Pho Dragon

Haven’t been here in a while (about a year or so). Food was delicious, as always. I got my usual spicy beef phở and killed it pretty quickly. Light, yet flavorful broth. Good seeing the owner after a while and got hooked up with some special noodles. Pretty good competition in my book for some of my favorite phở joints in Hawaii and Hanoi. I need to come back for dinner and grub some fried spring rolls and shrimp cakes. The only downfall was that one of my friends’ chicken vermicelli took over 20 minutes, so we were done by the time she got her food.

Annnd here is yet another Vietnamese restaurant review, haha. Came here for lunch with co-​workers, and ordered the stir-​fried noodles because I wanted a change from my regular phở. The lunch menu is pretty affordable, everything is 1100yen and it comes with a spring roll, which was pretty tasty. The stir-​fried noodles was served in a decent size which I was really surprised and happy about because the food portion tends to be really tiny here in Japan, but I guess since this place is owned by Vietnamese it makes sense :) I really enjoyed my noodles, though it wasn’t spicy enough for my taste so I added a LOT more of the spicy sauce that was on the table, which leads to a story I want to share…
(A warning to you people out there who are used to nice polite Japanese customer service: this is not the place for you, if you want to be greeted with warm smiles and sunshine and all that good nice stuff)
…while I was dumping piles of spicy goodness on my noodles, I noticed the owner of the place staring at me at whole time, she then came closer and said something along the lines of «don’t add so much sauce if you’re just going to waste it by not eating it,» it took me by surprise because she looked kinda pissed at me, maybe because I was using so much sauce? «It’s really spicy, I don’t think you can handle it» again, something along the lines of that. Anyways, I told her I like spicy food, and I was going to finish it, and she just shook her head and said «I don’t believe you.» I shrugged it off and started to eat. While we were eating, she kept sticking her head back out to «check on me» so see if it was too spicy for me, she came back again and said something like «I don’t think you’re going to finish it» like literally she was patrolling around like she wanted to see me admit my defeat. «It’s really good.» I reported back. After a while, she seemed genuinely impressed by my ability to consume spicy food, and also my big appetite cause I finished everything before my co-​workers did. I guess she decided that she likes me and started chatting up with me saying that next time I come she’ll make my noodles extra spicy also with a bigger portion, «men size,» as she called it.
Before we left, she kept asking me to come back again and kept on emphasizing that she’ll make my next meal spicier haha.
Anyway, the food is pretty, pretty good, I really enjoyed it. :) I think it’s pretty close to authentic Vietnamese food, but since I’m not Vietnamese, don’t take my word for it. If you’re into spicy food like me, you might want to give her a heads up so you won’t have to go through the same experience as I did, cause the experience that I had was kinda «WTF,» and it made me feel like she was trying to be mean and challenging me. It’s all good though, at least she’s not fake cause she has character.

Small restaurant, seats for 16 people, don’t expect to be greeted by a hostess, wander in and the owner will tell you where to sit.
Menus in English. Owner speaks great English.
Good phở, but I heard the microwave in use too much.
If you’re from the U.S., don’t expect the side of toppings.
Lunch menu ¥1100 for salad, spring roll, phở, and a desert dish.
Good break from Japanese food or Italian!!!

We had been craving authentic Vietnamese food after a week of ramen and sushi and decided to try this hidden gem of a restaurant. The owner/​head chef is so warm and welcoming and the food is incredible! It felt like we were back in Vietnam. We will definitely be coming back here next time we’re in Tokyo. Thanks Susan!