Pho To Chau

This place never disappoints! Broth is always on point, portion is great (I love how they have 3 different size options, because small is just perfect for a snack!) and good service! I’m usually hella sensitive to MSG and get all thirsty after consuming it but that’s not the case with this place. Also, nowhere was i able to find durian shake so that’s also a reason why I keep coming back :3

Delicious, cheap phở. What more could you want? My boyfriend and I come here on the regular. Our usual order is just 2 bowls of phở and the bill always comes out under $ 20. It’s unheard of in the Bay Area and definitely surprising given it’s in the middle of downtown mountain view.

Very kind staff and solid phở. Plus, they’re open late!
Nothing feels more comforting to eat late at night than phở. We shared an order of egg rolls, a large special phở, and a grilled chicken & rice combo (#56).
Egg rolls: Great! Something about that fried egg roll dipped in the sweet vinegar sauce. Mmm…
Phở: The large size is pretty dang large for ~$ 11. So it’s a lot of soup for a reasonable price. We also opted for extra noodles to go with that humongous bowl of broth. The flavor is strong, but I think it may be due to a high MSG concentration. Was feeling pretty thirsty after that meal.
Grilled Chicken & Rice: The chicken was a little tough, but it was sweet and flavorful. Kind of wish the egg was runnier though.
We’ll be back again when we’re feeling the need for some comfort food.

Came here for late night phở after drinking and barely eating all day, so I was starving! So the phở was pretty delicious to me! The broth was so flavorful! A little heavy on the salt side but very comforting, especially on cold nights. No complaints, would return!

This is my go to Phở place in Mountain View! Food comes out very fast, it’s super tasty, friendly staff, good beer choices and good location! I always get the #1 with steak and it’s super tasty. I highly recommend this place! :)

If you’re in Downtown Mountain View and searching for a cool phở spot to hit up, hit up this place.
I’ve tried all the other phở in downtown and I repeatedly come here. Phở To Chau is relatively clean with a modern style décor. The staff are all super friendly and they actually come and check-​up on you. They offer 3 sizes; small, regular, and large. The portion is great. The food is good. They offer a few more Vietnamese specialty dishes that very few Vietnamese restaurant don’t have such as: Bun Rieu and Banh Canh. Bun Rieu is a tomato crab noodle soup and Banh Canh is Vietnamese style udon soup. Selectively, I prefer their phở.
Come try this place out. Compare to the other Phở spots near by, you’ll won’t regret it.

I started eating meat since I was pregnant 2 years ago, and thank goodness, cuz now I can eat real phở! The broth here is so delicious and the noodles are just the right amount of chewiness. I live like 20 feet away from this spot. My hubz always comes here for the Durian Smoothie (this is the #2 spot for Durian Smoothie other than the #1 Huong Lan spot on Tully Road). This waiter always laughs when he sees my hubz walk in cuz he knows they have to whip up a Durian Smoothie for him each time. I craved Phở yesterday so I came to eat by myself and as soon as I sipped the hot, steaming, phở #1 Tai broth, I was in total heaven.

Our new late night Phở joint. Its not open 24 hours but as long as we can get phở between 9−10pm…I’m there!
Also, their broth is savory and delicious.
And service is efficient and quick.
They also have a good range of menu items… something for everyone.

Saw a small bug in my soup.
Vegetarian phở was good. Asked for half phở noodles, half egg noodles. Lots of broccoli, cabbage and tofu. The broth was nice and a good hot temperature — not too hot to burn you. Very flavorful and delicious.
Too bad there was a crying child who just kept going for 10 minutes. This is not the restaurants fault, it would have been nice if they had asked the parents if they needed anything as a hint to take the child out of the restaurant but no. They pretended like no crying baby existed.
Phở came out in less than 5 minutes.

Came here once when I was still new to the area and craving phở. I didn’t know it was so close to dt Mountain View! It’s on one of the side streets off of Castro and there’s a small parking lot behind it. It’s kind of interesting because there are two phở places basically right next to each other.
I ordered the phở Dac Biet and it was just… ok. The quality of the meat was ok, the noodles were good, and the soup was a little light IMO.
My friend ordered a chicken rice plate and that didn’t look that great either. I mean, there are plenty of other Vietnamese places with better quality food. This is probably a «value» restaurant!

tldr: Sub $ 10 for a bowl of hot phở that’s filling and warming. Bonus get a side of pork chops for $ 4 (hands down the best pork chops I’ve ever had)!
#1: Tai (rare beef only): Close to perfect! The rice noodles are a good consistency, not mushy and not too firm. The clear soup broth is simple and contains onions as the only condiment. It isn’t too sweet or salty and is hearty enough to just drink after you’ve finished the noodles. As is traditional it comes with bean sprouts, bay leaves and jalapenos to add additional flavor to the soup. Make sure to mix the beef and noodles immediately to cook the beef while the broth is hot. The price points are $ 7, 8, 9 for a small, medium and large — a medium can fill you normally and you can get a small if you plan to also order an appetizer or a side.
Side order — pork chops: SO GOOD AND FLAVORFUL. For only $ 4 this is the best pork chop I have ever had! It’s incredibly tender and packed with flavor. It really opens up the tastebuds and is great paired up with the noodles to add something special to the meal.

