Beantown Pho & Grill

We ordered the pad Thai and the phở tai. Both were fantastic and my wife and I left full, happy, and with leftovers — all for just $ 25!
I also got the hot sweet tea, which is suuuuuchh a nice treat, especially on a cold day.
Come here to warm up and eat some cozy food!

I’ve been struggling to find pad thai in Boston that tastes like the ones in Seattle I grew up eating. After trying it at 7+ different popular restaurants, I had almost given up on my quest for pad thai in Boston.
Then I came in tonight and found the exact pad thai flavor that I was looking for! Meat costs $ 1 (chicken, beef, or shrimp) or $ 2 (crispy chicken) extra but prices are still reasonable. Our thai tea smoothie was also excellent. The décor is really cute and calming and the ladies working there are super nice! This is a great non-​pretentious and affordable place for a meal on Newbury.

Lots of veggie options! They have a vegetable phở that was light and yummy. Exactly what I was in the mood for.
The service was really good. The waitress was so sweet, friendly and attentive.
Prices were reasonable too.
Good place for vegetarians to eat with their omni friends!

+ lunch prices through the weekday
+ all the boba flavors you’d want + things like Durian that are not normally sold
+ fair amount of food for what you pay for
+ good Thai food, meh Viet food
— small place, it’s part of the underground on Newbury
— seats in the center are stools and not comfortable
— no immediate coat hangers for those stool seats — check the back!
Came here on a weekend after an exam for some warmth from the Boston wind that finally decided to roll in. I got pad se yew and others got pad thai with crispy chicken and all were pretty good with strong flavors and the chicken was crisped to perfection. One of us got the phở and honestly, you’re better off at some of the places on Mass ave. or even better in Chinatown. I’d stick with their Thai selection and most of their staff seemed to be Thai as well when I was there. Their egg roll appetizer is basically 3 small egg rolls diced into 6 pieces, looked good, but probably not worth the price for the size unless you’re super feelin’ it that day!
It is however, convenient to get to and does a good fix for Thai food at a pretty good price. The lunch special is especially good, only about $ 7.50 per dish!

Review for the phở and the duck noodle broth.
I consider my self a phở-​natic (get it??? get it??? guys I’m funny right???) so I was really excited to check out Beantown because it was so close to where I work. Definitely ordered the noodle broths. Was sadly kind of disappointed.
The duck noodle soup had the delicious egg noodles that I love. Unfortunately they were not anything special. I felt like I could have brought some egg noodles from C-​mart, some duck broth from Chinatown, and made a better version myself. The broth was unusually sweet, even for duck broth, and I ended up drowning it in Sriracha just to make it edible. The phở came with nicely done noodles but the broth just tasted weirdly off. Portions were kind of paltry for phở, which usually has huge portions, especially for the price. I forget exactly how much it was, but it was more than $ 10 which is way more than what I’m used to paying, especially for subpar phở.
They are garden level but have a cute little patio when the weather is nice, and the service was very good. Their ginger limeade drink was also delicious, which earns them their stars. However, the phở is off and portions are disappointing. Definitely still prefer Le’s in Harvard Square.

Close to Work.
I’ve been there with colleagues for a quick bite.
I wanted to try the Indonesian Fried Rice which is similar to Thai Fried Rice but with chicken which is breaded and then fried. The standout thing about this dish is that it comes with egg on top.
It is also not to pricey about 10.95.
The portion was large.
Will be back to try the other dishes.

This restaurant deserves four stars because it sets expectations from the get-​go and meets them — neither an upscale joint nor a dive, it sits right in the middle, tucked in a brownstone basement next to a jewelry shop and a dentist’s office… super cozy atmosphere. The service was good (our waitress was attentive at all the right moments), and the prices were reasonable (one app plus two entrees came out to about $ 40 with tip).
We split the crab Rangoons as an app, then each had a bowl of piping hot phở (mine included rare eye round steak in perfectly spicy broth). All was delicious — definitely recommend.

I say 3 because I thought that this place was alright. There was a 10 minute wait for 2 but we got seated really quickly. The service was quite slow and it took them awhile before they came over to take our order. We ordered a hot jasmine tea and a limeade. Both drinks were good, how can they go wrong anyways. We then ordered a wonton soup, Indonesian rice and phở bo Kho. Let’s go 1 by 1 and review each order.
1) wonton soup — we thought that this was standard. The soup was kinda bland and the wonton wasn’t that great. Coming from California, I guess it’s not a fair comparison.
2) Indonesian rice — this was not really different from any other fried rice we have had. There is not much to say about this as it was really basic.
3) phở bo kho — this was supposed to be beef stew but the consistency was really soupy. I’m a big soups girl so this was a little disappointing. The beef in there was kind of hard and did not have any taste.
Overall, the food was okay and the waitresses were very nice. Their décor was very cute. We concluded that this was a 3 star as there was nothing really special with the food. It was so so.

