Kirkland Pho House

$ 7 for a below-​than-​average banh mi? No thank you. They’re also failed to explain to me the price changes and $.50 fees with credit cards too, so I walked out feeling like an idiot gotta pay 25% for «tax»

I’ve been here before without issue. It’s never been my favorite but my boyfriend likes it. Today’s experience was not their best effort. I ordered take out for my sick boyfriend and daughter. Two large Phở Ga (chicken phở), Goi Coun (spring rolls) & Bahn Bao (steamed bun with pork filling & egg). The wait was about 15 – 20 minutes. The cashier was friendly enough. But, the owner or manager was on her headphones talking very loudly or was talking to the staff very loudly while I waited, with a customer at the next table. The cook came out at one point before my order was given to me and I could hear him say, was that supposed to be spicy? She said no & shrugged. A few moments later I received my to go order. This was where I started worrying but off I went with my order.
The soup was not very hot, at all. I was only 3 minutes away, so I am guessing that got served up first while everything else was being made. Two large orders of phở easily filled the three of us but it was not that good. They did not give any Sriracha though, so perhaps that could have resolved the lack of flavor. The 2 spring rolls were made with very thick noodles & wrapped in saran wrap. After eating the first one, I noticed that there was a long black hair wrapped inside the saran wrap on the second spring roll. Besides the fact that my daughter and I didn’t like the first one, after seeing the hair, we were definitely not eating the second one. Also, the peanut sauce was terrible. I think a great peanut sauce could have made the one I ate much better, if drenched. The Bahn Bao was just ok. It was not whole. It was cut, although not completely through in 4 segments. I’m not sure what that was for except perhaps the restaurant wanted me to eat it that way. Since it was not cut clean through though, the meat and egg were only split between two of the four pieces. For $ 30, there’s way too many other options to try this one again despite being the closest in proximity to home.

This is what I’ve been waiting for! I’ve been searching and searching and searching for decent phở on the north and east side without a lot of luck. But I am happy to report that Kirkland Phở has met my expectations! Faith restored!
Kirkland Phở House is in a small strip center with about 10 – 15 tables. It is exactly what I look for in a phở spot: a small, family-​run place with great food.
The produce and protein were very fresh. I was also happy that the noodles weren’t complete mush which is one of my pet peeves at a lot of phở places; IMO, they should still have a tiny bite to them.
The broth is probably the biggest selling point. It is obviously being made from scratch stock, and it has just the right amount of fat in it where it’s not either wading in oil (where it separates halfway through your meal… gross) or completely without flavor.
We also had the fresh spring rolls. They were not the best I’ve had, but I’d rate them at at three stars on their own.
The only complaint I have is the chopsticks are pretty weak and cheap disposables. This is so not a deal breaker, but I appreciate a good chopstick. Maybe I’ll be a huge dork and take my own the next time.

I have been here twice now, and the phở is really good with very flavorful broth. I also tried the bahn mi, and it was quite delicious. This will definitely be my go to phở location from now on.

Hands down, best Phở around. If you are a fan of chicken wings, their day-​long marinated sweet and crunchy wings are amazing. Enjoyed best with an ice cold Thai tea and you have a great meal on your plate.
The family staff here cares about their customers with welcome arms and serves delicious meals with a friendly smile and convo.

Love this place for my fried rice, and grilled short ribs. The servers are really nice, and food come out fast. During the raining days, they are a little busier but definitely worth the wait.

This place is definitely good for a fiery fix. Love the spices they use to mix and the service is always top notch and they are quick to get you anything. Decent low end price place and good for lunch!

Love this place! Spring rolls are okay, but the raw beef phở was great! Service was okay

I love this restaurant, But today on 10÷18÷15 a couple of friends and I went in there and orders our food. One of my friends ordered a large and they received a small. We told him we don’t want to get charged for a large because he got a small. He apologized and said that «she» the other female server that was working that night made the order wrong. Even though he was the one who took our order. Then later he started talking shit about us saying we are
Stupid that we didn’t say he wanted a large. When everyone at our table hers him. I asked the girl who that server was and she said Steve Le. It’s was embarrassing, he made us feel scammed and disrespected. I recommend the restaurant 100%, just NOT THAT SERVER. «Steve Le»

The phở is just okay… like normal phos…
The pork rice was good.
The servers are friendly.
So… 5 stars!

Normally, we order from Phở Express in Kirkland, but they were closed so we had to go elsewhere. Ordered a chicken phở, a combo phở, and an order of spring rolls for pickup. Got home and discovered they had forgotten our spring rolls, which is inconvenient but it happens sometimes (when we went back to pick them up, we got 2 of the saddest looking spring rolls I’ve ever seen).
While the phở had a good amount of meat, the broth was some of the most flavorless I have ever had. Disappointing phở. We’ll just stick to the other place from now on — lesson learned.

Pretty standard Americanized Vietnamese food. If your friends make funny faces at authentic Vietnamese places because the food is too «weird», take them here. Everything is toned down enough that it’s fine for normal American palettes.
They have trivial pursuit cards at each table so you’ve got something to do while you wait, which is kinda nice. I’d rather have better food than trivial pursuit questions, though.

