At the beginning of June I noticed a new Vietnamese restaurant was opening in Loma Square named Pho Leo & Grill while driving to Con Pane to pick up some sourdough. A week later the place seemed opened so I checked online and noticed a 930 opening time, which fit into my plans for the area during visits. So, I went and dropped by on my way back from Liberty Station. The place is just about a half block from Pho Point Loma.
The parking lot is fairly expansive, especially earlier in the morning, even on a weekend.
The interior is fairly expansive, quite modern looking; especially when thinking in terms of what a traditional pho shop looks like. There's a large "grill" section as well.
The young folks working were very friendly. Looking over the menu and the name of the place, I decided to take it in parts. First the pho. I noticed that there's an option for fresh noodles, which interested me. So, I got the "P3", the "Pho Special" ($15.50) with fresh noodles and included all proteins except the now ubiquitous beef ribs that permeate all newish pho places these days.
In spite of the modern-westernized vibes I initially got; I was pleased to see ngo gai; somewhat of a rarity these days were provided along with the typical bean sprouts, basil, and lime.
And unlike what I'd recently received with recent bowls of pho I've had; everything was quite fresh.
And soon enough, my quite generous bowl arrived.
Of course, the first thing I went for were the noodles; which somewhat reminded me of kway chap at first glance. Sadly, the noodles were cut into short pieces and were mushy in texture.
As for the broth, well, it lacked beefiness, and definitely was "San Diego sweet" in flavor. Which seems to be the status quo in our lovely city these days
Where "Leo" seems to excel is with the proteins. While the rare steak was not as bright red as I prefer, it was quite tender; a definite outlier these days. The tendon, while crosscut slices were used was quite tender as well. The tripe was crunchy, and the flank, toothsome as is the norm had a pleasant beefiness to it. The beefiness extended to the brisket as well, though it was on the tougher side.
As things stood, pretty much an average bowl of pho at these modernish Vietnamese places, as is the price of fifteen bucks.
Of course I returned for part 2……to try out the "Grill" portion.
Same really nice service. I went with what would probably be designated as the Com Tam Dac Biet ($17) which comes with cha, tan hu ky, bi, and a choice of "meat" of thit nuong, pork chop, spare rib, or chicken. I went with the pork chop.
It was a pretty generous plate to be sure.
The nuoc mam was overly sweet for my taste, but the accompanying broth, which I assume is the pho broth, was much better than what I'd had during my previous visit. Yes, it was lighter…but it wasn't as sweet, with nice savory tones….I'm thinking that this was more like Pho Ga…chicken rather than beef. Doesn't it look like Pho Ga? Frankly, I should have asked.
The nice young man also kindly provided a portion of chili sauce for me as well.
As for the dish itself; well, the broken rice was on the harder, chewier side. The highlights for me was the bi, which was sliced quite thin, had a nice chewiness, a decent amount of roasted rice powder, and some porky slices of meat to go with it. And the pork chop…there were two pieces, which were sliced thin, toothsome as expected, nicely grilled and quite smoky, along with a savory fish sauce-garlic seasoning with hints of sweetness.
The fried bean curd with shrimp paste/cake wasn't fried enough and somewhat soggy, super rubbery, and quite bland.
The "cha", the steamed egg-pork "loaf" was cold, lacking in flavor, and on the chewier side as well. I like a lighter; porkier version. These two items seemed like versions you'd get at a Vietnamese Grocery store.
I brought one of the pork chops and the leftover rice home for the Missus, who really enjoyed that pork chop. So perhaps we'll need to do another Com-Tam-Plation type visit here? No, it's definitely not "old school" Com Tam like Nhu Y, but the Missus enjoyed that pork chop.
Though I'll note that Soo did not enjoy that pork chop quite as much. You can read his post here. 
Yes, Pho Leo & Grill is modernized Vietnamese, but at least it didn't seem overly dumbed down to me.
Pho Leo & Grill
2855 Midway Dr.
San Diego, CA 92110
Current Hours:
Daily 930am – 930pm
The bread was much better than I recalled, crusty, though still a bit under toasted and on the chewy side. It used to be a lot worse before. 
It came with some chili oil and the appropriate (for the region) black vinegar.
As was the filling. Really chewy and tough. 
There was a good amount of decently cooked rice. I could have done without the "wasabi aioli" and the overly sweet unagi sauce. I guess I just wanted some good shoyu poke? The fish danced close to the edge of being over-sauced, but avoided falling off that cliff. I did enjoy the creaminess of the avocado and the mild sour-spice of the cucumber.
We had a fun time on this tour.