Yet again, my friend was in the mood for phở so we decided to go here as it was the closest to my place. This was my first time here but my friend has been several times. I ordered a water with a lemon but they brought me a water with a line. My friend got phở while I got the Tom yum pad Thai. It is hot and sour rice noodle with egg, spicy chili paste, mushrooms, onion, scallion topped with fresh cilantro, tomato and cucumber. I do have to say that the food came out quickly. My pad Thai was alright, hardly had any of the extra stuff. It was mostly string noodles and the sauce was eh. My friend said he has better phở and he did not leave full. I don’t think I’ll come back.

Prior to this I was heading to Phở Basil near Berkeley for my weekly phở cravings; my coworker and I decided to switch it up a bit since this one is fairly closer to us. I’m glad we switched, the phở was fantastic. Traditional broth, homemade chili sauce, homemade hoisin sauce and rare beef sliced to perfection. They know how to separate everything to allow you to build your own soup, but they understand exactly how to cook the rice noodles and allow the beef to sit prior to cooking in the broth. VERY IMPORTANT.
The flavor is fantastic, filling and as traditional as the phở places in California I used to head to. I love how authentic this place is with their food, even the crab rangoons are amazing, very light and crispy, not overrunning with cream cheese (though not necessarily traditional Vietnamese food; great nonetheless.)
All their packaging is well done as well, having phở to go can be a real pain especially with a lack of real utensils or bowls in the office; they offer the cute plastic bowl with resealable caps; fantastic idea, why can’t others catch on with it?! My coworker really enjoyed his fried rice, said it was flavorful and rich in content, nice to see more of everything and less focus on just the rice. Overall great experience, will be making this our usual phở stop now, perfect for cold Boston days, check it out!

My friends and I ordered takeout from here the other night. It was really yummy!
We ordered several items from the menu and all were very good. From the tofu pad Thai to the fried rice I was drooling. The sauces weren’t heavy and didn’t leave me feeling gross like some Asian food does.
Highly recommended for you to try out.

Not gonna lie, I’m a little bit of an anti-​Newbury St. food snob. Mostly because I’ve had most of my best meals far from Newbury, and the majority of my bad ones… right here. Sitting next to tourists with 15 Louis Vuitton bags and 5 layers of cologne. And that’s just the guys.
But alas, my friends and I had a long night working down the street at Cove (check out the nouveau Starbucks alternative when you can), and the symptoms of oncoming hangry were hitting us both pretty hard.
We decided to pop in to Beantown Phở and Grill (strangest name ever. Are you selling phở or barbeque?), and got some kimchi fried rice. I’m not sure why the best kimchi fried rice I’ve had in Boston came from a place that has a menu consisting of mostly Vietnamese and Thai cuisine, but I’m not gonna question it. That dish was GOOD.
And I didn’t even have to trip over a Louis Vuitton bag and land on a guy who smelled like bad cologne. #WINNING

There are several Thai restaurants in the Newbury/​Boylston Street area. And with many of these spots in the three to four star range, I chose Beantown Phở & Grill because it was closest to my hotel.
The restaurant is located on the ground floor of one of Newbury Street’s many brownstone storefronts. Dining on my own, I sat at the window. I was quickly waited on and immediately ordered a Thai iced tea. While heavy, I really loved this drink. It was hard to keep from guzzling it before my meal came, but I won that battle. As an entrée, I ordered the Tom Yum Fried Rice. In addition to a sizable portion of rice, the dish was served with onions, cucumbers, mushrooms, scallions, and a cilantro garnish. I opted to accompany my dish with beef, rather than chicken, shrimp, or tofu (all are options for any of the dishes here). Overall, I thought the meal was pretty good. I certainly left feeling full, but didn’t think that it was all that special. The dish had a nice spicy kick to it, which I enhanced with the Siracha served at the table. The presence of cilantro was quite nice, adding a nice contrast to the heat. The beef was a bit overcooked and some pieces were fairly tough. Judging by what others in the restaurant ordered (and, as suggested by the name), Phở is the major draw here. If I return, I’ll probably give it a try.
All in all, this was a totally fine place to have a meal. The service was very good and the food came out fast. Despite a couple of flaws, my meal at Beantown Phở & Grill got the job done.

