Pho Joy Restaurant

Passed by Phở Joy today just to get an update since our last trip there.
It’s definitely closed. New FOR LEASE signs are up. That means it’s closed phở-​ever
phở sure.
There goes one good phở place. :(

This place is closed with FOR LEASE signs in the window.

Being such a huge Phở lover, I typically come here on my lunch break since its one of the only Phở restaurants in Poway! The Phở here is great! I usually get their chicken phở and I sometimes add veggies. I think that they are responsibly priced, and you get great tasting phở for your bucks! The service has always been great. I usually ask for lots and lots of limes with my Phở and the servers are always giving me extra without looking annoyed! It’s not the BEST phở I’ve ever had but it’s definatley great for what you pay for!

This place is awesome. Freshest food ever, be careful. The
phở is served hot., very hot

I come here phở some good phở! They are never too busy and there is lots of parking. Food is reasonably priced and dining area is clean. Give this place a try for phở or rice entrees.

I was helping my sister out with some stuff and I needed something to eat in the area… and I wanted Phở. She recommended this place as said the soup was pretty good
I don’t know if I quite believe her… In fact I think she hates me
First off I got the usual disinterest in actual customer service. At one point I saw the server sort of toss the menus to a group of guys and then sort of walked away. This is a solid start
Next off people that came after us were served before and we were more than ready. Special
Coming in next the prices. At least a couple bucks higher than other Phở places
A couple things that made the visit better in between were getting small lidded cups of water for the kids (though a little late) and that they had a nicer person taking our order, though most of it seemed scripted. I am not sure she even would have known what we saying if it wasn’t on the menu
Shortly after though it went back to eh? The side items for my rare soup (basil sprouts lime jalapenos) were the smallest I had ever seen. and they look like they climbed out from the grave they were buried in. The sprouts were dry and brown tipped and the basil has browning throughout. The lime wasn’t even a wedge, but just a corner of the wedge and extremely dry. I asked for a couple more cause that was not going to work
Once the soup arrived I was pleased with the meat and noodle ratio. I ordered the large which I would learn would be a big mistake later. I squirted the mystery brown sauce (I don’t wanna know) three solids times and even added salt (not good) and still I couldn’t get much of a flavor out of it. Maybe it was the zombie side items bringing it down…
My sister had the rice dish and she said the beef wasn’t too great. The kids had egg rolls. One of the rolls lay on a napkin and within 5 minutes it was soaking in grease. I like my lard but damn that’s sort of nasty
In the end I would have to say I wouldn’t come back. Most Phở does taste the same generally so you can go about anywhere, but there just wasn’t any flavor to make me want to return
Not to mention the killer cotton mouth later on that evening… mmm MSG

To start off, they have a really great staff here. Really friendly. I always get to go and they always let me sit down and serve me water while I wait.
That said, the food isn’t as good as, say, Phở Ca Dao and it’s pricier. From the phở to the noodles, all the dishes seem to have less flavor.
On the bright side, at least one phở place really close to me in case I get that craving.

Been coming here a bit over the last 3 years and always had consistent good food and service.
Last night ordered the spring rolls and phở with chicken and phở with rare beef and brisket. All was very good with almost too much meat in the phở… I was full.
Spring rolls were hot and served quickly. Lettuce was crisp. Fish sauce was good.
Waiters were efficient and kept the water glasses filled.

Came in here on a late weekday and they were only serving soup! That means PHO only, no eggrolls, spring rolls or rice dishes. :(Not sure how often they do that, but i was feeling pretty bummed out as I was craving a rice dish.
Ordered the beef phở and it was just all right. The Phở restaurants in Mira Mesa taste better. This broth was a little clearer, with less of that beefy flavoring. And there was a scant quantity of meat.
Prices are a little above the norm, but what are you going to do if you’re in the middle of Poway and stuck with a Phở craving? Appreciate that they opened up one here to save me the drive out to Convoy or Mira mesa.

I’ve only had their Phở… and it keeps me coming back for more! I think their tasty broth wins it over for me and I also appreciate the good quality meat. It is most definitely better than Phở Ca Dao (RB). I would drive an extra 10min to go here.
I look forward to more soup in fall/​winter!

