and the crepe bit was the right texture and taste. I liked this a lot and will be ordering this at other restaurants.
Grilled Five Spice Chicken with Rice - My wife ordered this and it was also very tasty. A lot of garlic, which I enjoy. If you are not in mood for noodles or slurping, you gotta try this place.
4. Pho Challenge - 2 lbs of pho and 2 lbs of meat. If you eat this in one hour you get to keep the bowl. You get to keep the bowl and win a free meal. Gotta try it.
5. Go back factor - Nice service, nice decor, great food. GK says gotta go back! -
Review from Cookie M.
San Jose, CA
12/25/2011
I finally drove 50 miles to try out this place. It's worth every miles + parking meter fee + restaurant bill.
I only tried Pho because it's Pho Garden (Duh!!!) and it's absolutely delicious. Their broth is just right and their portion is more than generous. I was so full after finishing a large bowl. Which usually left me a little hungry in San Jose area.
Their meat is tenders and juicy. It's too much meat (not a complaint here). I don't get why this place reviews not 4+, but to me it's best place for pho so far. I've eaten pho in SJ, LA, SD, and SF and this place earned 1st place in my pho menu.
I love their decors also, it's clean, has a zen feeling to it. Seem like an upscale restaurant with a low scale price ($8-9 each bowl)
Now I gotta find a carpool buddy who won't mind driving there weekly so I can eat more of it.
Tip: Don't order X-Large (Xe Lua / Train) size if you never tried it before. This place portion is bigger than other places. I was tempted to try it until I saw the guy next to me eating one. -
Review from Gina G.
San Francisco, CA
12/15/2011
I am not a Pho connoisseur. I think I've had Pho maybe 3 times in my life, including my recent purchase from Pho Garden.
I am glad my friends recommended this place for dinner. For $6 before tip, I got a small bowl of Pho. Very reasonable, and delicious. :) Like I said, I haven't had tons of Pho from other places, so it is hard for me to compare it with other places.
Service was very efficient. I swear our food came out only a few minutes after ordering. Awesome. -
Review from J C.
San Francisco, CA
1/22/2012
I may be no expert in Pho, but the taste of the Shrimp Pho (#21 i think) is pretty awesome. I order it without the mushrooms (I'm no fan) and with thin noodles instead, and I like all the fresh vegetables (Bak Choy, carrots, string beans, broccoli) that come with it. As soon as I order it, I get a medium size bowl within minutes that's good enough to hydrate any hangover. I get it all the time, especially on chilly wet days like today. I also LOVE their fried banana with ice cream. They use ice cream from nearby Joe's Ice Cream to go with it. It's definitely meant for two, but I have been known (without shame) to chow it all down all by my lonesome 'cause it's so delectably sweet after that flavorful Pho.
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Review from jessica m.
Diamond Bar, CA
11/6/2011
Home of the pho challenge, and really bad service. Granted there was only one waitress working, but with the profit margin from all the people thinking they can stomach 2 lbs of meat and 2 lbs of noodles, they obviously make enough to hire a couple more servers.
Came here bc Kevin W. thought he was a champ and could finish the pho challenge, even after my INSISTING and showing him videos and pictures that he would fail. So came here just to make him shut up haha. The parking was metered, and with the slow service, that equals a lot of quarters. The waitress was really hard working, but damn hire some other people to help her out. It reminded me of Diner Dash, where it's just one server with a crapload of tables and the customers starting to fume after their happiness level runs out.
Even though the whole process of waiting for the slow service was irritating, it did give me time to prep Kevin for his failure. Taunting is one of my many talents. He was still so pumped even when that mini-bathtub was presented to him. It was very satisfying to see his ego start to deflate with every bite after a couple min, but then it started getting sad. Another table had a group of guys going for it too, and they started going outside to walk around etc. Pretty fun to see all these guys getting humbled I must say. I had a taste of the broth and it was so watered down. Idk how anyone could stomach a month's worth of it in one sitting.
My five spiced chicken with garlic noodles on the other hand tasted like heaven in comparison. I was really hoping for soup since it was freezing, but had to try this. The chicken was okay. Definitely marinaded with random Asian herbs. But the noodles were really good. I love garlic. But yea had garlic breath for the rest of the night.
