Pho Royal — Restaurant in Lemon Grove

I hate leaving bad reviews but I felt like this is important to know for the public good. I invited my brother and his wife to come along since they're the only Asian food place around our area that's opened till 9pm and we came in a little before 8pm. I ordered the spicy noodle soup, my brother their rice combination and his wife the soup shrimp soup. I'm giving them 2 stars instead dog 1 because at least they were prompt when we asked for stuff but this is also where they went wrong. We also ordered egg rolls which came out way to fast to be freshly cooked. Secondly, when the food came out, my brother's wife asked for sugar to add to her shrimp soup. They gave her salt instead. She had put soup from the big bowl to a smaller bowl which we asked for which is lucky because she only ruined the small bowl. She kept eating the soup. My brother got a pineapple from the soup and said it's spoiled. So I tried it myself and it was certainly spoiled. So I tell the waiter, all of a sudden they don't really understand what I'm saying. There were many customers there and I was trying to be polite and respectful by not being loud, I was almost whispering to them so I don't disgust the other customers. They had to huddle up to finally say they are not going to charge me for the soup but the way they said it was like they were doing us a favor. I even told them I don't mind paying for another soup as long as they can make one that's not spoiled then they said oh no our pineapples are bad right now so we can't make another soup. They offered no apologies or any way to fix it or make it up. I paid for the rest of the meals and even left them an 18% tip. I feel bad because my brother's wife is breastfeeding their 1 month old baby I hope she doesn't get sick. Never am I going back especially inviting anyone else there ever again. Even the good we had that wasn't spoiled...

I hate to give a 3 star -- as the only semi decent Pho restaurant in the area I want them to survive, but my experience is based on 2 incidents. The first incident, was a long piece of black hair in my spring rolls. I brought it to their attention and they comped the spring rolls and offered to make new ones, but I have to admit at that point, no more spring rolls for me!

It took at least 2 months before I could come back. We had a good experience when we came back. I did not get any hair from the Spring Rolls in my mouth, so that was good.

We went back to get takeout about a week ago, and the place was pretty busy. I ordered my food, and waited, and waited. Then someone came out and told me the dish I chose (not pho), they could no longer make for me because they ran out of rice, and for me to choose something else. I picked something else that looked like a lot of beef, and they once again told me I couldn't have it because they ran out of rice. So I picked something else.

To add to it, I was sitting at an empty table, and glad to move for anybody coming in. Several tables were not cleaned, and someone came in, so I offered my table since I was ordering take out. The person told me I could go sit outside. It wasn't super cold outside, but was not a warm day at all. At that point, after waiting so damn long and being denied my dish because they ran out of rice, we...

I drove by this place SEVERAL times but never thought I'd stop in. Tonight I drove by at first but it caught my eye & on impulse I decided to give them a try!

Around 8pm, place is half full. The waitress greeted me as soon as we made eye contact upon me walking in, which was nice. I was given a menu & offered a seat although I told her it was TO GO. which was also nice. I waited about 10-15 minutes after ordering for my food & the waitress sat down with me and small talked, which was different. . But nice.

I ordered the Grilled Chicken Summer Rolls (which came with 4 rolls, most places only give 2) pleasantly suprised they offered a variety of DIFFERENT rolls which include beef, shrimp and pork! I also got the combination Pho & the combination noodle mix w/ shrimp & chicken. I ended up eatung when u got home, so wasnt as hot or fresh as it woyld of bn had i dined in but All of the dishes were DELICIOUS... my fav were the rolls & peanut sauce.

The ONLY cons I'd give my experience was the portions of the pho & noodle mix were a little smaller than I would of hoped for the price. Wasn't expensive BUT portions could of been a tad bit bigger. Otherwise, I see myself...