PHO, BANH MI&GRILL

Went back for a second time and the phở was as great as the first time! Added some hot wings, which were also good. But the real standout was the pork Bahn mi. Absolutely fantastic! Just like last time, though, they’re only getting four stars due to single-​serving drinks, including water. Come on guys, it’s not that hard. Get it right — I only mention it because everything else you do is great, so this sticks out like a sore thumb.

My boyfriend and I were looking for a new Vietnamese restaurant to try out as we just moved from Richmond, VA. This place had a high rating but only a couple reviews. We thought we’d give it a shot. The restaurant has a nice modern feel to it.
We sat down and ordered. I ordered beef and shrimp vermicelli and my boyfriend ordered the chicken fried rice. Both dishes were absolutely delicious. There was a little mix up with our order as the first two dishes that came out were incorrect but they immediately corrected it.
In general, I would definitely recommend this restaurant.

Great beer and wines! This is a wonderful stop to wait out rush hour and enjoy some delicious food! I get the pork Bahn Mi sandwich! It is one of the best in town! Great fresh food! Within walking distance of down town Fairfax City! Thank You!

Tastes a little different than your authentic Banh Mi, but none the less still very tasty. Decent portion size and the meat tasted very juicy and savory. I also ordered the Vietnamese Iced Coffee, which was VERY sweet! I had to water it down quite a bit. Overall the restaurant is a very clean environment, which makes the dining experience enjoyable. Nice décor and friendly staff. Price point, is affordable so it won’t hurt your wallet. The reason I’m not giving it 5 stars, is because it’s not quite as authentic as real Vietnamese cuisine, but keep it mind this is more Americanized version.

Atmosphere was cute, maybe some music in the background would be nice. I ordered the beef noodles and it was good but nothing to die for. The spring rolls are great, and so was the lemongrass chicken! As far as customer service goes it was more than excellent.

We had a wonderful lunch at Phở Banh MI today! I had the vermicelli bowl with springroll and pork. Everything was super fresh and I really like their fish sauce. Hubby had a pork banh mi and it was also tasty (I had a bit to make sure!). The service is super friendly and efficient. I also like that it is super clean and you can tell that all of the ingredients are fresh. We also found out that they don’t use MSG in their food which is a plus! We can’t wait to go back to this wonderful small local restaurant.

The restaurant is immaculately clean and the service was beyond par. We were served well not by one, but all the servers. The place was full but the wait was short. The food was very clean, healthy, and delicious. The owner seemed to greet everyone and knew the locals. The staff was accommodating and just everything was great. In addition, you get the feeling you just want to help out a place like this.
They work hard and do food well. We had their veggie phở and tofu Bahn mi. Spot on. No weird after tastes, huge portions, and the desire to come again. Good place for small family, business, or solo. Not so much room for a large company.

Amazing fresh good – everything made fresh in house! Every dish we ordered, including phở, grilled pork and flan, was very good! I have been wishing for a long time for a nearby Vietnamese restaurant as good as my favorites in New Orleans and now we have one! And if you like soda chan, they have it. They’ve only been open about 6 months, so go! I see another reviewer thought the prices were too high (?!) while I frankly thought they were too low. They even bake their own Vietnamese/​French bread. The owner could not have been more hospitable and has held fundraisers for Robinson high school.

I would rate this place a 4.5÷5
Found this gem near my house while looking for a quick fix on Unilocal.Being acquainted with the NoVA area, I know what good Vietnamese food tastes like. I’ve been to Eden center and plenty of Vietnamese restaurants nearby. I have to say I think this place is more innovative and Americanized than the ones I’ve been to. With that being said, I actually really appreciate their system. I ordered online (grilled pork banh mi, summer rolls-​shrimp, iced Vietnamese coffee) for pick up. The ordering process was super easy and I thought it was really neat. When I got to the restaurant, I was welcomed by every worker I saw which was a huge plus. I can tell customer service will be outstanding here.
Now onto the food: I thought the summer rolls were okay– nothing crazy. **the grilled pork banh mi was delicious** the amount of food you get for the price is crazy good ($ 5.99). It was seasoned perfectly and I wasn’t skimped on the meat or vegetables. I could definitely tell it wasn’t pre-​made because the meat in the sandwich was warm and the bread was crunchy and fresh. In addition I thought the coffee was really good: not too strong or sweet. Overall I was very impressed with everything and I will be returning to actually eat inside. Also after reading some reviews, I’ll be ordering myself a smoothie to try.

Customer service A+
Food A+
Smoothies — LOVE the pineapple, strawberry & mango, they use minimal sugar (if any) and tastes like its made with real fruit!
Banh Mi
— beef — seasoned perfectly, very generous the amount of meat & loaded w/​veggies
–cold cut combo —
They don’t skimp on the pâté !! Perfect combo of mwats and loaded w/​veggies
Love the service, quality & quantity of food, very affordable!

