Pho LA

Randomly came across this place after a meeting across the street. This is probably the worst phở I’ve ever tasted in my life. I ordered the chicken phở and the chicken was so freezer burned that it was yellow not white. It was so chewy and not edible. The broth was nasty too. How could they possible be rated A?!
They have cheap lunch specials but you get what you pay for. NEVER again and I suggest you look for another place to eat. You’ve been warned.

Holy Chrissy is this a horror show and a half! the salad (summer rolls?) were all lettuce, some bean sprouts, and poor shrimp — where the vermicelli at?
phở only has 1 size here.
oxtail was the worst oxtail i ever had.
the phở had so much msg that 3 of us had to drink water all night long. wtf! a truly eff my life experience. this place has to be a front! it has to! there’s no way someone is putting their heart into some place so disgusting lol

I wouldn’t call this phở. Very salty broth, and tasted too meaty (?) for phở. However, we did come at 8am on a Sunday morning and the only other people dining there was another hung over group. Like us HAH. We wanted something soothing for our stomachs.
Prices are okay, phở starts at $ 5.95 I believe for the «plain» version. Served with a very small side of bean sprouts and peppers.
At least it’s ²⁴⁄₇.

I think this place is good when drunk, otherwise I would highly recommend to skip it. Spring rolls tasted yuck, who adds garlic chips into their spring rolls? Peanut sauce didn’t even look like it… =(
This is a pass for me, please skip.

Unless I’m horrifically drunk, Phở LA is a phở joint that I’ll never visit again.
The phở broth was way too oily and lacked the pure phở flavor. The beef in the phở was also pretty tough.
Not worth visiting ever.

3 – 4 stars.
The rare steak was very tender so I’m glad I ordered #3. The broth does lack in flavor, but it’s a good size. Loved the egg rolls. Simple picture menu. I would come back here if the line at Boiling Crab is too long again.

One of the first phở restaurants I was introduced to in LA. This is kind of your essential nuts and bolts phở. The broth is pretty good, but not the best. The brisket is actually pretty tender, and not over done. The noodles are not bad.
The café sua da here is basically chocolate milk though, and not even very good chocolate milk, which is a travesty in my opinion.
On the other hand, after 2 am you would be hard pressed to find much else of significant worth in the phở category. Personally, at this point, unless I was seriously craving phở, I would rather go get Gamjatang, Soon Tofu, which are both done to a much higher standard not too far from here.

I happened to run into this place by accident while driving along 6^th St. looking for something to eat. I saw «PHO LA» so I thought I’d give it a try since I was craving phở anyways. The parking lot is relatively big, but with so many cars it was hard to find a good wide spot to park it.
I walked in a little bit after 3 pm and was surprised to find no other customers inside. I liked it though because it meant quicker service and the noise was going to be a minimum. The waitress was polite by saying hello to us while we walked inside. I thought that was a good sign because some places don’t even direct you to a table much less say hello to you.
The menus are in the tables under the glass so it is very convenient. At first, I was like «Why isn’t the waitress bringing us our menus?» However, my sister pointed them out on the table! –_​_​– You can also find the variety of phở bowls on a frame spread around the interior on the wall. This place is several varieties of phở available such as chicken, meatball, oxtail, super bowl (basically had everything on it), and to even plain phở. The price was comparable to that of other phở places with the majority of bowls around $ 7-​$ 8 range. This place also accepts credit cards compared to cash only at some other places.
Our bowls came out super hot! I was sitting there ferociously blowing to cool down the bowl so I could eat. The standard size bowls were generously portioned as the bowls were not wide, but very deep. The broth was very good maybe not the best, but a little fish sauce here and there it was satisfactory. However, the noodles were a bit overdone as they broke when I stirred it. The beef was very tender and the flank was delicious.
This place is also opened 24 hours!
Overall, the service was quick and the phở was good. I’m definitely coming here again. «Yay! I’m a fan.»

After a night of some drinking and clubbing in West Hollywood, we had to look for some grub.
Maybe I shouldn’t blame it on the fact that we stumbled into the Korea side of LA, but wait, what? Korean Phở? I am… so confused.
Our waitress was pleasant, my spring rolls were… spring rolls, I suppose. Vietnamese spring rolls usually have more variety of herbs and rice noodles in them, but they got the simple peanut sauce down. I also had a taste of my friend’s Phở. It’s alright, but not very tasty. Lots of noodles, not much anything else.
And price wise? Sort of not worth it, but I’m just a Vietnamese kid that’s used to places like San Jose or Westminister, so… I’m biased):

being vietnamese i didn’t expect much when coming here knowing that it wasn’t owned by my peoples. lol however, i was thoroughly disappointed in their spring rolls! see my picture and you’ll know why, i actually paid 5 – 7 bucks for a roll of lettuce there were 5 strands of vermicelli in the entire thing. totally not worth it AND i had to pay the d**n valet for parking my car for literally 2 seconds when i ran in to get my order.
NEVER AGAIN

Good when drunk. When sober, try at your own risk.
Gosh, I really miss Golden Deli.

Likes:
— it’s open ²⁴⁄₇
— my table of 9 asked for a LOT of plates of onions, and they delivered without batting an eye
— the #1 combination was solid
— free parking lot
Dislikes:
— it took an undue amount of time for our phở to come out! I am used to my phở coming out within 5 minutes of me ordering, and our phở took 15 – 20 minutes =(
There are 2 reasons for me to eat phở:
1) I have the drunchies
2) I want food in my tummy QUICK so I can go to bed happy.
Phở LA kept me hungry and up for too long =(

oxtail phở.
yea. that’s right.
be sure to ask ahead.
it makes occassional appearances.
i’ve gone like… 5 times.
and ate it once.

