Terrible food and service, won't come again, It doesn't have a " cash only" sign, but when you check out, they would say: cash only. read more

Fast service, decent prices, large portions, and the pho comes out super quick after ordering. The soup is super good, a size small feels like a large but the upgrade is super cheap as well! Definitely helps if you speak the language! read more

I drove by Johnson's BBQ half remembering they were closed on Monday and saw the sign for Pho #1 and thought, "if this isn't soup weather I don't know what is." I ordered the large pho ga, and it was huge, for $6.95 after the waitress assured me that they don't use MSG. I got it in like ten minutes and dug in. I always taste it as is before I do anything and man it was already awesome. It was so good that I didn't want to do a lot to it. All I added was a tiny squirt of lime and four chili slices. I stirred it a bit and waited a minute for the flavors to blend and truly went at it. I don't mean to sound corny but when I get good pho it's like a warm happy feeling starts in my middle and grows the more I eat until my whole body is tingling. Does this happen to anyone else? One star off because it was so cold in there the waitress and all the customers had to wear their jackets. one star for the asshole cop that pulled me over for no reason out front. read more

Some guys have a tendency to do odd things in the company of a lady. I had sworn off this restaurant after a bad experience last December, but when a past acquaintance spotted me recently and called out my name then suggested we grab lunch at this restaurant I was more than happy to oblige. Okay so maybe I was a bit over dramatic in my last update. A restaurant is allowed to have one bad dish. Am I right? Fine. With that said don't ever order the chicken curry with rice. Trust me on that. My old friend told me she liked this restaurant and had eaten here several times in the past. She said she especially enjoyed the fresh fruit drinks the kitchen whirls up. The service was excellent as usual. The warm greeting, the menus in our hands, the cups of hot tea on our table our waitress returned in minutes to take our order. My friend couldn't decide between the pho or the bun, so I suggested we order one of each and share them. We had a large Pho Tai Chin Nam (well-done beef and rare beef noodle soup) and the Bun Cha Gio Thit Nuong (grilled BBQ pork and imperial roll vermicelli). She ordered some frou-frou looking fruit drink that I didn't catch the name of. I think it was their mango puree. The food was on our table within minutes. My friend thought it was odd that I asked to take a photo of each dish. She inquired whether I worked for the health department or for a rival restaurant. She had no idea what Yelp was as my explanation had her seemingly puzzled. Why not just eat the food? Why do you write about it too? Here's what we got. The Pho (http://static.px.yelp.com/bphoto/xScGXSwZXXkhwlc-cJc1pw/l) and the Bun (http://static.px.yelp.com/bphoto/BYC-txiCFmN0qp7_IlQ-fA/l) came out in big, deep round bowls. My friend suggested the portions seemed larger than when she dined alone. I'm not a big fan of raw red onions. I was so happy to see my friend scoop off most of the rings of red onion and put it into her bowl. The thin slices of beef in the Pho were generous in portion size and tasted okay. The medium width rice noodles were abundant and soft, but I detected the sting of MSG in the broth. There was enough of it to make me switch my attention to the Bun. I got in under the mound of cold soft rice vermicelli to get to the shredded lettuce, basil, cucumber strips and bean sprouts. All of the vegetables were fresh and crispy. The noodles were nice and chewy. The thinly sliced grilled pork was tender and had a slight sweetness to it. The imperial roll was good. I especially liked that in addition to the crushed peanuts and the sauteed green onion, they added some deep fried onion bits to the top of the dish. I thought the fried onion enhanced the dish quite well. As we ate we engaged in small talk seeing what each of us had been up to over the years, and when we finished eating we went through the entire Chinese ritual of fighting to see who pays the bill. I suggested that although I was all for equality a good male friend never lets a female friend pay for lunch. She was cool with that, and I got the bill. As we exited the restaurant we stood outside and exchanged our contact information. It was at that time that she reminded me what her name is because she knew I was clueless to that throughout our lunch. I felt a bit embarrassed that she knew that all along. I can be such a doof sometimes! read more

