Category: Vietnamese Restaurants

Pho and Wings aka Pho Nam Cali 2 (Scripps Ranch)

Chicken Wings, Pho, Vietnamese Restaurants

While having lunch with Calvin at Hong Kong Kitchen & Dim Sum…well, our conversation veered, as it always does, into food. Among the places he mentioned to me was his new go-to pho shop in his neighborhood of Scripps Ranch. Called Pho and Wings. It’s in walking distance so he can head there during his WFH (Work From Home) days or even during certain evenings. I’d never heard of the place; so I looked it up when I got back home. After doing that search thing, I found that the place has an “alias” of Pho Nam Cali 2…… I’d heard of Pho Nam Cali in National City, so I’m thinking this is their second shop? Perhaps listing chicken wings to tempt other folks in? I liked that they open at 10am, so headed on over on a Sunday morning.

The shop is located in one of those numerous strip malls…this one has a location of Mickey D’s, Von’s, Starbucks, along with a couple of, I believe non-chain places as well.

The interior is bright and colorful….and I do mean bright and colorful!

The menu was completely in English. The woman working was so sweet and mellow. I simply ordered the House Special Pho ($16.99). I believe there are sometimes clues as to a place’s typical customer base. Like, I’m Asian, ordered pho, and still got a fork delivered to my table.

I did get a mild beefy-pungent fragrance when the bowl of pho arrived, a good sign.

The amount of sprouts and basil was typical for many places these days…rather sparse. But at least it looked quite fresh.

The broth had that typical “San Diego sweet – sodium blast” flavor, though it did have a mild beefiness. It did register as being a bit thin in terms of tongue feel as it was seriously defatted.

The noodles were in a serious clump at the bottom of the bowl. And, in an interesting change of pace, seriously undercooked. You can tell how stiff they are in the photo.

Well, I’m used to over cooked mushy noodles….undercooked, is a new one for me!

The rare steak was very lean and chewy, as was the flank. There was a serious lack of flavor as well.

I did appreciate the tripe, which was nice and crunchy. There was quite a bit of it as well.

Overall, an ok bowl of pho. Nothing to go out of your way for and there’s much better to be found in Mira Mesa.

Still, that woman was so sweet and kind. She kept making sure my water was refilled. And, since the place is named Pho and Wings…well, I had to try the wings, right? So, a couple of weeks later I returned.

Same really sweet woman was working. I was going to get the wings for sure.

But I needed to order something else as well. I looked over the menu and decided on the Beef Salad ($9). This is what arrived.

Iceberg lettuce, cherry tomato, and cucumbers, topped with a mildly marinated, but fairly tender stir fried beef. Very typical soy based flavor. A fairly typical sesame dressing, kind of on the watery side. My favorite part of the salad were the fried shallots, nice and slightly crisp, with that sweet-pungent onion like flavor.

I really didn’t expect Bo Tai Chanh, so I wasn’t disappointed. And at least this seemed a bit healthy and was somewhat refreshing……

Because the Fried Chicken Wings ($10.99) were up next.

The menu says “crispy” which this was not. It’s lightly breaded, but not crisp, more chewy and gets soggy quickly. Simply seasoned, that sesame dressing was provided here as well.

The meat of the flats was moist and fairly tender. The drumettes were really tough and chewy. The flavor was simple and nothing really stood out. Except that super jumbo and really chewy drumette.

I’m thinking that this is ok neighborhood pho; the woman working is wonderful, but the pho and especially the wings are nothing special. In other words, if I’m on the 15 North I’m taking the exit before Scripps Poway Parkway….that would be Mira Mesa, for my pho fix.

Pho and Wings-Pho Nam Cali 2
10549 Scripps Poway Pkwy.
San Diego, CA 92131
Current Hours:
Daily 10am – 9pm

Paris Sandwiches Opens in the Midway District

Banh Mi, Vietnamese Restaurants

I recently heard that Paris Sandwiches opened on Midway Drive in Point Loma. Since we’ve been having some unseasonably warm weather and I do enjoy the banh mi at their Mira Mesa location, I decided to check the place out. I thought the address looked somewhat familiar and when I arrived….well, the shop is located right next to the Homestyle Hawaiian location on Midway and in the same strip mall as Pho Little Saigon! It’s been a while since I’d been around here……

On this morning there was a lot of parking available. I walked on in and quickly took a look at the menu board……checking prices….