I really liked the décor here! It’s small but the staff is all really nice! There is even a full bar! It seems a little out of place, but it’s definitely nice to have. They also have a big TV in the bar area. There is window seating too and they have a pretty expansive menu! I unfortunately didn’t eat in the restaurant. I just ordered to go, but I really enjoyed the to go item I got! They are coming out with dinner specials and I really want to try those ! The prices look fine to me ??? I don’t see why ppl think it’s too pricy but it seemed good. Since I didn’t actually order an entrée, I can’t say if the portions are good or not but I was sacrifice with the Summer Rolls that I ordered.
What I really liked that this restaurant and a few other restaurants are doing in the area is, the owners work with the staff and they do more than just oversee everything. The owner was nice and welcoming, but he did spend a lot of time asking how I knew about the business and trying to get his business out there. There’s no problem with that, it’s just, I was somewhat in a rush. But nonetheless, it showed me that this man is a very hard worker and that he’s dedicated. His staff was also really nice and they were preparing my rolls.
They also have lunch specials too and I want to come back to try them. One last thing, their chicken is Halal and I got a discount for being a Mason Student! 10%!!

Moved to the DC area recently and my new office location is close to this eatery. I found it by doing a search for Vietnamese phở and banh mi. Being from CA, we have a variety of different worldly foods and I had been craving some good banh mi. I wandered over a few weeks ago after work to get some dinner. Sadly, the proprietor had run out of banh mi that day (a very popular item there given the proximity to GM university). However, he made it up to me by making the beef phở and asked me to compare to what I have had in CA. The meat was very tender and the flavors were spot on. He assured me he would have more banh mi the following day and to bring some of my coworkers. He informed me he would be adding boba to the drink menu items and recently had been approved for alcohol.
I was unable to return the next day due to situations at work but I was able to visit again the following Friday. The proprietor wasn’t present but his wife was and I was able to get a pork banh mi. Heavenly is one word to describe it, definitely better than some of the banh mi back in my hometown. My coworker tried the beef and also tried some of the spring rolls. We also both got thai tea to drink.
I returned again today and tried the beef banh mi, which was delicious but my preference definitely is still the pork. I will have to try the chicken next time. Again the proprietor’s wife was running the shop and she generously gave us a cup of the passion fruit with ‘exploding’ boba, something I hadn’t tried before.
Prices are very good for the portions. The staff are friendly and efficient. The flavors for the food is perfect and authentic, too.

Today was the second time I went to this restaurant. Yesterday was the first.
I am always craving banh mi for whatever reason after work, & I’ve been looking for a place that doesn’t stray too far away from the drive back home. The first plus of this place is that it actually helped me avoid traffic! If you live in NOVA, you know how clutch that is. The time it took me to order, pick up, and go back home is just as long as the time it takes to get to my exit off 66. I know.
Yesterday, I ordered the Spring Egg Rolls, Grilled Pork Banh Mi, & Thai Tea. The egg rolls were okay. It came with two & were bigger than I was expecting (lol) which was nice because it cost almost $ 4. There was nothing really special about it though, & I didn’t really like them. The banh mi was good though! The pork was marinated well, tender, & cut to good sized pieces so that you would get enough in each bite without pulling out (lol) from the rest of the sandwich. A personal pet peeve of mine is when I can only take one good bite of a sandwich & the rest is a mess, so that’s definitely another plus! Thai tea is Thai tea. The only one I have ever not liked was in a can. To be expected.
Today, I ordered the Summer Rolls with Shrimp, the Combo Sandwich, and Thai Tea (again). The summer rolls reminded me of the spring rolls, but they got the job done better. The sandwich had cold cuts in it which I would normally rate below banh mi’s with marinated meat, but I liked this one better! Third plus for being pleasantly surprised!
& the final plus, the workers there are super nice & really efficient. Both times I went!
If you want a quick lunch or dinner, I would say it is worth stopping by! The banh mi is good, but I would pass on the appetizers.

