Pho Tuan Canh restaurant — Restaurant in Garden Grove

I was craving a Beef Phở and made the mistake of going to a place known on the internet for Chicken phở. I ordered my usual special Beef ($12) phở with the rare (raw) beef on the side, but I was refused! When they brought out my bowl I found that the rare beef already in the bowl was of a different cut than all the other rare beef in all other restaurants! It was more chewy too. Interestinly, on the menu was extra portion of rare beef for a whopping $6. I usually like to marinate the raw beef on the side plate with hoisin sauce, sriracha, and "cook" it with a generous squeeze of lime, before dipping it in the hot broth. But I was not willing to pay $6 for a separate order of rare beef that was of an unsual cut from the cow. And the cut of raw beef here was probably not appropriate to be placed on the side to be marinated and dipping by the eater any way.

The broth itself was too salty--too much MSG, and too oily. You can see the little circles of fat on the surface.

Oh, and water was not free. $0.75 for a 10oz bottle and a cup of ice.

If I ever crave Chicken phở, I might satisfy my curiosity here next time, but never...

My mother in law recommended this place for Pho GA (fresh free range chicken). I normally go to Pho 86 for Pho GA.

My MIL warned me of a long wait, but I took my chances, luckily we beat the Saturday lunch rush we waited only for about 15 mins.

The Pho-

The chicken Pho broth was delicious full of flavor that I didn't add any siracha. It's also served with my favorite fresh rice noodles. I ordered Pho GA đùi (chicken thigh) which is popular than the the chicken breast (Úc). I would call and see if they still have chicken thigh because as we were leaving around noon I heard the server said...

We ordered half of the steam empress chicken with the ginger and scallion sauce with clear noodle and rice noodles it was the BEST combos. So good! That we forgotten to take photos of them. Kids ordered beef ball noodles and beef pho noodles it was all gone by the time we are done. We got 2 bottle waters it was half the regular size of a regular 16oz bottle water and they charge $1.50 each we thought that was funny for such a smal...