I’m used to seeing Banh Mi in the eight-nine dollar range at many places, so it was good to see that most here are under eight bucks. There doesn’t seem to be a “Point Loma mark-up” going on.

I ordered my “usual” at PS, the Cha Lua ($7.45), from the nice young woman. My sandwich was ready in a few minutes and I was headed home.

Opening the banh mi at home was an “interesting” experience. As you can see….it wasn’t the Cha Lua!

Hmmm…..perhaps the young lady misheard me….perhaps it’s grand opening jitters? That’s fine, this looked like the Thit Nuong, even though it was almost sausage like in texture. I didn’t see nem nuong on the menu and this didn’t have the flavor profile of “NN”.

The pork is on the sweeter side, but perfectly fine. The amount of pickled veggies and cilantro was generous. I was also happy that this wasn’t overly mayo’ed.

The jalapenos this time around wasn’t too spicy….so no “pepper roulette” going on.

My least favorite item was the bread which has historically been a strong point for me at their other locations.

The banh mi was doughy and chewy; lacking in the crustiness that I enjoy in a typical banh mi.

Well, at least I gave the place a try. I’ll return in a few months and hopefully the banh mi will be like what I’m used to at their Mira Mesa location. I’m thinking, other than the crazy traffic coming off that Rosecrans exit; this might be a more convenient location for me. And heck, I guess I’ll need to do a PL Banh Mi comparison one of these days, right?

Paris Sandwiches
3445 Midway Dr.
San Diego, CA 92110

Sizzling Saigon (Santee)

Pho, Vietnamese Restaurants

It’s funny how I sometimes find new places to visit. For example, I was updating “The Big List” and other posts. I sometimes do random checks to see if places are still open and started wondering about Sab E Lee Santee….man it had been how many years since we last visited? It had apparently gone thru a change in ownership and name to Faidang Restaurant, so I added it to my “list”. A few months back, I decided it was time for me to finally check the place out….and oh my, Faidang had permanently closed due to various “creatures”! It was now a Vietnamese restaurant named Sizzling Saigon. Hmmm…… I waited a couple of weeks before actually heading out East on the 52 and back to a locale that was once fairly familiar to me, but where I hadn’t been in maybe 5 years?

And there it was…Sizzling Saigon. Taking a look at the sign gave me a slight pause. Under the name of the place was written “Asian Fusion”? Double hmmm….. Still, I had driven all the way here.

The young man working was very nice as I was seated and handed a menu….which gave me another hard stop.

My goodness, in what universe is pho now almost $21????

And in this alternate universe, Bo Luc Lac is cheaper than the pho???? And the even the Bun Bo Hue is $21???

Well, this mad my decision quite easy; after all the place is named “Sizzling”, right? I decided to go with the Bo Luc Lac ($17.89). My order took awhile, but it looked quite good when it arrived.

I guess I didn’t read the fine print. This comes with fried rice; which, while nothing special in terms of flavor, the rice was fairly evenly coated, the texture fine, and a rather nice surprise.

While the beef was definitely not filet mignon, it was decently tender, nicely marinated if a bit too salty and in need of more complex umami tones; like perhaps a bit more fish sauce and pungency.

My pet peeve with this one is that the bell peppers were basically raw and too hard and crunchy. Not the largest portion, but with the fried rice, not bad at all.

I think the version at Ngon Ngon is better; but this was not bad at all.

This meal, combined with the really friendly service, had me wondering what that $21 bowl of pho was going to be like. So, of course I made time to return. The same really nice young man was working. I went and ordered the Pho Dac Biet ($20.89). And soon the “tools” and accoutrements arrived…..

I say tools because this was included with the napkins, spoon, and chopstick.

The young man told me that the chili oil is a “must have” for the pho? Hmmm again. As I anticipated, no Ngo Gai; it’s “Asian Fusion” after all.

And then my pho arrived.

At first glance quite impressive that bowl was a molten, bubbling cauldron of broth crowned by a beef rib. Seeing this arriving at my table I was really worried that the young man would spill some on himself or get burned by that stone bowl.

The plate of rare steak, beef flank, noodles was impressive. Though upon further review; it seemed to have all been premade and put in the fridge, because as hot as that bowl of broth was, the plate itself was ice cold.

