Pho Lily

The food here is amazing. I’d have to say this place has the best Beef Stew and the Phở in VietTown!!! This place is legit. Highly recommended.

This was easily one of the worst experiences of my entire life. After a nice afternoon out on the town me and my girlfriend decided to give this place a try. We entered to no service and sat ourselves. After waiting for ten minutes for water we were finally approached. I ordered the wings. They smelled like pussy.

Best bowl of phở I’ve had in Chicago! Being Vietnamese from Houston, I’m definitely a phở snob. I’ve pretty much hated everything I’ve tried so far, but it was surprisingly very good here! The broth was a little light for my preference (I prefer a rich beef taste), but overall still good. The noodles and greens were fresh.
I also tried to the nem nuong cuon — eh. Traditionally it should be served with a fried egg roll wrapper inside of it and served with a creamy shrimp sauce. It had neither of these things. I’ve been really let down by the Vietnamese food in Chicago, so based on this I’m really discouraged to try the rest of their food.
All in all, would come back for the phở.

Love the food, the prices are super-​affordable, I like that they have outside seating (and it’s byob). I get cravings for the lemon grass chicken!

My boyfriend and my go-​to spot for Vietnamese — it’s especially convenient since he lives just down the street and I’m always craving phở. Or bun bo hue. Or banh mi. But mostly noodles in broth, delicious delicious noodles broth — they heal you when you are hungover, sick, hangry, tired, or just in need for some good soul lovin’. I know there are quite a few Vietnamese restaurants that are clustered along this strip of Broadway, but I really like the broth at Phở Lily — and the fact that we can always get a table right when we go in. The restaurant is a little better maintained in my opinion compared to some other places in the area, and the waiters are pretty efficient if not especially chatty. My favorites are the phở with meatballs, the nem nuong cuon (essentially spring rolls with a delectable pork patty strip), the Vietnamese-​style pork roll banh mi, and the bun bo hue (thick rice noodles with beef, ham hock, tendon, pork patties in a spicy lemongrass broth). PRO TIP — ask for the chili OIL (as opposed to the sriracha that’s sitting at the table) — they bring out a thick chili paste oil fragrant with garlic and umami — SO GOOD. Also BYOB so feel free to bring some dranks to enjoy with your delicious meal.

Friendly and prompt service, to go orders always packed neatly and phở is always amazing (dining in & take out). Clean/​clear and flavorful broth.
Restaurant itself is more modern looking. Brightly colorful and clean. Tables are spaced far enough from the next one. Which is very important when you want to savor every spoonful!
Appetizers are great but their phở is so good I usually wait for it with no appetizers so I don’t ruin my appetite. You get all the traditional FRESH garnishes/​veggies to add to your phở. You know the phở broth is perfect when you don’t even have to add any sauces to it!
They also have offered to help me to my car when I order a super large take out order. I eat here at least once every 2 weeks. Now that we are in Fall weather and winter is approaching it’ll be once week. For the price they give me a lot of broth, noodles and fresh veggies. Great bang for your buck!

This is a delicious VN place whether grocery shopping in uptown or quenching your VN cravings. I felt like I wanted to lived dangerous last time I went and asked the waiter to bring me his favorite. It was a tofu rice dish with lots of spice. Something like #95 on the menu. It was really good. They also had large glasses of water, which is always appreciate by a guzzler like myself.

After reading all the great reviews about this place, I decided to try it out — as I am always looking for another great Phở Restaurant in the area. That said; I went here for lunch on a Friday afternoon and the restaurant had about 3 tables with customers eating. As previously stated by other reviewers, the atmosphere here was definitely more relaxed than Phở Tank.
On to the food, the menu selection was good with your typical choices of Phở, Noodles and Rice dishes. So I got my favorite Beef Phở Special to see how they compared to my favorite place (Phở Tank). The size of the bowl, the amount of noodles and meat was similar to Phở Tank. However, the broth was a little on the «sweeter» side than most phở places. Therefore, I would rank this place as a «close second» to Phở Tank, but not quite the best.
Overall, I would recommend this place to anyone who is looking for a good phở restaurant without the hassle of having to wait for a table. The atmosphere here (as stated above) is definitely more relaxing, and the food quality is good, so come by and check them when you are in the area.

My first phở experience and I’d call it a success. This place is BYOB, so we brought some beers and took the L down, which was extremely convenient. We split a bahn mi and #39 phở… both were great. The flavors were unexpected and so out of my league, but I loved it.
However, our waiter was a little spacey. At times, he was flirting with a woman at the bar instead of taking our order. And my boyfriend and I both agreed that he seemed a little drunk? It took him a very long time to take our orders and wasn’t great at checking back with us. But the food and company lowered my stress levels and made it worthwhile.

One rule that I see followed with restaurants is that the places just off the beaten path tend to be excellent. They need to be better than the rest to draw people out a little. Ph Lily is a little off Argyle, and is definitely good eats.
Great vegetarian/​vegan selections. I know people look for vegan ph, and they have it here as well as many other tasty things. Everyone including the picky preschooler liked what they got.
Service is helpful and friendly.
No changing tables in the restrooms, but they do have highchairs.

Love this place. Phở Lily and another VN restaurant in Uptown are our two go-​to places when we’re in the area. I often order the Phở Dac Biet and it comes out great each time. Very tasty soup, perfectly cooked noodles and a great assortment of meats. The hubby enjoys their banh xeo (pancake) and we’ve also ordered the buon thit nuong.
Service is always fast and efficient. Food doesn’t take long to come out and, more importantly, it’s always consistent.