Phở LA. ²⁴⁄₇ for the drunkies that are drinking in Ktown. Quick and dirty, fast and cheap. Clean enough and the service is actually good for these parts.
No it is not your westminster phở. No it is not even San Gabriel phở. It is ktown phở, 247 and good for after the night eats.

Whoever put up 3 or more stars are:
Foodie n00bs
Not Vietnamese
Have never had phở
Retarded
Korean
Came here for some Vietnamese coffee and even though they have a huge photo of the Vietnamese coffee filter and what i got was some premade crap that tasted like old premade coffee. If we went to a place that halfway more decent they would know to give us the filter and a cup of ice.
The eggrolls were GREASY and had more skin than filling, Their springrolls had the smallest shrimp.
Not coming back to the place ever. They should call it Korean Phở since it’s not even Vietnamese made.

I love phở and I love this place.
I love that its ²⁴⁄₇.
I love their combination phở (which pretty much all different parts of beef) minus the tripe ew.
I love the spring rolls. Hot right out of the fryer. Delicious sauce to accompany it along with freshly washed lettuce leaves for wrapping.

Wow, there’s a reason why I avoid phở joints in Ktown. This place just reinforces it.
— The broth is completely lacking in flavor
— We ordered their egg rolls (cha gio); the filling tasted like a bland nothing and it was greasy as hell (see photo); and what’s with the sour /​spicy «fish sauce»?
— They have no rice dishes (like a pork chop plate); my buddy ordered the beef fried rice and it was bland and completely unspectacular
Sure, you might say… aren’t you being too harsh on a Vietnamese restaurant in Ktown? This goes on just that simple question… it’s about serving good food. THAT this place isn’t and when scaled against those places in OC, Westminster in particular, this place doesn’t even register.
I cannot understand how any of the other reviewers could give this place 5 stars. Only a French Laundry, Melisse, Providence deserves so many stars. Or hole in the wall joints that are spectacular. If you believe this place is spectacular, wow… I don’t know what to say.

I once made the «outrageous claim to my friends» that this place was the «best Phở place» I’ve ever been to. It’s been about 2 years since I’ve last eaten here, so can this «claim still be valid»?
We all know this place is «the catch net for all K-​Town drinkers», — I’ve seen anything ranging from guys throwing up on the floor to girls fighting to a guy punching the food because he was probably mad the Korean waitress next door didn’t give him her apartment number, to more fat girls blatantly hitting on my friends and I (like when was the last time you can recall hot /​and not /​Korean girls hitting on you from across the room).
Although I will say I’ve never been here sober, the outrageous claim I made years back will still stand until I find another reason to revoke it.
K-​Town Phở rules.
*Watch out for the homeless man next door at 7 – 11, he will try to open the door for you and shit. I never gave him a dime in years! Sucka!

I’ve been to Phở LA so many drunken nights. Nothing is better than PHO after a night of hardcore soju drinking in k-​town. It hits the spot every time.
Friday night was my first sober Phở LA experience. It definitely didn’t taste as good sober but it wasn’t bad either. I ordered the usual. Phở Dac Biet (brisket, tendon and tripe). Phở for me is all about the soup… but the soup wasn’t the best here. (My favorite Phở place is Phở 2000 on Western and 1^st. or theres another one on Vermont and 7^th) Oh~ and they don’t give you basil for some reason.
They have Small and Large, but Small is actually the regular size and Large is just more noodles. If you do go to Phở LA, I suggest you get a Small size phở and if you think you can eat more, you should order spring rolls or summer rolls. They are pretty tasty! But be careful when you bite into the spring rolls… its super hot and the juice inside can burn your mouth! Wrap it up in the lettuce that comes with the dish and it will cool it down a little bit.
Like all other K-​town plazas… parking here sucks!!! You have to valet your car and for some reason this lot is always super full… Try to find street parking if you can. if not, you can valet your car here for $ 2.

I was lured into the restaurant after lurking for two days only to observe an enthusiastic young crowd, a bold but pleasant aroma of slow simmering beef broth in the air, and the idea of Korean phở. Supported by a 12 item menu posted from wall to wall, service was decent but it was difficult to be decisive about my order since their prices were not listed publicly.
The prices were still not made clear to me as the server evasively explained the fifty cent difference between regular and large bowls. I quickly settled for #6, the special combination to give myself a broader impression about Korean phở. Next, arriving with the large bowl of phở packed with a combination of mussel, fish and beef balls, beef, shrimp, and other goodies was a side dish of fresh spouts with jalapenos and lemon, and two separate dishes of minced cilantro and sliced onions.
«What am I going to do with so much cilantro and onions?» I thought to myself, «It’s still early in the day so do I really want to reek onions for the rest of the afternoon?» Contemplating…
After a healthy mix and stir of almost everything thrown together, I took a first dive into my spoon for an introduction. Pretty good! I started to imagine what it would taste like if it came with a side of sesame leafs as substitute for basil. For those who consider themselves purists, I would not recommend for a liberal use of the onions because it inadvertently sweetened the broth and saturated the otherwise rich beef aroma. Besides that, I thought the bowl could come with rare steak as it had been stated on the menu, and the noodles could sit in the broth a little longer to soften.
As a purist myself, I liked the broth as it was rich, flavorful, and well simmered. The use of cilantro was a very good idea for the soup but I didn’t realized how to best utilize the onion slices until I saw people at different tables eating them with siracha and plum sauce as kimchee on the side.
My bill came out to be almost $ 10 for the bowl of phở. It was unexpectedly pricey but worth the one-​time experience. I definitely enjoyed it but I also learned that I can pretty much do the same with my cilantro and onions at any other phở places that are cheaper and more authentic.
Three and a half stars for the phở and half star for the interesting discovery.