Phonation

I used to stalk these people for lunch everyday using the DC food tracker app. I’m not ashamed.
I have revoked my own personal feelings card when I joined Unilocal,and surpassed 109 food photos. #Shameless.
I have had phở 3 times in one week, and bought two phos from this food truck (chicken and beef) to take home. Again, team NO shame.
I love them, and cannot wait to visit DC again to stalk them and get my phở fill.
My favorite things about them is the taste of the phở. I can’t believe this came from a food truck! The broth is seasoned, savory, and salty. This is coming from someone who has had their fair share of phở ranging from excellent to old dish water.
Bonus: they separate the ingredients, and place the side veggies in separate baggies along with the sauces-​making the dish an always fresh, on the go experience.
I will have the try their banh mi when I visit again!

Pretty solid choice for a food truck. The price is a flat $ 9 for either Phở or Bahn Mi. I’ve tried both and I think that the bahn mi is probably the better option…
PHO: The broth comes out of a giant metal tank (it looks like a water cooler) and out of a spout. A little strange, but I guess it works for them. The broth was a little sweet, but on the blander side. I found that the meat was pretty dry. Also, because everything was mixed together and I had to walk back to the office, my noodles were pretty soggy and kept falling apart into little pieces. I’m not sure if this would have been prevented if I had eaten it immediately.
BAHN MI: Giant long baguette roll. The bread is aromatic and crispy. The barbecue pork is so tender, flavorful and juicy. There’s also pickled vegetables.
OVERALL– The price is comparable to other food trucks, and the bahn mi is pretty unique and not like something that other food trucks have. As far as food truck phở is concerned, I think I prefer phở junkies simply because they have more meat options, and the noodles don’t fall apart.

Amazing BBQ chicken wrap!!! and was very huge portion.

After being in Key West for 4 days and coming back to 35 degree weather in DC, I needed something warm. I saw Phonation was at Metro Center, and thought I’d check it out. I am SO glad I did. It is completely hitting the spot. The broth and spices are perfect. Just enough spice, not too much heat. Noodles were not soggy. The broth was not too hot (temp) and I could start eating it as soon as I got back to the office. A few colleagues noticed the aroma right away, and were immediatly interested in what I was eating! I read a few reviews re: there not being much meat. Mine had a very nice portion of meat (chicken), probably 8 – 10 small to medium size peices of chicken. Enough that I felt it was a nice noodle to chicken ratio.
I will be back!

This is my favorite food truck. I love their BBQ pork banh mis! No one else’s banh mis can compare. I follow Phonation on Twitter to see when they are near my office. :)

This is the best phở I have gotten from a food truck thus far! Great flavor and plenty of noodles and meat. Didn’t have to wait for it long at all! My only complaint, like a few others have mentioned, is that they need to do a better job of trimming the fat from the meat. Will definitely be back though!

I got the chicken phở. The good: tasty broth, good meat-​to-​noodles ratio, there wasn’t a long wait and the phở was piping hot. The not so good: I thought the chicken could’ve been trimmed better so it wasn’t at all fatty, but maybe that’s a matter of personal preference. I like Phở Junkies slightly better, but I’ll definitely visit the Phonation truck again.

Excellent phở. It’s a great size for lunch, not too much, not too little. By contrast, in a restaurant, I struggle to eat the entire bowl and to drink up all of the juice. But phonation’s portion size and accoutrements are absolutely perfect.
The crunchy egg rolls are worth the few extra bucks. You’ll get spicy and sweet sauces. And with the phở you’ll get a bag of fresh basil, lime, and bean sprouts.
Can’t be beat in conveience, efficiency, and taste.
Unlike other phở trucks, you’ll find a relatively short line and speedy service. Also, this truck seems to have the LOWEST PRICES, by about $ 1 per order, when compared to it’s phở competition. It’s not much, but that cost savings is separating this phở from the phở next door ;-) Or inspiring me to order that egg roll too.
In all, it’s excellent. Hot, spicy, fast. Always happy to see this demure white truck in a sea of «look-​at-​me» trucks during lunch. I catch them when they’re just outside of Union Station.

