Wayside Noodles

Ok gave it another shot. Went there for a late lunch so no server issues. There were 5 patrons and 4 staff so a short wait for service.
And then I got a nasty hair in my mouth. It was not my hair.
Ruined. I’m done. I give up. They need to close down.

I won’t recommend this place to anyone. Their pork sandwich is the most pricey sandwhich I have ever bought. Their meat was okay but the bread is still cold inside, not crispy at all.

I’m a big fan of Phở & it’s good here. Nice size venue & plenty of tables. Extensive menu. So so much to choose from. Only 1 TV but I’m not here to watch it. Bye bye, it’s here lol.

I would give this place 4 to 5 stars if the service was better. I have been to this restaurant many times and they have ALWAYS been slow — bringing the menu, taking your order, serving your food and then bringing the bill. I have never posted a negative or positive review on this restaurant, but after today I said that’s it. You would think after complaining that they were being so slow they would step it up a notch, but no, we never got our bill so we went straight to the register to pay. So frustrating!
Having said the negative things, I will say that the food is excellent and I have never had a bad meal there. Just be prepared to wait an excruciatingly long period of time.

Stopped in solo after seeing it was close by. I had the Cali Roll and seafood phở. The price for the phở was a bit high but I really love seafood. Well, the waitress walks up with a HUGE bowl. After spicing to taste, I dug in. Now although I’m no phở expert, I do know what I like. I thought the noodles were prepared perfectly and the broth was yummy! There were nice array of fish, other seafood, and vegetables. The Cali Roll arrived moments later and I thoroughly enjoyed it. The roll came with a peanut sauce that was really good. The service during my visit was attentive, although the place was almost empty. Overall, I was pleased with my visit and will definitely come back again.

Great lunch spot. Ordered a Vietnamese sandwich and a side chicken wonton soup. Both Items were delicious. There was no wait during the lunch hour, and our food made it to the table in a timely manner. My buddy wasn’t as satisfied as I was, but he also ordered something totally different. He chose to go with the rice, chicken, and shrimp plate.

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I only come here when I get called for jury duty. The phở is average, but no complaints. It is a busy, bustling place with plenty of downtown diners in a large dining room. They have television and a bar. Temple Coffee is next door for the afternoon java fix.

Oh Wayside I give up!!! After several dining experiences, each one different from the other; I have decided the only reason this place is still open and selling mediocre phở is the State/​Federal Employees near by. State/​Federal Employees are pretty lazy at times and will take mediocre food instead of boring leftovers. I’ll spare you the details but my last dining experience, We ordered phở and they brought us a plate of cilantro and sprouts. Where’s the basil? Response: due to the weather I did not order any. .. .and a few more explanations that I tuned out because it just began raining today only?! And I just bought basil at the store.
So if I’m lazy I’ll go, if I’m not I’ll wait to get my phở fix at a place that is consistent and reliable.

I’m a few months late writing this review:
Three of us popped into Wayside Noodles just before lunch hour during the week and were seated and served immediately. The food was hot and tasty and service was good and the place clean.
This was the perfect choice as we didn’t want a lot to eat and needed to get in and out quickly. The price point was also reasonable.

Wished there was 0 stars. I came in today on my lunch and had two seperate orders. One order was a bbq beef sandwich to go and the other order was to eat inside was the number 6 need phở with rare beef and beef ball and I told the waitress twice that I wanted to add tendon to my soup and she told me twice that tendon will Be added to my Phở soup. When my phở soup came, no tendon was found in my soup. Fail,
I did not tip at all for that reason and the broth tasted like two days old along with the bad after taste of the meat. My to go order of the bbq sandwich was worse when my boss at it and she said the meat tastes bad that she threw it away. I called
Them just now to complain and they told me
What do I want? Rude. They offered to make a new batch for me
When I come but didn’t offer for a refund. Never eating here again! Bad service

This place is great. I didn’t know they have this in the Downtown State worker area!
I think the only downside is, that since it is crowded, it would be hard to fit a 1 hour lunch in your schedule. With a high volume of the hungry people in the downtown area, it took me and 2 others a long time to fit a lunch within the hour.

if you’re too lazy to drive to south sac area then this place will do. Bahn mi is usually pretty good and their grilled pork springs rolls are pretty ok as well. two star rating because a bug fell out of spring roll today and he was in half. cmon guys wash your produce a little better so i wont have to eat a bug next time.
cheers

Ignore the Unilocal reviews at this location at your peril.. . I ate here thinking it can’t be THAT bad. I’m always on the lookout for underappreciated mom-​and-​pop type places with authentic food. Unfortunately, the reviews were correct – I bit into the deepfried spring roll (part of my bun thit dry noodle dish) and spit it out – it was rancid. As in, left-​out-​for-​three-​days-​and-​nights-​so-​that-​the-​meat-​in-​the-​middle-​turned-​sour rancid.
Service was pretty non-​existent – one waitress/​owner running the whole place, not that I expect service; but when asked how my meal was, I told her honestly that the spring roll was rancid. Owner’s lethargic response: «oh, sorry. here’s your change. see you next time»
That’s definitely not going to happen!

