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Went back and got the same thing as my bf - bbq beef and shrimp pho. On the way home I felt terrible but my bf felt fine. Very weird since our broth was probably prepared in the same batch. My stomach was very unhappy for a couple days...I don't know if it was the beard papa I had afterwards or just something in my bowl? Will probably go back for the spring rolls just because they're sooo good. As for the soup, will probably get it again but will wait a month or so...
Also, one thing I found funny was that our outdoor table had a "no smoking" sign on it but these guys were smoking at a table next to us (different restaurant). Kinda lame. Sit inside if you're not into breathing cigarette smoke while eating your pho.
Finally, I've found a clean and delicious Vietnamese place! When I went to Tofu Ya on a thursday and… Read more »
Pho is tasty here. Also, the "bun" aka noodles in a bowl with salad and meat is delicious if the broth overwhelms you.
Not quite sure why this place has such low reviews. It's really a decent place. I've been here several times, along with a few other pho joints. This isn't the best pho, but it's decent.
The staff is very attentive and will never leave you with an empty water. The bar area is cool if you are alone and want to keep to yourself. It's a great place to read a magazine or newspaper while you eat.
This place is gross.
Their pho is terrible, I know because I've tried making pho myself, and it turned out horribly too. Fortunately for me, my pho was still better than this.
They did a good job with the presentation though. I'll give them that. But is it just me or do the servers look miserable here?
I don't think i'd ever go there again. Went in cuz I thought the name was clever and there aren't many pho places around but yea... not good. Should have known better.
Plus the spoon smelled funny
love the name... foreign. haha. very cleaver. i was comforted realizing this place was run by japanese peeps for some odd reason. wondering if the food would taste fully vietnamese, i was pleasantly surprised. i got the chicken pho, spring rolls, and my gf got the bbq beef bun. all was good! i would def go back and get all the same things. the chicken in the pho was the best ive ever had... not dried out and thin like ive had at regular pho joints. the spring rolls were crunchy with fresh veggies. no tainted old looking lettuce like ive seen before. given a B grading could've fooled me!
I'm not understanding some of these negative reviews. Did we all eat at the same place here?
Firstly, anyone claiming that because the staff is Japanese they can't make proper pho, well, congratulations... You're a racist!
Secondly, it is true that the portions are a tad on the small side but they are large enough that they should fairly easily fill up a normal sized adult human.
Third, if you used the word "overpriced" to describe this restaurant then you are probably... homeless? If you think $8 for a filling bowl of pho is expensive, get a higher paying job.
For those who know authentic pho because they grew up in Little Saigon (never heard of such a place, I suspect you all made it up), well all I have to say is that you're coming off as pretty hoity toity over there!
But enough with the rebuttals! I think the pho here is just dandy. The broth has nice flavor and the cuts of meat they use are really good quality. Like surprisingly good. It is small, so come on off hours if possible. Either way the cook and the waitresses are all nice people and will do their best to make you comfortable while serving up a tasty bowl of noodles. And I've had pho made by Koreans, Japanese and Vietnamese people so I am triply qualified to weigh in on this debate!
Because of the lack of pho around the area, I've given this place a few tries, each time with an open mind. Sadly, each time it has disappointed me. The egg rolls are alright, but the pho is just so not tasty. The noodles aren't soft and the meat is eh. I really wanted this place to be good, but I finally gave up.
So as far as I know..there are only 2 pho places here in Santa Monica area..phoreign and pho 99 on wilshire....we decided on pho reign today..and being from westminster aka little saigon...this place is little bit americanize...
the amount of noodles they give you is adequate if you are a light eater but c'mon..if you having pho..you need more noodles...(note: 6'2 220lbs here)....the quality of the food is good but its a higher on the price side but what do you expect...we're in West LA not westminster...
but if you want enjoy some pho and maybe sit outside and enjoy the sun and some nice eye candy...give this place a try at least once...
Japanese run Pho.
