Pho Express

The name has changed to: Asian Kitchen Express. New owners=new prices, but they kept the phở stock recipe. They’ve updated the look with new chairs, paint, and art. The new owners are nice (the previous were, too), and I see great potential. You’ll be paying a couple dollars more, but they accept cards for orders over $ 15. Generally, I don’t like change, but this is promising. I like the phở & bahn mi more than Ruby’s (they’re nice, but I have no clue why they are rated higher than here). I’ll definitely be back to try the other items. They also serve some thai dishes and salads that weren’t on the previous menu.

As the name suggests, this was a pretty convenient place to go for a quick meal. Rather than going for phở, I went for the #27 house special dry vermicelli dish (~$ 7.25?). It was quite refreshing. The shrimps were surprisingly good. They had that grilled taste, and they were crunchy and juicy rather than overcooked and dried out. There was also a good amount of meat, nicely flavored, and lots of veggies! The food wasn’t spectacular, just average, but it definitely fills you up for a cheap price.
Oh it’s cash only!

I’d say that to most non-​Vietnamese people like myself, a lot of these «phở» places all taste good and/​or the same; however, I’ve come to eat quite a bit of it since a majority of my friends are Vietnamese. So here’s a quick review since I go here on lunch break from work with a coworker every now and then.
Food:
My buddy and I usually just get their specialty phở bowl (all the meat and a large) which is #8 I believe. To me it’s good, but I have had better tasting phở before but it’s good enough. We never really order their rice dishes to comment on it but their phở is good enough especially during these cold winter days :)
Price:
Very cheap and affordable! I believe the #8 is $ 6.25 so if you go as a group of two, expect no more than a $ 15 (including tip) bill unless you guys order a lot. That’s what I love about all Phở places, cheap and a large portion!
Aesthetics:
Mm, looks like a typical small Asian restaurant that’s neither pleasing nor is it clean or dirty. Nothing really special about this place really.
All in all, 3 out of 5 stars since it’s your general quick Phở restaurant. Good enough to satisfy you and your friends and it’s in a convenient area (right next to Mt. SAC) and it’s cheap! Oh yeah, it’s never crowded so you can be in and out of there in a jiffy.

The phở here is mediocre at best, and unfortunately, this is the closest Phở restaurant to my house. –_​– Just… my… LUCK!
What you can do here:
— — — — — — — — — —
* Time yourself to see how fast it takes to get in and out — Sit, scarf down the phở, pay and leave takes about 20 minutes on average, for a slow eater like me. This place is no café… it’s even hinted in the restaurant name!
* Order the large — which is equivalent to a small/​normal size at many other phở places; pricey (~$ 7.50) for its size
* Tally how many people you recognize in the restaurant, if you went to Walnut High.
* Pick up a $ 1 Konjac Milk Tea from Bin Bin Konjac or $ 1 Drinks (where 98% of the drinks are at least $ 3 –_​-​) to go with your phở
What to skip here:
— — — — — — — —
* Using your card — Ca$h only!
* Phở — I’ve tried a few of their rice dishes, which were ok. It seems like mediocrity seems to be a recurring theme for the food here.
In high school, I didn’t know any better. Phở was phở, and I didn’t care if the broth dried out my mouth and body from the MSG combined with excessive amounts of salt. My standard for good phở has risen since, no thanks to Unilocal!and Little Saigon. If I find myself here again, I’ll be beating myself up for leaving disappointed and disgruntled yet again.

CASH ONLY.
This place is good to go to for lunch since its so close to Cal Poly. I’ll go here if I’m craving phở when I’m on campus. The prices are fairly cheap. It’s around $ 5-​$ 6 for a small bowl of phở and around $ 7-​$ 8 for a large bowl. I tried the Avocado Smoothie ($ 3) and it is way better than the one that you can buy next door at $ 1 Drink, which basically sells the drink for almost $ 3 anyways. It’s creamy and subtle and it’s not too sweet.
The phở was tasty and warm. I have also tried their pork bahn mi & I would give it a 3. The bread was toasted too much to where it was hard to bite into. It was dry and there wasn’t too much flavor so I just dipped it in my phở broth. It was only around $ 4 so I wasn’t too upset. The pork spring rolls are tasty because the pork was well marinated and it comes with a fish sauce dipping sauce on the side.
The workers are really friendly! My friend spilled his iced coffee and the waitress replaced it without hesitation. She even moved us to a different table so we didn’t have to worry about the mess!
So I’m giving this place 4 stars because of the way we were treated, the prices and how close it is to my campus. It’s not the best phở that I’ve had but it satisfies the craving.

Cold, gloomy days usually call for a hot phở fix for me. There’s a few places to choose from in my area, and this place is one of them. Nothing spectacular about this place nor its food. Compared to other phở places, the portions are rather smaller and the price a bit more. Service is quick tho if they’re not that busy and they’re very attentive as far as refilling your drink whether you ask for it or not.
As far as phở places go, this place is just okay for me. I mean it does hit the spot when you’re hungry and craving for it. But if I didnt live less than 5 minutes away from here, I probably will not go out of my way to drive here for my phở fix.

Food: Good Phở for the area. Their spring rolls are also good. Really liked their combo phở.
Price: Phở ranges from $ 5 to 8 $, and spring rolls were around $ 5. But cash only.
Service: Fast and friendly.
Place: Casual, seat your self.