That is awesome place to eat! why?
Nice location and cool space.
Very nice staff and food so Yummy

Wayyyyy to under staff. Unless you have a two hour lunch– don’t bother. Sad because the food is decent.
I waited 40mins and counting for a single order of spring rolls!!!

I have tried this place twice for phở Togo. Both times were prepared quickly and received service as soon as I walked in. Very welcome décor and they have a bar in the back! Very cheap with large portions.
The first was medium chicken. It was a large potion so you get more bang for your buck.
The second time was the rare steak small. I still had some left over.
The food isn’t anything extraordinary which I reserve for 5 stars, but better than your usual poor quality cheap phở.

It’s sad when people’s perceptions are blurred by the lens of poor service. But it’s not called the service industry for nothing. Wayside has good food with Downtown pricing, but the overall experience is greatly diminished by poor service.
First time I came in was noon on a Friday and this place was hopping. When you enter, the cashier is to your right and there are seats to your left. I noticed that there were people waiting for their to go orders but no where to go to get seated. There was no easily identifiable host stand or sign that said, «Wait to be seated». Wanting to be polite, I got in line to the cashier and after a while got to the front only to be told, «This is for paying». At that point, I debated walking out or be rude and insist on being seated. I was hungry and now only had 45 minutes left of lunch and no knowledge of the area. So I stood off to the side trying to get a staff member’s attention to be seated since the cashier seemed hell bent on ignoring me.
After several staff members went, all avoiding direct eye contact with me, I was fed up and sat my ass down on the closest table. I waylaid a passing staff member and ordered spring rolls and a banh mi with no jalapenos. I reiterated no jalapenos because my wussy taste buds can’t do heat. My spring rolls quickly arrived and no matter how much peanut sauce I put on them, they were really dry, as if they’d been made way before serving. I got my banh mi shortly after and the first bite almost made up for everything that happened… until I bit into a jalapeño. UGH! Even though I was able to take them all out, there was still residual spiciness.
The second time I came, I did so before the lunch crowd hit and was able to score a table right away. They took my drink and food order as soon as I was seated. However, it still took almost 15 minutes for my food to come out. Luckily I had a good book. My grilled pork over vermicelli was well seasoned and perfect for a hot summer day.
When I paid, I pulled up my Unilocal app for the check in discount and the cashier asked me if I would write a review. I told her that my review would probably not be a positive one and then told her of my issues with my first visit and slow service at this visit. While she seemed apologetic, she told me that there was conflict between the owners and management which made it hard to change the current logistics. Hearing this as a customer, did not give me more confidence in the business and unless I’m really jonesing for vietnamese food (which I was today), I doubt I will be back.
Sadly, she mentioned that they were thinking of moving which is a bummer. For an area with a high density of office workers, the food offerings in the neighborhood are not plentiful or varied.

Well Hellooooo Wayside Noodles. After my Brother picked me up from the gym about 11am he said he wanted Ramen. I’m like sure I’m down, he takes me to Wayside Noodles downtown. Ummm Brother this is Phở and its Vietnamese, Ramen is Japanese. He’s so cute.
The joint was empty but the music was blaring and the staff was happy and buzzing with energy with the anticipation of the lunch time rush. We grabbed a seat at the bar and I just ordered my usual without looking at a menu. medium rare steak Phở, shrimp spring rolls and Jasmine tea.
The broth was flavorful and I asked for extra veggies which the server obliged The Medium was HUGE and only $ 6.75, I’m used to paying a lot more than that in San Diego. The Springrolls were perfect and $ 4. bursting with fresh veggies. I rather dip ‘em in chili sauce than the peanut sauce though.
I’m going back before I go home, that’s for sure.

Against my better judgment, I recommended to my co-​workers that we go here for my birthday lunch. I had ordered the spring rolls w/​tofu and cucumber rolls to-​go off of the Rice Paper Rolls section of the menu a few months ago, but this was my first time eating inside of the restaurant. I really should of known better since I don’t remember the rolls that I ordered back then being any better than average.
Fast forward to earlier today…
My co-​worker had made a reservation for us and when we arrived there was a designated table available with water already at the table. While this appeared to be off to a good start, soon after a stream of disorganization from the staff started to happen.
They seemed to have run out of menus and so some of us had to share menus or use paper to-​go menus. We also didn’t appear to have a waiter/​waitress and waited for 15 minutes until we finally asked the host to find someone to take our order. At that point, our host took our order (for five people) without writing anything down. We were surprised when our food actually came out without any errors, but the dishes didn’t come out all at once and instead came out one at a time. I ended up ordering the Drunken Noodle w/​tofu, which tasted average and was not something that I would recommend. My co-​workers weren’t impressed with their food either and I felt bad because this was one person’s first introduction to Vietnamese food.
It then takes forever for us to get our checks and the waitress who eventually brought them to us looked genuinely confused about what check should go to who (not surprising since nothing was written down by the staff).
The only reason that I’m not giving one star is that nobody was overtly rude to us even though my experience here disappointed me regarding both the food and service.
I definitely will not be back and will be telling others to avoid this place as well.