Pho Tay Bac

The best phở I’ve had in the Brea area.
The P1 special combo with the rare steak, flank, brisket, tendon and tripe is my favorite. I don’t particularly like thoroughly cooked meat put into my phở. I think it tastes so much better and has more flavor when it’s rare and put into the phở to cook. But that’s just me!
Their ice coffee is really tasty as well if you are looking for a pick me up with your phở.
The store is pretty clean and there are plenty of tables to sit at. All of the employees are very friendly and kind.
Take cash if you have a small order under $ 10 and I believe they charge a small fee to use a debit card.

J: Fast friendly services and great prices for phở and rice dishes.
A: A relaxing and no bullshit*t place

Since this is right down the street from my work, I decided to come and try this place. I got a phở bo vien which is noodles and meatballs with sliced onions, cilantro, plus some lime and bean sprouts on the side. I also got their spring rolls with their dipping sauce. The food was ok but not very flavorful to me.
$ 10 min to use card

This is my boyfriend and my favorite phở place, and we are quite the picky eaters. They are consistently fantastic, don’t skimp on items, are clean and are always fresh. The meat is delicious the broth has more flavor than any phở I have had in years… and I’ve tried a lot of places! The staff is friendly and efficient and they don’t hassle you about asking for «some extra lime», etc. A+ without hesitation!

Phở places are everywhere in southern CA, and we just had to try one. The food was fresh and super tasty. We ordered the spring roll platter, which had two shrimp, two BBQ pork and two fried spring rolls. They were all delicious. We ordered the shrimp phở, which comes in two sizes. Even the «small» is a big bowl of phở. The broth was not salty, but flavorful. We also ordered a grilled pork dish which was also excellent. The waitstaff was friendly and helpful. We will go back to this place for sure!

How is this place rated four stars??? There was no one but me at the restaurant yet the waiter hardly checked in on us. I got up and asked for a plain bowl of phở for my toddler, come to find out he charged $ 5.79 for it! What? Other phở places give kids complementary phở. Smh.

Soup base is too salty and lack flavor. It also is too sweet for a good bowl of Phở. There’s nothing special about this place that stands out. If you’re okay with mediocre, then this is the right place for you.

This place is great the selection is awesome and its one of the better phở restaurants ive been to. If you love vietnamese good you should definitley check this place out

Truly one of my favorite spots to eat on a regular basis! The service like the food is amazing! The chicken phở with vegetables is the business!!!

Love the phở !!! I am no expert for sure but I have been coming here for years and brought my friends also and they love it !! Fast, friendly and quick service ! I’ll keep coming back !
Also have had shrimp spring rolls — wonderful, not sure why got bad reviews !

This restaurant is great. Food is delicious. Service is really good. I had Sal as a waiter tonight. He did an awesome job. He really hustles. I would recommend ¹⁰⁄₁₀ times.

As my brother pointed out, this place must’ve been a former donut shop. The walls are painted a depressing shade of anemic yellow. I only point this out because even before entering, my expectations were not very high. It’s in Brea but this could’ve been in a million humble strip malls in LA. This will sound harsh but I felt like I was eating in someones’ garage and just like most phở places, it could be cleaner.
The workers are friendly and I got the chicken phở and it was pretty good. The chicken wasn’t boiled to smithereens like most phở places. The spring rolls, however, let much to be desired.
It seems like this place has a strong following, which I’m somewhat confused by. To each his own.

Ambience: ⁰⁄₅
Spring Rolls: ⁰⁄₅
Phở: ⁴⁄₅
Not coming back. I don’t get the rave reviews. Have you never been to another phở restaurant? And «hole in the wall»? That’s for sure! It feels like a ghetto donut shop in the ‘hood … it’s all fluorescent lighting … I couldn’t wait to get out.
Yikes moment: My shrimp spring rolls were literally just shrimp and iceberg lettuce. Oh, and btw, the shrimp had some vein specks or something on them. Yuck.
Good note: the chicken phở I got was pretty good. Fast and friendly service.
Bottom line: go somewhere else

Staff was friendly, but the food is okay. I don’t really care for the eggeoll either, Vietnamese eggroll usually crunchy and full, and theirs taste like Chinese eggroll. Wouldn’t order it again.
On the bright note, they have happy hour for the phở, before 5:30.

I’m writing this review for the LONG HAIR WAITER WHO SHOULD RECEIVE THE BEST SERVER/​MOST DEDICATED WAITER AWARD. I finished my meal and ordered Thai ice tea to-​go. However, since I was so full, I forgot a full cup of Thai ice tea at the table and left. This waiter RAN AFTER ME INTO THE BIG BUSY STREET to give me my thai ice tea (and no not the parking in front of the restaurant, he ran INTO THE STREET next to the plaza!!!). I’M SORRY I ALMOST RAN U OVER. PLEASE DON’T RISK YOUR LIFE for my Thai ice tea. You could have been seriously injured!
THANK YOU. Phở Tay Bac, you are lucky to have such a courageous employee. This long hair waiter is a keeper and deserves a raise!