Could be a really good idea -- but I don't think that this particular iteration worked well for me. While certainly edible, it wasn't pho done in a particularly vietnamese sort of way.
My bowl of pho's noodles actually were still clumped in the broth. The portions of vegetables was a far cry from the traditional vietnamese portions. The flavouring was decent, but somewhat sweeter than I'd expect.
Decor is mediocre -- efficient bar style, without any real flourishes.
I guess I don't feel any love of food here... so, I didn't love the experience at all...
If it were in Cleveland, I'd go again. It's in LA --
You do the math...
i heard a lot of bad things about this restaurant so i was lil scared.i dont lie.
but overall,it wasnt bad.actually it was pretty good.
i ordered seafood pho&it was the best one among the ones my friend ordered.
i think it was rare beef one and seafood&beef one.
the soop was very good!
i think i'll try here again.
JUST SAY NO TO THIS PLACE! very very overpriced nasty food.
a better pho option other than travelling all the way south to westminster? pho 99 on wilshire.
Stayed at a friend's place nearby and hit up most of the quick eateries in this strip mall. Had PhoReign saturday and sunday morning to deal with hangovers. Portions are a little small but still filling. Not the best pho i've ever had but the $8 pho got the job done. The rare steak and flank meat was pretty high quality. Friendly service.
Overpriced, Small Portions, Great Service (but who goes to a restaurant for service and no bueno food?) I had to eat two portions of pho just to get a bit full And that's forking about $20 to be full off of pho? which usually should only cost no more than $6.50
Try Pho99 on Wilshire if you live on the westside and crave pho, but I recommend going 14 miles to china town and getting cheap, delicious, large portioned, authentic Vietnamese food instead.
I'm sorry, Yelp. I feel the need to apologize because I didn't trust you. Maybe I thought you were leading me astray. Maybe I thought you were getting high and mighty on yourself. I'm sorry.
The reason I apologize is because I read your reviews of PhoReign, but I went anyway. I thought, "What if it's not that bad? What if they're all being too snobby? What if?"
My girlfriend was so excited about the possibility of vegetarian pho on the westside, that if we didn't at least have a taste, I would have wondered, perhaps to my grave, if the reviews did the place justice.
Will you forgive me?
First of all, PhoReign, I don't need KBIG blasting in my ears while I'm trying to eat. Secondly, your food is the most bland, lifeless excuse for cuisine I've had in awhile. Can food be vapid? Don't give me plum dipping sauce to mix in my noodles for flavor. Don't do that. That's stupid. Try cooking something interesting instead. I hate you, Phoreign. I just do.
Good service - waitress was very nice, although understood little English (she offered to put a bowl of shaved ice that I bought in a nearby store into their freezer, even!).
For a Japanese interpretation of a Vietnamese place, this isn't too bad - Japanese = blander, pricier, sweeter in my experience, and this place fits the bill. Very little herbage to be found other than thai basil here, although the greens are very fresh. The pho's spices are a bit off but actually had way more anise flavor than I expected for a place located in a Japanese area; it wasn't bad, just bland, other than the anise flavor and not particularly meaty. The bun bowls are better, although missing some pickled radish and carrot and missing all herbs, and the meat's a bit dry, but not bad! The rice noodles that come in the bun dishes are hot, which was the only odd part of the dish. The nuoc cham (dipping sauce) was WAYYYYY off/wrong (too sweet, missing fishiness, missing vinegar flavor, ugh) and ruined what could have been a decent bun dish.
The cha gio are actually very good! Lightly fried, thin & flaky skin, tasty filling - again, craptastic nuoc cham to dip them in. Makes me wonder if they get these made somewhere else and fry them up to order ;) Very very very very likely, I'd say. The spring rolls are fresh, flavorful pork & generous amount of shrimp, but again lack any basil/mint and it's that blasted nuoc cham that ruins everything! UGH. Not completely sh*tty nuoc cham would have raised the place to 2 1/2 to 3 stars. As it is, I rounded my 1 1/2 UP to 2 due to service (and I actually liked the cheesy 80s radio in the background).
