Pho Hoa Lao

Likes: phở place located in Chinatown, portions are large, male server was nice, meat was ok
Dislikes: thai iced tea was basically half a cup of ice

The short: decent phở
I was quickly seated and decided on the dac biet xe lau. There are two different bowl sizes: medium and large. I thought I had a large appetite, but when I asked the lady how big it was, she pointed to a guest sitting across from me, and the bowl is massive! As in a good size for somebody with a very large appetite or shared for two people. I decided on the medium, which is only $ 0.50 cheaper.
They served some (jasmine?) tea free of charge and it was a welcoming gesture since most places charge for tea and the warm beverage immediately warmed my spirits. The phở came out within a minute or two after that. I think they had everything ready, they just put the broth over the noodles.
I’ve had better, but since I work in the area, and it was a cold day, it was worth the 10 minute walk from work.
Side note: credit card for orders $ 10 and over

First, I have to say the Phở there is pretty good. Good amount of meet and the soup is tasty.
The reason I only give 1 star is because they are not honest.
We order 2 bowls of phở. $ 8.5 each. Total $ 17+ tax. When I went to pay, the guy told me total was $ 18.60. I hand over my credit card. The guy put it on the side and told me to wait. He went to the back, bring out food for 2 tables. Just leave me alone there. 5 mins later, one lady came out from back charged my card $ 18.95. I asked her why she charge more than what the guy told me. She said :“No, it’s $ 18.95″.
I don’t care about the 35 cents. But just don’t like the way they lie about the price. $ 1.95 tax for $ 17 bill? What kind of sales tax rate is that? More than 11%? Come on, everybody knows Oakland tax rate is 9.5%.
I have my own business, being honest and never over charge the customer is the #1 rule for any business.
I gave one star for the good food. Lying about the price cost them 4 stars from me.

Great Vietnamese restaurant kinda on the edge of Chinatown. I don’t think this place gets a lot of attention because you have Cam Huong, and that’s kind of like the default place to go whenever anyone thinks of getting anything Vietnamese in this area. As a result, the place is generally pretty open and great for groups.
Their obvious specialty is phở, and it’s a solid choice here. There aren’t too many places in the Chinatown area which do great phở (you have to drive a few minutes to other neighborhoods of Oakland for more options) so it’s a great place to get some if you’re around here.
Their rice plates are pretty good too, and somewhat of a bargain. I like their rice plate with two fried chicken wings and a porkchop, which is less than $ 9. Nowadays places are charging $ 12 for plates with this kind of variety in them.
The service here is really nice too. In my latest experience here, there was one rather rude customer, and the guy serving him was incredibly patient with him and always had a smile on, despite how difficult that customer was being. This guy got angry about how small his teacup was, got angry when iced tea wasn’t the default when he simply asked for «tea,» got angry when the server asked if he would like a bowl («Do I look like a need a bowl?!») and talked very loudly about how salty his food was as if he thought the staff couldn’t understand English. The guy wasn’t Asian, but by the way he was talking about the food he certainly has been in other Asian restaurants before, so you would think he would know what to expect. Huge props to the server for keeping his cool through dealing with this; I probably would have smashed the teacup on his head.

This place must have changed owners/​chef or something… they used to have good phở but today I went with my GF. She had phở (#2 on menu) and I had bun bo hue. The phở had no taste probably due to the bland broth. The bun bo hue was also off.

Was a standard bowl of chicken phở, nothing to wow about. I will say that they give you a LOT of noodles. The medium size went a long way so if you’re looking for quantity not quality, this may hit the spot. Personally I think there is a better bowl somewhere else, though.

We always go to this place for phở when in Oakland. It opens early at 8 a.m. and phở is always flavorful and dense with lots of delicious tendon, tripe, steak, etc. Number 2 phở– really good and filling. Broth is more meaty flavored with just a hint of anise and basil. I don’t like when broth is too herby– makes me think they are trying to disguise something. This place has been around for many years so they must be doing something right. It’s got 20’ish tables– great for family meals or just meeting up with a friend.

