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September 12 2009 - Lunch
My friend Conrad text message me and tells me to meet him at Pho Nga in Canyon Country. I resist telling him that Im all the way in Valencia and dont feel like making the drive. After some bickering over the phone he magically steers my truck over to that side of town. This used to be the site of an all you can eat chinese place that closed a few years back. I walk in and the place is spacous. Not much has changed from the chinese buffet it looks. I can tell that the daughter is playing hostess (on the phone) and I find my friend and join him. Not being in the mood for soup (hot day), I see on the menu they have a selection of Chow Fun dishes. Ok, play it safe and ordered the #80 Chow Fun Combo. Served by the skinny cook himself (I always have issues with a skinny cook) , portion size was a little bit on the small size but I thought it was a fine meal. There was a good amount of cilantro on my plate which is fine with me. Shrimp still had the shells on the tail end, not difficult to remove, noodles were good. Used up a good amount of Hoi Sin sauce on my plate, since Im a big fan of that stuff. I know I just gave this place a 3-star for now, but I do think I will be back in the very near future. If Conrad calls me up again to eat there again, I dont think I would put up a fight :)
Next I want to try the Pho Soups, and this time maybe get an order of egg rolls to help fill me up.
A regular customer started talking to us while watching the football game on tv. He says this is as close to good V-food as it gets over here. He said the soup are fine, but the fried rice here is really good. And that skinny cook is the best cook out here!
Upon leaving, I believe it was the owner. She asked us if this was our first time (and it was) She was VERY friendly, and hospitable. She personally gave us our Almond Cookies and resist us from saying "no", which I thought was a very home felt presence on her behalf...
Sad to say this place will no longer get my business.
The first time I went here, before I Yelp'd, nothing was good enough to bring me back. Well, my friend and I decided to give it another try and much to our disappointment, the negative reviews are the more accurate ones in all the reviews here on Yelp.
Not only did it take forever for the woman (owner) to get to our table after seating us, there were only four people in the restaurant at the time. Then we had to get up and pay because she was no where in sight.
The food was brought to us by the buss boy in the kitchen. There were barely any noodles in the bowl and our spring roll looked it was rolled by a child who did it for their first time. Taste wise, average Pho if that. Below average food and service is a bad combonation.
This location has been many restaurants over the years and I think it's just jinxed (even though I don''t believe in that). I find it sad that restaurant owners just don't get it and when they want to be cheap, it's noticeable and makes matters worse. I never want to see a business go under but this one surly is on that track.
So......
This is my first review and I am trying out new places with my kids.... We try a new place each week. We drive past this place every day..... I think one time I walked in and walked out with out eating there. This time I got on here and looked up how the food and the service was...... Now I went there knowing that the service was going to suffer.... So I didn't even bother to think I would be tipping for good service. The reviews about the service were spot on. The lady didn't seem to hear what I was saying but she got our order after a few times of coming back to ask what we had.... LOL That I was expecting... The food came out really fast, but then again the only other people in there were leaving as we were ordering.... We ordered some egg rolls, and some Pho soup, some kung pow chicken, and some crunchy noodle beef...... I think. The soup was really good. I have never had it before, and I liked the flavor of the Kung Pow chicken. I didn't care for the crunchy noodle beef thing...... The egg rolls were OK... My older son said it was OK but not great.... I would eat there again. I liked the food. The service was so off, it was not even bad as much as it was off. LOL
Over all it was a fun experience.....
Have to say that this is hands down the best pho in SCV. I have eaten here several times, but I always get the food to go. Haven't had any issues. They will give you extra meat in the pho for no extra charge if you ask.
Twas a hot Spring day, yet I still had a raging craving for pho. My sister recommended this place and it was oh so satisfying. Had my usual rare steak pho. Very tasty.
Went around 4ish so the restaurant wasn't busy at all. Nice friendly faces. They had the AC on, which was nice, bcuz I wouldn't have enjoyed the hot weather with my meal.
