Pho PDX

I am so dissapointed they got rid of the noodles I used to love at the old location. Instead they revamped their menu and I don’t really love the few things i’ve tried. Their Pad Thai in the old place was not good.
Their spring rolls and other little appetizers are just fine, and my co-​worker likes the Phở but i’ve never given it a try.

Okay, so the price is pretty good but the phở definitely need some more Asian flavour… literally. Have you ever had Asian desserts? Not so sweet, we like the more subtle LIGHTLY sweeten flavours. Knowing this it would be safe to assume we also like our dishes on the savory. So when you get a beef phở with a sweet broth, it is understandably disappointing. And we are talking SWEET.
The fact that there is a tom yum phở and pad thai on the menu is also sad because tom yum… Thai…pad Thai… Thai…phở…VIETNAMESE! I say, stick to one Asian culture or else its like having French and German food in the same place.
Okay, ranting aside, the noodles were fine and so was the brisket and rare beef but the meatballs weren’t very good. The spring rolls tasted fine but there was too much noodle inside.
Lastly, how can you be a Vietnamese place and not have Vietnamese coffee? Blasphemy!

Despite the name Phở PDX, their phở is not one of the best in P-​town. But when you work downtown, your phở options are limited. The other phở place close by is a food cart, so when I want phở for lunch and want to sit indoor, I come here for my phở fix.
Phở is not my favorite item here though. My favorite item is their Lemongrass Chicken, which is only $ 5 on Wednesdays. I just love their lemongrass sauce with my steamed rice, it’s so delicious.
They have five $ 5 specials a week — one for each day and it’s the same item for that day every week.
This place shares occupancy, including seatings, with three other food places. The establishment reminds me of a food court, which makes this place ideal for groups due to the different food options available. Other foods in the establishment include Indian curry (also very busy), a sandwich stand, and a taco place (?) (not sure about this one because I’ve never visited).
They’re open late on Saturdays (probably till 3 – 4 am) for clubgoers since
phở = the best hangover food!

This place is fine, if you’ve never had Phở before.
I love everything about Phở — the steaming hot broth covered in chili oil, the way the noodles make that *slurrrp!* sound as you shovel them into your mouth, those crunchy little jalapeño surprises. But my favorite part about Phở is that it burns — with it’s temperature and spiciness. I am addicted to this dish.
Phở PDX made me want to cry. Their broth didn’t even taste like Phở broth– it was way too sweet. The cock sauce didn’t help, and they don’t serve chili oil (!!!). It wasn’t spicy or hot or good and it should not be called Phở.

BIF NOOODLE! (GF hates it when I say this)
I’m not sure what to say about this place. I knew from the get go that this was a cafeteria/​food court area in downtown Portland. The cost of the food here is cheap so I’m not complaining but the broth.
The broth is sweet, really sweet to the point you might think you just developed a cavity. The noodles were not soggy at all, they were just el-​dente enough that it was still somewhat raw but just the way you like it. The «Cock Sauce» didn’t even help tame the sweetness of the broth. You would likely have to put in a whole teaspoon or 50 to kill the sweet broth.
This place is alright for cheap eats. It’s not up there with the Phở Hung’s (McDonalds of Beef Noodles in PDX) but it’s better than some other places were there’s a ton of oil and weak broth.
FYI: I never drink the entire bowl of broth because I know there’s MSG. But I love MSG, don’t get me wrong. I grew up in a Chinese restaurant so MSG and soy sauce run through the veins of my God like body. I’ll drink a little bit of it when I eat, but I’ll leave about 80% left in the bowl.
I’ll probably come back again when I have the craving for bif noodle. I might try other things next time.
This is more of a 2.5 start place.

If you love Phở, then you already know: a top five or even top ten bowl of Phở is simply not going to be found on the West side! If that’s what you’re looking for, you’re going to want to head East, to the family owned Vietnamese restaurants (both North and South).
That said, if you are downtown, relatively strapped, and looking for a quick, decent bowl… Phở PDX will indeed provide. You will not find religion in the broth. You will not lust after any particular element of the dish. But, for six fifty, you will leave satisfied.

I don’t think I’ve ever tried Phở before, and especially not vegan Phở, so I was in for a real treat last Friday when I ate at this cute little restaurant in the middle of a food court in downtown Portland.
I was blown away by the complexity of flavor, the amazing texture of the tofu, and the overall size (which was massive).
The price was right ($ 6.50 for a ginormous bowl that I couldn’t begin to finish), the meal was delicious and filling, and I will definitely be back.

