I have been here two days in a row! This place is so good if I lived here I would come every week! I absolutely LOVE the service here I just can't tell you how kind and caring they are. The staff really wants to make sure you are happy! The p2 is what I ordered both times. Beef flank steak pho. Full of flavor. Tender beef. Unbelievable! So amazing! read more

208 Pho & Vegan - Flank Steak Pho - Vietnamese Near Me - Boise, Idaho

Although there is a Vietnamese eatery serving pho and bun and com dishes at this Fort Street address it is no longer this business name. See Pho Real, new business name. Local paper reported, as I recall, that this owner sold his business but operators are family members of the 208 Pho & Vegan owner the very nice woman at Pho Real told us. She said if you had that food you would find Pho Real food to be the same. But it is a new business with new Yelp page. read more

We were great immediately at the door and seated as soon as they wiped dune our table. We ordered very quickly and it was only about 10 minutes until we got our food. The pho was decent flavor but def lots of meat. read more

208 Pho & Vegan - Vietnamese Near Me - Boise, Idaho

Pho was awesome with an excellent broth. The spring rolls are super fresh and very good. read more

208 Pho & Vegan - a bowl of soup with meat and vegetables - Vietnamese Near Me - Boise, Idaho

Excellent, friendly service. Great food and location. Best pho in town! Live nearby, so like to go fairly often.

The Pho here is definitely my favorite in Boise (vegan only for me). I've been visiting this location since they opened, and then recently visited after they re-opened (not sure why they closed for months). They can't serve alcohol anymore, which is fine, but the lettuce that came with the vegan rolls was filthy! And the fried rolls themselves were so cold they were chewy - zero crunch. I guess they'd been sitting out a while. The pho was good but they had no hot oil. Service was fine too. I'll give it time and try again, as I'm hoping they get their stuff together. The filthy lettuce made me question the cleanliness of everything they do. read more

208 Pho & Vegan - lettuce with a bite taken out of it - Vietnamese Near Me - Boise, Idaho

I've been wanting to try this place forever. It was a bit smaller then I imagined and the place was packed when we arrived for lunch. I ordered the vegan vermicelli not really knowing what I was getting into and it was definitely delicious, I think the next time I go back I'll get the pho because that looked better. I love all the vegan options. My downstar is because the place was a bit dirty, the tables were sticky and the bathroom wasnt clean. read more

208 Pho & Vegan - Vegan vermicelli - Vietnamese Near Me - Boise, Idaho

Jim's Coffee Shop has shuttered. And Rudy, the giant fiberglas rooster that sat perched on top of Jim's? Well, he's flown the coop and now oversees the Capri Restaurant. In their place at the old Jim's next to the Boise Co-Op is 208 Pho & Vegan. Just in case you forgot Idaho's area code. It appears that some of the opening jitters that Seth N. wrote about have worked themselves out as 208 Pho's crew has gotten more experience since the soft opening. I came in about 11:30 a.m. on a Sunday morning and there were already a couple of tables filled, a good sign I thought for that early. Another couple was outside peering at the menu taped to the window. The waitress greeted me promptly, brought me a menu and then left to get me a glass of water. When she came back, I ordered the 208 pho and a side order of crispy egg rolls. Both appeared on my table within a few minutes. The egg rolls were crunchy and had a decent amount of filling. They were accompanied by a small bowl of nuoc cham, a dipping sauce made predominantly with fish sauce, lime juice, vinegar and dried chile flakes. They match well together. The pho was also good. I would have liked the broth to have been more strongly flavored. Pho broth is typically simmered for many hours and develops a complex flavor. This didn't quite have that. There was a largest amount of steak and meatballs, along with rice noodles. There was the usual accompaniment of herbs, jalapeno peppers and bean sprouts, along with a wedge of lime. I would have also liked to see a jar of chile oil, chopped dried peppers simmered in a small amount of oil that becomes almost a paste. That is common in Vietnamese restaurants in larger cities. They did provide a bowl of garlic-chile paste when asked. That provided an adequate substitute, along with the bottle of fish sauce on the table. I was happy with my experience. The waitress was friendly and I could see a Vietnamese couple in the back preparing the dishes. I assume that was owner An Nguyen and his wife. Pho 208 is still operating on a limited menu. However, you can see the other food items they plan to offer as they get going. They've only been open a couple of weeks at this point. read more