My advice is don't go for the pho challenge. Is your pride worth proving to the world that you're a fatty?? -
Review from Amanda C.
San Francisco, CA
Updated - 11/20/2011
Best Pho place in the richmond
I always get the shrimp rolls which are excellent and must I say pho combination.
Pros:
*$2.50 Stella beer
*Has Pho Challenge!
Cons:
*Hard to find parking
*Closed on Tuesday's1 Previous Review:
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10/3/2011
I love this place great pho and 2.50 stella. Service is a little slow, but it's worth it
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Review from Karen T.
11/21/2011 1 Check-in Here
Curry Chicken Pho- Lots of dark meat, soup was ok but the oily stuff on top freaked me out.
Spring rolls- They were tasty and I like the lettuce and noodle that comes with it.
Papaya Salad- Not bad, lots of shrimp on top too. -
Review from Abby D.
San Francisco, CA
12/1/2011 1 Check-in Here
**LONG PIECE OF HAIR SAUTEED IN GARLIC NOODLES**
Nothing grosses me out more than finding hair in my food. My boyfriend and I ordered a plate of garlic noodles with lemongrass chicken. As we were hungrily chomping away, he stopped forking through our food, froze, reached into the plate of noodles, and pulled out a long string of black hair. It was deeply hidden, seasoned, and oily. Eww! Very unsanitary!
Service was aloof. The place was crowded around lunch time and there was a little bit of a wait for tables. The staff doesn't greet you upon arrival and no one smiles. You have to ask to be seated- they don't come to you. If you need something, you have to get up out of your chair and chase someone down.
Food was plentiful but flavor lacked. -
Review from Kevin W.
Berkeley, CA
11/5/2011
This place was in the old downtown area of SF. Street parking was expensive..meters..Anyways, I attempted the pho challenge. I must say, even my ability to eat and finish crappy food was not enough to handle this challenge. The pho was disgusting, noodles were hard, soup was bland, and worst of it, my soup was not hot enough to cook the meat completely. It was really hard to eat, none the less finish. Props to those who did. I sucked it up for 10 minutes and ate what I think was about 2 large bowls of pho anywhere else and all the steak briskets..but had enough of the horrible flavor. Ended up eating some of my gf's 5 spice chicken with garlic noodles. That was pretty good. It was because of the garlic noodles that I am giving this place 2 stars, without it, it'd be 1. The place only had 1 waitress doing all the work by herself and a place filled with customers.
I guess I left with such a bad taste in my mouth, I decided to eat more food in my car on the way home..
The loss to the pho challenge was not to size of the bowl or the proportion but having too much pride and dignity in delicious foods to suffer through it. I left with the sweet taste of the garlic noodles =]
Never going to back. -
Review from Rebecca M.
Millbrae, CA
1/13/2012
I love pho so much. I could eat it once a day if I had the money for it. This place was decent. I don't like steak, I am more of a chicken type of girl. Their menu has possibly 10 different steak choices and only one chicken for pho, which I found annoying. I ended up getting the shrimp pho which came with veggies, it was good. This was my first time having veggies in my pho and I wish they came in it more often. Other then that, it is very affordable.
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Review from Jonathan L.
San Francisco, CA
11/8/2011
I have witnessed greatness. The pho challenge has been conquered. 2 pounds of beef and 2 pounds of noodles all in one stomach. The body was not meant for that much but there's always a few elite that can do it.
After seeing my insane and awesome friend take on the pho challenge, I went with a small bowl of pho with slices of beef. It was pretty standard and not bad but how on earth can you eat 4 pounds of it? RESPECT. -
Review from Jenna L.
Sunnyvale, CA
11/18/2011
we decided to grab some dinner and what better to eat but PHO! Maybe a.. PHO CHALLENGE?! For those who don't know about this momentous event, it's basically 2 lbs of meat and 2 lbs of noodle in a GIANT bowl that you can most likely bathe a baby in. It's a little bit ridiculous, and so the guys decided to try it. It's ridiculous, there are pictures in the store of the bowls with a baby sitting inside, because that's how large this thing is...
Needless to say, they both failed the challenge, but they did pretty well - I think they both ate at LEAST more than half, probably more.
The pho itself was alright, the main attraction is the pure entertainment of watching people gorge themselves with pho. -
Review from Mike L.