Pho #1 - Pho Tai Chin Nam (Well-Done Beef & Rare Beef Noodle Soup) - Vietnamese Near Me - San Francisco, California

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Well I came here after reading the other reviews, thinking that the Pho Ga was going to be like Turtle towers Pho Ga (chicken noodle soup). I should of known better, no one can fade Turtle towers Pho Ga. The things that I liked here: Hot cup of tea, it tasted very good. It was something about it being in a regular cup and not in a tea cup made it taste real good. The bowls for the soup were huge, and they had the chopsticks and spoons black instead of the regular white or green at most Pho spots. The spoons I liked very much, it had a little hook at the end so it can never fall into the soup. It always hooked on the side of the bowl. (Good one). I also liked how they brought each individual order one by one and not in a tray. It felt like they really cared about each bowl of soup or plate of food. Things that they need to work on: So I ordered the number 7 large, which was the Chicken Noodle soup with intestine. The Pho Ga soup, it tasted OK if i have never tasted Turtle towers soup before. It had alot of MSG which i usually like alot of, but they kind of over did it on this one. Once the soup touched the tongue it numbed it right away. (That's alot of MSG!) The style was northern Vietnam, but they were mostly speaking Chinese and not Vietnamese. Overall my experience was good, the place is worth trying out. The service was pretty good for it being pretty busy on a Saturday afternoon. I would definitely come back and try something new. I will still stick with Turtle tower for my Pho Ga, but i want to try that crab tomato soup everyone is talking about. 3.5 Stars for Pho #1 read more

Eh. My parents are from the southern region of VN (Kien Giang - super close to Thailand) and I came in knowing that this joint is Northern... It's okay. Soup is sweet, but super oily! The broth was really clear but the oil splotches...uhh..no. And just lime & jalapenos?! I get it, Northern VN climate is not suitable to grow bean sprouts or Thai basil..and supposedly PHO is a northern thing...but c'mon! If you don't give us veggies, then give us more noodles or better yet, meat! $6 for 5 slices of beef and super overcooked wide noodles? No thanks. read more

I LOVE THIS PLACE!!!! So sooo happy that I live super close. I come here every single time I have a hangover lol! I recommend their pho ga (chicken pho). Let me start off by saying how flavorful their broth is! The only thing I add in the broth is just pepper. I really really like how they use flat noodles instead of the regular pho noodles too. The portions are pretty big, they usually give tons of noodles but they don't skimp out on the meat either. I've had their bun bo hue (spicy beef noodles) before and it was decent. I'm looking forward to trying their rice dishes next time! read more

Pho #1 - Vietnamese Near Me - San Francisco, California

The chicken pho isnt bad here. Its nothing to be amazed about but it will get the job done. And the portions are quite large. Either that or I just dont eat as much as I used to. Ive never really had anything else at this place other than the chicken pho and its just as the stars say it.."A-OK" I'll be sure to give that Salted Baked Chicken a try though... read more

Maybe I came at the right time but I walked into an uncrowded, clean looking pho place. This was actually one of the pho places that has more than a couple kinds of noodles. I got a large chicken soup with the flat noodles. The bowl was pretty big and compared to a pretty tiny girl like me, it looked like I was in an eating competition. But don't be fooled because most of it was broth with plenty of noodles and only a couple small piece of chicken floating in the distance. Needless to say, I was pretty satisfied with the amount of noodles and the flavor of the soup. It was light but you can still taste the chicken flavor. The noodles were smooth and chewable but not soggy. The chicken was well, not many. I did enjoy my meal though. I do want to come back and try their other dishes also! read more

After a night of ingesting alcohol, I felt like a nice bowl of pho. I remembered a friend telling me about a place with Pho Ga that's even better than Turtle Tower around San Bruno. noo waaayyyy! Since I was in the area, I immediately called for the 10-20 of the spot. The Chicken Pho was similar to Turtle Tower's in terms of being "Northern style", but different in the area of taste. I can tell they probably used the beef noodle soup broth, but that combo worked as it was tasty. The chicken was tender so no complaints there. One thing I should note is that their "ho fun" noodles was on the softer side. Depending on the person, they may or may not like this. All in all, it was a good bowl of pho ga. If you like Turtle Tower's #9, you gotta check this place out! read more