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The vegan fresh spring rolls were delightful. A nice combination of flavors. We also tried the vegan Phó and it was delicious. The staff was very nice and the dining room was clean and looked very nice. read more

Dropped by this pho place on our way to Boise airport. The restaurant was mildly populated, playing soothing background jazz. TV on the wall was playing a bird cam feed with tiny birds and squirrels. The waiter was nice and polite; owner and chef, apparently Vietnamese, were in the restaurant, came out saying Hi. A friendly place to hangout for some food, and some beer too. Spicy beef noodle was a special for the day. It is different from anything I had in Vietnamese restaurants before. It had lots of beef and decent beef soup. However, it is a fusion, might not be not for everyone. Traditional Pho Tai was great. Simple and yummy, 7/10. read more

208 Pho & Vegan - Vietnamese Near Me - Boise, Idaho

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What does one do when they've just worked a 10+ hour day, are hungry (scratch that, hangry) but don't want to cook food and are looking for a warm bowl of goodness to unwind from the week with? They go get pho. Food: Happy Friday Night to me! I just ordered takeout from here, and it was AMAZING! I ordered the chicken pho: packed with savory flavors, yummy chicken, bean sprout, (spicy) jalapenos, cilantro, onions and sriracha on the side. Just one big steaming hot bowl of deliciousness. Price: Only $8.50 for a bowl...which might sound steep for a bowl of soup at first, but you get so much pho for this price! You could probably split this between two people or split it into two meals if you want to. Or, you could eat it all in one sitting. I'll let you guess which of the three I ended up doing. ;) Vibe: I took my pho to-go, so I didn't get to take in the atmosphere for very long. Based on what I saw when I was inside, I really liked it! Homey and cozy but with a touch of cool. There's a family-owned restaurant meets local pub vibe to it. I'd love to come back and dine in-house soon! Fun Story: I met the owner, Joe, a few years ago while getting my nails done. He told me that he was planning on opening up a pho restaurant and that it would be located right by the Boise CoOp. While I drove to 208 Pho tonight, I wondered if maybe I'd see him there. As soon as I walked through the front door, I saw was Joe..and he remembered me! How cool is that?! read more

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Great veggie options! Both the Pho and Vermicelli are delicious. Casual and easy place for a meal.

We've been wanting to try this place for awhile now. I have to say I'm not impressed in fact I'm quite disappointed with the pho we had. The broth didn't taste anything like the pho broth. My mom said the broth wasn't bad but it's not as flavorful as others we've had. The pho we had was supposed to have quail eggs in it but didn't get it. The pho restaurants on Broadway, and Orchard and Franklin are 10x better and more flavorful. I'll most likely not visit again. read more

Good little pho spot. Good prices, fresh food. Would have liked some more meat with pho, not too generous but tasty.

We were traveling through Boise and found 208. Our dishes were outstanding. We have enjoyed a number of different Vietnamese establishments, and found 208 excellent especially for a fairly fast meal on the road. Thank you! read more

We are very picky about our pho, and we thought this place was amazing!! It was ready in less than 15 minutes and the service was great- the staff was very friendly and attentive. The broth was super tasty, the veggies were fresh, and the tofu was prepared well which is not super common. The fresh spring rolls with shredded tofu and the sauce they came with were to die for. Also the pho serving sizes were pretty big! We will definitely be back! read more

208 Pho & Vegan - Veggie pho (with lots of sriracha in it, that's why the broth looks like that) - Vietnamese Near Me - Boise, Idaho