Okay, I've finally tried this place. Service really sucks here. The lady that works there took forever to get our order and also to get our food. We ordered the Pork Roll, like a summer roll. I don't know who constructed this, but it really sucked. One piece of small meat in the middle. I think they even used the wrong noodle to make this. After about waiting for 30 minutes for our pho and 45 minutes for my wifes cold noodle dish, the pho wasn't too bad. It's about average. Quantity lacked but the flavor is okay. The place wasn't busy at all, but I don't understand why the bus boy came and gave our foods with a white apron which had stains and other stuff on him. BTW, you'll have to speak spanish to get something from him. Also the lady forgets very easily. Ask for some more lime or cilantro, you'll probably never get it unless you ask several times.
I was a bit hesitant when Pho Nga opened...
But this past weekend my sis and I made our way down Soledad Cyn to try Pho Nga. This place use to be some sort of burger joint back in the day...I actually found this bit of history from my boss since he has been living in the SCV for a very long time...
This is where I was hesitant about coming here... first off this place has been so many restaurants: A Chinese buffet, a Thai restaurant and then another Thai restaurant and NOW! it's this Great Pho place. I really want to send them well wishes and hope that people will give them a try :) this place really has a very tasty Pho and their Cha Gio (egg rolls) are very good...
We really need more restaurants like these... I'm sick of all the crappy food chains that are popping up like there's no tomorrow!
Ethnic Food all the way...
I used to love going out for pho, particularly on a cold day. Then, I went to Vietnam and ate the real thing. Bad move on my part. Not sure what these local places use for broth, but it's not what I had over there by dam sight. Also, as far as any other dish on the menu goes, I assume the word "authentic" is used very loosely.
Anyway, this place is a decent local rendition.
2nd time is not a charm....
Ok so here's the deal: My first Vietnamese food experience was at Miss Saigon Restaurant in San Francisco (See my other reviews). This food was excellent and set the bar VERY high!!!
So when I came across Pho Nga, I was excited to try it! My husband and I went in and ordered dishes (similar to what we had in SF). I ordered Tofu Vermicelli and he ordered a meat dish of some sort. My vermicelli was OK. The noodles tasted old (maybe been cooked early in the day) and my husband was not happy with his food AT ALL. On the flip side, the owners were so nice and really accommodated my vegetarian requests!
Take 2 - Tonight I went with my friend Angie. She's not afraid to try new things and I wanted to give this place a 2nd chance! Again, I ordered the vermicelli and it was much better than last time!! Fresh noodles and the tofu was extra crispy and tasty!! However ... Angie ordered the Beef Pho and spent the majority of the evening picking out fatty beef. There was also mention of a "clove problem". (You can see her review below for more info).
Again.... the owners were fabulous!! So nice and accommodating and even helped me out with a few key Vietnamese phrases (for my upcoming trip to Vietnam).
Overall.. I give this place 3 Stars! I think I'll go back there, whenever I have a craving for vermicelli.. but I'll probably be going alone...
There have been one or two Vietnamese restaurants in the SCV the past few years that have been owned by actual Vietnamese folks but they were never that good and needless to say didn't last very long as a business. So when I heard about a pho restaurant that had just opened in Canyon Country I was a little skeptical.
So what did I do? I checked the good old Yelp to scope out the joint. 4 star average? Hmmm, not bad not bad, but my 24 years of pho eating experience still kept me reserved. But to be fair (and my interest had been sparked) I stopped by for an early dinner.
The decor was nice and clean and wasn't rockin' some oldies instrumental or Vietnamese opera so that was a little weird. We got seated by what seemed like an over zealous young waiter (wearing a dodgers cap and probably the owner's son or nephew or something). He turned out be just very eager and friendly and just an overall nice guy. My friend and I got our usual bowl of pho and wanted to try their butter chicken but unfortunately they were out of chicken.... hmmm is it just that popular or were they going through growing pains?