Pricier (by $1-3 per dish) than Vietnamese places in Van Nuys or other SGV locations, and less flavorful. Sweet & bland; par for the course for Wafuu (Japanese style) Vietnamese. Only go here if you've done the entire Sawtelle route, don't feel like anywhere else nearby, and wanted to "walk around cute little Osaka and spend time in the Japanese dollar store nearby" (which is an awesome time waster).
I'll keep the facts short:
I've been here once.
The place was pretty empty. Around 2 other tables with couples.
It took me 45 minutes to get my bowl of pho.
45 minutes.
For pho. Something that usually arrives within 5 minutes of ordering.
The pho sucked.
I'm no pho expert, but I thought it was pretty good. Bowl was very filling - I left happy. Not the most authentic setting, but I will probably be back
Having the make up of a ramen house, with the bar and kitchen to the right and to the left a narrow walkway where folks are seated, this place serves up a greasy bowl of pho. My bowl came with the regular sides and to their credit the beef slices were very good cuts. However, they need to skimp the broth better and let it simmer longer to avoid letting it become too greasy while leaving the flavor uninspiring and flat. Portions were small and expensive. This might be a 2.5 star pho place for the west side, but the price definitely knocks it down to a final 2 star rating. Nice premium beef but the broth could be much much better.
Two stars only because my date didn't die, although he very well could have due to the ignorance and lack-of-English-comprehension on the part of the waitstaff.
The spring rolls were mediocre and the waitress appeared confused when my date and I asked whether or not the sauce it came with had nuts in it. We explained that my date was deathly allergic to nuts and that his throat would close up and he would die if he ingests nuts. She looked at us with a blank stare and said "Okay, eat!" We insisted she go ask someone else for a second opinion. She wandered around looking confused and talked to several other people who looked confused and came outside with the same results: "Okay, eat!"
So, against our better judgment, we ate it. It turns out the sauce had peanuts in it, but luckily for PhoReign a peanut is a bean/legume and NOT a nut, so my date did not die. Which is a very good thing, as that would not have been pho-un for anyone. I seriously doubted our waitress was aware of the fine distinction between peanuts/nuts/legumes since her English was horri-pho-c.
Tiny bland portions, overpriced and inauthentic.
Pho-get about going here.
If anyone else has suggestions for a better pho place on the westside I'm all ears.
I like pho. The most I've ever paid for it was like $16 at an Asian fusion cafe inside the MGM Grand in Vegas. I knew it wouldn't be good, but wanted some hot soup at the time. This is the 2nd most expensive I've paid for. Not that it's $16 a bowl or anything, but it's just decent pho for like $8. I usually don't try to compare price to when something's good, but since this is really great or anything, it becomes a bang-for-your-buck issue.
The pho is just plain here. Not spectacular, not bad either. Actually, if you're trying to introduce someone to pho, this might be the place to go, since the broth isn't too ethnic in flavors and it isn't that oily on the top. The rest of their accompaniments like the rolls, etc were ok also. This place may satiate a craving, but don't know if it'll beckon you to come for more....
I don't know whats worse .. Japanese pho or Korean pho either way it was bad .. I should have known better then to eat Pho on the Westside, but on a cold windy day I needed something that would make me feel warm and fuzzy. Yes, I should have gone with Ramen but their line was out the door. So I settled ... Oh god did I settle ... Everything was way to sweet .. even the fish sauce for the bun was super sweet. I have to give them credit for trying and the service was pretty good. But Pho was made to be eaten at a hole in the wall restaurant with a B or below grade. The price is decent for the westside, but I was left disappointed. Maybe its just me, but I like my pho dirty, flavorful and cheap!