That portion size of noodles was no joke either. The banh pho was of the “wider” type and because of being pre-portioned was a huge mass stuck together. And the bowl of broth was filled to the top, so you couldn’t put all the noodles into the soup at once. The scissors did come in handy here. At least the texture of the noodles were good.

The actual broth was tongue meltingly hot, but really lacking deviod of beef and any pungent tones. Thus the chili oil I guess. While not overly “San Diego sweet” in flavor, it was very bland. I used all the basil, onions, scallions, and even wishes there was more cilantro. It took me twice the amount of time to taste a spoonful of broth without burning my tongue.

The texture of the beef rib was on the chewier side, but came off the bone cleanly. It was really mild in flavor as well. There was a half a meatball swimming in miasma.

The beef flank was, as expected being served cold, super chewy once heated in the broth, but also lacking in beefiness.

The one blessing of having the broth served so hot was that a single dunk would get the rare beef done. Sort of like a pho shabu-shabu I guess?

Overall, I think of this bowl, much like what is served at Phonomenal to be more of a “marketing” angle, perhaps anticipating an influx of influencers? But, if you like a showy bubbling cauldron of broth, with a large portion of noodles and meat, without caring much about flavor, this might be for you.

At least the Bo Luc Lac wasn’t bad. Though like I said, I prefer the version at Ngon Ngon.

Sizzling Saigon
9159 Mission Gorge Rd.
Santee, CA 92071
Current Hours:
Daily 10am – 9pm

Pho Real (Lemon Grove)

Chicken Wings, Pho, Vietnamese Restaurants

Recently, before the warm up I was in Lemon Grove and decided to get some pho. I saw the sign for this shop and decided to stop by. Pho Real…….

Okay….very “punny”, eh? It was just after 9am; so Negro Durazo next door, which Cathy has posted on several times wasn’t open yet.

The interior is spacious, fairly modern. The menu board was filled with boba type drinks. I was the only customer in the place.

I decided to order “Special” Combo Pho, medium size…..of course there’s no “small”, only medium and large bowls ($15.50) . And since I was hungry I also got the Garlic Butter Wings ($11.75).

I quickly started noticing some of my pet peeves when the basil and sprouts arrived.

You see why, right?

At least it wasn’t overly discolored…….

And it got even more “interesting” when my bowl arrived.

You can quickly see how defatted and thin, the rather cloudy broth is.

It also had that “San Diego sweetish” and very salty flavor I’m not fond of, that is present in many versions of pho here. Very little beefiness….basically what I call the “wave broth”…you know, it’s like they waved a beef bone over the soup to impart flavor.

And when I “dug up” the noodles…..with all the stereotypes in play……you know what I’d find, right?

Yes, the banh pho was in a huge clump at the bottom of the bowl. Well, at least the noodles weren’t mushy, nor were they cold.

So perhaps things were slightly looking up?

The flank and brisket were really chewy and strangely, also lacked beefiness. The tripe though, was nice and crunchy and the one small piece of tendon quite soft and buttery.

You know, I’ve done over 150 posts on pho over the years and this is probably the most cliched, stereotypical bowl of San Diego Pho I’ve had! Or perhaps I’m just getting too picky?

I was nearly done with my pho when the wings arrived.

Look at that giant drumette. Like the pho, I thought this was rather mediocre. The batter was mushy and lacked crispness or crunchy texture. The sauce was a bit too sweet for my taste.

Worse of all….ready for this one? Most of the meat had that blackness that I find annoying.

Usually, I prefer the “flats” to the drumettes, but in this case the meat of the wings were really chewy, like jerky. Take a look at the flat below…..

And what was that round piece of chicken? Anatomically, what part of the chicken wing is that?

This meal had me wondering if I’d been pranked, as it seemed that all those things that I find annoying about pho were present here? Was this pho real for real? Perhaps this might be the one time that I find a “punny” name of a pho restaurant to be totally appropriate! Of course, I’d add a question mark at the end of the name.

I’m glad I took all those photos to show that I’m not exaggerating things.

Perhaps this was just an off day? If you’ve visited, let me know what you think?

Pho Real
6966 Federal Blvd.
Lemon Grove, CA 91945
Current Hours:
Daily 9am – 9pm

Banh Mi Express Revisited

Banh Mi, Sandwiches, Vietnamese Restaurants

After my last, rather mediocre revisit to Banh Mi Hoi An, I was wondering how some of my “old favorites” were doing. A few days later I found my self driving on Clairemont Mesa near the I-15 and decided to grab something for lunch. It had been a while since I’d visited Banh Mi Express, so I decided to grab a Banh Mi.

