The Pho Shop

Stay away from this place. I have eaten lots of phở in my life and this place doesn’t even come close to descent. I’m a cheap person and I care about value. You may get good portions here but nothing will make up for bad taste. The phở broth alone grosses me out. It’s not only bland but watered down as well. It taste like they made it from those instant phở noodle with the packet of spice. I wish I can give this place negative stars. I’ve eaten in Little Saigon in Westminster and the worst phở place there doesn’t even compare to this.

I come here for lunch every time I come to shop at Woori market. Ok place, ok food, but nothing to write home about. But there is nothing else around. I always get the spicy seafood dish and I like it.

Not the best ja ja meong for sure. Mostly onions and hardly any pork flavor even though you have this oily separation. Best since this is only one of the noodles I tried I wouldn’t knock this place just yet. The noodles were cooked to a nice chewy texture. So I’m probably going to try this place again. Just not the ja ja meong… there place gets pretty packed but it seems that there’s a good flow of people in and out. No shortage of seats when I went at noon.

I’ve been here 3 times and the last 2 times I must admit were very unpleasant. The second to last time I figured it’s cus I was by myself and so they were being rude to rush me out. Still inexcusable but ok. The last time I went with 5 other ppl and the waitress (wish I remembered her name) straight rolled her eyes at us not once but twice as she was taking out order. Safe to say I won’t be going back here ever again.

I had the Vegetable Phở.
It was pretty bland, much more than other phở places.
It doesn’t taste like real vietnamese phở. more like a «they tried really hard but its not terrible» phở.
They have a parking building with a good amount of parking, make sure to get your parking ticket validated when you pay for your food so you don’t have to pay!

I’m not a hater. I’m a teller of truth as I taste it.
The Phở Shop leads off with a Vietnamese name — leading me to think they know a thing or two about Phở. And — not coincidentally — a thought process in my head seriously wanted to «not» believe that they were Phở-​Posers. Sadly, in Little Tokyo no less– I made the decision to eat here. Posers rule. And flavor was the victim.
Firstly– don’t pass yourself off as a Vietnamese food place when you are nothing of the sort.
Second — if you’re going to claim to be a Phở place? Put some effort, please, into it. I got Phở Ga (chicken). The broth wasn’t «all that» — little flavor emanated from that bowl of soup. I added some chili sauce — which helped. But good Phở has a broth to die for. This you would figuratively die FROM. Indeed, the chicken was all full of fat and gristle. Not good at all. The veggies were reasonably ok — but the lime was stingy (one little piece for two of us), and the basil was in short (though fresh) supply.
The Vietnamese iced coffee was heavily watered down as well– not a good sign for a place purporting to put Viet food at front and center.
So — final lesson — go to Little Tokyo for Japanese food. Leave all the rest by the wayside and look to the Japanese food for guidance — I learned my lesson, as I really did come for Japanese food and was waylaid by the inventive name of «The Phở Shop». Final thought: if you are not Viet, are opening a Viet restaurant yet, and are Asian? For shame. Stick with your main Korean cuisine (which is fantastic food!) unless you expect you can be good at Viet food. I was with my Viet BF, and both of us were less than impressed. Not gonna return. And we hope you go with the idea it is the «Viet» version of Panda Express. Understand it’s not authentic nor does it offer a Vietnamese food experience that will entice you to try yet more Viet food. If you go with that idea, you might be ok. I think.
The good news: Service was great.

This place gets hate. I don’t know why. Their jajang is great and so is their jjam pong. Maybe it’s because there are so many ramen choices available. I would recommend this place

Located in the Little Tokyo Marketplace. I go here for the convenience as it’s walking distance from work and mostly because they have my afternoon liquid crack aka vietnamese Iced coffee.
I’ve tried the combo phở once. Just odd taste overall, from broth to meat. I haven’t had it since and I love phở.
The Spicy Seafood soup, was just okay. The broth was good, just the seafood was a bit chewy.
Service is just okay. The waitress are all always hurry. Lol, I thought I’ve been overworked lately.
Overall… just okay.

Nothing compares to Little Saigon or some places in the SGV, but The Phở Shop does it best. Korean-​owned, labeled as Vietnamese-​Chinese fusion and in Little Tokyo, there’s so much Asia just in the superficial understanding of this place. I used to get the phở all the time but recently switched up to the oxtail noodle soup. Oxtail meat with broth in a separate bowl, you can enjoy the full flavor of the oxtail or mix it in and enjoy. They also have those little call buttons you find in Koreatown!

The first time I went here with my cousin we liked what we had so we went back afew nights back and the same dishes just didn’t taste as good.
I don’t believe their no MSG added claim as both my cousin and I knocked out right after eating here and he had a bad case of diherrea the next day…

The soup was great i also order spring roll with shrimp. The server didn’t speak much English but she was good. over all my experience was awesome.

