Pho Ha

I come from Eugene, the self declared Phở desert of the United States of America. Everyone who I’ve spoke to who is either Vietnamese or a phoficianado has told me that my hometown is a no good-​very bad place to grab a bowl of broth.
With that said, here’s my take on Phở Express:
It’s showing its age. The place could use to be cleaned up a bit. Despite that, it was cozy and it felt great to slip out of the rain and walk down the steps into this place anticipating a big bowl of soup. I like the exposed brick and concrete floors and the paper lanterns are a simple but effective touch.
For $ 5.95 you can score most any phở dish on the menu. For an extra dollar you can get it in a large bowl. I dropped the extra bone and reached maximum soup slurping capacity before bowl depletion. The broth had good flavor with strong cardamom and star anise coming through. General lack of veggies though, and like someone said, the chicken didn’t really look like chicken. Jesus. Someone said it looked like squirrel. Did I eat squirrel phở? It wasn’t bad squirrel/​chicken though…
I was met with the same predicament as the Unilocaler who griped about being charged for extra hoisin. I asked for my phở ga spicy and I was told they couldn’t do that. The loophole was personal cock sauce application. No problem, but kind of weird.
The pop radio is a definite downside to this joint. Unless you enjoy listening to Lady Gaga sing Poker Face while you poke yours with some slimy noodles.
Snag a handful of the royal mint toothpicks on your way out. They free.

somehow magically i was tricked into paying $ 11 for phở yesterday,
granted i added some extras but nothing insane, i was the ONLY customer in there, probably of the day and the man who greeted and served me was Very Very Rude. my requests were simple
1. large beef flank to go, with the broth separated into 2 containers
(this boggled the mans mind to the point where i had to physically grab two cups and use them as examples)
2. add mushrooms
(i literally received 4 mushrooms)
3. LOTS of Hoisin sauce
(maybe the words, a lot, more, or bigger do not translate from here to there, but when i asked more than the tinyest ramican of hoisin he said he would have to charge me MORE! which i replied, if that’s the case i’ll just sit here and use this whole bottle for free)
about 20 minutes later i finally had assembled a bag of phở and goodies as i desired them but the total cost was $ 11.31 how this happened i have NO idea. keep in mind thats with out a drink and just for 1 person.

Warning!
Don’t waste your time here. I ordered the small chicken phở and I think they served me squirrel in salt water. What was in my bowl did not look like chicken, I couldn’t even taste it, it looked so bad. The broth was okay, but I couldn’t get paste this unknown meat substance to stomach eating anything else in the bowl. I did notice they skimped on the noodles quite a bit as well. With the abundance of Phở places in Seattle I will not be going back to this joint.

Wasn’t happy the first time I dined there, but I’ve been back twice since and things have improved.

I wish I could write a review on the phở but unfortunately we never got around to sitting down and ordering any.
The moment we walked in, the waiter took us over to our seats where a cockroach promptly scuttled across the table.
We both looked at each other, told the waiter we changed our minds, and left. My partner said he swore the cockroach turned around and flipped us off.
I don’t dine with roaches. Sorry.

The vermicelli bowl with pork that I had here was below average size and just average tasting. This dish is essentially a salad with noodles and a little meat. If they gave you a bit more noodles and lettuce it would feel like I was getting enough to eat and a better value for my money. I would not go out of my way to eat here again and if I do eat here again I will try something different.

This is good food with no MSG. Prices are reasonable. The one thing I wish they would do is stop playing the radio, commercials and all, over the sound system. I will still keep eating lunch here despite the distracting commercials.

It’s taken me a month to get to this review, because this place was just so darn mediocre. I should let you in, I’m on a quest to find the best veggie phở in Seattle.
Phở Ha though, almost nothing to say. There were noodles, some carrots, some tofu thrown in, a piece of broccoli or two and some lightly flavored water.
And I got a nice glass of luke-​warm water, no ice, just to top off the excess of mediocrity.
On the way out I ordered a can of coke just to wash it away. Luke warm.

I’ve had lots of phở, but this one just doesn’t cut it compared to so many other great Vietnamese places out there. It’s decent for a rushed lunch or quick bite, but it just doesn’t have the flavor you’d want from a really good phở shop. Unmemorable at best, this phở place had better get some good broth going in its bowls or it’s going to wind up going under.

I ordered a large Phở. They brought me a small (and luckily charged me for a small too.)
The bamboo shoots looked sad and weren’t very crisp. The lime it came with was tiny. They skimped on pretty much everything they could. Not coming back to this place unless everything else sucks even more.
I will say the broth was decent though…

I’ve eaten here a few times now.
What’s good is the chicken phở (Phở Ga). The broth is very tasty and they give you a good amount of chicken for the price.
But let me warn you. If you are thinking about getting bahn mi (Vietnamese sandwiches) DON’T GET THEM HERE. There is more bread than there deserves to be, and the sandwich fillings taste slightly stale.

I’ve walked by this place several times, and I decided to give it a try today. I’d say it was just above average; I’m pretty skeptical of anyplace where the name of the restaurant ends in «Express.» Am I getting speed over quality? I got the Vietnamese Pork sandwich and some chicken fried rice. The sandwich was what really drew me to want to give this place a try since I craved these sandwiches when I lived in Portland. I’d say it was a good sandwich with tender pork, carrots, and veggies. To make it a great sandwich, I’d encourage them to add ginger. That’s what seemed to put the ones I enjoyed in Portland over the top. I like foods with a distinct kick. The chicken fried rice was fine.