Interesting thing about Banh Mi Express; much like Banh Mi Hoi An they’ve decided to forgo the Vietnamese names of the offerings. I guess it’s the customer base?

This had me wondering how the Pate “Meat Loaf” (aka Cha Lua), now priced at $8.49 (previously $7.75 in April) would be. The woman working was very mellow and sweet.

As for the Banh Mi?

The bread was yeasty, a bit denser than I recall, but enjoyably crusty.

Unlike my previous visit; there was a good amount of pickled veggies this time around. Unfortunately, like my previous visit; there’s still no cucumber. **** I stand corrected – the cucumber detective is correct; there is a thin slice right above the cha lua! Nice slice of jalapeno, which was kind of mellow and a decent amount of cilantro.

Unlike Banh Mi Hoi An, there was a generous amount of funky-earthy-savory pate, which really “drove” the sandwich. In fact, in this case it really got close to too much of a good thing!

Still, I’m not complaining! Still among my favorite Banh Mi in San Diego.

Banh Mi Express
9353 Clairemont Mesa Blvd.
San Diego, CA 92123
Current Hours:
Mon – Fri 7am – 4pm
Saturday  8am – 3pm
Closed on Sundays

Banh Mi Hoi An Revisited

Banh Mi, Vietnamese Restaurants

The series of posts on Banh Mi shops that I did this past summer had me wondering how places like Banh Mi Hoi An, which I last visited over 7 (!!!) years ago were doing. So, on my way back from Liberty Station I decided to stop by.

The place is starting to look a bit dated and the tables looked kinda dusty….good thing I was just getting a banh mi to go. The young lady working seemed a bit distracted by something, though I was the only customer.

I decided on getting the “Special”….which would probably be called the Dac Biet at traditional banh mi shops since they don’t have Banh Mi Pate Cha on their menu. Yes, I’ve always considered Hoi An to be a more “westernized” Vietnamese shop.

The dac biet Hoi An Special is now priced at $8.95, which is pretty much in line with places like Avian. Like I mentioned, I was the only person in the place, but it took over 30 minutes for my Banh Mi?

I would say that places like Avian, Banh Mi Express, and Saigon Sandwiches are a step above Hoi An. I’m sure location and demographics have something to do with things.

As for the sandwich, the bread was crusty, but strangely chewy. The proteins were sliced quite thin and the “pate”…well, there wasn’t much of it and the sandwich had too much mayo.

The pickled daikon and carrots were on the sweeter side and pretty much nullified the proteins; though I did appreciate the decent amount of cilantro and slices of Jalapenos.

Overall, a Banh Mi not to offend…kind of westernized, I felt that proportions of ingredients were off. ‘Nuff said.

As I noted in my previous post all those years ago: “The banh mi here isn’t bad. It just isn’t worth going out of your way for.” Well, at least in my opinion, they are consistent……

Banh Mi Hoi An
3145 Rosecrans St
San Diego, CA 92110

Mien Trung and 777 Noodle House Revisited

Bun Bo Hue, Vietnamese Restaurants

These days, I actually look forward to cooler weather as it gives me a opportunity to head on out and get some noodle dishes. Just in the last week as things cooled down I made two revisits of places I’ve posted on many times….so if you’re looking for something new; I’ll try to have something for tomorrow.

Meanwhile….

777 Noodle House Revisited:

I last visited 777 back in January and I thought it was time to head on back for my Hu Tieu Nam Vang Kho fix. There was a time when the folks working here would remember me….I used to go quite often back in 2014 – 2017, but after things slowed down during Covid, I’d only go maybe once a year to get my fix.

Things were quiet on this weekend morning and of course I went with my usual. The Hu Tieu Nam Vang Kho is now $13.97 which caught my attention. Returning home, I checked the price on my last visit in January and it was $11.97. Whoa, a $2 increase……

Well, beyond the price increase, this was an “interesting” visit….

There seems to be a lot more ground pork these days. The shrimp was plump with no off flavors. The blanched bean sprouts goes well with the sauce. Strangely, I ordered the Hu Tieu Nam Vang Kho, but got egg noodles instead? Well, the noodles were slightly springy, which I coat well mixing in the sauce with a chopsticks and spoon.