I stopped by this food truck today for lunch because I have been having a mad craving for a bahn mi. Having become addicted to the high-​quality authentic bahn mi as a New Orleans resident, I was expecting this place to not hit the standard but be close enough. So I was really pleasantly surprised to get a really damn fine bahn mi. Not exactly traditional — the pork/​chicken has a light korean-​BBQ-​style sauce on it, and the pickled veggies are thicker than usual. But the bread was SPOT on, the meat was tender and spicy, the spreads were great, the jalapenos were spicy as hell, and overall the flavors were right on point.
Overall, $ 9 is pricey for a bahn mi but (1) it’s a bahn mi in downtown DC and not out in Eden Center, (2) it was freaking delicious and huge (probably a foot long), and (3) the truck is open-​fronted, giving me a good view of how clean it was and showcasing the posted food temperature guides and gloved friendly workers. That’s worth the markup to me!

They are CASH ONLY and do not accept cards, so that is a dagger for me. I’ve only had the bbq chicken bahn mi and the flavors were off. If you want a good and legit bahn mi, go to the Lemongrass food truck.

I am loving how more foodtrucks are venturing to 12^th & D st, right in front of work. It’s such a long trek for me to go to L’Enfant Plaza, especially now with the hot weather.
The pork BBQ banh mi sandwich was amazing from Phonation! I loved every bite! I loved how saucy and flavorful the meat was. The bread was the perfect texture not too soft and a little crisp.
I had to take out the hot peppers. My coworker cried eating some, so no go for me. $ 9 might be pricy to some people, but the sandwich is huge and they so not skimp on the delicious meat. The spreads on the sandwich added to the yumminess.
I also tried their eggrolls. 3 for $ 5 is a bit pricy, but man was that good too. Super crispy and the dipping sauce is good! I thought it would just be a sweet fish sauce, but it was more of a sweet chili sauce.
I am a complete fan of Phonation. Not sure if I’ll ever try the phở since it’s so hot right now, but I love their banh mis! Yay, I hope they come back again!!!

This is the best phở I’ve had in DC. Blows Phở 75 out of the water. Owners are very nice, broth is awesome (more of a five-​spice flavor)… seems like they really scale back the MSG.
Pass up the $ 4 taco trucks and check them out. Easily the best food truck I’ve found.
Word is that they are opening up a permanent location this spring on 11^th & M.
Cash only!

This review is for the Phở only, however I can’t wait to try their banh mi (watched a guy make it and it looked very big and with lots of filling).
Absolutely outstanding Phở! The broth was perfect, very flavorful, dark, not watery or oily, not overly salty. They definitely hit it spot on with the quality of the broth, a lot of places will water down their broth to accommodate a larger volume, but Phonation’s broth has great color (not clear) and very flavorful (not salty at all). The noodles were just fine and the amount of meat I got was expected; no complaints. The phở comes in a large hard plastic container so there’s absolutely no spill when transporting back to the office. I think this is my favorite container compared to other phở trucks, however it’s not eco friendly, but they are recyclable so please do recycle! Also what I like about this Phở truck is they have a separate package for a nice handful of crispy bean sprouts, lime, basil, and a slice jalapeño. I think this is the only phở truck that offers a side of bean sprouts that are still fresh. The hoisin and shiracha sauce come separately in their own containers.
I’ll definitely be back to this truck when I’m in the mood to try out their other offerings and if the rest of their food is just as good at their phở then they’ll definitely get 5 stars in my book.

Oddly enough, I’ve visited this food truck twice now and have not yet tried their phở. Maybe I’ll update my review once I do that, but for now, I can only speak to their banh mi sandwiches. Sadly, not my favorite. I really don’t have a good answer to why I’ve tried it twice.
While the sandwich is quite hefty, there wasn’t much depth to the flavor. The protein consisted of roasted chicken dressed with some sort of sauce (tasted a bit like hoisin, but can’t be sure). There were some pickled veggies on top and options to add sriracha for some extra heat. I guess there wasn’t anything wrong with the sandwich, but it just doesn’t meet the standards of what I would consider a great banh mi.
And at food truck prices that are always a bit inflated (my opinion at least), I felt that this sandwich was a bit too expensive for what you get (not based on quantity, but on quality).