I picked up some Phở to take home on a weeknight, when neither my wife nor I were up to the task of making dinner. I’ve had some bad take-​out phở experiences, and some *alright* take-​out phở experiences, but I can honestly say I’ve never had a *good* take out phở experience until Beantown.
As per usual, the meat and noodles are given to you in separate containers from the hot broth, but Beantown got several small details exactly right: the noodles and meat were in nice plastic containers that are easy to use as bowls, and they packaged the meal to keep the broth hot, while keeping the fresh roll (rice-​paper wrapper, lettuce, vermicelli, and shrimp) separate and insulated from the hot broth. The broth was still steaming after my 35-​minute train-​ride-​and-​walk home, and the rolls were still cool.
The raves about the phở are spot on. I’m looking forward to being able to eat in the restaurant and get the whole experience.

Solid chicken phở made just how you like it. I would not go as far to say that it is authentic, however, it is tasty and I like the approach of providing a generous portion of shredded chicken.
The veggie triangles or samosas are great. While very small each triangle, it’s a good portion for two people, or for just one «I am very hungry and need a Snickers but something way better than that» person.
I am not a fan of bubble tea but they have an assortment of those and their Thai iced tea is made well (not too much sugar/​cream/​sweetened condensed milk added to the tea).
Coconut Tom Yum Soup is available in a large portion and it is really, really good. That hot and sour soup with coconut milk just does it for me.
p. s. The next Caucasian that tells me that ‘phở’ is really pronounced ‘fuh’ is going to get an earful.

Ordered delivery and the wait took an hour.
Tom yum coconut soup with shrimp– tasty soup with good flavors but there were only 1 shrimp.
Chicken basil fried rice– it was too greasy for me and not much chicken.

This place could do better if they had air conditioning inside. Perhaps it was broken? Trying to be fair. We sat outside just for any breeze. We did get a breeze from some random guy who decided to sit at the stoop next to the outdoor seating and smoke. He would ever so often flick his ashes. Grrrrrrr. The waiter did and said nothing to the guy.
Onto the food. I had a delicious red curry with steamed tofu (my request) with very nice crisp vegetables. The bowl of rice was great with the sauce. It was so delicious, at the end, I requested for a spoon and ate everything up. My husband’s grilled chicken with rice didn’t fare as well. It was just ok. They gave him big iceberg lettuce leaves but everything covered it up so he thought it was just a salad. Their sweet sauce tasted like plain duck sauce. He decided to take the hoisin and mix it up with the siracha just to have a little heat. I tried it and felt bad so I offered him half of mine. Luckily he only ate a quarter of it leaving me most of it. Bella’s happy=happy me.

My favorite part of Beantown Phở is the atmosphere and the thai tea of course.
Their drunken noodles are in chili basil sauce but it was definitely worth trying. I’m honestly craving them again. Next time I’ll definitely tell them to make it spicy though and the portions weren’t too small.
Thai tea is a definite. Not just because they’re in cute mason jars/​mugs, but because it’s actually really yummy!
P. S. outdoor dining and indoor! The place is pretty big and the waitress we had was especially really nice.

Came here for a family dinner and enjoyed every minute of it! It was actually a very special laid back dinner. Good ol Unilocal helped me select this place and we were extremely happy we dined here! The menu is a mix of a Thai, Vietnamese, Chinese, a bit of everything. Our meal was outdoors on the patio as it was a humid summer evening but we wanted to eat and enjoy outside on a nice summer evening. We came here for Thai food and it was awesome. The meal was what you expect from Thai food. Spicy in flavour with some sweet, creamy and salty. Overall exceptional.
Items ordered:
Thai Iced tea– creamy and with lots of ice. The perfect accompagniant to a spicy meal.
Fresh spring rolls– crisp lettuce, fresh and delicious as an app.
Spicy calamari– tender crispy calamari with chopped jalapeño and fried peppers and onion with some chilli seasoning. Outstanding.
Chicken curry– creamy orange in colour. sweet and exactly how we enjoy it with beans, broccoli and carrots and thinly sliced chicken
Beef drunken noodles– probably the slightest dissapoinment dish as not as sweet and spicy as preferred. But still fragrant and tasty.
Pad Thai w crispy chicken. — chicken seasoned very light but crispy and delicious.
Service was attentive and pleasant. A good choice if you are staying in the area. Definitely would return again!

I have been here twice, but maybe I will drop by there again.
Located both downstairs and on a terrace, this restaurant offers both Thai and Vietnamese food. I sat on both down inside and outside sitting, and in both places service was good and fast. Downstairs the rest
Thai iced tea is a perfect option for summer as it’s very refreshing and good. They have spicy food, so take a look into the menu and look for the spicy dishes. The menu has both lunch and dinner pricing, so if you want to save some bucks you should come on lunch time.
I tried Tom Yum Pad Thai and chicken Panang Curry, both were awesome, tasty and spicy. Also the crunchy rolls and the banana dessert were really good and worth to try. The staff is really paying attention to every customer, refilling their glasses or asking if something is missing or wrong.
I haven’t tried Phở dishes, so maybe next time I will give them a try.