I have been binge-​watching The Great Foodtruck Race on Netflix, and it just so happens that one of the winningest trucks in season one is Nom Nom, a banh mi truck. These ladies and gent clearly know what they are doing and every episode I’ve wanted to dive through my tv and «Nom Nom Nom»! I’ve seen banh mi quite often, however, it’s usually competing with phở on a menu and the phở has always won out– until now. After salivating over the Nom Nom truck, I made it my mission today to seek out banh mi. I didn’t have a lot of time and could only find two places, including this one, close enough for me in a tight on time situation.
I arrived around 12:20, clearly at the height of their lunch rush. There are about 8 tables, give or take, and all but a few two top tables were taken. They do have a «bar» (no alcohol) that faces out the window with additional seating. I saw table number plaques near a register, so I assumed it was order at the counter, pay, and then they bring out your food. This is actually a sit down restaurant, as I found out when I was approached by a clearly frazzled server (the only one serving mind you) who asked if I was here for the tofu. When I said no, but I’d like to place an order for here, she told me to sit wherever I’d like after handing me a menu. I already knew what I wanted, but I waited patiently for her to finally come over. She brought me a water (which she refilled in a timely manner later on), took my order, and then I waited. And waited. And waited. My chicken banh mi (as I had read in other reviews about the pork being overly fatty) took about twenty minutes to come out. If it had been any longer I would have needed it to go. When it did come out though it was delicious (although I’ve– shockingly –never had banh mi so I have nothing of comparison). The baguette was fresh, hot, and crisp. The crust was crackly as a baguette should be. The cilantro (which I know is a divisive herb) was fresh and not overpowering. I loved the contrasting flavors of the sweet/​tangy marinated carrots and daikon radish plus cucumbers with the spicy jalepeno peppers. I’m a mild-​salsa girl (although I have been purposefully upping my game lately), so I greatly appreciated having my water constantly refilled to counterbalance the heat. The chicken was not as plentiful as the other ingredients but had a nice honey sweet flavor profile. The mayonnaise spread, which I didn’t notice until the last few bites, also was a nice contrast to the jalapeños.
All in all, I’d definitely return, especially in warmer weather because I can walk here from my workplace. The banh mi was $ 6.50 after tax and filled me up quite nicely. They do offer phở, and that is what I saw everyone else eating around me. Its priced around $ 10, which is a good deal, so I don’t understand why other reviewers have labeled it pricy. They also offer take out and you can order online, however, when I clicked on «chicken banh mi» on their online system the pork banh mi came up and visa versa, so they may want to work on that. Parking is free, allegedly up to an hour, in a tiny garage behind the building. Oh, and the table tents also allege beer and wine is coming soon!

The second we walked in they were so welcoming + friendly. When that happens, I’m sold, even when the food is not superb. Customer service + friendliness is so important + really an make a customer return or not return.
We found this restaurant on Unilocal + saw that it has good reviews. My hubs + I ordered the beef phở + he had the shrimp spring rolls. He said they were decent (I’m allergic to shrimp).
I knew there was something different about the phở we had, but I couldn’t put my finger on it until the chef came out to check on his customers. Yes, the chef personally came to check on us — pretty cool. He told us that he cooks with ginger + some other ingredient that I can’t remember — that’s what made the phở taste different from other phở. Not good. Not bad. He also said he does not cool with MSG at all. That’s awesome.
I love that the kitchen is right there + you can see them cooking + preparing everything.
I’m giving this restaurant a 4 because of the superb customer service, but I’ve had better phở.
If you want legit authentic phở, go to Pho234 in Manassas. Sorta hole in the wall place, but they’re so friendly + the food is amazing.

Judging by the really plain name, I think they just wanted a phở/​banh mi place near George Mason students.
IRONICALLY the price isn’t very student friendly. The price isn’t normal people friendly either. $ 10 for a bowl of phở (chicken, beef, etc. all the same price). I ordered beef phở and it was nothing special. Even with the 10% student discount it’s still more expensive than other Vietnamese restaurants (you can find large, quality phở for $ 8. I also ordered a banh mi b/​c you know, I had to order everything in the restaurant name! The banh mi was lackluster just like the phở ($ 6 for any type of banh mi, but you can find better ones for $ 4 somewhere else!!!). It tasted like Banh Mi DC if the bread wasn’t fresh and the meat was extra cold.
If you’re a hungry mason student and have no choice, eat here. If not, don’t waste your time!

Delicious, satisfying, and all-​around good Vietnamese food that just opened blocks from George Mason University.
First off, this place has quite the high-​energy staff and owner, and you can tell they’re excited to be opening in the area! The owner, Francis, even chatted with everyone in the dining room, and was heading out to talk to the people in the community to let people know about his restaurant.
We ordered the seafood soup (seafood version of ye ol’ phở) and a plate of the lemongrass chicken platter. The seafood soup is mostly fish balls, imitation crab, and a few pieces of shrimp. While we are disappointed that there weren’t more actual seafood — the owner informed us that most of the customers didn’t really like the fresh seafood soup, but preferred this instead.
The lemongrass chicken rice plate was bomb. From the salad, to the well-​marinated lemongrass chicken, and topped with fried egg! Everything that can comfort any rice platter lover any day.
I’ll have to say, the highlight is the kale salad that we started off with. Finished with almond, cranberries, and a light mayo ginger dressing. The salad was fresh and a great start to the meal!
Finished off with the housemade Vietnamese flan — one of the best flan I’ve had in a while. It’s not too sweet, and the taste takes me back to the streets of Southeast Asia! The texture is perfect too.
Overall, definitely coming back for that comfort food. I also love the fresh ingredients that they used over here. I’m happy to see at last a large portion of their kitchen visible to everyone. Looks like they’re serious about being honest with their ingredients.
Hope they continue upkeeping this quality!