Lunch place. it’s a strange space actually. You walk in and you got Ghandi’s indian food to the left of you, you got Koi Fusion to the right of you, and you have Phở PDX in front of you. small area. Head over and order your food if you can get past those first 2 places. Grab your number and head on upstairs where that space is all tables for you.
Anyway I had the vegan phở. I know. it’s so oxymoronic but please go easy. I just don’t do oxtail or beef or pork. no land animals eh? And they did not have fish or seafood so WTH! I was cold and wanted a big bowl of noodle soup! It was A-​OK as the rating says it was. Fresh greens/​sprouts, decent price. not bad for a quick lunch spot.

This place hit tha spot. On our last day at Portland. hungover. dehydrated. what else to crave but phở?
This place is inside a small food court area. Along with Indian, Korean, and sandwich carts neighboring it, Phở PDX was clearly the favorite of the bunch. My two friends and I came a little before lunchtime, and slowly but surely people on the lunch breaks started swarming in.
I asked the guy at the register, «So is your food any good or what?»
He looked at me like I was crazy and said, «Uhh, DUH. Of course it is.»
So I shrugged and took his word for it. He was right. I didn’t know what to expect, being in Portland and all. But I was pleasantly surprised. The broth, noodles, and meat were all flavorful. I especially loved the meatballs. they weren’t the perfectly round shape that most phở places have. It looked more like they were handmade, and def tasted like they were too. We were all hungry as hell, and got a phở noodle bowl plus an appetizer each: spring rolls, fried gyozas, egg rolls. ALL delicious!
I see now that Phở PDX serves til 4am on the weekends! Mannn, woulda so went there after the bars if we had known…

Phở PDX has been on my list for ages. While I feel like I’ve somewhat conquered a lot of the phở joints in this town, my quest for the perfect place that serves both a good vegetarian option AND a good beef option still soldiers on. I had heard about Phở PDX but every time I walk in to the funky little food court in which it sits, I get stuck up front at either Ghandi or Koi Fusion (both awesome).
With the wife at my side, and taking a break from a post-​holiday excursion downtown, the need for spicy hot soup overtook me, and Phở PDX finally snared me in its tractor beam.
We both kept it simple — her with the veggie phở, me the Phở Tai. My beef phở was really sweet. Much sweeter than I’m used to. The portion size was fine, and the helpings of meat and noodles were decent (not as big as the places on 82^nd, but hey, rent is more here). Hilary’s veg phở was… ok. Nothing super exciting. It didn’t have the depth that the veg phở at Dalat has, but was better (IMHO) than the veggie option at Got Phở and Phở Gia. It definitely had some good veggies in it.
Ok, so any phở enthusiasts reading this will say «vegetarian phở is not phở!» Yeah, I get it. It’s not phở. Fine. But my wife is vegetarian, and she likes hot soup. And in Portland, a lot of places have started coming up with some pretty tasty vegetarian phở broth as an alternative. Whatever. I want to be able to enjoy both Phở and a dinner with my wife at the same time, and most of the places like Phở Oregon and Phở Hung with the crazy bomb phở not only don’t have a veg phở option, but don’t really have any reasonable veg options at all. Period! So I have tried a lot of vegetarian phở at different places around town in search of the above-​referenced quest… and my quest continues…
But I digress. These guys should get an extra star simply for offering a vegetarian phở. That’s rad. As it stands, Phở PDX is A-​OK and I’d stop back in for a bowl if in the area and my wife is with me.