Not exactly memorable, but the pho here is not bad. It's much better than a lot of the pho around here (UGH Mr. Noodle and Noodle Planet...). The Banh Xeo was done wrong wrong wrong wrong. Traditional banh xeo needs to be crispy and possibly brown. It was all yellow and soggy. Also, they put the bun barbeque meat in. Wrong. Usually it has mung bean (which it didn't have), shrimp (it had), onions, bean sprouts. It was so wierd to have sweet barbeque in it. I'm okay with leaving out mung bean tho as I don't like it. Also they gave us rice paper to roll it with. NO Wrong! You're supposed to wrap it with lettuce. Sigh. Sad... I'm just a Banh Xeo fanatic I guess.
But their pho was good and their spring rolls were mediocre.
The spring rolls were BOMB. They were so good! The sauce that accompanied was tangy, yet sweet, and pretty well balanced. They were SUPER CHEAP at $4.50 for two decent sized rolls, with 4 PIECES of shrimp PER ROLL!!
I don't get why people are saying this place is overpriced. It's in West L.A. for God's sake, and they give you lots of food. My Pho Ga had lots of chicken. I kept finding more as I made my way through the dish. I was super full at the end of the meal. Lots of bang for your buck.
My wife's Veggie Pho had lots of fresh vegetables and a good amount of large chunks of tofu.
Service was good, water always full, and the food came out quickly. Maybe 7 minutes.
The atmosphere was fine, the temperature inside was fine, quit whining people. If you want super-exactly-from-Vietnam pho, go to Vietnam. Why would you go to Sawtelle for authentic pho anyway? It's like Little Tokyo. I think that for what it is, they do a great job.
Worst. Pho. Ever.
Maybe not in the history of pho, but, in the history of me eating pho, this place takes the ribbon. Pho full of FAIL.
The broth is bland and tastes a lot like what I'd imagine dirty dishwater might taste like. Noodles were not great. I really wouldn't go back here to eat with so many other great options on Sawtelle Blvd.
I used to come here every weekend with my bf, but after last night's experience, I will not be coming back.
First off, I ordered take out. The girl on the phone did not speak very good English. Is it just me or do people who live in the U.S and work here need to learn how to speak English?? I dont have high expectations, but if I have to keep repeating myself over and over, it does make me very irritated.
How hard is it to understand PHO?!!!!
Anyways, drove up to the valet and went to get the food. My order was ready, but they didn't really understand that I was there to pick up my food. I had to do hand gestures and shit. WTF?
So, for 2 phos and 1 order of egg rolls, the total was $21.60. Pricey huh?
I get home and we dive in cuz we are starving.
WHAT THE FUCK? 2-3 pieces of beef per bowl. OMG.. Yeah yeah, I know this is Japanese run, so is that why is it is $7.50 a bowl and I only get 2 measly pieces of beef? WTF.
So. I am eating the egg rolls and guess what I find in it?? A green piece of shit, which I will assume is a piece of a sponge that you would find in the sink!!! OMG.. GROSS. I was so disgusted at that point, I threw down the half eaten egg roll, and ran to the sink to rinse my mouth!
Bottom line- if you are craving some authentic PHO, you sure as hell aint gonna get it here.
2 stars just cuz I have had decent experiences there before.
This place is still open?
Sanitized. Americanized. Whatever you want to call it, it's definitely not authentic.
Pho' sure it's fine...but I guess it's pretty much the only pho place on the Westside that's decent.
I've never had bad service here and I like sitting at the bar and watching the guys cook. Mmm, guys who cook.
Hurry Curry was too packed so I walked a few doors down, looked inside this place, and saw there was plenty of seating available.
I should have taken the hint.
Pros: Huge portions (except the Pho), friendly service.
Cons: everything else.
Verdict: Go to Pho 99 on Wilshire.
Being broke, I tried the spring rolls and bun sao.
The spring rolls were rubbery and oversized. The rice paper is usually a good indicator of how long it has been sitting out or in a fridge. It told me that these were definitely one of the two.
