HOT STONE PHO - Fountain Valley — Restaurant in Fountain Valley

Every time we go to OC, we get to try a new restaurant with my friend, and this time he took us to this "Blue Coral" but actually Hot Stone Pho. It was a Friday evening, we're are the early birds at 7PM. Not many people here. The restaurant is very nice, the people are very attentive and pleasant. My kids have been in a bad Pho restaurant therefore quite reluctant to try a new one. They would prefer Brodard Chateau that they had before, but they have to try a new one with parents. They had a special stone bowl of pho, but my daughter just wanted a regular steak bowl of pho because she's didn't want to eat any pho, but nothing interests her in this place. The broth is not tasty, flat and no flavor, the fresh noodles are overcooked, the rare beef is chewy. She left half of the bowl for mom to eat. Glad we didn't order the $20 stone bowl because Pho is only good if the broth is good and the meat is tender. My son again with bo luc lac (shaken beef), nothing like mom top sirloin beef LOL. He did finish the chewy beef with rice. For the Adults, we ordered calamari, soft shell crabs, beef salad for appetizers. The kids love calamari, crispy, but not here, the octopus is so hard and chewy although they're crispy, the kids only had one and the rest mom and dad had to chew. The soft shell crabs still had raw odor from the dead crabs, it's horrid and not crispy at all, the sweet sauce is not going well with these. Only the beef salad although chewy beef but the sauce and veggies are excellent. So, I missed the shrimps from Juicy Seafood in Huntsville, I ordered for my wife to try, wow, they come out great garlic butter sauce with a little spice. My wife wanted to try Mien Xao Cua (glass noodles with crabmeat), this one is so salty and I had to finish it without leaving it undone. The prices are not very expensive, but the food is extremely mediocre. I think many people like this place because of the special ways of serving the food which we really didn't care for. We care about the taste, the core of the dishes, the quality of the food. Anyhow, my kids weren't happy. We're not too happy either, but my friend who recommended is happy, that's OK. Everyone has different...

Went here on a Sunday for dinner, wasn't super busy so we were seated right away and got our order in shortly after. The restaurant has a laid back vibe, good music, and the staff were very helpful, offering suggestions and answering my questions.

I went with a couple of my Vietnamese friends who recommended this place, and we drove up from Mission Viejo and the food was definitely worth it.

We ordered the Soft-shell crab bao as an appetizer which was very good but was a bit different than I had expected. It's like a deconstructed version of the dish, but the soft shell crab was lightly fried and was delicious but my favorite part was the little bun that came with it. Much better than usual bao bun and I wish more places would do it this way.

For main dishes my friend and I both ordered the Shaken steak and garlic noodles which was absolutely incredible, the steak was perfectly cooked and so tender and the noodles had a good amount of garlic and wasn't greasy or heavy. Would definitely order that again. It also came with a small serving of salad with a good avocado dressing that I really enjoyed, but my friend didn't so I ate that serving of salad too.

My friends also got their stone bowl pho to share which was quite a visually impressive meal, it comes with the stone bowl which keeps the broth boiling lava hot and then has several plates with all the usual pho fixings for you to add to your liking. They both really enjoyed it and I enjoyed the visual aspect of it because it does look stunning similar to like when someone orders fajitas at a restaurant and it catches everyone's attention when it comes out.

Overall the food was really good, the service was great, and I'm really looking forward to going here again to try their Cajun fish platter which...

I decided to come here with my husband and friend for dinner. We weren't sure what we were craving, but we decided to order a appetizer and 3 entrees. For our appetizer we shared Crispy Soft Shell Crab. The crab was good, but I felt like it could've used maybe some more batter. It was more on the saltier side, but they provide a chili sweet and sour sauce to dip it in. It also came with these cute little buns. It wasn't as big as a normal sized bao bun, but it kind of reminded me of Fried Mantou buns but just small. I ordered the Fried Salmon with Mushroom Sauce. The fried salmon was really gread dipped in the mushroom sauce. I loved how the dish also came with a salad. My husband ordered the Steak and Eggs. It came out sizzling hot (just the way we like it) with a baguette and a salad. The baguette was so good dipped in the sauce, eggs, and pate. The steak was also cooked perfectly at a medium rare. My friend orderded the Prawn with Noodles. I think in our heads we thought it would've been more like stir fried garlic noodles with stir fried shrimps on top, but it was more like a garlic butter pasta. The noodles were more on the softer side - we prefer a more al dente texture. I ordered the young coconut juice as my drink, and it was so refreshing. They ordered the lychee lemonade and the dragonfruit lemonade. Both great choices if you like lemondae. The place is pretty decent in size. You can have small to big parties of people probably up to 12. There's also booth and table seating, as well. Would order the Bo Ne and Com Ca Salmon again! The service was fast and friendly. What a nice...