Never understood places that only serve Grilled Pork Chop- Grilled Pork (slices) is SOOOO much better! And the grilled pork over here is SUPER good! The slices are tender and packed with flavor, goes perfectly with their fish sauce. The ladies are nice and attentive. Nice addition to the neighborhood! read more

Finally decided to come here and dine in today, rather than getting to go. This time I ordered the rare steak noodle, which was not on the menu. For some reason, their tai is with cooked and rare steak. Sounds weird, but I just ordered the rare steak. It was not placed on a separate plate, but it was still pink and NEVER went dry or overcooked as it bathed in my noodle soup the whole time. The soup was warm to hot, so it was a bit of a surprise that my beef didn't get all wrinkly and dry. Very high quality beef that was thick and tender. One thing that does bother me a bit is that they don't give out bean sprouts here (just onions & green onions in the soup w/ the jalapeno and lime to the side). Although I ordered the small this time and it looked small, its contents weren't. It took a while for me to finish, and I was pretty full by the time I got done. The service was basically like most Chinese/Vietnamese restaurants. Not much service indeed, but pleasant enough. I saw the worker continuously wiping the walls and all. This place was clean and neat. They probably tried to go modern with the walls painted green, but didn't quite make it. The dull pinkish red molding/trim absolutely gave the place an Asian feel. The plastic lights on top definitely added to that feel. But they do have some cute decor that reminded me a bit of Penang Garden. Flatscreen tv near the back that plays old school Chinese and Vietnamese music. I also ordered the papaya salad with beef and it was definitely not the best I've had. The dish looked colorful enough, but almost too colorful. If I hadn't known that I ordered a papaya salad or what a papaya salad was, I would think its some kind of mixed salad (for there was almost the same amount of cabbage as there were papaya and the shredded carrots following). The salad was also mixed with a generous amount of nuts and flaky little crunchy things (never knew what those were called). The 4 shrimp chips were random and again, very Asian. The papaya shreds could've been cut more thoroughly, for lots of it stuck together in a big chunk. There was also no TANG to the dish, when there should be. This was almost a miss, but I managed to finish almost all of it cause I love green papaya! They also gave me a free egg custard dessert afterward and it was pretty good. It reminded me of the ones my mom used to buy/make for me when I was a kid. I hope that's not their version of creme brulee though. Ha. Yummy indeed. Prices - very good. Place - very clean. Service - like any other Viet/Chinese restaurant. Food - noodles are definitely a hit, but not so much the salad. read more

This place got me and few other co-workers in trouble with the boss!! We left the office for about 2 hours to locate the famous pho #1 salted baked chicken. After 30 mins of driving in across town in a small ass 2008 Civic SI, with 5 200 + lb guys... (let me tell you the new Civic SI's are fast, but damn 5 ass people didn't help at all!)... cramped up in a civic, fighting for the shot gun position...boy was I lucky to get it on the way there! Back seat was no fun. We finally made it after 30 mins, I kept telling my co-workers that it better be worth the car ride and the bitching later on!! MAN WAS IT WORTH IT! This was definitely the best salted baked chicken I've ever eaten. Moist, savory, and flavorful! The ginger dipping sauce they giving you is to die for! The best i've had any where. Don't come here for the pho or the other rice plates, just come here for the salted baked chicken. You won't regret ordering it. I mean if i can suffer a 5 man car ride in a small ass car, and being bitched at by the boss.. just for this chicken, it definitely is good! Order an Ice coffee to go with your meal as well. They drip it themselves, and it's very strong! Perfect drink to go with your meal! read more