On to the food, the pho broth was pretty decent and the meats were pretty good. I like that they gave you all the major cuts/types of meat with your pho (regular brisket, fatty brisket, tripe, tendons, meatballs, rare, crunchy ligament w/ meat *I only know it in Vietnamese*) and the broth didn't have an overwhelming scent/taste of star anise (which is a substitute for good beef stock). It wasn't a fantastic bowl of pho, but it definitely was better then the ones offered by the Korean pho joints in the area and was probably on par with the pho places in the valley.
The menu selection was pretty broad with other authentic Vietnamese dishes and the prices are just about right for the type of food and the location. I'd definitely will be back to try the other dishes as its a good alternative to all the other choices in the SCV and its closer to the valley pho places which saves on gas =(
3.5 Stars for the pho, bumping it up to 4 for the good service and menu selection. This review is to be continued...
Forgive me. It's a little after 2, I'm buzzed, and I'm about to write a review to a place that I just ate at over 6 hours ago.
I specifically ate here with Yelping in mind. Does that make me an addict now?
Ok, these guys are way in over their heads. The food is pretty darn good. I have no idea, at this point, what I ordered. Stuff with seafood, since I'm mainly a pescatarian. (A "pesco, no lacto" as I like to call myself. My friend Beth coined the phrase, so props to her!) Anyway, I do remember the numbers on the menu....86, 66, and a number we initially picked, but they kept changing over and over again.
That was one of the problems with the place. They were out of one of our initial picks, so we had to substitute for another dish. Not just once, but twice! My friend Kevin and I had kept laughing at the dishevelment of the ownership.
I already feel bad as it is. That's the most negative thing I've had to say in any of my reviews thus far. So, let me move away from that temporarily and get to what I really liked about the place -- the food.
I've only had Vietnamese food once before, and it was a bad experience. It was in some restaurant called Pho #1 (or 2) and it wasn't too far from Sunnam (a Thai food place that rivals any other) in North Hollywood. I ordered some dish and it was disasterous, but perhaps not the right dish a newcomver to Vietnamese food should eat. My friend Kevin and I -- a Vietnamese food eating virgin -- decided to pick 3 dishes that we could devour. This is the way we typically roll when we eat out -- in a devouring way. (Buffets are afraid of us.)
So we ate 3 dishes with reckless abandon. One was a crunchy noodle dish. Yumsters. (Who says that shit? I feel retarded now.) And the next dish was a white noodle dish with carrots and cucumbers and some vinegary, sweet-and-spicy sauce, and it was scrum-diddly-umscious! (I swear I'm straight!)
The third dish was the one that kept getting swapped. Apparently they were out of chicken? (How does that happen?!?! And I'm not even supposed to be eating chicken, but I was breaking my own rules.) So we opted for a safe and friendly fried rice with shrimp dish. That was a standard ho-hum of a dish, and was quite forgettable. But was that even Vietnamese-ish anyway??
So, all I can say is that the meal we had, for the most part, was 4-star caliber. The service was more like 3 stars. They forgot about us for a while, once we got seated and asked the first time if we were ready to order. We weren't, because we were talking about other stuff, and then the female waiter -- presumably the mother/wife in this family owned restaurant -- took forever to get back to us. (It seemed like a night where it was busier that usual, though.)
The food turned our frown upside down. In a comedy of errors, the son-waiter came over to our table a couple of times to say this dish and that dish was not available. But, gosh, they were so darn nice that it's hard to say anything bad about them. The mother-waiter kept joking with us even though we only understood half of what she said. But it's all about the vibes and good will, man. My friend Kevin and I are nice guys and we didn't make a stink about the delay, and the continuously swapped orders. But I can't help but to think what most people would react in a situation like this, hence my star rating. So we just went with the flow.
And that's what this particular rating is based on -- what other people may think. I'm giving it 3 stars right now, with the potential for a 4 or even 5 star review when I come back next time. This will be the first one of my reviews that I will update. I love the food and I'll come back again. Hopefully it will sieze the opportunity and redeem itself.