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I came from out of town and decided to try for the pho and it seemed like the kind of pho I liked--not so oily. I love pho, Ive been eating it for 20 years but this pho had weak broth. I ordered Pho Tai. The "pho" flavor was weak and it tasted very watered down. I WANTED to like it but I just didn't and I didn't finish the broth like I usually do. I had to put soooo much sauce in it to get some more flavor. The meat was also cut into very small pieces and wasn't as fun to eat if they were larger slices. Maybe I'll give them the benefit of the doubt and perhaps it was just a bad batch. Don't get me wrong though, if this were the only pho in town, I'd eat it maybe once a month but not 3 times a month like I do at a really good pho place. read more

I've eaten here twice. The food is OK and reasonably priced. The pho is average. Same with the banh mi. At lunch, including on the weekends, it's $5 for a banh mi and a canned soda, which is a good deal. The smoothies are pretty good too. I recommend the Mango Tango. Both times we've been in, a gentleman, who I assume is the owner, came around to say hello. That's a nice touch. My gripe is with the overall lack of customer service. Both times they were at least somewhat short staffed on the serving side. This resulted in long waits for everything, even when the restaurant was pretty empty. I gathered that some manpower was going into delivery and carryout orders. On the most recent visit, the server was completely preoccupied with a handheld device that must have been malfunctioning. We couldn't get anything and we were left waiting and waiting and waiting. I get that stuff happens, but at some point, you have to switch gears and focus. On that visit I also noticed things were dirty. The booster seat we were given was filthy dirty and sticky, like it has never been cleaned. The bathroom was dirty too, no paper towels, etc. Food was ehh, empty waters went unfilled, we spent twice as long as we would have liked just waiting on extremely slow service. It was a bad experience all around. The server never acknowledged the slow service or apologized. read more

Hey, this place is pretty good. My girlfriend, and I split the spring rolls, and the vegan noodles. It was more than enough food for 2 people. I liked that it was only 15.00 dollars. Did I say this place was pretty good. The End read more

Well I finally got to visit 208 Pho & Vegan for lunch today. I had the 208 Pho with tendon and the garnishments (crisp sprouts, beautiful basil, thinly sliced jalapenos, and lime wedges) were fresh and plentiful. Although I'm not an expert connoisseur of pho, I thought the broth was delicious and flavorful without being overbearing with salt and the portions of broth and noodles very generous. Our server was friendly and pretty darn quick, considering the joint was jumping all through the noon hour. There are a few things that keep me from giving them 5 stars. First, I have to agree with other reviewers that the "rare steak and brisket" in my pho wasn't rare (or even medium rare) and, although it was still tender, the slices of meat were thick and chewy. Next, the seats in the booths are sagging and low so I felt like my chin was almost in my noodles. And lastly, there were three of us for lunch, but we only got two full sets of utensils (2 soup spoons, 2 forks, 2 sets of chopsticks) so we had to share and mix and match. All in all, because the location has convenient parking, the food is good, and the prices very reasonable, I will be going back. read more

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Great vibe, great food! Went here for lunch. All of the staff were very kind and inviting :) we got what we ordered quickly. The full menu wasn't available yet! But what was available was great. Even brought my grandmother who had never had Vietnamese food before and she enjoyed herself! Xxx thank you! read more

208 Pho & Vegan - Vietnamese Near Me - Boise, Idaho

Boise needs a good pho place, this is what's lacking here. Starting with appetizer, I consider both Cha Gio and fresh rolls to be 4 stars, very good... Also their decor is nice. On the soup itself, 208 pho introduced good pho soup, but I found the meat is cut too thick and overcooked. Perhaps they are adjusting to American pho that normally didn't put rare beef in soup. Overall good dining experiences. read more

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We got charbroiled chicken and pho vegan soup that comes with plate of extras for soup. The food was good and service was ok too. Pretty photos attached. read more

208 Pho & Vegan - Vietnamese Near Me - Boise, Idaho

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I just ordered three items and when I ran in to pay and grab them, the guy that took our money wasn't wearing a mask. I thought I'd support a small business. Never again. Throwing my food away. You're working in a restaurant. Wear a damn mask. It's not a chin strap read more