**3.5 STARS**
I was super excited for a new Vietnamese restaurant in the area but unfortunately there’s still room for improvement. A cafeteria style restaurant, the ambiance is very casual and laid back. It’d be fun to come back for a lunch with friends. I ordered both the egg rolls and spring rolls — the egg rolls were pretty good but the spring rolls left much to be desired. The spring rolls are a lot smaller than most places and there was barely any meat/​filling inside.
The phở broth is actually quite refreshing since they don’t use any MSG. You can definitely taste the difference if you’re used to other phở places. While the lack of MSG also takes away some of the flavor, the food coma doesn’t hit you as hard once you’re done eating. The chicken in my phở was also very flavorful. Most of the time my chicken is dry and flavorless but their chicken was surprisngly delicious!
Overall the service is very friendly and helpful. The prices are a little high for what you get, which is the main reason I only give it 3.5 stars. They tried to be different by placing the sauces in small bowl containers on the table rather than the usual siracha/​hoison bottles. This actually makes it harder to get all the sauce you want without spilling everywhere. There’s a few kinks they need to work out but this place has potential. It’s worth checking out especially if you want to try phở without MSG.

*3.5*, 10% discount for students if you show your ID.
This is a fairly small restaurant that just opened close to the university, so I thought I may try it since my mom mentioned it to me that the chef/​owner used to work at Wegmans and claims that his phở is healthier than others.
HOWEVER, I do regret checking this place out right after the snow storm, because they didn’t have the chance to go out and get some ingredients. I wanted to try out the tofu phở and they didn’t have any tofu. Initially disappointed, I respected the fact that they won’t serve low-​quality food to us, so the cashier offered alternatives: substituting the tofu for cauliflower. I guess I couldn’t understand how she was explaining it, but she said they can throw in broccoli and other veggies as well (I responded saying mostly cauliflower would be good)! I also ordered a kale salad and beef phở to-​go. My bf got the beef phở as well.
Keep in mind that when you walk in, go straight to the cashier. It seems like that’s how it works: you order at the cashier, they give you a number, and you seat yourself.
Once seated, it didn’t take long before the kale salad came out as appetizer then the phở. We didn’t get our water until after the food came out, but I brushed it off.
Kale salad: If you’ve been to Wegmans before and had their kale salad with the cranberries and almond slices, it’s no different. I don’t think it was worth $ 3 – 4, but it wasn’t tastefully bad.
Veggie Phở: I literally got about 3 little pieces of cauliflower, the rest being broccoli and some yellowish vegetable that tasted like it came from the carrot family (?). Anyway, I can see why the owner would claim this to be healthy, because the broth didn’t seem to have much oil or saltiness to it. In other words, it was kind of bland. I don’t like MSG, and I don’t like salty soup, but this phở had me spooning in hoisin sauce until I tasted some kind of light tanginess. Bun (noodles) were great to me, they were thin and light, but they were cooked just right.
My bf was pretty upset about his phở, because he specifically asked for no brisket (it’s alittle fatty for him). They included the brisket anyway. His water was pretty empty for a majority of the time we ate, but we could see that the cashier (who was also every table’s waitress) seemed too busy with the other customers and hard to flag down.
She came by later to ask me how I liked my phở, and since I’m not one to fake a compliment, I said it was «okay», and that there wasn’t a lot of cauliflower. After paying, we started walking out when she stopped me to give me shrimp spring rolls to give to my mom (I ordered the beef phở for her to-​go), I guess to make up for the phở.
BREAKDOWN:
Customer Service– 3.0, maybe hiring one other waiter would be easier and less stressful.
Food– 2.5, for the phở and kale salad. I wish to come back and try the banh mi or the tofu when they have it though and maybe update this review.
I think what got them to a 3.5 would be the way they (the cook and the cashier/​waitress) greeted everyone, made friendly small talk, and valued our opinions on the dishes. This place does have a lot of potential, and there are some simple improvements here and there!

This is a welcome addition to Fairfax. I was greeted by a very friendly cashier upon entering, and the menu is easy to understand. They offer a 10% discount to students, military and gov’t employees; even though I didn’t have my gov’t ID on me, the cashier still gave me the discount without any hassle. There’s a small parking lot in back for the business, so no worries there.
I had the vermicelli with a side of crispy spring rolls, and really enjoyed my meal. I definitely want to go back and try the banh mi and phở.