Pho Bien Restaurant

One of my favorite places in VA. The steamed fish is out of this world. Also love the Bo luc lac «Shakey Beef». And I can’t say enough about the service. From the first time I went there, I felt I was treated like family. One thing however that confused me, they do not serve Phở. Apparently the phrase «Phở Bien» has a separate meaning from Phở, as in soup (the real meaning was explained to me, but I forget now). Get this, when I expressed my confusion to the owners, they responded by making me phở anyway, and did an outstanding job!!!

The food is amazing and very tasty! Their dishes are also not so typical and they constantly have different things on their menu. Some dishes are hot pot, all sorts of hot pots! Grill beef with seafood that you can grill at the table, mango salad with fried fish, and Vietnamese style chicken wings are to die for! Roast quails and Vietnamese style steak is very tender and seasoned perfectly! The management will tell you if you ask.
The service is also excellent and very accommodating. There is Karaōke there so it can get noisy at times but they do have games on their 4 LCDs if you’re a sports fan and want to have AMAZING food while watching a game rather than sitting at a bar somewhere.
The owners are also believe in charity and have helped raised money for various causes! They are very well known and all sort of people frequent there because of the great food and friendly establishment.

Phở Bien is a quan nhau. In Vietnamese that means an establishment that sells beer/​alcohol and foods that go well with libations. The happy hour prices for beer are pretty good. My Heinekens and Corona were $ 2 a bottle. Food was nice. I had Vietnamese salad and hen xuc (clams with sesame rice crackers. Both were fresh and satisfying.
You’ll get very nice waitresses who will actually sit and chat with you (the traditional Saigon quan nhau custom) if you ask nicely in Vietnamese. Their English is limited so they may think you’re ordering a coke if you can’t speak Vietnamese. The management is very nice. They contribute money to various charity efforts and should be commended.