I’ve come here for lunch a couple times and I always get the beef with rice. The beef is sweet and delicious. Pour the fish sauce over the rice and meat and it is tasty! The service is fast too.

Great noodle place with fast service for this windy chilly day. The broth in the combination noodle soup was clear and tasty. It had chicken (dark meat — my favorite) shrimp, fishball, and pork and lots of noodle. Price is very

I cant believe I haven’t written a review about this place! My favorite phở place in Oakland chinatown. Not only are the noodles chewy, the broth savory and the meat thinly sliced to cook in your soup, the portions are sized well! I never leave this place hungry. Also, try the egg rolls they are made fresh and fried up so they come out hot, crispy, and full of meaty goodness. This place is and always has been a winner for me during lunch in downtown Oakland. Feel free to try out their rice plates as well, when I want to vary it up I usually choose one of those as well.

Right In the middle of Oakland Chinatown, this is a pretty traditional Vietnamese phở restaurant. And it doesn’t pretend to be anything else, which is a good thing.
It has the typical phở variations — rare steak, flank steak, chicken or all special. Order by the menu number or ask for your combination favorites — they’ll accommodate. If phở is not your thing, they have the cold noodle bun or rice platter. Sorry no banh mi.
Prices are cheap, lower than what I’ve seen in the neighborhood. I had the phở with the usual trimmings, and the broth was decent and light. It’s worth a stop if you’re in the neighborhood but don’t make a special trip.

2 stars for the food, but I loved the ice tea, so that bumped it up to 3. Nothing else though .
Service seemed sloppy, I didn’t appriciate how the broth was served kinda tossed onto our table, causing it to spill a little.
The waitress seemed a bit friendlier then the guy (I’m assuming owner), he seemed incredibly rude. The Thai iced tea was very delicious, I was craving 2nds on that.
And places that only accept cash only are a huge pet peeve of mine, get with the times please. Food was alright. My BBQ chicken and shrimp on rice was satisfying. Only like 3 shrimps though. Probably won’t be back.

This place is either ok or a miss. Not hit. No… it hasn’t been a hit in many, many years. I’ve been coming here for the past. at least 17 years, since i was a kid, and will probably continue coming here periodically (rarely) till I either leave the Bay Area and never come back, this place closes down, or I die. Why? Because it’s conveniently located in Ctown.
The quality of their phở. well, just in general, like I said, is ok or a miss.
It irritates me when my noodles come as a clumped mass.
Service? What’s that? Foreign concept here. — Noodles usually come out rather speedy though. Your drinks? They’ll come if someone remembers.
Because this place is long-​time go-​to spot and it’s not utterly horrid on a consistent basis, I’ve never bother writing a review before.
But then this happened:
I’m on a young coconut kick (like, from an actual coconut, not from a can like the sugary Asian stuff or from a carton like VitaCoco). So I’m just constantly like «coco! coco!» –picked that up from CR.- Many phở places have the fresh coconuts. I ordered mine, she forgot. After my meal, I re-​ordered. Not only was I craving coco before I got there, but the whole time I was there. And what do I get? A cup of coco shavings + water. WTF. WHAT HAPPENED TO THE JUICE!!! You can’t just throw some coco shaving in water and call it a coconut juice drink!!! At the very least, TRY. ATTEMPT to make some passable coco drink and add some can/​carton coconut juice!
I was enraged. So much so that it warranted this review. Don’t order the coco. Instead of cold, sweet, refreshing nectar. you’ll just get some cold, vaguely sweet water and be incredibly disappointed.

The phở here is pretty good and portion is huge — you can ask for more bean sprouts and jalapeño if you like spicy.(what I always do for phở)

We went here for lunch again and had a great meal.
My partner ordered the fish cakes appetizer which he liked but I didn’t.
For lunch, I had the grilled beef over vermicelli and it was delicious. I particularly liked the dipping sauce that came with it.
My partner once again had the beef phở which he loved, although it was missing the customary meal balls.
We managed to eat nearly everything!