First off, I don’t eat Phở much anymore.
In high school, we went twice or more a week.
Why? Because it’s cheap & very filling.
After High School, started going about once or twice a month.
Last couple years was once or twice every 2months.
Nowadays when I eat Phở I try to go to a new place.
Why? Because for me they all end up tasting the same after the first couple spoonfuls of broth.
However, if I end up going to the same Place as before, I end up getting a rice dish.
Anyway today was my first time here.
I lived nearby and never found the «spark» to actually try this place.
(I wish I didn’t)
Went here today with Family.
They swear that Phở is the best kind of soup out there.
They also told me that this place was pretty good.
So I took my mother & my little sister there.
Oddly enough After looking at the menu I was kind of turned off.
I don’t eat Phở that much BUT I know for a fact that these prices are higher than most places!
Usually, see a $ 5 bowl somewhere on the menu, small or not.
But their menu was $ 6.50 and UP!
Since its a new place (to me) I ordered a soup bowl (Phở).
I got the P12: Rare steak, Flank & Tripe. (i love tripe)
We started with the Eggrolls (6) for $ 6.35
So $ 1.00+ for 1 eggroll?!?
Enough about the price.
It looked pretty at first so I decided to take a picture.
After doing so I noticed that the lettuce was wilted
and some parts were brown.
Wasn’t even crunchy or anything.
It was our first dish and they already messed up?
C’mon! lettuce is CHEAP keep some fresh ones in the crisper.
after about a 15 – 20 minute wait, our main dishes came.
My mother got Pork Chop with Rice, My sister P14 (brisket i think), and my P14.
After waiting for so long I got hungry, and told them I was not gonna take my time.
I took a spoonful of broth and tasted it. Seemed Normal.
Then i added some Sriracha and dug in.
Since the meat was rare I swirled and soaked it around the broth.
About halfway, i noticed something black.
At first i thought it was pepper. No worries.
It disappeared in my broth as I mixed it.
When I got to the last piece of tripe,
I noticed that the black thing was stuck on the tripe.
As it got closer to my mouth, I noticed it wasn’t a black pepper ball at all.
IT WAS A MOTHER FUCKING FLY.
i quickly spat out my food, and slapped the spoonful of broth my sister was about to slurp.
I stopped eating and I showed my sister why I did that.
I then called the waiter over.
«Is there a problem?»
«Yeah, there’s a fly in my bowl.»
«There’s no fly in our soup.»
«What?»
“There’s no fly, maybe it just got in your bowl out here.”
«ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?»
«If you want I can ask the kitchen why there’s a fly in there.»
«Are you serious right now? I am done. Where’s your manager?»
«He left but I can call him.»
When the manager got there he told me to show him the fly.
Took a picture of it so I showed him.
«Ok I will not charge for yours.»
Are you fucking kidding me?
both of our dishes came from the same FUCKING BROTH.
My sister barely touched hers.
And my mother doesn’t even want to eat OR take her food home.
«No you pay for Pork Chop & Rice.»
FUCK THIS FLY INFESTED SHIT HOLE.

This place is cool. I come here once in awhile with co-​workers. I work up the street and this is one of the few spots I go to when eating out to lunch. The egg rolls are good and served hot and crunchy. I dont like soggy and warm egg rolls. Their salmon and rice dish is amazing! I went there again today and ordered the tofu and vermis.(spelling?), it was pretty filling for a limited amount of thinly cut tofu slices. But the tofu pieces still could have been more.
Servers were attentive. They came by every 5 minutes to refil water.
The place is good, it’s ok. It’s a good spot for settling a Viet quickie meal. Other than that, I still prefer going to Convoy for all my Phở orders.

