Pho 86 Restaurant

I’ve never been much of soup person and I’m not going to lie… I’m picky ass hell! But this is by far the one and only Phở I will eat. All white meat chicken Phở or their filet mignon is the way to go if you’re picky. Also Kahn the owner is super nice and welcoming. Love how he goes around to each table to make sure everything tastes good and that you have everything you need.

When i first came to this place i loved it brought plenty of people here and everything if the broth is fantastic I’ll keep coming one of my favorite dishes is the phở ga

Was looking for a Phở place for wifey and 45 was just packed and crowded inside. Came here and they had plenty of room and got served right away. The Phở was outstanding and we will be back. When we ordered Chicken Phở was given the choice of white or dark meat or mixed. We picked mixed and was then given the choice of skin and bone or not. We opted for skin and bone which really added to the flavor!

I found this place last year and LOVED IT. The owner was on site, attentive, spoke good English.
BUT ON MY RETURN: they expanded — took on a whole other spot, but it also appeared to be new owners.
Place was NOT as clean, the servers didn’t even look that clean. Little or NO English — hard to order/​understand. Which isn’t really a complaint here — just an observation. I don’t have to speak your language to get good food — hell, I’ll draw pictures if I have to — just want good food and good service — in ANY language.
Food def went down in quality! Phở NOT the same! This is Garden Grove — Phở spots out number Starbucks. NEXT!
BEWARE!

I don’t usually care much for Phở, being Vietnamese, I think no restaurant can make better phở than my Mom. I bet most Vietnamese shares this thought (we should have a Unilocal your Mom phở event to settle this once and for all).
Anyway, back to phở 86. I really like this place because it’s really close to my house and their phở is really good. I mean honestly there are couple places I prefer over this place but it’s either too far, too much MSG, too expensive or too dirty. Phở 86 has the best overall phở, plus you can’t go wrong with their xi quach (a literally gigantic beef bone with tendons and some meats intact). That alone makes you Phoget about all other places. (Sorry I just couldn’t resist)

Update: The service here isn’t that great anymore. They hired the guy that used to waiter at Phở Thanh and he’s just terrible.
Dude brings the menu and stands there and just expect you to know what you want. You tell him that you’re not ready and he walks around and literally comes back in like 2 sec. Lol After you place your order, he’ll drop off your food and never checks up on you again. No water refill, no nothing.
The service is only good when the owner is there to do it himself, When the owner is out… forget about service.

Great Phở, and OX TAIL with traditional Vietnamese seasoning. Add it to your Phở or just nibble on it with your rice dish. They offer Rice dishes, crispy egg rolls and springs rolls. The egg rolls were piping hot and crispy, but I have not tried the spring rolls or rice dishes yet.
Go earlier in the day if you want get that ox tail =) Parking is crunched

The phở here is not that bad. It’s down the street from my house, so it is convenient. They have Xi Kuat so that is great! These alone would merit 3.5 stars. However, I am giving 2 stars due to the filth that I find on the spoons; tables smell too. I discarded 6 spoons before finding one clean enough to wipe before using.
Hopefully, the owner reads this post and fixes this problem.

Just went here with a friend after New Years and what can I say, delicious and awesome customer service!
Environment: Typical Phở restaurant but more clean and colorful! It’s in a crowded plaza but parking was easy
Food:
* Phở Tai: A rare beef which cooks in the hot soup, so good! Plenty of meat in a small bowl!
* PhonDac Biet: My friend loved her dish! Combination of everything
Delicious broth, asked for extra onions, yum!
* Soda Chanh: Homemade Sprite basically, with sugar, limes, and sparkling soda! Pretty good, tasted kind of sour and not as carbonated as I hoped but asked the waiter to fix it and it tasted good!
* Coconut juice: Yum!
Service: Awesome service! Waiters were attentive and the owner was super chill! Totally talkative and not fake and sweet!
Price: $ 23 for everything! Not bad
Overall: Will come back! Can’t wait!

F this place and the so called «elites» that give this trash 5 stars, when i was there my first and last time. this white guy pulled out his phone and said he was a elite and he got the service of a life time. i dont base my reviews on free food, i base it on the god damn food. When i did order my food they got it wrong because for them «well done» means throw «meat in sup, and well done» and yes. thats exactly what i was told verbatim.
To my shock, my original post was deleted because im sure their were complaints of some of the language that was used, but to say i was not happy is a clear understatement.
In closing, Unilocal is getting to start to be a joke when you can bribe «elites» to give you a positive review. This is an honest review and not some paid trash like the rest.
1. Soup sucked, i was promised great soup by the assholes elitist here and was disappointed.
2. Want something your way? Cook it yourself because this place wont make what you order.
3. customer service? only if you show off your stupid status or speak vietnamese.