I don’t have much phở experience, so take that into consideration when reading this. The phở, on take out, is broth and a separate container of noodles and toppings, so be sure you have a big enough bowl to mix everything together. The broth is okay. The extra seasonings, lime and chili really improves the flavor. The noodles, like other phở, is vermicelli. I got the seafood phở with shrimp, imitation crab, fish balls, and cuttle fish. My wife got the well done brisket. For the $ 7.95 price of each for large portions, it’s definitely worth it. The egg rolls are tasty but the real surprise was the fresh squeezed lemonade. Wow! Really good. For a quick phở in Brea, it’ll do…

I really don’t know why people are so crazy about this place. (–_​_​-​)
Food: nothing terrible but nothing that good either
–Phở: Bland. What makes the phở is the delicious broth that comes from cooking beef bones and it should have a savory yet light flavor. However it was just so flavorless. If I’m going to eat soup for a meal it better be good.
–shrimp spring rolls: fresh rice paper, but under filled. Excessive rice paper due to lack of filling. Peanut sauce more on the peanut butter flavor, like maybe there was too much of a peanut butter to fish sauce ratio.
Service: They were attentive but just didn’t do a good job. Forgot to bring us peanut sauce. Kept letting phở slosh out of bowls when served. Hovered over me while I finishing my spring roll so he could take my plates. Then hovered again when it the check was brought. Gave us the check then just stood next to the table waiting for us to pay. They meant well, but service was not well executed.
The food wasn’t bad, just bland… but with the combination of forgettable food and awkward service, I will not be returning.
Btw people keep talking about how cheap the food is but in Veit/​Asian areas, these prices would be considered average to maybe a hair on the high side. Places with less of certain ethnic food types tend to charge more than what is normally expected.

Service was excellent. Server was attentive and friendly, which is how I know things are going to go well in a dining experience.
Spring rolls were fair. The pork was high quality so I do not have a complaint there. Rolls were loosely wrapped and fell apart before you could dunk it in that delicious peanut sauce, which is why I have nicked off one star. I am also used to mint and cucumber wrapped inside. These were heavy on lettuce with a hint of cilantro. I recommend they bring in rolls with mint, but that is just my preference.
Rare beef phở was a generous portion with generous amount of basil.
Thai iced tea, you just can’t go wrong there.
Good food and very affordable. One medium phở, one large phở, 2 shrimp spring rolls, 2 pork spring rolls and 2 thai iced teas … bill was $ 28.
Overall, great job guys … I’ll be back!

— Locale Destination —
It’s on W Imperial Hwy and Arovista Ave in Brea.
It’s in a tiny corner shopping plaza, right by «Snowland».
Ambiance: Typical pop & mom type place, nothing fancy. Decent cleanness.
Service: Friendly, attentive but kinda slow, which is very unusual for Vietnamese restaurants.
Payment: $ 10 minimum for credit card usage!
Happy hour: weekdays only. 2pm — 5pm, 20% off all phở, dine-​in only!
Parking: Easy and enough.
— Gluttony Expedition —
M1: The egg noodle was a deep fried one. They put tons of vegetables — bok choi, bell peppers, onions, and carrots — more than noodle. Not bad if you wanna eat lots of vegetables. I prefer the one at «Phở Ha» in Brea or at «iPho» in Fullerton.
Vermicelli: BBQ isn’t bad. Grilled shrimp was good. It needs more vegetables — cucumbers, lettuce, and bean sprouts — more than noodle. Egg roll was meh. It’s ok.
— Conqueror’s Deduction —
Surprisingly you can get decent Vietnamese food in Fullerton (toward Anaheim side) without going to Little Saigon, so this level ain’t cut for me.
You spend more $$ on Vietnamese food and get lesser quality in Brea — that’s the fact.
I still prefer «Phở Ha» in Brea, but haven’t tried many Vietnamese restaurants in Brea. Brea isn’t the place for good food in general — more like big corporate chain restaurants. I don’t do those. It’s the town you would avoid for good food like Irvine and Newport Beach.

If a person grows up eating phở, tries a new phở place, and says it’s not bad, that means it’s pretty good. So with that in mind, I have to say the phở here is not bad for the cost and the location: Brea vs. Little Saigon.
Some people prefer broths made with stronger notes of star anise, cinnamon, cardamom, clove, etc., so if that’s what you’re looking for, you’ll likely be disappointed because the broth here is light and less potent. I appreciated that it was clear and not greasy, unlike some other places nearby.
Don’t concern yourself with the lack of décor and fluorescent lighting since you’ll get fast service in return, and can dine in less than 10 minutes — I think I’ve waited longer in some drive-​thru fast food restaurants. :)