Ate here for lunch today and I'm so glad I did. I really miss real Pho restaurants like in California because they aren't too authentic here in Idaho. This place is the best pho I've had and I've lived in Boise for 13 years! They offer rare steak, brisket, meatballs and tendon for meat choices. Portions are generous! They also bring out oyster sauce and sriracha! I ordered boba with my pho and it was also very good. The people serving were very nice- seated me and brought water right away. All were wearing masks and tables were distanced. The owner even came by and asked how the food was! My new go-to Pho place! I will be back! read more

I forgot to check in today while I was there. The order came out so quickly and I was eager to dig in, I totally forgot. I love this place and plan my trips to the co op based on 208's schedule. I always get the same thing (Pho Tai) because it is always outstanding. I wish I had more of an appetite because there are so many other dishes I want to try. Only negative is that sometimes the music is a little louder than it needs to be, but for the most part, I do not care because the pho is so dang good! read more

As an LA-based Vietnamese American, I am lucky to have tasted true Vietnamese food from my mom, Grandma, and nanny with many Vietnamese restaurant options nearby my house. I was excited to find vietnamese food in Boise and with vegan options! This restaurant has signs outside toting that they are even msg-free! This place is authentic and delicious. Even better, the vegan options are great! The pho broth is very tasty and not too strong ! I subbed rice for the vegan vermicelli dish and it was great as well. Sometimes, veggie egg rolls do not taste good and are just filled with cabbage or something gross ! (But these are great!!! ) What more can you want from vietnamese food? Good food, and fast service is all you need! read more

When this first opened, I dug it. It wasn't my favorite pho place, but did the job. Two night ago I went in a little after 8pm with a friend for a quick meal. There was only one other person eating there. We were oddly greeted, being asked if we were picking up food, we said no and the man asked us again the same question. Once we finally convinced him we wanted food, he told us to take a table. He wasn't clear and was angry we didn't take the right table. We ordered and waited. As we waited we listened to the TV loudly play "Name that Tune" as the man who seated us watched YouTube videos on his phone at full volume. We did our best to get his attention to get more water, that wasn't happening. We attempted to tune out both sound sources and talked as we waiting for our food. The food arrived, it had definitely gone downhill. The summer rolls were hard as if they were made the day before, the pho was lackluster. So with that, I won't go back. If the food was so so but the service was great, I can forgive that. But, when both fail I'm out. I hope figure out what's wrong and go back to what they used to be. read more

Bad service and worker/owner look so mad , didn't greet us when we entered and he acted like he didn't want to take our order. First and last time to eat there. Oh and the Beef Pho wasn't that great. read more

Having Pho in many cities, the broth was a little sweet for us. We have the vegan pho, 208 pho and vermicelli with chicken. Vegan pho had fresh veggies and basil, broth a little sweet. 208 pho was a more traditional broth that was good with quality meat. The vermicelli with chicken was delicious. The chicken was moist and tasty, and the sauce had just the right kick. Would definitely visit again if in the pho mood. read more

As a frequent visitor to the amazing Eden Center in Falls Church, VA where every business is Vietnamese ethnic owned, and the variety of delicious foods is amazing, this Boise restaurant is a gem. Many ethnic restaurants adapt their foods to local palates often losing something in translation. I've had pho where they haven't bothered with the process that yields a complex, but light broth and the difference is startling. This lovely place makes theirs from scratch every day- you are aware of the multiple flavors without one dominating. I had the chicken curry today- which was slightly bland- but it leaves room for the intriguing condiments used at Vietnamese tables. Next time I will add some chili paste. And I hope to find a place in Boise that serves Banh Cuon-- Another incredible Vietnamese dish. read more

208 Pho & Vegan - The chicken curry. Tasty! - Vietnamese Near Me - Boise, Idaho

I was happy with the appetizer goi cuon, alright with the bun cha vermicelli bowl but felt the pho was lackluster per my tastes. The selection is exciting however and I look forward to trying their daily dishes, for example, the spicy beef noodle soup (which I truly hope is bun bo hue) on Sundays. They are not open on Tuesdays FYI! read more