I am tired of eating at this place at least once a week and never giving them the credit they deserve. I was reminded of this today as I polished off a bowl of spicy satay chicken and green beans while the entire Smiths, «Louder than Bombs» album played in the background. The entire album! I mean, yeah, sometimes you’ll hear Morrissey whining through the speakers of an establishment but the entire album? No one is that cool! Unless they are me and they are screaming out the lyrics to every song while drinking bourbon in their underwear!
I would normally not go out of my way to eat at a place like this. It’s a food court that feeds the hungry downtown lunch crowd. The building set up reminds me of something out of Pike Place market in Seattle. There are stairs and 3 additional vendors, (Sandwiches, Korean and Indian) but everybody knows that Phở PDX is the ruler of the court.
At first they got me hooked with their giant bowls of Phở with piping hot broth, shiny noodles, lean steak and fresh garnish for $ 7. Then they went and got all fancy with their $ 5 rotating lunch special. For only $ 5, I had to get adventurous and try it all. This is how I discovered that I hated their pad thai but loved their satay. This is how I discovered that even their vegan options were delicious and I am a carnivore. The food isn’t the best I have ever had but it wins in the extra speedy and extra convenient category. After you place your order, you get a red number and like magic the dude appears with arms full of piping hot delightfulness just for you. The counter dude isn’t the friendliest but I imagine this is because he is just annoyed at all of the uncultured business folk pronouncing it Foh instead of Fuh!
When all is said and done, Fuh + The Smiths + a rainy day = my vote any day! (even if sometimes I forget and call it foh instead of fuh!)

Just went for lunch. The line wasn’t too long and it was rather quick.
The price wasn’t bad ($ 7.00). I got enough food for two rounds.
Quite a few vegan options… which is awesome. Also, you can pick your spice level (1 – 4).
I would for sure go back at some point.

I came here expecting a full service restaurant and it’s not. First red flag. And then no servers? Second red flag. I need my phở to be served to me. I’m no queen but get your own phở and me don’t get along. How am I supposed to ask for extra lemons if they do a walk by drop off of your phở and to never reappear again?
We all have different tastes. And I can tell you that people who like this phở have never had REAL phở. The kind of phở you have in Hawaii. Firstly, I thought the broth was too oily. I got the sliced beef and didn’t like how you could see oil floating on the top of the soup. I felt like I was under a time limit and if I didn’t eat it quickly enough, I would start to have to break through the oil barrier like glaciers. Secondly, not enough lemons. I guess I could’ve hauled my lazy ass back downstairs to wait in line to get extra lime but then who would’ve watched my unattended phở and what if it were to be thrown away by a cleaner? But maybe in my case, that would’ve been a GOOD thing. I took a few bites of the noodles and felt they were undercooked. Pasta al dente is a good thing. Phở al dente, I don’t care for too much. I don’t like soggy phở but these noodles were too firm for my taste. After about 5 bites, I decided to leave the rest. An unfinished bowl of phở for me is sacrilege. But in this case, I couldn’t continue on. Good luck to those who don’t have as picky of a phở tongue as I do. When you get to Hawaii, check out To Chau (see my review for it) and then tell me what you think of Phở PDX. I see a lot of edits in your near future…

Ok, I didn’t come here for the Phở. I wasn’t in a Phở kind of mood. I saw a menu for this place at my job and one of my co-​workers said it was really good. He’s only had the Phở and I think I had plans to get the Phở, but once I got there, I realized I wasn’t in the mood for it and opted for their $ 5 lunch special which was curry with your choice of chicken or tofu. I did the chicken.
A big portion. Full of chicken, jalapeño peppers, green beans, pineapple (?) and white rice, (doesn’t anyone do brown rice in this town?) it was enough to fill 2 people my size. I asked for it at a level 3 spice (of 4) and it filled my mouth with a nice warmth on an overcast day.
Will have to try the Phở the next time, but as the weather gets warmer and drier (we can hope can’t we?) I’m thinking Phở will wait for me in the fall and winter. Until then, I can try some of the other things on the menu.

Phở is all about the broth; and the fact that so many people leave bowls of unfinished broth is all you need to know.
The broth was oddly sweet, without the complex flavors of star anise and other spices that typically make Phở a rich experience. The chicken was all white meat and somehow cooked in a way that white was the only color of it — likely boiled not grilled as many good Phở’s are, to enhance the flavor profile.
But you’re guaranteed to get your carb on, the bowl is mostly noodles.
But I’m jaded. My favorite for Phở remains ‘Phở Dalat’ at NE 102^nd & NE Sandy. Not as convenient to be sure, but the willingness to drive there instead should be the best expression of my rating for Phở PDX. As Unilocal’s 1 star indicates: Me thinks not.