Subpar service and below average food.
Things I didn’t like about the server:
a) The receptionist /​host /​server stared at me while I was eating. My guess is that she did not want me to be there.
b) The receptionist giving me hostile vibes, as if I was a nuisance bothering her (in what was an empty restaurant).
c) When she was bussing the other lone messy table next to me, she stops and stares at the TV… while picking her teeth.
Things I didn’t like about the food:
a) Flavorless broth.
b) Noodles clumped together.
c) Giant bowl with a lot of broth and a few pieces of meat.
My biggest, final regret at eating at this establishment is that I left a tip.

A little disappointed because there was a strange blue color on the meat that was in my bowl.
They were pretty busy during lunch and I didn’t get a chance to mention it to the waitress. But here is the pic.
It kind of turned me off from devouring my soup.
I was looking forward to coming here since it is the only phở spot in the area. So what a bummer :(

I’ll get straight to the punchline here: trust your instincts on this one.
I’ve walked by here dozens of times on my way to Little Tokyo Marketplace and it’s pretty much always empty. The décor straddles the weird line between not quite nice enough and yet too nice to impart that hole-​in-​wall, B-​rating ambience that is so often found at some of the best Asian food joints. The menu appears to be limited to your usual phở dishes (at a few bucks more than you’d expect to pay for them) and some Korean-​Chinese fusion staples such as jja jang myun.
We were looking to grab a quick meal before getting some groceries and ordered the unusual oxtail phở and the aforementioned jja jang myun. While the portions were huge (we could have easily shared one order of either dish), both were solidly several notches below what I’d typically expect and it wouldn’t take much imagination or travel to do a lot better. The oxtail was overcooked and stringy and *totally* bland, and the phở broth required copious amounts of hot sauce before it took on any real flavor. I’ve never been a big fan of the Korean take on zha jiang mian in the first place, but «not offensively bad» was pretty much the best thing I can offer to describe it.

Great phở place! Really delicious! I had the vegetarian phở and the vegetarian spring rolls and it was so tasty. I love that they add shiitake mushrooms in the phở.

This place received only 2 stars because of the very slow service. I came here once and saw that they were way understaffed. I had no idea who my server was (it kept switching from someone cleaning tables to the host to the waitress), but it took way too long for our table to get our waters, phở, and water refills. You’ll find the host constantly running around. She takes payment at the front and also seats people (and people often come in big parties, adding more work to her job). Workers don’t clean off tables fast enough, people don’t get seated fast enough (even if there are empty tables), food service is even slower… you get the gist.
This place always seems filled and busy, but they need to hire more people. Phở is decent, but I came here today and decided it wasn’t worth the wait so left and got ramen from upstairs instead. I just finished my ramen and I’m pretty sure the same people are still waiting to get seated.
You’ve been warned.

Service here stinks! The woman at the register told us where we could sit. We were not led to our table. It was dinner time but not busy at all. The first thing the waitress said to us (sounding impatient) was, «Is this to go or dine in?» Well, hello to you, too! We got our food in timely fashion at least. The cups for water are too small.
I planned on getting phở but decided on something new. No. 18, a cold noodle dish with beef, veggies and lemongrass per the menu. It was a large dish but no lemongrass. The meat was lean but absolutely tasteless. Not what I was expecting but there was a lot of fresh veggies and mangoes. The noodles had a sauce that was too sweet. It came with a sweet fishy sauce. Some heat was needed.
My friend said her meat phở was good but she’s had better.
My other friend had a veggie version of my dish with mushrooms. This dish is vegan friendly. Prices for phở are fair about $ 9. My $ 12 dish was overpriced.
I want to check out mall again but this place is where it belongs, easy to miss in the back corner. There are plenty other choices for eating in this mall.

Came during lunch time rush. Excellent service. Everything came out on time. When we asked for extra water, condiments, utensils, and bowls everything came fast.
On to the food…
We ordered:
Egg rolls — While flavorful we wish it would have came with lettuce to wrap it with. Maybe I’m just too used to the Koreatown Phở restaurants.
Jja Jang Myun — Pretty bomb
Jjam Bong — Sucked
Beef Fried Rice — Sucked
Seafood Phở — Sucked.
I might be back for the Jja Jang Myun. Only $ 6.99 not bad. Stop by Daiso on the way out :)
Also be sure to get validation!

I love phở, but sometimes I want a healthier, lighter, less-​greasy version of it. This place is perfect for that. It’s located inside a Korean plaza (next to Daiso) in Little Tokyo. You’ll have to find street parking (…good luck) or pay at one of those parking structures.
They give you huge portions, so if you’re not particularly hungry, I’d share a bowl with someone (~$ 9). But if you’re a fatass like me who wants to eat the whole world, then their phở portion is perfect.

I usually come here for the jjampong (the spicy korean-​chinese seafood noodle soup). Huge portions and well priced. The
Flavor of the soup is ok — not awesome but definitely passable. Their sweet n sour pork is actually better than most places