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Became very stingy, went downhill. I used to love this place but recently, after their extended close (and misleading "we're open" banners), got takeaway. Got my usual steak, brisket and meatball pho. There was about half the meat they used to put in there. So disappointing to pay a whopping $13 for broth and rice noodles with a tiny bit of meat. Save your money. There isn't anything special about this pho anyway. Underdeveloped broth, now skimpy on even the bean sprouts. Inflation is affecting all of us but it seems that Pho 208 wants the customer to absorb all of it. Very disappointed in the changes since the re-opening. Hopefully they read these reviews and will reintroduce quality and value into their food, read more

Took my girly on an adventure for lunch & this is where we ended up. She'd been wanting to learn how to use chop sticks & of course I was craving pho! So we ordered both rolls & a beer to start off. Then comes the beautiful bowl of heaven! After lots of laughs & chop stick fails.. She mastered the art of holding the sticks correctly, we had left overs & memories that will make us come back for more! read more

208 Pho & Vegan - Vietnamese Near Me - Boise, Idaho

Wow, what a gem to have in Boise's NorthEnd. It still retains the character of Jim's, just in a different way. The server's are very friendly, the food comes out fast, and it tastes delicious. The pho is exceptionally good, I'd also recommend the fresh spring rolls. Definitely worth a visit!! read more

Update: I'm still mystified as to why people like 208 so much. A return to the restaurant earlier this year replicated my negative impressions of undercooked, pasty cha gio and dishwater broth with weird meat. I guess the service is adequate. It made me sad to see that 208 will represent Vietnamese cuisine at the big Asian market complex on Ustick and Cole. The whole country deserves better representation... if you're in the area, drive a little further and go to Baguette Deli or Pho Bac. read more

Had been meaning to go here for a while, and in my book it's not the best but not the worst pho. Boise pho is lack luster but I think this is better than the one on 8th or the one off Broadway. I definitely liked the vibe--intimate and cozy, and it was perfect for the rainy day. Would probably go back again, but will definitely try others before that happens. read more

Okay, so I'm giving 3 stars here, but I should be giving a 1 based on experience. 1) I REALLY want a good Vietnamese restaurant near me, so my expectations/ hopes/ dreams were high for this place. 2) They are open, but it's a soft opening. And there was a limited menu, and clearly lots of kinks were being worked out. Given both of those reasons, I'll do a 3; but I'll come back in a month or two and see if things have improved or not. So, my experience.... First, the service staff was overwhelmed and the experience was very poor. I actually saw 4 different people sit down and eventually get up and leave after no one came to their table, or even acknowledged their existence. I would have left myself if I wasn't so interested in knowing how the food was! Truthfully, I feel this sort service is unacceptable, but it is fixable. And I hope and believe it will be much better when I return to update this. Second, the food. There are 3 main dishes I judge any Vietnamese restaurant on: Pho tai, Bun thit nuong and of course Cha gio! The Pho tai was the best dish, but it wasn't great (I'm so sad typing this!). The broth was on the okay side of things (and the broth is the dish), the noodles and beef were better, but the side of veggies was lacking. The Bun thit nuong again had meat that was good, but some of the worse vermicelli noodles I've had (and the noodles is this dish) and there were almost no veggies in the bowl! I'm so sad!!! And amazingly, even the Cha gio was rolled lightly packed and had a soggy mouth feel after the crispy exterior--and almost no noodles on the inside. Ugh. I'm really sad about this place! I'll give it another try in a few months, but until then I'll have to still go 22 miles to freaking Nampa just to get my Vietnamese food fix. read more

Clean Restaurant Delicious food Great service What's not to love? I will be coming back for sure! I would give it a 5 star but the sprouts for the Pho were wilted and they use plastic chopsticks read more

This is the last visit to this establishment. I ordered the day's special, a spicy beef soup. It was not spicy in the least, way too sweet & had zero beef flavor. It was also said to have had shrimp included, 2 large shrimp according to the photo of the soup on the special menu. Alas, there was no shrimp. I inquired about the missing shrimp and was told it does not come with any! The waiter did not know the menu & the cooks are asleep at the stove. read more