My Ngoc Restaurant

This is no longer My Ngoc. It became Phở Van at least 2 years ago.

Forget Subway — here’s where I’ll get my 5-​dollar footlong. The Banh Mi outside is all I ever do here, so I can’t say much for the inside.
The new owner made my sandwich. He emphasized that he uses clean gloves!
He uses either roast pork or chicken, and the usual fixings — good pickled carrot and daikon, sprigs of parsley, a few sauces, and jalapenos if desired, all on a decent French-​style roll.

My Ngoc had an apparent makeover and is currently under new management. The claim to their reputation though was Lucy Sheets who used to sell banh mi outside their store. Banh mi is a Vietnamese sandwich that is a French baguette with a sort of meat filling, pickled carrots and daikon, cilantro, jalapenos, and mayo. Traditionally they also have pâté, but the ones at My Ngoc don’t have it.
Unfortunately, the new owner informed me that Lucy has moved and set up shop in NYC. However, they still do sell tasty roast pork or chicken banh mi.
A warm French baguette is filled with the meat of choice and topped with the tasty ingredients. The heat of the jalapenos are cooled by the pickled vegetables and the mayo helps bring all the ingredients together. By Pittsburgh standards, it’s worthy of 4 stars easy.
On the other hand, their phở has much room for improvement. The broth wasn’t as savory and flavorful as I’ve had elsewhere and the noodles were a bit on the tougher side.
A banh mi will run you $ 5-​$ 6, which is definitely on the pricier side given it’s size, but as a niche food in a small market, I’m definitely not complaining if I need my banh mi fix. For phở though, I’d head elsewhere for now.

This Place is Under New Management! They have a new chef who can cook a wonderful phở… These parts it’s hard to get phở that tastes like home cooking. The people are super nice and they have wonderful service. They now have great customer service and my soup came out faster than McDonalds! It’s a whole new restaurant in downtown. I highly suggest the soups especially in this cold weather!

Do not go inside!
if the sandwich lady is not outside the place back away…
that said, she should be there everyday before 3pm.
chicken, pork, vegi. $ 5. worth it. made me pine for San Francisco where there’s a Vietnamese sandwich place on every corner, almost.

This is my favorite spot in Pittsburgh!! This was the first time i drank grass tea, and it was pretty god. and the food was spicy and yummy.
We went there on a Saturday, walking through the busy streets the name did catch my eye, and i still pronounce it in a funny way as-«My Nockh”(Try the nasal sound, its funny)
Its a simple place with simple people and great food:)
–Smriti

If it wasn’t for the Chicken Hoagies (Banh-​Mi Ga) they sell outside on Saturday and Sunday Mornings (This is the only time I think you can get it)…I wouldn’t even bother wanting to revisit the experience we had at this place.
So on the day we were craving the Banh-​Mi Ga, the stand was not outside selling the Banh-​Mi. We decided to go in and see if they sold the Banh-​Mi inside. The waiter told us that the lady who sells the Banh-​Mi only sell the Banh-​Mi outside. The Restaurant Kitchen does not make them.
So we ordered the Phở and Vermicelli… BIG MISTAKE! How is it possible that you can make something that is supposed to taste SOOO Good… Taste SOOO BAD? My Ngoc knows the answer.
GIVING THREE STARS for the BANH-MI…BUT…DON’T GO INSIDE! BE WARNED!

I’m joining the rest of the group here and agreeing that there’s no reason to spend money here.
We were in the strip for a show at the 31^st Street Pub and a friend of ours told us about My Ngoc and we should try it out. I’m always on the hunt for a great Vietnamese restuarant in Pittsburgh. After living in Philly for 4 years, nothing beats the food out there.
It was around 6pm. The place was empty and half of the lights were off. We thought they were closed. They opened the door for us and sat us in the middle of the restaurant. No one else was there. We looked over the menu and I decided on Phở. I really miss the lemongrass-​infused, spicy broth from a place out in Philly and was hoping this would calm my craving.
Oh. Icka! The broth was bland and the chicken tasted like it was boiled in water. I asked for noodles in my phở (doesn’t it come that way?!) and I got rice on the side. I don’t think they understand English very well.
My friend had fried tofu and it was fried to the point that it was hollow. My husband had a noodle bowl and poured bbq sauce all over it so he could eat it.
I will not go back. Ever.

Uggh. I wanted phở really bad, but theirs tastes like warm ramen broth with 4 little pieces of meat in it. Got the fried spring rolls, too, and they charged $ 5 – 6 for four little rolls that were obviously prepackaged frozen spring rolls.
I gotta stop trying out restaurants without checking Unilocal first, because everyone else is dead on. Avoid this place unless you’re in the Strip and absolutely have to have some Vietnamese (and don’t care too much about quality).

This is a very odd restaurant. I was here once and probably won’t be back. The people who work here were doing a lot of screaming at each other, we were the only 2 people in the restaurant but our food took about 45 minutes to come, and the quality of the food wasn’t that great. You can definitely get better Vietnamese elsewhere in the city.
With all the wonderful dining options in the Strip, I’m confused as to how this place survives.

A nice warm escape from the Strip on a cold day. They make good hot Vietnamese soups.
The real star of this place is the hoagies you get outside the restaurant though. Delicious marinaded grilled chicken stuffed in a sub that has perfectly pickled onions, jalapenos, and other toppings.
I’ve only been by here during the day where this place has earned a following for its outdoor sandwich service.
The folks who work there don’t have the best grasp of English, but they sure do get a kick when you try to pronounce their Vietnamese words.

There’s a reason why this place has no reviews. It’s never open… not even at 6:30 pm on a Thursday. Even though the sign said «Open» and the door was open. I guess I was supposed to know that it was closed. But all I got was two people screaming in my ear that it was closed like I barely understood or something. So much for customer service. Needless to say, I probably won’t be back.