So, what to eat near Sports Arena at 10am on a Sunday morning? I had to do a bit of shopping and it was a bit too early for lunch at most places. Then I remembered the Pho Shop. I thought it would be good to check them out again since it had been a while. But man, I hadn't realized it had been over five years already! How time flies.
I arrived just as the "open" sign went on. There were fans running in the place. I was obviously the first customer of the day and the only customer during my entire visit.
I just went with the Pho Dac Biet. The herbs and sprouts soon arrived….. as expected the amount of basil was miniscule and just starting to brown.
My bowl of pho quickly arrived thereafter.
The broth was a lot lighter than on my previous visit. It was also, like most of the pho in San Diego these days on the "sweeter" side, though it still had some nice onion tones. Not much beefiness and also highly defatted.
The tai; rare steak was very lean and once past rare quite tough; like on my previous visit, the flank and brisket were nicely done and beefy, the brisket being very tender. There was nary a piece of tendon in my bowl; though there was a lot of tripe; which was crunchy, and had no off flavors.
The noodles were cooked decently this time around.
While obviously not among my favorite pho shops in San Diego and navigating the course of "pho not to offend" this was not terrible. I can't think of any better pho in the area; though I haven't made the rounds in a while.
The Pho Shop
3760 Sports Arena Blvd
San Diego, CA 92110
Hours:
Mon – Sat 10am – 10pm
Sunday 10am – 9pm