The pork hock has been on the smaller side for my last couple of visits, so I expected that.

Less edible parts as well. The soup was also loaded with msg this time; which was ok when mixed in with the noodles and sauce….but man, the raging thirst.

Well, as much as I have a sentimental attachment to 777…..this is my 30th post on the place! I’m not sure when I’ll return.

777 Noodle House
4686 University Avenue
San Diego, CA 92105 

Mien Trung:

Another place that used to be on my “rotation”, though these days it seems that I visit maybe once a year. My last visit was all the way back in December of last year!

The place was doing a bustling take out business…pots of soup leaving the premises, when I arrived on this past Sunday morn. “Boo” the owner smiled and waved me to a table and asked me “bun bo hue, right”? Of course I’d come for my bun bo hue fix. Looking over the posted menu; it looks like the large BBH has gone up a dollar since my last visit. It’s now $13.95.

A rather overflowing plate of sprouts and veggies soon arrived.

And soon enough my scalding bowl of Bun Bo Hue arrived.

Man, the fragrance of this was so good! The soup was super hot which intensified the already spicy soup….perhaps I’m just getting wussy in my old age; but it seemed much spicier than I recalled!

I really enjoyed the broth; spicy, savory, hints of aromatic lemongrass……not overly salty as it would sometimes be.

An abundance of slippery noodles….I’m glad I wore a dark colored shirt to camouflage the “sprinkling of red dots” from my slurping.

For some reason, the look of the simmered pig’s feet cracked me up. You know why, right?

Loved the gelatinous skin and gnawing on that bone.

This really hit the spot! As I wiped the sweat from my brow and walked up to pay, Boo smiled and said “as soon as the weather cools down, I know I’ll see you here!” I guess I’m also getting predictable in my old age as well?

Mien Trung Restaurant
7530 Mesa College Dr.
San Diego, CA 92111

Well, here’s to cooler weather and getting out noodle soup fixes!

999 Quan Vietnamese Street Food

Pho, Vietnamese Restaurants

In the comments section of my post on the opening of Yorimichi 2, “FOY” Elle mentioned that the supposed second location of Phuong Nga next to World Foods Supermarket was going to be a place named 999 Quan Vietnamese Street Food. And recently, when I headed up to City Heights I passed by and noticed that the place had opened, so I changed my plans and stopped to take a look.

I saw that the place was indeed open, so I changed my plans and decided to eat here.

The photos of Banh Khot and Bun Rieu caught my eye as I entered the simply adorned restaurant.

I was pointed to a table and handed a menu, I quickly noticed that Banh Khot was not available at this time.

And also…the prices….yikes!

I had thoughts on trying the Bun Rieu, but I decided to try to get the Missus here to check that out….then perhaps Bun Bo Hue? In the end, I just went with the Bun suon bo vien – which was $18!!! But there was a 20% discount because it was grand opening week.

Ina somewhat funny moment….Vietnamese Music Videos were playing when I was seated. I was the only customer at the time. When I placed my order, the gentleman seemed a bit surprised that I didn’t speak Vietnamese….a few minutes later, Blues Videos in English started playing!! You gotta love it!

A glass of cold tea was dropped off…along with a plate of garnishes. Looks at all that Ngo Gai! Something that’s a rarity these days.

The bowl soon arrived and I quickly noticed something.

Along with the suon…the beef ribs…well the noodles didn’t look like bun, more like banh pho!

Which were perfectly cooked and not in a huge clump at the bottom of the bowl. There were nice droplets of fat floating on top of the broth adding a nice tongue feel. The amount of black pepper seemed quite excessive; but the pungency of that along with the raw onions really added to the flavor. Throw in the anise tones of the cilantro and ngo gai, all of this really complemented the soup, which to me was basically a nicely beefy pho. It did have a hint of that “sweetness” that permeates most pho in San Diego, but wasn’t bad at all.

The bo vien, the meatballs were typical, tough and squeaky, not my favorite thing in the world. The thicker slices of beef were decently tender and beefy. The crowning item of this bowl was the beef rib, you know, what I call “Them Bones“.

So tender….falling off the bone, nice and beefy!

This was possibly the best bowl of pho….even though it wasn’t called that on the menu; that I’ve had in a while. I prefer it to Pho Ca Dao which shares the same parking lot.