If you are the owner of this restaurant, then read this.
First few times i went there, food was great. Then i had a bad experience cuz the seafood pho i ordered had a strong smell of pork. I went again and was afraid to get the seafood pho and got the regular pho, it was just ok.
PLEASE BE CONSISTENT WITH YOUR FOOD!!!
I had great, even to the point where i thanked the owner for coming to canyon country (where we have a shortage of good restaurants) food but then i had really bad at the same place but on another day. Please please, be more consistent because if i want to gamble, i'll go to a casino. When your food is good, i love it. but when your food is bad, it makes me stay away and be afraid to eat it again.
Please be consistent because your food is great when its good.
Although Pho Nga is the best real Vietnamese restaraunt in this valley, it is the only real Vietnamese restaraunt in this valley. A true family restaraunt, the service is the nicest of any Vietnamese restaraunt I've been to and the mom is a total sweetheart. They've poured quite a lot of money into the remodeling for it looks better than the prior names that have been there and for once they don't play revamped 70's music in the background. The dad seems to work in the kitchen and pops out to check out the customers and how they're liking the food. When the mom came to take our order, she busted out a paper with a print out of the two reviews from Yelp of their place and I told her they were my friends. She told me 3 times that she thanks you guys. I'm glad it made her opening week.
So I ordered the #1 pho with everything, my GF the rare steak pho, and the buttered fried chicken to share. The pho came out first. Generous portions, well priced ($5.95), and clean. It tasted exactly like Pho Convoy in San Diego, clean but not very brothy nor rich. It is the type of pho you want when you want to leave without feeling too heavy and drowsy. Though it isn't my favorite style, it infintestimaly beats out any of the faux-pho's in the town. My only grief was the tendons were hard and chewy. Not too sure if this is their style or they just didn't cook it enough but from the last hundred bowls of pho I had they were soft to the point of disintegration.
The fried chicken was also well-portioned with oil and butter dripping when it arrived. It was well fried but much too oily. Each bite I took, drops of oil were dripping from the chicken. However after a few bites this oil dripping became the norm and the chicken was pretty tastey. My GF kept eating it which surprised me because she doesn't eat too much and when I brought back the leftovers to my picky parents house afterwards, they ate it immediately saying it was really good.
Overall I feel it's a blessing for this town to get a real Pho house. It's been a wait for me for over a decade and finally someone filled that niche. I can't say this would be my first choice, that would hands down be Pho 999 on Sherman Way and Reseda (for LA region only), but if I'm too lazy to drive down to the valley, I would definitely have Pho Nga as an alternate choice. Nestled in what used to be a Chinese Buffet, Tuk Tuk, and Thai BBQ (all within three years), I hope Pho Nga is here to stay along with their friendly service. But be warned, if ever it begins to fall, they will definitely feel my wrath.
Finally an Authentic Vietnamese Restaurant in town!!
Pho Nga in Canyon Country!
They opened today, and we were there at around 3:00 pm, I love Pho Vietnamese Soup, and theirs is one of the best I have tried. They also give you the option to create your own Pho, like how fatty or fat free you like the broth, what kind of meat, or how you prefer your meat.
They are open were the recently closed Original Thai BBQ in Canyon Country was located.
Pho Nga Vietnamese Restaurant
18741 Soledad Canyon Rd
Santa Clarita, CA 91322
The restaurant was very clean, the service was excellent, they truly want to please their customers.
One thing that got my attention is the amount of Vietnamese customers they had, on this their first day, and how everyone was just raving about the food. We talk with our table neighbors, very nice Vietnamese people, and they told us that this is the real thing, they were extremely happy for this restaurant, and me too.
Large PHO costs 5.95.
The owners are extremely nice, they told us that soon they will also have homemade desserts, and other things.
Sodas are free for the first month of their grand opening.
I am going back very soon!!
I do not like Pho at all. I've tried it at various places (yes, even Slanted Door) and it's simply something I don't enjoy (like tomatoes).