Since my husband started working with the school district in MV, he got addicted to this place. We have had Phở from plenty of other places since we are from east SJ, but this is the place for great broth. It’s not to runny or murky, but just right. My favorite lunch here is the bahn mi with the spring rolls. The bbq pork in both is just so delicious. If you have to choose it’s neighbor Phở Hoa or Phở To Chau, go for the latter.

Short of it. This was probably the best phở experience I’ve ever had.
Picture it: A rainy, windy day in Mountain View earlier this week.
I really wanted soup, but phở doesn’t always have the meat requirements I need. Enter in Phở to Chau.
I ordered a regular number two with extra meat. In total without tip the price came to $ 10.55. For a HUGE bowl of soup.
While I do consider it HUGE — the size was perfect for me, perfect amounts noodles, and with the extra meat, meat. It was almost too much broth, because there was no way I could finish it all. But hey, that’s what makes it huge ;D
The service was incredibly quick, almost appearing by magic several minutes after order. Additionally everyone at the restaurant was friendly and upbeat
Because my experience was so good I came back the next day — and the experience was repeated almost exactly.
I found a new go-​to phở place, and I’m so happy I did!

Great phở, and they also serve beer for pretty cheap! A bottle of Racer 5 for $ 3.75? Heck yeah!
They also have a pretty big TV, so you can catch the Warriors game while you’re at it! They’re open til 11PM every day, and open til Midnight on Fri/​Sat!

Came here for dinner on a Sunday night when my boyfriend and I were craving Phở. The place was moderately busy which was a good sign. We were promptly greeted and seated.
We love egg rolls — so we ordered some of those. And we both ordered the #16 Special Phở (regular size). To drink, we both wanted Boba so we tried their mocha smoothies with Boba.
The egg rolls were hot and crispy when they arrived. A little greasy on the outside but really tasty. The bowls of Phở were piping hot and delicious. Lots of noodles and meat. The broth wasn’t too salty or too bland. And the Boba smoothies were great — good balance of sweet and mocha.
Overall, clean restaurant with quality food for the prices and friendly, fast service.

We have been eating at this place for about 6 – 7 years now. It appears to us that the mom (original owner) had retired and no longer work there and her son took over the place. I really enjoyed their Phở, it’s just simply good and i don’t really taste any msg. Trust me, if i taste msg i’ll know. Since they changed their ownership, the prices had went up a bit more, but still not too bad.
Also, they provide free wifi if you need any!

To phở or not to phở? That is the question.
The first time I ate here, I had a hankering for chicken. So I went with #56, Com Ga Trung, better known as grilled chicken with fried egg over rice. This was a reasonable $ 8.50, and I enjoyed the bbq’d chicken, which was flavorful and not dry. The fried egg with a slightly gooey center was a hit. My dish came with slices of raw cucumber and tomato which were fairly ordinary.
On visit number two, I was in the mood for phở. Fortunately, they have 21 phở options, including one with chicken broth and chicken meat. The waiter said we could customize our phở options as well, in case we wanted a combination that was not on the menu. I asked him to recommend an option with leaner meat, so I ended up going with #4, Tai Chin, with rare steak and well-​done beef brisket.
My phở came out piping hot, and the slices of rare steak get cooked in the broth, allowing you to choose how done they get. The steak was firmer while the brisket was soft, and I enjoyed both. The broth was flavorful, and extra condiments (basil leaves, bean sprouts, jalapenos and limes) were provided. My broth ended up being too limey because I squeeze the whole lime into it, but that was my own fault!
Prices for phở were reasonable: $ 6.70 for small, $ 7.70 for regular, and $ 8.80 for large. I had a regular, but I was definitely envying my buddy’s large phở, which for a buck more is definitely worth the upgrade.
Service was friendly on both visits, but on our second visit, nobody came around and refilled our near-​empty glasses of water, which was fine since we didn’t really want refills anyway (guess they read our minds).
There is no good answer to «the question», but I would not mind coming back, either for phở or not phở.

Came here for lunch. Large size should fill up most people and they put a good amount of meat in the bowls too. We also got an appetizer of chicken wings, which came with 6 pieces and had a nice crunchy skin and juicy meat.
One interesting thing is I tried the «crunchy flank», it was tasty buy not crunchy. Apparently it’s the bits of cartilage that surround the flank.

Me and my gf was craving phở so we decided to give this spot a try. We came in not really having any high expectations or anything but it turns out their phở is pretty damn good! I ordered the #16 or 17 I don’t remember correctly but the noodles were cooked perfectly and the meat was super tender. The broth was also pretty good and had some nice flavors. The ONLY downside (and this is just my personal preference) was that they did not have chili oil available only chili sauce/​paste. But other than that everything was perfect. Definitely recommend this spot if you’re in the area and craving phở!

The neighborhood phở joint
Nothing special, but decent and consistent. This is the kind of place you go whenever you’re craving phở and have an exact image of what kind of taste you want in your head. The place delivers. No BS. No frills. Just good ol’ fashioned, basic, but real deal phở every time
The place has been around for a long time, but is overall pretty clean inside. They also offer a «small» size phở option, which is quite rare, but is actually decent sized. The quality of the phở is pretty good, as is the service.
Overall, not a bad place to visit.