A hot bowl of tasty phở sounded really good on a cold day so I headed over to the nearest phở truck and ended up here. They offer 3 different types of meats: steak, brisket, and BBQ chicken. BBQ chicken in phở does not sound very appetizing to me (but it seems popular here.) so I decided to go with the classic brisket. Everything on their menu is $ 9, pretty steep for phở and bahn mi but I was desperate.
The broth was tasty and the noodles weren’t mushy BUT the meat was really disappointing. First off, I only got 5 pieces of «brisket.» Maybe they gave me the wrong kind of meat and gave me the steak phở? The texture wasn’t right either and didn’t taste very fresh. For the price I was expecting better meat and more of it. If the broth wasn’t so tasty I’d prolly rate them lower.
They don’t take credit cards so grab some cash at the ATM before heading here.

Okay, let me start with the good. The phở in itself was excellent. The broth and noodles were perfection. Also, the customer service was great as well. The lady who served the soup was soooo sweet that I feel bad writing this review… but…
Okay, the story goes like this: My buddy and I headed to PhoNation during lunch at metro center. It was a bit rainy and chilly so this soup was all I was craving. I ordered the beef and steak phở (I believe it was #9). Took it back to work and started eating it. However, I noticed there was all of 2 or 3 pieces of beef/​steak. Literally none. It tasted fantastic, but I love my protein (esp w/​this much noodles and soup). It was filling and it did hit the spot, but a phở not having much of the protein is a bummer. I am certain, from other reviews that this was just an oversight, but alas… it is what it is.
I will definitely give this place another shot however.

3.5 stars. I’ve only ordered one thing from Phonation — chicken phở.
The good:
1) The broth — as others have mentioned, this is a flavorful broth to start with and is always hot. You really don’t need a ton of hoisin sauce nor sriacha to flavor it (although I personally enjoy a ton of sriacha in my phở). The broth is also not oily, which is a problem at a lot of phở places.
2) The meat — they always include a good portion of meat, and it is nicely seasoned.
3) The bag — which includes the bean sprouts, basil, lime, and jalapenos. The basil that they include is incredibly fresh.
4) The phở portion itself is huge. I rarely finish the entire bowl.
The meh:
1) Does anyone else find that their condiment cups are incredibly difficult to seal shut?
2) The meat — sometimes, their chicken is fatty and other times, too charred.
Overall, I’m glad they visit my office about once a week so I get my phở fix.

Banh Mi Burrito. Blasphemy! A total culinary and cultural sin! But…
Most enjoyable things in life are sinful so F-​it.
I was totally hesitant about trying this, considering most «fusion» food is really a gimmick, and most importantly I’m a total cheap ass and 9 bucks is a lot when you consider that if you go to Fall Church you can get three sandwiches for the same price. But none of the other food trucks were taking credit except for this place, which is a big plus! Seriously though who the hell carries cash anymore?
But I digress. The burrito is AMAZING. The meat was moist and fatty and my burrito was hemorrhaging sriracha and aoli. This heaviness was perfectly balanced by the fresh cilantro and pickled veggies. Honestly one of the best burritos I have ever had.
So yes it’s nine buck, but more than worth it and it has taught me to not be such a prick about fusion food… at least for now…

Easily the best (mobile) Phở and Banh Mi in DC! Great job Phonation :-)

Currently battling food coma from beef phở lunch from Phonation! Mondays at L’enfant plaza just got a whole lot better.
The noodles are perfectly cooked (not mushy!), and the broth is pretty solid. I personally think Phở Junkies’ broth is marginally better with more meat options, but is it worth the $ 1 – 3 difference and a slightly smaller serving? You decide.
Beef phở comes with brisket or rare steak (or combo!) but no meatballs or tripe, tendon, etc. Comes in a standard soup takeout container, which makes for easy transport, and a baggie of peppers, bean sprouts, and thai basil. DIY containers for sriracha and hoisin sauce.
Haven’t tried their bahn mi sandwiches yet (why would you, when phở is an option?) but will update if I ever break from my phở ordering pattern.