Finally, a new Pho place that open around my work. Now, granted this place is only a few days old so I'll give it time for them to improve on the service and the taste....but I am still excited to have more variety of food in this neighborhood. Their specialty....Pho Ga (chicken pho) and Pho Tai stands out when compared to their 20 or so different types of soup base and noodles. I tried their Bun Bo Hue since I got there late and the ladies were already having their Pho Ga and made me try something else. For their Pho Ga...i'll say it's pretty decent but the broth is a little off, it can use a little bit more seasoning. As for the Bun Bo Hue, their broth was good. Very filling and very meaty. I jokingly complained to the owner that it wasnt spicy enough, owner jokingly told me to add more chili sauce, dipshit. They also have the charbroiled pork with vermicelli and egg rolls that he recommend I try next time I'm there.......yes sir! The typical vietnamese dessert drinks, grass jelly, three star mix and milkshakes make up the rest of the menu. Now I know the owner of this place for quite a while. He was the chef at "the Window" and her sister is running the "little window" pho place off of Noriega. I know in due time the broth will taste just right and things will definitely taste great......tastes good now...but will taste great soon. Will most definitely come back here and try their other dishes. Service was not up to par yet.....most of the waitresses have A.D.D. and are lost most of the time. Kinda funny to get the bill when we are in the middle of our meal =) You can really tell the workers there are inexperience with the vietnamese noodle house atmosphere. *edit* - 9/24/07 - Ah...this is more like it! In less than 2 weeks they have definitely turn the place around. Service is superbly better and the food tastes good. Had their Crab Meat in Tomato soup vermicelli and that tasted great. The crabmeat is full of flavor, soft and meaty......nice nice nice. Expect me back here more now. read more

This place is the best pho place on San Bruno Ave!! it got great rice plates that gives you lots of meat and their pho is OK. I've tried their chicken pho, seafood pho, and beef pho, their beef pho is nasty so if you had it here, then you wouldn't like this place at all. On the other hand, their chicken pho and seafood were pretty OK. give it a try if you ever swing by. The best thing here is their rice plates, that is the reason i come to this joint, their rice plates!!! its really good compare to it's competitors:Cali-pho-nia and Yummy Bowl. Also the place is really clean, but the services is ehh. read more

My family and I have been coming here for years. They serve Northern style Pho--wider noodles, slightly less sweet broth, and fewer herbs. The place is usually busy, but the service is friendly, quick, and efficient. The Pho Gau (chicken noodle soup) the the main reason we come back. It is one of the best in the West Coast, it is the real deal. The chicken is cooked perfectly, with little pieces of bone, fat, and skin still on it. I recommend tasting the both before adding any sauces to it. Sometimes it is a little saltier, so you may need to call an audible on your sauce selections. Well worth a visit. read more

Wow, their chicken intestine noodle reminds me of turtle tower's. The broth was flavorful and the rice noodle tasted fresh. They do not offer bean sprouts or basil. Only lime and Jalapeno. Which was okay with me. I guess it's more northern Vietnamese style pho. The waiter was nice and patience since our friend was not here before us. And the service was quick. One star off because my friend found 2 fruit flies drowned inside the fish sauce bottle. My friend didn't make a fuss over it but request the lady to replace it. She apologized, took it away... but never gave her another fish sauce bottle, i ended up walking across the table to grab that bottle for her to use. Overall, good noodles for a inexpensive price. Be aware of parking around noon time when everyone is out for lunch. I had to drive in a few blocks for residential parking. read more

Favorite wide noodle soup in the city. Better than turtle tower and menu is much more diverse. I wish they have the garlic oil sauce, but the fermented garlic chili sauce is just fine to go with soup because of the quality. Cash only, the margins must be tiny for them because the food is so quality. Service is what you expect from most place. Quick, quiet, call if need something else. Clean environment, interesting foreign feel because of hay hut at register. Definitely a regular! read more

Dont ever eat here. Should change its name from Pho to Phat, order of curry beef stew was disgusting to the point I had them take it back before even eating any (which didnt keep them from charging full price for it). There was no meat. Zero meat, I dont know what was going on in the kitchen that day but they gave us complete fat and gristle. The service was very rude, Pho was thin and mediocre and they serve hot tea in plastic cups which makes me worry about the release of BPA's (which cause cancer). One of the few times in my life I don't tip, but there we go. STAY AWAY (if anything, for the crappy J-Pop they play non stop). read more