This place is pretty good. I’ve gotten take-​out twice and I really have no complaints. I ordered veggie phở both times. The first time, it came with soft, fresh tofu which isn’t my favorite. Today, they were out of that so I asked them to make it with the fried tofu that they use on the sandwiches. It was better, I think. There were no mushrooms today though, I guess. Broccoli, carrots, celery and green onions.

I was excited to see that they had a Vietnamese tofu sandwich (Banh Mi) on the menu. However, when I got my sandwich, I was not excited. It came on a slightly stale baguette with tofu, carrots, a HUGE piece of wet lettuce with no cilantro and no sauce. Nothing. I’ve had many Banh Mi and they’ve ALWAYS had a mayonnaise-​based sauce on them. This includes eating them in SE Asia. When I asked the girl working if there was some sauce missing from my sandwich I was informed that I was supposed to use the Sriracha and hoisin sauces on the table on my sandwich. Yeah, no thanks.
My girlfriend’s phở looked pretty edible so I ordered that instead. The phở was pretty decent and standard for Seattle. However, while eating my phở and waiting for it I had a direct view into the kitchen where I witnessed the cook helping himself to a sampling of food while preparing food. I don’t work in food service and I’m not with the health department but I’m pretty sure that’s a no-​no. Even if it’s not, it’s pretty gross.
We didn’t get charged for the sandwich which was nice but I still don’t think I’ll be back. There are so many other better phở and Banh Mi places in Seattle.

Okay, so the staff seems pretty friendly, and orders are efficient even though it gets busy. I have tried this place a few times, and always find myself regretting that I didn’t take the time or make the effort to head up to the international district. The meat is low quality, the vermicelli noodles don’t come with enough add ons to have good flavor, the bahn mi is bready. The greatness of Vietnamese food is that it is simple but prepared with fresh ingredients for full flavor.
I really should stick with Than Brothers/​Seattle Deli/​Green Leaf for my Vietnamese food needs.

Value. Friendly folks.
Unfortunately, they were out of bun noodles (what?!?), and the Phở noodles were the most al dente versions I have ever had. Broth: OK. Meat: OK.
There is better in town, but if you were sick at work and needed a bowl, OR you were psychoglycemic and mangry… this would be just the thing.
Also: they close at 8pm.

I was summons to jury duty which meant lunch in a new part of downtown. The first day during orientation we were told we’d be getting about an hour and a half for our lunch break. All kinds of thoughts went into my head of where I could go. All morning I was thinking of places to try in the ID, my mouth was beginning to water. I get called for a panel, I get sent upstairs to a court room with 40 other people. I sit and hear hardship cases people are using to get out of jail, I mean jury duty. I’m watching the clock… it’s 12:15 pm the judge finally releases us and tells us we have to be back in the jury room by 1:00 pm, um what!!! Where’s the hour and a half lunch I was promised earlier!!! Anyways I make due, I finally get out of the building and head down James to Yesler, thinking Mitchelli’s for lunch would work than I passed Phở & Bubble Tea and went in there instead.
I thought Phở might be what I wanted but when the waitress lady came to take my order my mouth spoke one BBQ pork Banh Mi NO CUCUMBERS and one fried roll. I receive my Banh Mi and it appears to have extra cucumbers, not a good thing, the fired roll arrived and it was black with spots of brown. So far not good. I picked the cucumbers out and took a bite, yuck, the bread was too big for the Banh Mi and the BBQ pork was meh. I found a not so black part on the fried roll and took a bite, it was all grease, I ended up tearing it apart and ate some of the filling inside, that was good the black ‘wrapper’ wasn’t. I don’t think I’ll come back to try the Phở I’m a little to scared at what I might get.

Although I am completely bias since I live in «The OC» and the heart of «Little Siagon» where there is a phở café is literally on every street corner. Therefore, I guess standards are a little higher.
As far as phở goes… Phở Ha is less than average. Although the broth is decent, the quality of everything else completely falls short of authentic. The quality of the meats were pathetic, the brisket was cut way too thick and the beef slices completely fell apart in the bowl. We ordered steak beef on the side in the raw so we can add it ourselves and they basically put two slices on a plate. Not to mentioned that the noodles were completely overcooked.
I had ordered the shrimp spring roll, which looked like one long poor attempt a some sort of a roll, but far from a spring roll. We also ordered egg rolls… it looked like something frozen pre-​made rolls that tasted like card board. Moreover, I ordered basic raw onions in vinegar, this is part of phở basic and is pretty much like ordering a condiment. Saddly, I had to give them instruction of what to do.
Yes my phở snobbery is coming through loud and clear, but there are really good Phở in Seattle; Phở Cyclo is pretty good and very traditional.

Convenient (work wise), cheap, and not bad as far as Phở in Pioneer Square is concerned. I still tout Than Brothers as the best, but I can’t get there during work hours, so I hit Phở Ha instead. I like it. It’s pretty good when I’m craving it. And the location works for me.
There you go. The most boring review I’ve done yet.

I’ve come to love the phở here and it’s close to work. For me, it’s further away than Café Phở on Third, but it’s worth the extra walk (I hate walking). The most important thing is always the broth. It’s excellent. Not too sweet. Not too bland. But just hearty and rich. The noodles always come out just right (al dente). And I LOVE that it doesn’t come with sliced white onion on top. I always end up picking the onion out at other phở places anyway, so it saves me some work.
I realize that the lack of onion may detract from its «authenticity,» but I“m not Vietnamese, so I really don’t give a shit. As long as it tastes good to me, that’s all that matters.
Oh and they have a fried spring roll that is to die for.