Vietnamese food at a whole other level of awesomeness! A group of us came here on a rainy day, perfect setting for Vietnamese food if you ask me. The appetizers and entrees were superb, I can still literally taste the flavor in my mouth just thinking about it. Two of my favorite dishes that I tried were the Black and Pepper Salt Shrimp and the Shrimp Fried Rice. To be perfectly honest this is probably the best Shrimp Fried Rice and Pepper Salt Shrimp I have ever had. The Shrimp Fried Rice was light, fresh with savory vegetables and shrimp. Typically in my experience the fried shrimp can tend to be on the greasy side, this was not the case here at all. The Pepper Salt Shrimp were huge and simply melted in your mouth with random bursts of flavors is the best way I can describe it.
The B.B.Q short ribs were also seasoned to perfection, and the Phở was Phenomenally Pholicious. I even had enough for later, which pretty much hit my spot for my late night craving. The ambiance was nice and relaxing. We also did not have to wait long for our food. Oh my and how can I forget the chicken wings that were marinated to perfection. Pretty much every dish here is marinated to perfection.
The palette of food offered here is insanely delightful. If you are looking for your Vietnamese fix, then this should be designated on your hit list. Vietnamese pretty please with a cherry on top!

Pretty good spot to get your phở fix! Staff is really friendly and welcoming. Food is fantastic. I’ve been here a couple of times and won’t stop coming here.

Tank noodle is typically my go to but there was a wait so we ventured down to Phở Lily. Got seated right away at the bar. We got the spring rolls and of course Phở. The spring rolls were up to par. The Phở was real good as well! My gf said the broth is a little sweeter than Tank’s…I thought they both taste similar. Her palette is better than mine though so sure I’ll take her word for it. Honestly you can’t go wrong with Phở Lily or Tank. Phở Lily is less crowded and less hectic so I’d recommend if you want to be in a calmer environment. But if you want to be «seen» and like the people watching go to Tank.
BYOB btw.

I’m so happy to find a place with awesome Vietnamese food other than Tank. Came here on a whim because Tank was closed. Came here twice in a week with my bf.
Food:
Phở Tai: Broth had a nice beefy sweetness. Not as huge of portion as Tank, but it was a great bowl of phở. I do wish they add cilantro though.
#4 Pork Spring Rolls: Absolutely delicious. The pork is more of sausage patties? It was warm and I loved it. Never had anything like it before. Rice wrapper was nice and thin and not crazy chewy.
Canh Bun: First time eating this and won’t be my last! I like my noodle soups piping hot. The broth had a lot of crab flavor and tasted like it had shrimp paste to me. A little funky which I like. I love the round rice noodles. So good.
Meatball Banh mi: Came in a bowl with 3 meatballs in a broth and baguette on side. Although it was delicious, I wouldn’t order it again. Just 3 meatballs wasn’t enough. The bread was fresh as hell though. Balls were nice and juicy.
Fried spring rolls with pork and taro: Crispy and delicious. Loved the filling.
Service:
Even though it was packed, we got our food quickly and the servers were nice.

Phở Lily located on Chicago’s North side is bomb! Had the Phở Ga and it was spot on. Great size portion for the price. I think this was a perfect bite for the bitter cold Chicago nights. Also enjoyed the Crab Ragoon and Egg rolls. Everything was fresh and made to order.
My only qualm with Lily was they may be refilling the Siracha bottles with water. My Siracha was a bit more runny than normal. All other Phở ingredients were brought out fresh.
Overall, good food. Good prices.
Enjoy.

Marinated Pork Spring Rolls at Phở Lily are amazing! When I think of Pork Spring Rolls, the salamli-​like pork pâté slices come to mind, and personally, they’ve always been a turn-​off. However, trying the marinated pork in L.A. was a game-​changer. As far as I know, this isn’t on a lot of menus in Chicago so it gives Phở Lily an edge.
The phở broth is very light, clean and sweet tasting. It may be the sweetest broth I’ve had. Although my preference is for more savory, this didn’t stop me from slurping up all the soup! All the ingredients including the round steak were all extremely fresh and tasty. There were good portions of noodles and meat. The table next to us were celebrating a birthday and brought their own wine. Phở Lily is an upgrade from the typical hole in the wall Vietnamese restaurant, but food and prices are just as great.

I’m sure it’s fine if you like this kind of food.
I found it to be gamey and bland. I also don’t like eating questionable animal body parts unless they’ve have the shit fried out of them. There’s just something off putting about bovine intestinal lining floating in your bowl of noodles and broth. Maybe I got the wrong thing?

It was raining on a random summer night. On the way back to the hotel, not sure what I wanted for dinner, so decided to give this Phở place a try. This was the only phở place in the area that close after 9:30. I got a bowl of Phở and bitter melon with beef. The phở has tons of noodles in it that I could barely finish. The flavor is good, but not does not hit the phở spot that I’m expecting. The bitter melon is cooked just perfect with sweet marinated beef. The sweet flavor complements the bitterness really well.
The service was friendly and the environment is clean. However, there was no AC inside, so it was extremely hot. My sweat drips down my back as I slurp away with the noodles.
Tip: Wear t-​shirts.

Excellent value for $$. Menu is priced for single serving (plentiful of less than $ 8) and a different pricing for shareable dishes.
Phở Dac Biet — gotta try the phở in Phở Lily. The best option. Broth taste clean but a little sweet. Lemon instead of lime. Good portion.
Xi Muoi (Preserved Plum Drink) — overpriced for $ 3. Sweet and salty drink. Unusual.
A star less because 3 fruit flies were having a joy ride at dining area.