Pho Vung Tau

Dropped by for a quick dinner before a basketball game. I ordered the combination C meal which came with salad, rice, fried shrimp, fried rolls, beef slices and the vinegar dipping. Service was friendly and the meal was satisfying. My mom and sister enjoyed the shrimp and pork clay pot.
Combo C is $ 8.99
Shrimp and pork clay pot $ 8.99 each

Must be customize your own soup because the soup is so bland I had to drown it with hoisin and sirarcha!!!
I usually don’t write reviews for restaurants but I just have buyers remorse. So I came here around late afternoon and was worn out for the day and it was closer than walking all the way to Golden Star and decided to try this place out. Read some reviews, saw some pictures and thought it would be a pretty decent place. First off, the phở here is way too overpriced, $ 8/​bowl??? For only some not-​so-​decent phở! It contained very little quantity of meat in my beef phở noodle soup. I probably would’ve been better off with a rice plate.

I usually come to this place because it’s convenient and their phở isn’t half bad. The broth is a little bland so if you don’t like your soup to be too rich this might be a good place for you. Imperial rolls are meh. They are long and skinny and don’t have too much filling in them but taste-​wise they’re not bad. Normally I would rate this a 3 or 4, but I was a little upset over my food during my most recent trip. It was around 11 in the morning, still rather quiet with a few people scattered around the restaurant. I ordered the chicken phở and they brought it out soon after. Upon closer inspection, I noticed that there was a strand of hair in my soup! I alerted the waitress, she apologized, and brought the bowl to the back. A few minutes later she brought out a new bowl of phở, and when I was mixing my vegetables and noodles, lo and behold, ANOTHER strand of hair. Now there can be two possible explanations: either the cook is balding and desperately needs to wear a hairnet if they’re going to be working with food or they never switched my food out to begin with. Either way, something needs to be fixed. Won’t be coming back for a long time.

Clean and bright inside despite lack of curbside appeal, entrees mainly noodle soups, grilled meats (BBQ pork was very tender and flavorful) and rice plates. No msg. Food solid and everything’s about $ 7 – 8.

Phở here was okay but the combo meals were better. Service was prompt and plus that they take credit cards.
I got the beef phở ($ 8) which came in a really large serving size. The brisket and noodles were tasty. The beef balls and broth could have used a little more flavor. My friend got the BBQ pork combo ($ 8) that came with fried shrimp which I thought was better. The pork was very tender and savory.
Overall good prices and solid food but nothing that stood out.

It’s hard to comprehend the bad reviews. This place is solid in my book.
While the service wasn’t mind blowing (what place in Chinatown is!?), it was prompt and decent enough.
As I’ve said in other reviews, and I’ll say again here, I know GOOD Vietnamese food. I also know Chinese-​Vietnamese food… Which, let’s be honest here, is quite different.
I can’t rate the phở, but the bun bo hue is top notch… In the ranks of some SJ favorites. The bowl is massive, the broth is wonderful and there is a TON of meet. For a whopping $ 7, youll be sweating out last night’s decisions in no time.
What justifies the review? THEY TAKE CREDIT CARD. Yeah, I said it. Unheard of.
For under $ 10 out the door, you’ll be feeling refreshed, full and have some newly acquired soup stains on your crisp dress shirt.
Thank me later.

authentic, delicious, lovely people, pleasant service, reasonably priced, everything awesome for a neighborhood restaurant. I really love this restaurant and their two locations.

The reviews looked ok so I tried this place. Ugh. The worst spring rolls I have ever had, and the steaming hot noodle soup didn’t taste fresh. I do NOT recommend!

I love this place. We have been coming here last 6 years. Always good food and servers are always kind.
Me and my son go for Phở almost every week and my son loves this place.
Recently they increased their price $ 1 for every menu. It was $ 6.99 now is $ 7.99 which is still very affordable in the city and their portion is huge.
I always share a bowl with my son and we are still very happy with it!