Pho #1 is an okay place to get a bowl of Pho but it probably would not be my first choice. Coming from the South Bay, I've been to my fair share of pho joints and I can say that deviation of the broth flavor should be pretty small across all good pho places. That being said, the broth at Pho #1 is non-standard. It's not what you have come to love and expect from a quality bowl of pho and that is its downfall. That and the fact that they did not bother to cut their spring rolls so we just ended up getting two super long rolls. That in itself is not a big issue but on top of the decidedly off-target broth, it's evident that Pho #1 is sort of a love it or hate it kind of place. You either love their taste and what they have or, like me, you go to a pho place for a very specific flavor profile supported by the countless pho restaurants in San Jose. Pho #1 is outside that profile by a significant margin. The search for SF Pho continues. read more

Don't come here! They do not prepare food properly and service here sucks! They serve me and my younger brother frozen meatballs in our pho combination...Seriously WTF! They didn't even apologize for it and just went off and microwave the meatballs and dumped it back to us in a bowl.. Really WTH! After this experience I will never recommend or even come back! read more

This place would've got 4 stars but at the end we got grossed out. I ordered the chicken noodle soup and intestines it was good. Friends ordered the beef pho it looked gude. they also ordered imperial rolls, it came at the end started eating it. then my friend sees red dots on the lettuce, freaken red bugs NASTY !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! read more

The food may be OK for San Bruno Avenue, which isn't saying a lot. But, I draw the line at disgusting kitchens and food preparers. I'm sitting there about the get my food, but wondering why it smells like an ashtray inside, then realize some guy is right outside the door smoking. He turns, flings the cigarette into the street (charming, as he had been leaning against a trash can) and I see the apron. Yep - walks right back into the kitchen, and gets back to work. I know this street well enough that I wanted to confirm, and followed him back back far enough to see -- sure enough, right back at the counter, handling dishes and food. I told the waiter what I thought, and he clearly saw this as perfectly acceptable. Never again. read more

Pho #1 is a fairly good place. Chicken pho is fairly good. It definitely hits the spot for when the cravings come along and getting to your favorite spot isn't an option. It's fairly priced and it tastes good. My critiques would include: 1. msg soup base (but i don't care too much because what place isn't going to add some of that, just letting you know if you're sensitive and used to the good home made stuff) 2. very little chicken :( i order a large take out and only received five pieces of chicken for my entire bowl. definitely a skimpy amount. that's about all the complaint that i have. i wouldn't necessarily recommend this place but i would go on my own if it was something that i really wanted and had to stay close by. Also, a note on the beef pho. it's traditionally served with rice stick noodles that have a slightly tougher texture. The only noodle that they offer is the flat noodles. Personal preference, i enjoy the rice stick with beef pho. read more

3.5 stars but I'll round up for having bean sprouts and hoisin sauce. The bf and I were hungry tigers after a morning of classes and went to san bruno street to find some noodle soup. I've been craving chicken pho for SOOO long now, and have been disappointed by everything I tried so far. But I am not one to give up that easily. I have faith that there is at least 1 place in the city with a decent bowl of pho ga or at least a place that meets all my demands. And Pho #1 did. The place serves chicken pho the same way as turtle tower (Northern vietnamese style, with the fat (wide) noodles). The soup is not as good as turtle tower, but definitely still good. They serve bean sprouts and hoisin sauce here, unlike turtle tower, so my bf and I can finally compromise and he agrees that he'll come here again. BTW if you want all the veggies that usually come with "pho" you need to ask them, other wise they only bring you lime and jalapenos. The bowls are really big here, the price is acceptable for the amount of food and the taste. The place seems really clean and it wasn't very busy, so service was good and fast. read more