My mother loves Pho and I often accompany her to Pho restaurants, which is tough, because usually all they sell is Pho, and I'm left to order some variation of spring rolls.
Well, I have found a GREAT place that I wouldn't hesitate to accompany my mom to for her Pho fix!
Today was their first day open, and I was already thinking about what type of spring roll I would have to order when I came across lunch specials on the menu! I ordered the Butter Fried Chicken, which the waitress (who was such a doll!) told me was great. It was only 6.25 and came with rice. I have never seen this on any menu, so I was oddly curious and hoped it would NOT have some pho-type taste to it.
Since it's a habit, I also ordered some spring rolls (clear/shrimp) and was pleasantly surprised when the waitress brought over some fried ones for me to try! On the house! Both were really good!
Then, I got my butter chicken! Wow! It was a very generous portion and was just great! I can't wait to have this again!
The service was great! It's a mom and pop (and son) restaurant, and yes, they are Vietnamese!
Today was their first day open, AND there were already 2 different sets of customers that were back for the second time (in the same day)!
I will be going back tomorrow or the next day for sure!
Pho Nga has awesome Vietnamese food! They offer a better variety and better flavor than the other Vietnamese place I've visited in Santa Clarita (this restaurant starts with the word "Pho" and ends in "Love").
Anyway, this place is fantastic! We started off with the spring rolls, which were pretty good, but not too different from other Vietnamese establishments. I used to order pho all the time, but I've recently became a fan of Vietnamese bun (cold noodle salad). I had the bun with chicken and shrimp. It was super tasty. The shrimp was grilled to perfection and the chicken was very flavorful. I was able to try their pho too, since my boyfriend ordered it (and you know what they say - "sharing means caring") and it was delicious! To me, good pho is all about the broth and let me tell you that this broth was "off-the-hook"! We were both happy campers at the end of our meal and relished in the fact that we found a great Vietnamese restaurant that we know we can come back too!
The price here is awesome - I think it costs less than $20 for the both of us. And the service is excellent! Don't be fooled if you don't see people flocking in to this restaurant. They are a fairly new establishment, but they are definitely on point with their menu and prices. They are located where Thai BBQ and a Chinese restaurant used to be, but I'm hoping they have much better luck than those two did.
Awesome! Pho Nga is very good especially for SCV. I'm glad to see a good sit down Vietnamese restaurant owned by real Vietnamese people. The family is very nice.
We ordered:
Pho Ga (chicken) quite like home made
Pho Ga- add meatballs, we got the hairy eyeball for that order--it's not a typical addition
Pho Tai (rare steak)-- we get ours on the side, usually when one orders this one, the steak is completely cooked by the time it comes to your table.
I ordered the Bun tom thit nuong cha gio (Noodle salad with bbq shrimp, pork and fried spring roll). My only problem with this dish is the "chinese bbq" pork marinade on the grilled meat. The fried spring roll was good, a touch on the greasy side.
The food is priced very fair... similar to the typical V. restaurants not in Santa Clarita. But, they get you on the "add-ons". $2.30 to add meatballs!
They serve beer and traditional Vietnamese desserts
They did a nice job making the ambiance pleasant and clean. Young S., LOL I actually missed the revamped 70s music and the real nasally overly whiney Vietnamese love songs. Instead, they had live t.v. We watched the Olympic try-outs.
I will say that these guys are pretty brave to serve real traditional V. food. I love it but I know, Xa Kitchen has had an interesting time with the dog comments and the funny looks.
I hope they last. SCV be nice!
Ok, I was a bit hesitant to go there after reading so many negative reviews, but I decided to go today. I was greeted by a very nice lady (probably the owner the other reviewers are referring to) upon entering. The restaurant kept everything the same as the Thai BBQ had left it, just typical and boring decor, except for the fish tank. I ordered the "Well Done Steak and Flank" pho. It came rather quickly and with the usual garnish veggies. It was as good as any I've had and it is authentic in it's flavor and presentation. The lady was very kind and showed very good customer service. I also recommend the soy milk. It's in a can, but from Malaysia and very refreshing. Overall, I enjoyed my meal and the place. I'd go again and I'd take friends and family there too. Not sure about the Chinese food there since I don't care for that type of food anymore. Nice experience though.