This is my first Unilocal review — I figure I should write one since I do Unilocal religiously, so bear with me if i start to ramble
Tiny little place, lunch crowd is heavily people from the world trade center and nearby office buildings. A bunch of different establishments were formerly here… so I’m pleasantly surprised they’ve actually stayed. Seating upstairs is cafeteria style.
I was in a hurry, came in at 12:10pm during the huge lunch hour rush and the dude at the front was totally upfront and honest with me when i told him i was hoping to get my food within 5 minutes (ha! I think the average wait time is like 15). I asked if they had something already made like salad rolls and whaddya know. they did! Put them in a little plastic box for me with peanut sauce (oddly warm peanut sauce that did not taste very peanutty) and I was out in 3 minutes.
back at the office… salad rolls were fresh, huggggge and delish. The peanut sauce was not bad though «peanut sauce» may be a misnomer… warm gooey sauce is more like it. I’ve had their phở before which is good (better when eaten there and not in a plastic to go container, and takes the shortest amount to make) and their chicken satay (chicken too dry for my tastes) but in general food is cheap, portions decent. You can customize your spicy-​level which is a plus since I hate spicy (I know, I’m Asian, whats wrong with me?)
Daily lunch specials are $ 5, about $ 2 cheaper than the normal price.
Would definitely go back and try something vegetarian. maybe budda’s delight… if i don’t end up looking like budda by the sheer amount of food
oh and for all you non Vietnamese speakers out there, myself included, Phở is pronounced FUHHHHHH (as in FUHHHGETTABOUT IT) not FO (as in FO’SHO)

It tastes like burning… In a good way!
I had the burning urge to go after seeing all of the lovely Unilocaling. The location (oh so close to the max stop… Convenience of location check)
ordered the tofu Phở (with non veggie friendly broth) comes with avocado, bell peppers, onions, green beans and joyous large fluffy tofu.
Ohhhhhhh the broth oh how delicious! If I was in the hospital only allowed liquids I would demand it be this Phở broth!
Thank goodness the serving is large enought to take some home for a second round of happiness. They have to-​go containers on the counters so you wont have to wait in line to ask for one. (Convenience of doggie bag check)
It is food court style so don’t be expecting bend over backward service but for what they do they do it well!

Fortunately, they don’t have a sign. See, when I finally encountered the mysterious alchemy known as phở, well, I really didn’t give a rat’s ass.
So if Phở PDX had brazenly declared their business identity to the masses, I probably would have stood in the Gandhi’s line. Then I would not have discovered a profound truth. Curry’s really boring. This is why it gets loused up with corrosives.
But Not Just Phở PDX easily wins a second trip, the selection is broad, the food well prepared, the plate delivered upstairs. I think this place used to be a McDonald’s, one of those two story ones. Sigh. Anyhoo.
Check it, if you can find it. Look for the «Global Food Court» sign.

I’m almost 210 in dog years and I don’t party like I used to. I’ve taken a little of the «woot woot» out of my life. But… on rare occasions I forget myself and I get a touch of the «woot». Yes, the unplanned happy hour that ends with me sobering up to a bowl of left-​over mac & cheese and Conan O’Brien.
Inevitably the next day I’m — shall we say — not feeling 100%. But, you know… I’m functional (ish). And as always, I get ravenous for spicy food. Obsessive even. Last time I was in this state of being I become a fan of «Tabasco» on Facebook while humming some crap Red Hot Chili Peppers song and dreaming of Shakira.
You smell what I’m sending your way?
Well, thanks to a healthy squeeze of sriracha sauce, Phở PDX has become the newest member of my downtown spicy entourage (Give me some AIR KNUCKS Thai cart).
At first glance, Phở PDX looks a tad dumpy, sandwiched in a small fly-​by-​night looking food court with its Indian roomie Ghandi’s. Don’t be a snob. The place is low maintenance and clean enough to get the job done. Phở PDX has a fairly diverse menu, and everything I have seen come out of the kitchen has looked fantastic. But I am a creature of habit and I have not yet branched out from the soup.
The phở is far removed from the tubs of greasy gristle served elsewhere downtown. It has big chunks of meat (keep your mind out of the gutter), very healthy looking vegetables, and excellent broth for me to spoil with an unhealthy amount of hangover curing hot sauce.
Apparently the portions here are huge… or so I’m told by my friends (who are much thinner and healthier than I). Those chumps actually bag up half of their meals and save it for later. Fools! I DESPISE leftovers — and by that I mean that I have a problem with cramming stuff in my already full face. Chipmunk style.

A+ for Vegan Options
A+ for friendly and helpful counter staff
A+ for roomy and semi-​comfortable seating
A+ for speed and efficiency at getting food out
A for taste and quality
C for making me choose between Gandhi’s and Phở PDX when I eat lunch downtown now.