Every time I drive pass this place it is always packed so dragged my BF to come and try it. I like how you can customize your bowl of phở to your liking with the meat that you like.
What I got:
Small Gau Gan Sach ($ 7): fatty brisket, tendon, and tripe. My favorite 3 meats in phở! I was super excited to try it, but when it came out I could tell that I was going to be disappointed already. Barely saw any meat from the first glance at it. Fatty brisket wasn’t that fatty and looked more like the regular brisket (chin). Gan was really good though, better than other places since it was softer feeling. Tripe was dried and all shriveled up. Noodles were a little undercooked. Broth smelled good, but tasted just okay to me.
Service:
They all speak English and don’t wait at the table for you like other phở restaurants, not sure if that’s a good or bad thing though. Phở did take awhile to come out though compared to other phở restaurants. Workers were all nice though! Get up and pay at the counter!

Phở 86 offers yet another solid Phở in a city with a seemingly endless supply of quality slurpable options.
I decided to make a concerted effort to up my Phở game this winter as I am in the Garden Grove area often for business and who doesn’t like Vietnam’s answer to Ramen? With that in mind I stopped in to give Phở 86 the Pepsi challenge on a rare cold and rainy day in Garden Grove.
The restaurant itself is gargantuan for a Phở joint and they keep the place spotless. The service was commendable for the genre and the prices were fair at $ 7.00 — $ 10.00 per bowl depending on the size and choice of meat. Per usual, I ordered the large Phở Tai and a water and lime wedge. It took less than five minutes for my bowl of Phở to arrive at my table and with a squirt of Sriracha, a handful of bean sprouts, a few Thai Basil leaves and a healthy dollop of fresh Lime juice, it was game time.
The Phở Tai includes thin slices of rare Filet Meat immersed in a delicate, yet savory broth. The consistency is loose compared to Phở 79 but the favor is all there. The soup comes out nuclear hot which cooked the beef quickly so I would recommend asking for it on the side as I will do next time in order to regulate the temperature. Other than that, it was a very legitimate representation.
I am happy to have the Phở 86 notch in my belt and would say it is on the short list of great spots in Garden Grove. I look forward to having my next bowl sometime soon!

The service here is incredibly friendly! Khahn, the owner, makes us feel like we’re family dining in his home. He takes time to come over and thank us for stopping in and converses with us while we wait for our food.
As far as the food, I love the chicken phở here. It’s the best I’ve had in the area. The broth is flavorful and the ingredients taste fresh and clean. The Ginger Fish dipping sauce for the chicken is so good! The chicken doesn’t have weird chewy parts and is sliced in pieces you can eat in one bite. It makes the experience more enjoyable when you don’t have to spend time cutting up the meat into smaller portions just to eat it.
They’ve recently purchased the vitamin shop that was next door, which has allowed them to expand their restaurant. They can seat a lot more customers now with the addition of several more tables. There’s a few TVs, which are usually playing sports. The restaurant is kept clean. Parking is shared with several other businesses so it could be a pain at times. Other than that, I love the food and service here. It’s definitely one of my top picks for phở in the area.

I met up with one of my girlfriends here. The restaurant is much bigger than I expected and really clean.
I haven’t had phở at a restaurant since the last time we drank and stayed up late. So you can say, this is the first time I’ve had it in years. Normally, my family makes it. The Phở Ga was recommended to me by a friend and also by my aunt, who would know! The dish is simple but delicious. The chicken phở came with a ginger dressing on the side. I drank all the broth. Everything was fresh.
If I do get phở again, I’ll definitely come here.