I tried to talk that Missus into a visit, but She kept declining. So, a couple of weeks later I returned. By now, each table had a menu placed on it! And they had changed the name of the Bun suon bo vien to Pho Suon Bo Vien. And raised the price by $2 to $20! Ouch!

I had thoughts of getting the Bun Bo Hue; but decided on just getting the Banh Mi Bo Kho ($15) instead. It had been a while since I’d had a decent bowl of Bo Kho as my old favorite place for the dish had changed ownership and my last bowl there was just ok.

The banh mi looked typical, but it was light, yeasty, crusty, and warm. The bowl of beef stew was fairly large as well.

The stew, was more of a broth, being on the thinner side. That said, it was full of beefy-anise flavor, with good tomato-pepper tones, and scorching hot!

The beef was super tender, the huge slices of carrots were as well. The tendon was super hard and crunchy…I prefer a more buttery texture.

Overall, loved the flavor, the tender chunks of beef. Would have preferred more tender tendon and a more stew like soup. Still, in terms of taste, it was quite good.

Several groups of older folks came in while I ate. A group of six women sat in back of me….they all ordered the Bun Rieu. Three gentleman, also on the older side came in a bit later, but hadn’t received their order when I had finished. The guy that I think is the owner was eating as I left….he was having Bun Rieu, so perhaps I can talk the Missus into visiting?

I’d probably come back again real soon….but those prices! They also have Bo Ne, that sizzling skillet dish that I only recall seeing at Thien Huong in Mira Mesa.

Elle, have you had a chance to visit 999 Quan? And if you did, what did you think? Thanks as always for the heads up!

999 Quan Vietnamese Street Food
5237 El Cajon Blvd.
San Diego, CA 92115
Current Hours:
Wed – Mon 9am – 9pm
Closed on Tuesday

Saigon Sandwiches & Deli Revisited

Banh Mi, Vietnamese Restaurants

Well, though it's been a while, I hadn't intended on revisiting Saigon Sandwiches & Deli….which kind of always slips my mind. I intended on checking out Da Nang Restaurant and Coffee which had replaced the longstanding Cafe Dore in the strip mall on the south corner of University and Marlborough. This was actually my second try as the first time went at the researched 830 am opening time and the place was closed. This time, I went at 930am in the morning and guess what….sigh…..the place was closed.

Since I was kinda hungry, I just decided to head into Saigon Sandwiches & Deli.

Saigon Sand Rev 01

It had been a while and the place looks like it's been renovated a bit.

Saigon Sand Rev 02

The Banh Mi Pate Cha is priced at $7.99 here; pretty much in the typical range for banh mi these days.

Took the banh mi home and unwrapped it.

Saigon Sand Rev 03

It looked pretty darn good. The bread here is always on the crusty side; but I'm not complaining. There's a butteriness to the bread as well. The generous amount pickled veggies were really thick and somewhat cumbersome. Lot's of cilantro…..mostly leaves, which I appreciated. Of course, no cucumber. The jalapenos on this banh mi was spicy!

Saigon Sand Rev 04

Good amount on nicely sliced cha lua and a nice smear of funky pate. 

I actually enjoyed this banh mi…..I'm not sure why I keep forgetting about this place. I need to visit more often.

And well, with the way my luck is going with regards to finding Da Nang Restaurant and Coffee open….at least I have a back-up option, right? I'll probably give the place another try…..but three strikes and I'm going to forget about it. Maybe "FOY" Elle knows what's up with Da Nang? As for Saigon Sandwiches….I need to make sure to have the place on my typical banh mi "rotation".

Saigon Sandwiches & Deli
4133 University Ave.
San Diego, CA 92105
Current Hours:
Open Daily 7am – 8pm

Pho Leo & Grill

Pho, Vietnamese Restaurants

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.

Pho Leo 01

The parking lot is fairly expansive, especially earlier in the morning, even on a weekend. 

Pho Leo 02

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. 

Pho Leo 03

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.

Pho Leo 04

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.

Pho Leo 05 Pho Leo 06  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

Pho Leo 07  Pho Leo 08 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.

Pho Leo 09

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. 

Pho Leo 11

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.

Pho Leo 12 Pho Leo 13  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.

Pho Leo 14  Pho Leo 15  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.

Pho Leo 18  Pho Leo 17
 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.

Pho Leo 16

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. Pho Leo 19

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

Pho Leo 00a