11/29/2011
Pho Garden - birthplace of the Pho Challenge. Or perhaps...the Pho Nightmare? I mean, eating all that pho and falling short of clearing the two pounds of noodles and two pounds of meat is harsh enough, but then to have to pay $25 for it? Sure, you get a t-shirt for your trouble (and stomach ache), but you're probably not going to want to eat pho for a while. Like, a really long while. And that would be the exact reason why I can't do the challenge - I love pho too much to take that chance!
Met up with a couple of friends for lunch over the weekend, and they suggested we go to Pho Garden. I never really heard great things about their pho, but I wanted to try them nonetheless. After all, I've always wanted to see if those four pounds of pho were any good. Now, even though it's not the same as what's in the challenge, I went with the Pho Tai Gan - pho with rare steak and soft tendon. Sadly, the pho was pretty "meh" - not terrible, but there's better out there. The amount of meat was decent, but I wish I had more rare steak and less of the tendon. Plus points for not including cilantro though. As for the broth, it was..."interesting". I liked that it wasn't oily, but the taste was really heavy with one particular spice. I couldn't really figure out which one it was in particular, but every bite left a lingering aftertaste. In any case, it wasn't something I'm used to from other places.
Beyond the food, the restaurant itself wasn't bad. The service was pretty quick, and I liked how it's a lot cleaner and nicer than most other pho joints in the city. It's just too bad that I didn't think my food was that great. Perhaps it was just a bad batch, so I'd consider giving them another chance. However, it's hard to say I'd make it a point of coming back when going to my favorites like PPQ is so much easier. After all, parking in this area is such a pain! Honestly, it really would require a special trip to come out this way again to fight for a spot. A special trip...that would involve watching and cheering on someone that wants to take on The Challenge. Any takers? -
Review from Vicky H.
8/31/2011 1 Check-in Here
YUCK!
The pho challenge may sound appealing to the eager dare devil who is seeking for a dangerous, hard, and disgusting challenge. Well look no further, you have reached your destination.
The pho here is just gross, the broth here was not at all great nor was it worth coming back to see if it improves.
The pho noodles were still raw, and did i mention the soup here was not good?
Pros:
Pho Challenge
food came out pretty quick
a flat screen TV
Cons:
customer service was slow
tasteless broth
raw noodles served???? wtf -
Review from Michelle W.
San Francisco, CA
12/20/2011 1 photo
Very reasonably priced. Service is pretty good. Pho is tasty, although I usually get the chicken curry soup. Nothing spectacular, but definitely a good place to go in the neighborhood when you're in the mood for soup. I also had a really good noodle dish there once. They have a nice variety of beer for really cheap. Will definitely be back.
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Review from Gracie E.
San Francisco, CA
12/31/2011
Decent neighborhood place for pho but it's not anywhere near as good as Turtle Tower or Kim Son. The five spice chicken pho is good, especially since you get a more than reasonable portion of the chicken. Restaurant is clean, spacious and service is efficient.
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Review from H K.
San Francisco, CA
10/18/2011 1 Check-in Here
Came here last Friday for a group lunch. This place is supposedly famous for the "pho challenge" but I found out it's more than that. At least like at other Vietnamese pho restaurants, you can just order an ordinary size bowl of noodles (or something else for that matter) without putting yourself up to the giant challenge.
One thing I do like about here is that, for their beef soup noodles, they offer it with tripe, my favorite addition. Just that earns them an extra star. -
Review from Mariya K.
San Francisco, CA
12/20/2011
The Pho at this place is inexpensive and tasty! I'm not a huge fan of the meat they use in the Pho though, but that's just me..
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Review from Lana K.
Pacifica, CA
10/7/2011
Ok so since this is my first vietnamese place I have to give it 3 stars. I had no idea what the food was like so my friend Mike took me and it was delicious. I love love love noodles so I got the regular pho with beef. I agree with some of the reviews that the broth was plain and so was the beef but I added their sauce from the table (forgot what it's called) which made it more yummy. I got the smaller size and I still couldn't finish it!
Mike told me vietnamese food is great for hangovers, just a tip for everyone. :) -
Review from Steven B.