This place isn't for you if you only like the thin rice noodles. They seem to only have flat noodles in their noodle soups. On the other hand, their rice plates are great. I had the seafood pho the other day and it was WAY better than the beef pho. I don't like the soup in the beef pho because I think they put too much msg in it. I would avoid the beef pho if I were you. The portions are pretty big and taste doesn't get boring, unless if you hated your order. The service was like any other. The interior was nice. The lighting was good. Wouldn't mind coming here again once in a long while, since it's in a nice location. read more

I always come here for pho and I like their pho, but sadly they have the most disappointing service.Waitress are never nice and they are impatient. read more

The pork dish we had was good. The pho wasn't great. The broth was too sweet and the noodles were over cooked and not the right type of noodles. The staff was pleasant and attentive. read more

although we don't live fairly close by, my dad just had to drive about 20-30 miles to get to this pho place, because according to him its the best one around the bay right now. this place is decent. the service is good, big open space, not too many people, but good for big groups unlike most pho places i've been to. you might have to wait a bit to be seated because there is like only two people running the front and sometimes they are busy to notice you standing by the door the food is delicious! the soup had a good rich flavor that is not too strong but not watered down either. amount of noodles a really generous for the price we pay (which is really cheap) and a good amount of meat as well totally would come back if i live any closer, especially around this time of the year when all you want is soup and noodles. read more

This place is alright.... The food is ok. The service is soso. I wish they better place with good pho place and opens late in this area. Hope they change togo soup cup. Stop useing paper soup cup. read more

I always crave Chicken Pho (Pho Ga) upon returning to SF. After all, home is where the Pho is! I usually go to Turtle Tower, but tried local Pho #1. I wasn't disappointed: Good broth. Shredded chicken (a bit of skin) with red onion. Good portions (their bowls are deceivingly deep). Wide noodles. Hit the spot. But sadly no veggies, just lime & green chilies. The Bun Rieu looked good and I was happy to see that another homey favorite, Bun Thang (#9), was on the menu. Be prepared to order in Chinese or English, I tried ordering a "Pho Ga" when the waitress shut me down saying she didn't understand Vietnamese...which confused me cause 1) I don't either?! and 2) it's called PHO #1! But that doesn't stop me from coming back for more!! read more

The Bun Rieu here is spot on. Tastes very homemade and it's as authentic as it gets. The service here is really good and I love how they use the slightly thinner and wider noodles for their regular pho dishes. The atmosphere isn't average, it can get hot but they always have fans running. One issue however is that no modifications can be made to your dish so if you want to skip the green onions or cilantro, it can't be done. Ive had no issue with that, but for those that have preferences with that I wouldnt recommend this place. For all the pho lovers however, this place is really great and since I do live in the area I'm glad I don't have to commute too far just to get a nice bowl of noodle soup. read more

Service is average. Cleanliness is average. Can't expect much from restaurants on San Bruno Ave. This place is WAY better than CaliPHOnia a couple blocks down. Came with the bf 30 minutes before closing. The place was fairly empty on a Friday night. After reading some yelp reviews, we decided to go with the Pho Ga. Of course the broth is nothing compared to Turtle Tower, but it's decent. They aren't too generous with the chicken meat here! CASH ONLY. They made it clear right after we ordered. Ill probably be back on the days I'm too lazy to drive out to Sunset or Richmond to get my pho fix. read more

The boyfriend wasn't a fan... But I sure was. The chicken pho was delicious. The flavor was spot on. The noodles aren't the normal thin strand of pho that you would get but more of the hu tieu type. It's a bit thicker than pho but thinner than hu tieu. They give you more than you need in noodles. I wish they would actually give you more broth. But the ingredients were fresh. This is a place I would definitely go to if I were sick and needed some good chicken broth. Specially since there is no Sweet Tomatoes in San Bruno. read more