Best Vietnamese food anywhere! I am shocked this place isn’t rated higher. Best Imperial rolls. Best soups, best everything! And I have had a lot of crappy Vietnamese.. .

Don’t serve Bun Bo Hue if you don’t know how to make it. Giving me raw jalapeño peppers does not add to the flavor and definitely not spice level. Sucks. Will NEVER return.
The combo special phở was also flavorless, little noodles & meat.
Time to close down. Cook what you know and stop cheating customers.

I have mixed reactions on both of my visits to this Vietnamese restaurant in North Beach.
My first visit and checked in was dinner time. I ordered 5-​spice Chicken and cold vermicelli bowl (#43). For $ 7.95, I get grilled and seasoned chicken pieces, egg rolls, cold pasta and vegetables in a bowl. The charred chicken pieces and egg roll were still piping hot upon my arrival to my table. And those pieces are very good and
incorporated very well with the other ingredients.
My second visit was a few nights later. I ordered the BBQ Beef over white rice (#58). For $ 6.95, I get grilled seasoned beef with white rice and side of salad. For the price, this is a very hearty portion. But the beef was dry as jerky. Plus the chef cut the pieces for me before landed on my plate. That was nice of them to do that, but I wished the chef did not cut the meat for me. «It’s not like I am going stab anybody!»
The Cantonese people were very nice to Joe Cool and refilled my tea and water often. Dogs do get thirsty too.
This place is very quiet compare to the other Vietnamese restaurants in the area. I may try other dishes though and skip the rice dishes.

Love it! Cheap, fast and good.
Service sucks though. Be prepared for that.
Otherwise, some of my all-​time favorite orders here are the…
1. Grilled shrimp and imperial rolls vermicelli bun! So fresh, filling and cheap. 7.35
2. Satay chicken noodle soup. Hella unique, huge bowl of noodles, and awesome chicken 6.95 ish
3. Catfish soup. On the pricey side, 8.95, but so good. Hot, Tangy, fresh.
Great food!

3÷7÷14 Lunch
Vietnamese restaurants are competitive in this town. Just in Chinatown alone there are 8. I came to Phở Vung Tau purely out of convenience as I have a meeting nearby. I have remembered always seeing the place packed. But sadly I have my expectation a bit too high.
Dry vermicelli with BBQ pork and imperial rolls ($ 7.35) is my standard affair. I only opt for phở on a cold rainy day. The pork is very thinly sliced but marinated and tasty. The problem is the «lumpia-​size» rolls. Tiny like those brass Thai nails on Thai dancers! It’s mostly fried skin/​wonton wrapper with very little filling in it. Not good.
Looks like Little Paris still has the best rolls in Chinatown, My Canh not bad either. I thought Golden King has small rolls but Phở Yung Tau’s is piteously small. Meh.
Cash only.

This place is usually open late, so if you are looking for late-​night Phở, this would be one place to go to. Also, the Phở does taste pretty good.
Having said that, the kitchen is quite dirty. The bathroom is right next to the kitchen, and sometimes I see the wait staff take mops from inside the dirty bathroom to clean the kitchen, while others in the kitchen are still preparing food. The lack of separation between the kitchen and the dirty bathroom is very unsettling.

I’m a big fan of phở, both of the South Vietnamese and North Vietnamese variety.
Phở Vung Tau has a phở dish that is unique and awesomely delicious. It’s called the «Satay Beef Noodle Phở», Number 23, I believe. Get it. You won’t be disappointed.
We are regulars here, and the ONLY thing we get is this unique, awesomely delicious, satay beef noodle phở. DON’T YOU DARE GET IT AS TAKE OUT!!! We tried ONCE and it wasn’t nearly as good as the 30 times we’ve had it at the restaurant (when we sit down, she just knows what we want).
I’ve tried other dishes here, and they were all quite good, but this Satay Beef Noodle Phở is amazing. We crave it because we haven’t come across it anywhere else.
Atmosphere is nothing, but it’s a phở place in Chinatown. Set your expectations correctly and you won’t be disappointed.