Do I like it? Yes! Do I love it? No!
3-​star reviews are always difficult for me because it hits right in the middle usually teetering a little bit into another star. I would say right around 3.5 for me
The egg rolls were crisp & fresh and served HOT!
The Phở was okay. More on the watery side with not alot of consistency but Nevertheless is was good. Not Great! Good!
Our server was pleasant and at our table every 4 – 5 minutes for a water refill
No worries about parking. Phở Joy is located in a strip mall with plenty of it.
Price — Fair. I’ve had less expensive and paid more so a little above fair.
Phở is my favorite so maybe I’m becoming a Phở snob, but I do think I’m beginning to learn where the better Phở is served.
By the way, today looks like a great day for some Phở. :)

Seriously? Expensive, small quantity, average food quality, okay service… We weren’t so impressed.
Also their Phở with Tofu is NOT vegetarian– they use chicken broth.
If I were you I would drive to either Mira Mesa or Rancho Bernardo for Phở Ca Dao. Their BBQ tofu vermicelli, spring rolls, and crispy rolls are WAY better.
Phở Joy was No Joy for us. :(

As usual, I go to a phở place… and not order phở. Instead I got the deep fried tilapia.
It was pretty good. Decent prices for the serving portion. Came with some cucumbers, tomato, lettuce, and nuoc mam as dipping sauce. Service was good. It’s a clean restaurant. Fish was a tad bit dry. The crunchy texture was satisfying though.
I’m not from Poway so I probably wouldn’t make the drive to eat here but if I’m in the area and craving Vietnamese food, I wouldn’t hesitate to consider this place. I’m curious to try some of the other food items. I definitely recommend checking this place out.

I was a little nervous trying this place…
1) It was super clean
2) they were super polite
3) its in poway
But I have to say this place is awesome… I am used to the normal «you sit here now» mentality of some of the Mira Mesa or Kearney Mesa phở places. Here they are very polite, great service, and they actually remember me and my family when I return.
The only real knock I have on this place is there fresh spring rolls are pretty small and not all that great, and for what they cost should be much better.

There are three things I look for when I go to Vietnamese Phở places,
1) the amount of grease floating around in my bowl
2) the freshness of my spring rolls combined with the taste of my peanut sauce.
3) speed
What’s nice about this place is that you can order your broth less fat, normal, more fat, you can order less noodles, more noodles, or more or less meat. What convenience! I shall have my low sodium, less fat, more noodle, and more meat well done steak phở bowl please :)
The spring rolls are pricier than other places I’ve been to for two pieces, but still very good and tasty. The peanut sauce is also not too salty.
And yes – they are fast. Barely finished a spring roll when the hot bowl of phở arrived in front of me.
Definitely will come back again!

I was really hoping this place would be a regular for me since it’s my neighborhood but no luck.
Very friendly and fast service but when I got my phở there were barely any noodles in my soup which was surprising. I usually experience getting more noodles than meat whenever I go to a phở restaurant but at this place you get more meat than noodles. Weird. I was still hungry afterwards): The broth also kind of tastes weird…
The springs rolls are pretty good. but yea. I think I’ll stick the usual phở place in Mira Mesa. You get more for your buck!

Decent Phở. Of course, I’ve yet to find Phở I didn’t like and I find it very hard to directly compare when the last time I ate it was several weeks ago and I ordered a different phở (this time it was seafood). However, I thought the broth here was particularly flavorful. I could have used more bean sprouts and fixings. The other phở places I’ve tried give a HUGE pile. This one was very modest.
The service here is rather spotty. First of all, they were a lot slower than is usual for a phở place (usually all the food is out in under 10 minutes of ordering). That may have been due to the early timing of our dinner. Secondly, there definitely was a language barrier or something. My husband ordered a tofu phở, but instead received a bun dish. Not a horrible mistake as he likes bun. However, he found this one to be somehow lacking. It needed more flavor and/​or toppings and he ended up dousing it with all sorts of stuff to compensate.
In short, seems like this place skimps a bit on the extras, but I found my broth to be extra flavorful. This place is decent but definitely not as good as Phở Cao Dao in Rancho Bernardo, which is closer to us anyway.
Also, this place seems to be a bit more expensive than usual for phở. We ended up spending more than we usually do at a phở place, but this could have been my seafood phở.

IMPRESSED!
OVERALL:
Very nice and friendly staff, relaxing atmosphere, nice set up… pretty spacious with large confy chairs.
THE FOOD:
Fresh and delicious, and simple! Lots of veggie and mint, and real vietnamise cuisine!
My Favorite B2 Rice Vermicelli with grilled shrimp and pork, over ton of chopped veggies and fresh mint leaves!
For dessert I always order a Boba tea to go… wonderful and refreshing!
CHEAP CHEAP CHEAP… my whole meal with drink $ 11.00