The bun sao (sorry if i'm spelling it wrong) viet crepe was ok. Nothing special. The rice paper that came with that was also old.
Bottom line is, this place is definitely overpriced for the quality of food here. It is even overpriced for drinks. No way am I paying 2 dollars for a can of coke. I am not one to be fooled by presentation and I definitely was not impressed.
This place bites.
Here is my evidence:
1) soup base of pho is not authentic, probably from a dry powder or bottled soup base. It was not served hot, but lukewarm.
2) accompanying bean sprouts and basil was wilted, brown and cold. They were chopped up and left in the fridge until someone dared to eat there. We demanded new helpings of sprouts and she brought us less dried ones, LOL! Sheesh, they could have walked across the street to Nijiya market and bought some fresh ingredients.
3) There was no one in the restaurant except the waiters and cooks. Usually a bad sign.
Pho rent?
Despite the fact that I'm not Vietnamese, I really like the food here. It's probably not 'authentic' if you grew up eating homemade pho, but their entire menu is still pretty tasty in same way that PF Chang's is for Chinese food. Don't understand why there are so many bad reviews, but for the average palette - you will like this place, especially for lunch. Not sure I would go so far as to recommend this place for dinner though.
This is by the far the worst I had, even by West Side standards. Pho from this place is definitely made with those Pho spice packages from 99 Ranch Supermarket. The soup tasted artificial. Without the right soup base, it aint no Pho. I tried it because of the interesting name. The Pho is definitely foreign if you know Vietnamese food.
If you want real Pho, go to Pho 79 in Alhambra. Trust me, the drive is worth it.
Skip the pho and the specials. This place is good for a few items such as the tofu salad, the spring rolls, and the vietnamese egg rolls.
I would definitely go back for the items listed above and make a meal out of two of those items or get the combination egg rolls over rice or vermicelli.
The pho is something I might get if I were in serious deprivation and had no desire to drive elsewhere (Phobulus, Golden Deli).
I was disappointed because I had a waitress who wrote my order down wrong and wanted to stick me with what she brought. That was severely disappointing!!! Confirm your order with the wait staff.
Pass on the specials as the chicken and short ribs are terrible.
Recommendations: Vietnamese coffee (it comes with a little dripper that you can watch)
It's not really the best pho I've eaten, but it was the first time I got to watch my coffee drip into a cup! So for that alone, I thought the whole experience was interesting and noteworthy. It's not really easy to find pho places around the Westwood area (unless you go to Noodle World, which doesn't have great pho either). Between PhoReign and Noodle World, I'd choose PhoReign. Then again, I've only been here once. My whole college experience was centered around eating ramen and korean food.
The waitress helping us was very polite, and the place was pretty clean the time we went. It's a cute restaurant - not very big, and not outlandishly decorated. I like these kinds of places where everything is not so pretentious and you can come chill with your friends over a bowl of noodles and coffee.
I want to start out with the good: The price was outstanding. I got the "secret special" which seemed like a bit of everything and it was only $12.95. The salad dressing was really good (you might think its weird that I say that but 98% of the time I don't eat the side salads but this one was good) and so were both the spring rolls and egg rolls.
The service was also great and the pho was OK (edible). So why the 2-star? What killed it for me was my main dish which was something like beef short rib with wasabi/soysouce marinade. Even though I was starving out of my mind it was still hard to put that down. That was definitely on the "this does not taste good at all" side.
If I had just ordered the pho here instead, I would have given this place a 3 star.
Minus 1 star because I'm not liking the play-on-word, but yes, Yelpers, this is Vietnamese, ergo, they serve pho and bunh.
Minus 1 star because the place is narrow and features a loooong bar where you see how your food is cooked, yes, it's neat, but it's really hard to eat and enjoy your friend's company.
Minus 1 more star because in all honesty, the food is just not satisfying, and by the time I left the parking lot, was already forgotten.
And perhaps that's the reason why I got first crack to review this spot because people have gone elsewhere for a nice, hot bowl of pho.