Stopped in randomly on a nice day with the boyfriend.
We stopped in JUST before the lunch rush, were seated right away. Given nice hot to sip on and our order was taken right away.
The Phở was FANTASTIC. We opted for the Mixed Seafood.
Will NOT complain.
The photos on the walls are BEAUTIFUL. It makes me want to travel more.

The sweet smells of cinnamon and star anise always seem to seep out the restaurant as I walk by in the evening so I was excited to stop by for some phở on this chilly day.
In short, the serving sizes are large and the folks are nice and attentive but while it’s not the best phở in the city, it more than suffices to fulfill a phở craving. I ordered the special beef phở which is basically the combo and they are generous with the ingredients. It’s a big bowl with lots of broth which was great but I thought it wasn’t as complex and layered in flavor as some other places. Still it met my need for some soupy comfort food.
My friend liked his combo plate and I saw they have bahn mi sandwiches for $ 3.50. Will be back to grab some of those in the future especially since they open late in Chinatown — a rarity indeed.

The place was pretty packed whenever we came in for lunch, but we got a table quick. Mom got the Special Beef Phở while I got the BBQ Chicken Phở w/​fishballs.
Service was okay. The phở was alright. I felt like the BBQ Chicken was a bit too salty.
My fave Phở place is still PPQ.

There are those times when I wish I rely less on Unilocal and more on instinct for my dinner here turned out to be a huge mistake. First off, the customers dining in when I visited recently were all non-​Asian. At a peak dinner hour that should have raised a red flag, but I stayed anyway because I was hungry and I was curious. I had just hiked down from Van Ness Avenue and Sacramento Street after volunteering at a One Brick event, and not having had lunch I was starved.
When I heard the gentleman seated adjacent to me carry on in loud conversation to both his dining companion and before him to the waitress that his chow fun was nothing like chow fun he had ordered at other restaurants that should have been the second red flag. By the way the waitress snapped back with a bit of attitude telling the senior gentleman that THAT was the way they prepared THEIR chow fun.
From hearing that I knew I wasn’t ordering chow fun so I decided on one of their combination rice plates instead. I thought I was going with a safer choice by selecting the combination rice plate with grilled pork chop, lemongrass chicken and a fried egg. There was a television turned to the local news so that kept me occupied as I waited for my food.
The kitchen worked at a snail’s pace, and I waited some time before I was presented with this plate of what looked like a very good meal (
). Looks can be so deceiving though, and there was no way of telling that from just looking at this plate.
How was my dinner you ask?
The rice was overcooked. Inedible! I hate mushy rice, and I never understand how a restaurant can mess up on such a simple staple like steamed rice. When I first learned how to cook, rice was the one thing that came out perfect. The pickled carrots and daikon wreaked. Somehow I wouldn’t be surprised if somebody told me they used the same vinegar brine over and over again. It was just plain bad! The quarter inch thin pork chop was tough and 40 percent of the cut was either bone, fat or sinew. The two pieces of lemongrass chicken thigh (obviously reheated in a microwave) were the size of two thumbs. The fried egg was overcooked. If there was one redeeming quality on this entire plate of food it was probably that the lettuce leaf was fresh and the two slices of room temperature cucumber were crunchy.
The service was awful too. Even though I threw in the towel or in this case my napkin onto the dinner plate very quickly the waitress walked by twice staring down on my table without bringing me my check. I had to walk up to their little counter, ask for my check then wait for the only person capable of handling the cash register to arrive before I could pay and get change.
The only thing this visit did for me was it quieted my growling intestines long enough for me to take the short walk up to Golden Boy Pizza where I pigged out on delicious pizza squares instead.
Cheap food — yes! Edible food — no! Never again, Phở Vung Tau!