I’ve eaten bun here half a dozen times. I like it. Have brought friends in and they say the phở and bun are good — and one friend in particular is an amazing cook who was raised in Vietnam. She wished the bun came with bean sprouts and she asked, in Vietnamese, for a particular kind of chili but she said she’d recommend the restaurant to her siblings.
Just gotta say: DO NOT get bubble tea here. My nephews ordered thai bubble tea. They said the tea was so-​so but a lot of the tapioca was hard. I told the owner, he said the tapioca had been cooked that day and that he likes it a little firm. He brought me 4 pcs to sample. Of course, those pieces just happened to be fairly soft. So I ordered a strawberry tapioca bubble tea as we were leaving. First, I like strawberry powder — not syrup, not fresh fruit. This was syrup and 75% of the tapioca were hard!
If you want a good bubble tea, go to Phở Express, up the road. Their nuoc mam is not as good but bun and spring rolls are very good and their tapioca is an acceptable softness and strawberry bubble tea very good. For the best tapioca and tea, go to Seattle Deli!

I didn’t opt for phở this time, but my husband and stepson had it and their broth was classically & authentically flavored. They offered only small and large bowls, but were ‘just right’ for a hungry tummy.
I ordered grilled pork with a fried egg, rice, and salad. It was cooked perfectly. The salad dressing was complementary to the rest of the favors of the meal.
Our food was served in a timely manner and even though we showed up 10 minutes to closing, we never felt pressured to rush through our dinner.

This is the second time I eat their food. The first time my friend brought me their beef and meatballs phở. It was good, nothing too special but good
Today, my friends and I had beef vermicelli. The portion is big enough to make you full. I cannot eat a lot of food in just one meal, so I ate around half of it.
The beef was ok, not a lot of flavor, just ok. The rest was the usual vermicelli cold noodles with lettuce, onions and carrots.
The restaurant just had us and another table with three people and still the service was very slow. It took a while until we got our food and I saw just one person walking in to pick up her food.
Once again, there is nothing special about this place. Average food and service.

I suspect the ownership has changed here, and things seem a little different. Before, they had the best seafood phở in the area, hands down. Shrimp, fried catfish pieces, fish balls, fried shallots, and a savory, tangy broth. Now I find the phở to be a lot more variable. Many times they don’t have the catfish, so it’s just two shrimp, fish balls, and imitation krab. The broth is sometimes good, sometimes way too dilute. I still come here, hoping it’s a good day, but I’m disappointed with my phở about half of the time. Other dishes, like the rice plates and vermicelli bowls, are pretty good, on par with other Vietnamese places.
Note that there is now an extra charge for credit cards on checks less than $ 10. I believe they even charge it if your meal is less than $ 10 even if total + tip adds up to more. Not a fan of this.

My girlfriend took me here when we first started dating. 5 years later we are still coming back and I’ happy to be engaged to her. It takes about 20 minutes for us to make the drive from downtown, but it’s well worth it.
Ask about their Banh Mi punch card. After the 10^th you get a free one. #Nom

Thank goodness for clean phở places because this is one of them! There’s also a small bar area in the corner and they have a couple tv’s in here where you can watch sports/​shows. The phở broth is definitely on the better side– flavorful and reasonably priced for their portions so you can’t go wrong with that. The banh mis are also good here and the food overall is very fresh.
It does get pretty packed here during lunch and the weekends, so don’t expect their service to be super fast. My boyfriend works nearby so I do order take out often. The last 3 times were kind of disappointing because they either forgot something or messed up on my order even after I made sure with them. The first 2 times I asked for hot sauce and they said it comes with the take out order, but it didn’t. The second time I asked for steamed tofu, not fried and the guy said he would make sure they’ll do that, but they didn’t. They were pretty busy so it was understandable and they did apologize. Just make sure to double check all your orders before you leave!

When I walked in during the Friday lunch rush, I just knew I was in for a frustrating meal. It took a long time for the one waitress to clear an empty booth so we could sit down. And I overheard the waitress say she is the only one working the front as a way of explaining slower service three times before we even sat down. I almost walked out but ended up staying… and being very surprised.
Yes, I had to grab our menus from the front, we didn’t get orders taken immediately and glasses of water arrived a bit later. However, the service was very friendly. It was obvious the waitress was very appreciative of our patience and for our business.
The food was great — the phở is one of the best I’ve had on the Eastside with a rich, clean broth that hit the spot on a cold, rainy day. I also love that they have sate sauce on the table, which is hard to find in this area. We ordered the grilled pork and pickled vegetable spring rolls, and although they were huge and tasted good, I think we’ll stick with our normal shrimp and pork spring rolls. We have also ordered bun (vermicelli dishes) for takeout, and they were very good, as well.

We have a winner here. Well, kind of. Kirkland Phở House is an excellent Vietnamese restaurant located on NE 85^th Street near I-​405 and Costco. As if the location weren’t already good enough, they have some of the best food in town too! I generally dislike throwing around superlatives, but this restaurant has earned the distinction. And most importantly, I now know where to get a really good lunch for a low price near me when I don’t feel like making my own food!
First of all, this restaurant is very dark. Like, so dark that the majority of the lighting comes from the sun shining through the front windows. I’m not sure whether that was intentional, but I don’t see why they wanted to keep the place so dark. I ordered their #11: Bun Dac Biet, their cool house special vermicelli dish because it’s still hot in mid-​September in the Pacific Northwest for some reason.
The restaurant was actually pretty busy on a Tuesday morning with most of the tables occupied. During my short wait, I watched their two HDTVs playing sports and used their bathroom which was nice and clean. The whole restaurant had an interesting feel to it. The owners must be pretty big Halo fans, as I saw posters for the games all over the restaurant walls.
Anyway, the wait was only nine minutes and the bowl was absolutely enormous. It featured egg rolls, three shrimp on a skewer, and grilled pork. Beneath all that were noodles, carrots, peanuts, and a bunch of garnish. Unfortunately, there was no mint flavor which I really like with dishes like these. However, the dish was superb and filled me up for $ 9.95 ($ 10.90 after tax). I would have no complaints if more restaurants were like this.