I was craving banh mi, and my boyfriend wanted phở, but we didn’t want to drive more than 10 minutes, or near nogales and gale for my nearest vietnamese restaurant, so we came here and were very happy with our experience. I ordered the bbq pork banh mi, and it was excellent. There was plenty of meat, the bread was fresh, nice and crispy on the outside and moist on the inside. The pickled vegetables were perfect and it wasn’t stuffed with too many jalapeños (my peeve). I was very happy with the $ 3.75 price tag, also. I’m not a huge fan of phở, but I did have some of the broth, and it was pretty good. I believe it cost $ 5.75, which is very reasonable. The waitress was very nice, and kept our waters filled. She got chatty with other customers and kind of forgot about us, but other than that, she was very nice and we enjoyed it there.

Any restaurant with the word «express» in the name worries me. The food is like having sex with a woman that just lays there the entire time. It’s somewhat good, but you’re just. not. satisfied.
The service is really good, comparable to a chain restaurant. They’ll refill your water, take away finished plates/​bowls, and such. Come here long enough, the owner may remember what you usually order, which is cool (In my defense, my father chooses to eat here every Sunday for lunch).
One annoying thing is they only take cash, time to break the piggy bank and pay in pennies.

I’ve been coming here for years. It’s the only Phở restaurant for a few miles. It’s just so convenient. The variety of food is great and the wait staff speaks cantonese, mandarin, Vietnamese and English.
The problem comes with the taste of the food. The Phở broth is below average although more authentic than non-​viet restaurants. The egg rolls are pretty good but they gave me almost no lettuce so I had to ask for more. Any charbroiled meats are cooked right, like they just stir fry it or something. The other dishes are pretty normal.
I’ll still be coming here until another alternative crops up but if you’re willing to drive, there are better alternatives.

Small portions, SUPER STINGY owners.
I’ve been coming here since they opened in 2002, they didn’t before. but now they charge for hot tea? No thank you.$ 1.50 for the large bowl upgrade? Pass.
Used to love this place. now, I’ll go out of my way to eat elsewhere

This is our local neighborhood Phở place. We rarely eat in, but mostly call in our order and take it home. The place smells like good Phở, but we don’t like to smell like the good Phở all night after our meal (the scent lingers in your clothes). The phở is good and I like the charbroiled pork. They serve it a bit fattier than I prefer, but who can really complain when it is so convenient. My mom thinks the pork chop is too thin too. My bf thinks their portions are on the small side. Other than that, it’s a good place to go and it’s inexpensive which is a bonus.

Their service is fast, friendly, and the prices are really cheap – between $ 4 – 6.
It’s across the street from MTSAC, and it’s next door to a couple boba places and many other business, so sometimes it could be difficult to find parking, but it’s no biggy.
The only downside for me is that it’s cash only, so I always have to go to the nearby Stater Bros to get cash out.
I’ve also tried other phở places, and the soup tastes the same to me. So I decided Phở Express is my go-​to place because it’s so cheap and close to home. Aside from the phở, their spring rolls, sandwiches, and wonton noodle soups are also delicious.
All in all, it’s the perfect place if you need a simple Vietnamese food fix.

Try the che ba mau (a rainbow colored icy dessert (similar but better than boba in my opinion). A cup is filled with sweet red beans, coconut, a firm green jelly, shaved ice, and cream). Absolutely delicious. Very similar to Filipino Halo Halo.

I work in Covina, and there are no decent options for phở in my area. Luckily this place isn’t too far and I don’t have to drive to congested City of Industry.
Their phở and Chinese food are good. Service is great.
To the people that are complaining that this place isn’t authentic, they use MSG and take cash only! Sounds authentic to me!

Eh! portions are small, food is decent, and they are stingy with the sides (onions, cilantro, bean sprouts, etc) you have to pay extra for more sides!!!
service was quick and unfriendly! and this place is cash only!
if possible, go to another phở restaurant!

This is one of the after work and don’t wanna cook restaurant for me. Fast, A-​OK quality and fair price.
We ordered shrimp/​pork roll, beef with red rice and a Chinese Broccoli with Oyster Sauce.
I was so surprised that the beef was cooked really tasty like high end restaurant. Tender and yummy and no baking soda taste. ^_^

Bad Service for average Vietnamese cuisine. Portions are getting smaller and smaller and smaller. they seem to get away with it because they are located across the street from Mt. Sac.
IMHO this is the worst Phở restaurant in the area. CASH ONLY!

Don’t even bother whipping out your ATM or credit card. This place is CA$H only! So annoying!
My hubby and I always ordered the rare steak phở and spring rolls. Taste wise food here is okay. Spring rolls are pretty tasty. Don’t know why people keep bitching about portions, as I find the portions to be sufficient.
Service is okay. The guy who works behind the counter is pretty friendly. Food always comes out pretty quickly.

After tennis at Walnut Ranch Park, I ate lunch here with some of the guys. It’s good food, but Ive had better in Alhambra/​San Gabriel/​Monterey Park for the same price. The portions were kind of small. I had the Phở Tai ($ 5.25) and it left me wanting more. We had an order of spring rolls and they were average.
Overall, I would not eat here if I had a choice of eating someplace else.