San Francisco, CA
9/18/2011
The best thing about Pho Garden would be the pho challenge they have. It's a nice gimmick to bring in customers who like to see if they can complete the challenge. I being one of those customers tried to finish off the 2lb beef, 2lb noodles, and a giant bowl of soup within an hour. The bowl's diameter is about the length of a person's forearm. It's such a huge bowl that's crazy to finish. It didn't go well for me, but it was pretty fun. I made the big mistake of trying to go for the beef first and eating the noodles later. That resulted in the noodles becoming soggy when it soaked up the broth.
The quality of their pho is meh. The broth is very plain and doesn't have that tasty beef flavor to it. The quality of the beef is average quality which it's not the greatest but not the worst. It's a bit chewy compared to how tender it should be. That's probably because it's overcooked in the broth... 2lbs of beef sitting in piping hot water can make anything chewy.
Overall, maybe the large pho challenge made the meat and noodle quality go down, but the broth wasn't really great to begin with. A very meh type of pho. -
Review from maria g.
Davis, CA
9/22/2011
I thought the Pho was good--and cheap too!
I swear, a food contest is the best possible thing a restaurant can do. It gives them publicity, and the 90 percent of people that don't win have to pay for their food. It's a complete win win for the place. It makes me wonder why ALL restaurants don't have challenges.
I wish they gave you a little more meat in the bowl of pho though. Other than that, this place gets two thumbs up from me. d(^_^)b -
Review from Hung T.
7/14/2011
This place claims to be the home of the Pho challenge. A massive bowl of pho filled with 2lbs of meat and 2lbs of noodles that if you finish in 1 hr, the meal is free ($22 if you can't finish it). Kin thought he could handle it, I knew he couldn't. So they gave him a 4 page contract to sign and then brought out the bowl that could fit a small baby. I think 20 min into the challenge and he wanted to quit already. I on the other hand had the XL pho xe lua (pho train). Our friend had the small. So it ended up looking like goldilocks and the 3 bears.
The pho was good. It had a tons of soup and it didn't feel heavy as Pho in maryland. The couple next to us were eating the pho challenge together and snickering as Kin was struggling with his. He finally gave up at around the 40 min mark...didn't even finish half of it. -
Review from Terence F.
San Francisco, CA
10/14/2011 1 Check-in Here
This pho place is just okay!
Pros:
*Place is clean
*Not too expensive
*Has Pho Challenge!
Cons:
*Not one of the best Pho around the area.
*Hard to find parking, unless you do meter parking.
*Can be a lot of people at night, so might need to wait in line!
Overall, this place is average. I would eat it, but will not make me crave for their Pho. -
Review from Amy C.
Newark, CA
My friend from LA wanted to try this place so we went to have dinner there. She didn't do the challenge, but got the big bowl to share with everyone. There was a total of 5 people at our table so we split the BIG bowl of pho into each of the little bowls to share. The BIG bowl is cute; if you actually do the challenge then you can keep the bowl, but otherwise no.
The pho was pretty ordinary. Nothing really special.
I still love PPQ the mostest :) -
Review from S. K.
San Francisco, CA
1/3/2012
Had a normal bowl of pho just to watch my friend do the pho challenge. It sure must be a challenge because the pho is not that good.
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Review from David N.
Los Angeles, CA
Mr Garden,
If it wasn't for your pho challenge, you would be downgraded. Your Pho broth is not the best around the block. Your Pho challenge on the other hand is awesome!! It was a pleasure to participate but I think I should of won. Check out my picture and you can decide. I wish you would give out the shirts instead of that horrible water canister. That's useless but a shirt would of been awesome. Free promotion anyone? Next time I'm around, I'm take your money and bowl! I have my plan of action all ready for u! Take the noodles out first so they don't absorb the horrible soup! Customer service blows but I already expect that from an Asian restaurant. See you for our next battle!! -
Review from Shirley F.
San Francisco, CA
6/26/2011
Likes: Remember how sometimes you get those old and dry bean sprouts and mint leaves from XYZ restaurants? This place doesn't have those. They use fresh ingredients (may be that's why the spring rolls took a while to make)...
Dislikes: I am super picky about my peanut sauce for the spring rolls. So it wasn't flavorful enough. Also, the price is on the high end for Pho restaurants.
I still recommend it though! -
Review from Jeanne C.