The food here is very tasty! My sister was driving us to our dance class at the Metronome and she got lost (again) so we decided to pull over and get dinner first. I didn't have any expectations since there were only 2 other pple when we sat down to order. Pay $6.95 for the large pho and they bring you a bowl that's about the size of a small sink. I honestly think that this was the biggest bowl of pho I've ever eaten. I didn't know that there were different styles of pho (silly, uneducated me) and after some research, I now know that this restaurant serves a more Northern style of pho. This is an interesting article about the history of pho, for those interested. http://www.wright.edu/~tran.dung/pho.htm I got really curious and excited when I saw snail noodle soup on the menu so I ordered it while my sister satisfied her craving for chicken pho. My snail soup came in a tomato broth, had veggies and was surprisingly un-fishy. I never know what I'm gonna get when I randomly order things on a menu in a place that I've never been but I was pretty happy with what I got. Both soups had a flavorful broth and didn't simply taste like msg water. The table next to us got a really interesting appetizer dish of sliced meats, lettuce and spring rolls that we're gonna try next time. The only complaint I have is that the restaurant was freeeeeeezing; it was colder inside than it was out! I guess it doesn't matter once you get your soup but it would've been nice to be able to take my jacket off while I ate... read more

Great place to grab a bowl of something nice in San Bruno street. This place was one of my first experience with a large bowl of noodle soup for myself , so revisiting this place always brings back memories. Just a warning for everyone who's had traditional pho around San Francisco, they use wide noodles for their noodle soup rather than thin rice noodles. This bugged me a bit because they aren't chewy as I would like and doesn't carry much soup in between strands. The rice plates are great here. My favorite is the grilled pork chop. Just the right amount of spices and not to salty. The imperial roll I had last time I came here was dry, strangely. Perhaps they were sitting under a heat lamp too long. Overall, decent place to grab lunch to go or sit down. read more

Pho of the most unappetizing, non-delicious variety. I don't know where Jenny L saw "vegetarian pho" on the menu. When we asked the server, she clearly indicated that not one thing on the menu was vegetarian nor even remotely so. We asked if they could maybe just serve some vegetables and rice for our vegetarian friend, which she refused to do. Finally, she attempted to describe what kind of vegetables they had, but, unable to express it in English, she disappeared and returned with bok choy in hand. Fine, we said, she'll have the bok choy. My meat eating friends and i all ordered the bbq pho with beef and pork. The meat was beyond inedible. It was almost completely fat, some of it unidentifiable organs (which alone I would have chalked up to cultural discrepancies). My beef had an iridescent green shade...I decided not to eat any more of it lest it be rancid. We fished white pig's feet from the soups, with the bumpy hair follicles still clearly evident. I should have ordered the bok choy. I will not be back. read more

A clear indication of something being nasty and dirty in a restaurant are bugs on lettuce. Not only that, the top of the lettuce looked clean, but I usually flip it over and fold it in half to stuff into my mouth. I saw about 5 bugs crawling on the back of the leaf. I didn't want to make a scene since the company I was with are more, quiet about things like that. TBH, if it were my choice, I would've walked out right there and not pay for my bowl of pho. I usually come here a couple times a month, not no more! Nasty Nasty, I hope the health department catches on. read more

If it weren't for my intense craving for Tu Lan now that they've reopened, I would not have given this place another shot! Boo for PHO!!! The place didn't close for another 30 minutes and I was only allowed to order from the soup section of the menu. So, I was escorted out the door what I thought would be good pho for this foggy night and I was hungry! To my dismay, I get home to nothing but mushy noodles and scorching broth! Broth that was as oily and bland as the personality of the hostess that took my order. There were no sprouts, no basil, no jalapeños no NOTHING!!! Just noodles and broth...extra hot, cooked in hell broth! Maybe you will get better service and product during hours they aren't sitting around ready to close for the night...my bad! read more

Eh. I don't know why I came back. Their vermicelli is not actual vermicelli - it's just thin circular white flour noodles. It's not terrible but it does break more and I don't see why the menu would tell me it's vermicelli when it's not. I had the curry beef stew with vermicelli today and it was okay at first but then there were these pieces of the spices that were in the soup that made it impossible to eat the noodles. It was also super super spicy. Their pho ga is not that impressive as they claim either. It was flat and over salted. The noodles were bland. If anything, the curry beef stew vermicelli was better. Average service quality for San Bruno St. read more