Good and tasty bowl, but that’s it.
Had high hopes for this place, but was immediately turned off with the flies all over the place once we were seated and reading the menu. Maybe because they had the door open? It was a nice 75 degree weather, but the flies were just everywhere INSIDE the restaurant. GERMOPHOBE ALERT. Yes, they were landing on the tables, on the open tops of Sriracha, and even flying over our heads. Ugh. I immediately covered my water and straw with a napkin.
The menu is just phở. A bit disappointed because I wanted some eggrolls to go with phở, but there was none of that here. I ordered a small bowl, which was TINY, compared to the small bowls of the other Phở places around the area. I have to admit, the broth is GOOD, but feels greasier than the broth at Phở 45. The noodles seemed thinner and the bowl had an okay amount of soft meat.
But we kept flailing our hands around because of the flies. We looked around, and everybody had the same problem, except that they didn’t seem to mind. I guess it’s normal?!
The server /​staff was nowhere near friendly. Just gave us the menus and water, served the food, and they never checked with us again. That’s fine, I didn’t want my water exposed anyway, in fear of something landing in it.
I am trying not to be harsh, the phở was good after all. But will probably not be back. There are other just-​as-​good Phở places in GG, with larger servings, nicer staff and no flies.

Don’t know what it is with phở restaurants and their numbers but this place is pretty good! The restaurant is spacious with plenty of seating. We came around lunch time on a weekend and I felt like there weren’t enough servers. Whenever we needed something, we had to wait a while and constantly had to look up to see if anyone was coming our direction.
I got a large combination bowl ($ 7.50) and the soup was delicious. You can really tell that they cook their broth with lots of pork bone. There is a decent amount of noodles/​meat/​etc… My only gripe is that they charge for everything! I usually ask for a side of nuoc beo (the fatty broth) on the side with my phở and they charge 25 cents! Want extra beansprouts/​leaves? Another charge… If you’re ok with just the basics, you’ll love this place.
All in all, we came here for the phở and this place delivered.

Recently expanded, Phở 86 is my go to place for phở when I am in the area. They offer the giant beef bones which is great to go with your bowl of phở. The beef tendon is actually very healthy containing little fat and high in protein, it just doesn’t look very appetizing.
My dad and I were seated right away. The man came to take our order and our food came flying out. Spent about 20 $ for two people. Make sure you go to the register when you’re ready to pay!

My co-​worker and I were planning on going to the Korean Tofu place in the same shopping center as Phở 86 but it was closed so instead of driving to find another place, we decided to try Phở 86.
I was scared and intrigued that they serve «cup of fresh drawn cow’s blood». Since it says «fresh drawn», does it mean that the cow was in the restaurants kitchen or in the back giving his blood? I have no intentions of trying this or asking where the cow was.
I ordered the large Phở with rare beef, tendon and trip. The beef and trip were great. The tendon was just pieces of fat with very little tendon. However, the soup had a lot of flavor and I ate everything except for the pieces of fat.
My friend ordered the regular Chicken Noodle Soup. I can tell she wasn’t too happy with her dish. She didn’t touch any of the chicken (both dark and white meat). The noodle was so overcooked where when she tried to grab some noodles with her chopstick, it all melted back into the soup.
There were several tables that got the slow cooked bone-​in beef tendon (it looked intimidating). I wanted to get an order but my co-​worker didn’t want to try it and I didn’t want to try to eat the whole order.
Don’t know if I’ll be back again since there are so many other Vietnamese Restaurants I want to try in the OC.

First time I stumbled upon this place I was actually coming to eat at another phở joint but I made sure I reminded myself to come back here next time. When next time finally came I went with a friend of mine and we picked up two deliciously made phở bowls.
Service here is surprisingly friendly and I mean super friendly. So friendly I had to question whether this was an authentic Viet joint jk. Back to the food. I ordered the phở beef and it was incredibly good. You know its good when you sweating lol. The broth was mesmerizing and the noodles are extremely tasty. The meat was good and tender but what makes phở good is the broth. As long as you have great broth you have great phở. This place is the truth. Still not the 5 star phở joint I’ve been searching for but its a solid 4 for me. I’m not picky but when it comes to phở, different story.
Overall with a great bowl of flavorful phở, a nice decorated restaurant and incredibly nice service… this place is a solid phở joint that should last. I just get super annoyed with all the Phở places having numbers (phở 54, phở 89, phở etc…) Other than that nothing really wrong with the place.
PS fresh limes and herbs (too often have I been to phở places and see bugs on the herbs but this place has them super fresh so props to them)
PPS relatively clean restaurant

A small phở joint located in the same plaza as H Mart & Kaju Tofu. I had the #1 small dac biet (small phở combination) and it was solid.
PROS:
–Affordable prices. A small phở is about $ 6.50 and large is $ 7.50
–Food tastes solid.
–Broth is clean & yummy.
–Inside is very clean.
–English speaking friendly.
CONS:
–Meat is a bit fatty, but still good nonetheless.