San Francisco, CA
Updated - 11/23/2011
Not sure if I said this already, but the PHO GA is simply crack. So good. I must come here at least once a week just to get that, and that says a lot about me since I like exploring new places. Neighborhood gem for sure, if you live in the Rich!
1 Previous Review: Show all »
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8/8/2010
Their pho is pretty good for being in the neighborhood. Way better than the Turtle place on… Read more »
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Review from Shannon L.
Fremont, CA
6/13/2011
Food challenges are for barbarians. But I must admit that I like watching even though I feel sick at the same time.
I finally got to try the pho here and out of the big bowl! I didn't do the challenge for $22 but got the super pho bowl to share for $25. It was silly of me to think that three of us could finish this because it's more suited for 6 adults! Seriously my friends... it's a LOT of noodles and you have to eat it FAST because the soup was literally being absorbed by the noodles before my eyes.
As for the taste itself, that's why I'm giving it a 3. It's just OK. And there are some weird bits in it. I normally love tendon but the ones here looked strange with different colors of brown and black in the tendon. Creeped me out a bit.
I just couldn't stop staring at the bowl. It's like they got a baby basin, took it to Color Me Mine to customize a design, and then decided that it would be funny to watch peoples' stomachs explode. -
Review from Sean H.
Pinole, CA
8/19/2011 1 Check-in Here
Very decent bowl of pho. Came in here cause it was a cold day and me and my gf both really wanted some hot soup. We had no idea that this was the famous "Pho Challenge" place until we walked in. Not that I'd ever try it. I feel like if I tried doing that, it'd ruin pho forever for me.
I really enjoyed my pho though. It was one of those bowls of pho that you didn't have to overload with Sriracha or oyster sauce in order to make it taste good. I also barely finished the noodles and meat in my bowl, which means it was a good portion. And typically, the pho came out literally a minute after we ordered it. I love not having to wait ages for food to come out.
There were some negatives though. Only one waitress was working and she looked super stressed trying to manage every table. Service was slow, but the waitress was there was doing a great job. The meat in my pho was a little nasty, because there was so much fat on it. More fat than meat is a no no for me.
Nice bowl of pho. Probably my choice of pho now on Clement. -
Review from rebecca c.
San Francisco, CA
Updated - 10/22/2011 2 photos
time for an update. i have become disenchanted with this place. originally, i loved the charm of the "pho challenge", the food seemed pretty good. but lately, i've had to become more aware of my salt intake. i was feeling a little ill and down and i thought, chicken soup would make this all better. so the hubby went to pick up some plain old chicken pho for the two of us. after seeing it delivered and not assembled in the bowl at the restaurant, my feeling is that they use bouillon and definitely do not make a homemade broth. It was separated from the meat and noodles and it just looked like plain old bouillon cube broth - very artificial. but the SALT, the salt level was unacceptable. it was gross. why had i never noticed this before? i couldn't even eat the soup. i might have had a stroke. if you make a real chicken stock, you don't need all that salt. so disappointed.
so there it is, i've changed my mind about this place. so disappointing.Listed in: My Neighborhood
1 Previous Review: Show all »
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8/19/2009
On the way to Tommy's Mexican place, one of my favorite after Baker Beach dinner spots, we passed by… Read more »
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Review from Allison M.
San Francisco, CA
6/5/2011 1 Check-in Here
On a cold and rainy SF day, what in the pho could be better than a hot bowl of.... pho?
This was a good way to take a break from the mundane world of mock trial prep that consumed me this week. Apart from the spectacle of the Pho Challenge, which no one at my table attempted, this place has solid apps and a decent beef noodle soup.
I had the small rare beef and flank soup, which was indeed small, but perfect, because I never can finish my soup anyway. Spiced it up with the usual fixins- rooster sauce, mint, jalapeno, bean sprouts, a dash of soy, lime, and found myself to be one happy gal! It ran no more than $6. Boo yeah.
Spring rolls were good- fresh, but I didn't love the peanut sauce as much as I normally do. Was not as tasty.
Good pho on clement st, and I'd happily return again soon!
As a complete side note, would winners like to donate their huge pho bowl to my Cheerios Challenge? 1 large box of cereal, 1 gallon of milk, 1 hour. Let's get this going.Listed in: I've never been to Asia