Top 5 reasons why Pho Nga is all that you could ever want from a Vietnamese restaurant:
1. The Pho
2. The vibrant decor of plastic flowers, onion/garlic ornaments, parasols and other knick knacks exhibit authenticity
3. The radio and TV playing at the same time is also keepin' it real
4. Cheap prices
5. The waitress...she reminds me of my mom - not a hockey mom or a small-town gal or the drill-happy or gun-totting Alaskan beauty queen kinda mom - no, I will have none of that, but that's a different kind of review.
I was skeptical to try this restaurant because this location went through so many different restaurant changes that I thought it was the same owner just testing out different types of food... but my hubby wanted to try it out and he's not even a fan of Vietnamese food like I am...
Needless to say, I was so happy he convinced me to try this place... its good Vietnamese food at decent pricing and now don't have to drive to SFV or Westminster for some good Vietnamese food.
I loved their rice vermicilli noodles with egg rolls and my hubby got the same but with grilled shrimp (he liked it)...
The owner's son was very friendly and he asked our names and shook our hands which was a pleasant surpise.
I'm so happy with this restaurant. This place has been so many restaurants and I hope they won't change again.
The food is good. I go there at least once every 2 weeks and haven't found the dish that I don't like. Owners are very nice & funny. Always come hungry & leave happy :)
This has to be one of the best Pho restaurants in the area. I used to drive out to the Valley before for some great soup, but now this place is around I'm here all the time. I definitely would recommend to try this spot at least once. Great food!
i love pho.
i have been disapointed by every pho place thats opened up around here.
but this one i'd put to my second favorite place to get pho.
it is just plain awsome.
My husband & I ate here a couple weeks ago. This was our first Vietnamese food experience and we loved it. We knew we had to order Pho (this is the noodle beef broth soup..it is a Pho restaurant!) but the waiter was very friendly and helpful in choosing which ones. I got the rare steak and it was delicious. We also had the shrimp fresh rolls and OMG...so good. Will definitely be back again soon!!
Ok tried Vietnamese food for the first time tonight, and wasn't that impressed, maybe I got the wrong thing maybe my taste buds aren't at par with the different flavors, whatever the reason, I tasted cloves in my soup which is very odd and tasted just as odd....The soup I ordered was the pho with rare steak and brisket and as I sat there with my friend(poor thing she is a vegeterian, sorry Melanie!), picking the fat off the meat(which your average person wouldn't mind, I am sure), I tried to enjoy the soup, I really did, I added things to it like bean sprouts, lime, jalapeno's, nothing worked! I also tried to enjoy my beer which was served in a room temperature glass(bud light because they were out of the only import they carried, which makes me laugh because I thought of the guy below me who when he ordered different meals, they were out, I half expected them to tell me that when I ordered my soup, now I wish they were out)....so good things, the server lady who was friendly and the vegeterian spring rolls. Oh and I am happy that I had great company with me and she enjoyed her meal! To our next restaurant Melanie, Cheers!
Very happy to have a real pho restaurant in SCV. The owner is very friendly and always makes you feel welcome. The restaurant is very clean and the food comes quickly. It's a pleasure not to drive to the SFV to get a good bowl of pho.
Like all the other reviews, we were very happy to see an authentic pho restaurant here in Santa Clarita. The pho was really good. Service was awesome and the prices were similar to pho places in the San Gabriel and San Fernando valley. I hope this place will stay around.
Valencia, CA
Category: Vietnamese
Canyon Country, CA
Category: Japanese
Canyon Country, CA
Category: Thai
Canyon Country, CA
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Canyon Country, CA
Category: Middle Eastern
Eat here, because... in all likelihood you'll…