We need a better Vietnamese spot in the Westside. Is that too much to ask?
You know what, this place isn't too bad. I don't eat a whole lot of Vietnamese food so I wanted to try Pho noodles for once instead of Ramen.
I got their #33 Bun bowls which is basically Pho without the soup broth. Like Cee, I was a bit confused as to what was the deal with the dipping sauce, so instead of dipping my imperial rolls etc. I dumped the sauce in the mix of rice noodles, steak, rolls, peanuts and veggies. In a matter of minutes however I was done with most of the mixture and found myself digging for some more noodles. "Where did you go little guys" The noodles were already super thin that I just didn't feel I got enough noodle love in my bowl. For the lack of Pho, one star had to go... but that does not mean I didn't enjoy my experience here... Next time I go I'll try the soup mix, but overall it was just enough food to not feel too full... so if you want more bang for your buck when it comes to noodles I recommend Kinchans :-)
I've loved this place for years. It has tons more flavor than other pho I've had. It's one of my absolute favorites!
Maybe authentic pho is suppose to be bland (I find all the highly rated pho places super bland).
I'm not sure what I had here this weekend, but it sure as hell wasn't pho. It was SUPPOSED to be pho tai (thin slices of raw beef with rice noodles in a beef broth) but it was definitely not like any pho I've ever had before. Tastewise, it was okay (as long as you're not expecting pho). Also, the eggrolls (cha gio) were undercooked and on the dinky side.
And for $7.50, they so do not give you enough food............
This is my second review ever and I didn't want it to be a bad review...
But I must do this because yelpers need to know and that's what yelping is all about.
I went there with my friends one weekend, and had Bunh (Vietnamese rice noodle salad) and Spring Rolls. Nobody had Pho, so I cannot talk about that, but the quality of other food items ordered must speak for their main dish also... and it's not good.
If you are craving Vietnamese food, this place is not the place to go, because they are just not good.
If you've never had Vietnamese food and are wanting to try, this place is not the place to go, because they are just not good for your first Vietnamese food and I would hate it if you think this is Vietnamese food.
Their spring rolls -- 90% of what was rolled inside the rice paper was leaf lettuce. after taking a very first bite it disintegrated into pieces. it's not supposed to do that.
Their Bunh -- blah! the fact that they used leaf lettuce, not finely shredded iceberg lettuce, makes it so hard to eat and all you taste is those overly green stuff. blah! and I don't think tomatoes belong in a bowl of Bunh...am I mistaken?
They get one star because their presentation is pretty. (I'm a sucker for all pretty things. ) nice colors (though tomatoes weren't called for), nice plates, clean presentation.
They get another star because the place is decorated very nicely. Small narrow space, but they have a long counter where you can sit by yourself. can make a great lunch-out-by-yourself spot if they improve on food.
They have great potential...but until they improve their food greatly, I will not go back.
This is a Japanese run restaurant that happens to serve Vietnamese dishes, so you have to adjust your expectations accordingly- you're not gonna get an truly authentic bowl of pho here.
Unfortunately, though the Japanese X whatever 'fusion' idea works often times, this is not one of them, and despite my lowered expectations, I've been very disappointed both times here. The pho was uninspiring, limp in flavor. The bun likewise, despite the wealth of ingredients, was surprisingly lacking in much flavor. And what flavor it had didn't conjure up Vietnam, that's for sure. Or Japan for that matter.
The decor is nice and they've made good use of the limited and narrow space to accommodate quite a number of people (thanks to the long counter, mostly). And they *are* trying (interesting and not-your-typical things on the menu, for example). For these things I wanted to like it and give 2 stars. But, the execution of the food is just flat.
West Los Angeles, CA
Category: Vietnamese
Los Angeles, CA
Category: Vietnamese
Los Angeles, CA
Category: Thai
Los Angeles, CA
Category: Food
Neighborhood: Elysian Park
Category: Vietnamese
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