:(What happened Phở Hoa Lao… I used to love love love coming to you after school back in my youngin’ days.
Came here for an early dinner w/​2 mates. There were 2 other tables.
FOOD: I ordered Phở Dac Biet Xe Lua w/​beef on the side
Broth — Broth was sadly plain, warm but not hot, not clear but not milky… hmmmmm. Taste was below average — off to a bad start. How am I supposed to cook my beef? The broth didn’t come with a lot of garnish. There were some green onions and a tiny bit of cilantro floating around somewhere, but there were a TON of onions.
Rau — The veggies were the freshest thing on the table. Standard dish of bean sprouts, basil, jalapeño and lime — all the things I’d need. Unfortunately, the broth wasn’t warm enough. If I added as much as I wanted, I would have ended up with nasty lukewarm broth.
Steak — Seven frozen pieces. mix that with the temperature of the soup and we have a problem.
Meat — The brisket was nothing to write home about. The tripe was cut a bit too thick, and sometimes, the cuts weren’t cut through. Did we get the leftovers of the day? The tendon was the WORST — a few yellowing POS. Nevar again!
Noodles — This had decent bite in the beginning, but it slowly evolved to a gross paste towards the end. Good noodles last till the last bite!
SERVICE: We were one of 3 tables in the restaurant. The service was pretty good. I think the server was bored. Phở came out a few minutes after we ordered — standard fare.
CONCLUSION: Unless this place gets amazingly better or finds a way to put elementary school nostalgia back into their broth, I don’t see myself ever back here. There are way too many good phở joints a few minutes away.

First time here. I must say, the phở is pretty good. Service was fast in the morning. Maybe because it was empty. Watch your step at the entrance. There is no ramp. Step up upon entering and step down when exiting.
I ordered Phở #2 to go. Good sized portion. It looks like it’s considered a large bowl. Enough to feed 2. Lots of bean sprouts, big pieces of jalapenos & basil. The meat selection is good. Comes with tripe, beef balls, brisket, flank and tendon. Love the beef balls and brisket. The broth is very good. Nice flavor. When you get home, probably need to re-​heat the broth more to fully cook the rare beef. $ 8.50 with tax is pricy but I guess nowadays, phở will cost that much in restaurants. No more $ 5 bowl of phở. Miss those ol’ days.
Do not explore the menu on Unilocal.It’s wrong and they need to update those prices.
On their menu, Phở #1 & #2 is a set fixed price at $ 7.80 ($ 8.50 with tax). Phở #3 and up, it comes in 3 different sizes, Small $ 6.60 (i think), Medium $ 7.30 and Large $ 7.80 plus tax. I will come back again for the phở.

I try not to post bad reviews, but this place had a good rating and that is what brought us there, and i have to be honest in my review… Broth was good, but the service was weird. Felt like we were inconveniencing the one employee in the restaurant at 5pm on a Thursday. Plus it was cash only and they didn’t have an ATM anywhere close by.
We ended up getting a little sick a few hours later, but that may or may not be relate to the food. Either way, probably wont be back here. The spot across the street is just cleaner and much friendlier.

Have been a regular at this phở spot since I was a baby. Transitioned from getting hoa fun to rice stick to clear noodles. but lately, I’ve been extremely disappointed with their clear noodles! They use a really weird brand that just isn’t as good as other places. Although, beef is always tender and the broth is one of the best.
I cringed when I dropped my purse on the floor… might be a germaphobe thing, but I just don’t think this place is the cleanliest, but hey… it’s Chinatown. I’d usually say this place hits the spot on a cold day, but lately they just haven’t been delivering the goods. That and they keep raising the prices! The regulars have all moved to E 14^th St.

Food came out really fast. like less than 5 minutes fast.
got the phở special (dac biet xe lua) which was huge, filling, and an excellent pick up on a cold/​rainy day.
also ordered the cha ca (fried fish cakes) which were a little overcooked, but still tasty.