Phở Cali Restaurant — Restaurant in Melbourne

Ever since my Vietnamese squad mate in the Army introduced me to Pho back in 2002, I have LOVED it! I have had Pho in the Asian area of Tacoma Washington, Phoenix Arizona, El Paso Texas, and all over East Tennessee. I even learned to make Chicken Pho from scratch at home...

Last night, my wife and I were feeling sick and so we did the unthinkable: we ordered Pho for delivery from here. Every one should know that ordering Pho for delivery is a no-no...but this food was absolutely incredible! So when we busted out the pork chops tonight - and they were rotten - we said, "Let's try eating AT Pho Cali." We were not disappointed.

Our server was the son of the man who by all appearances was the manager (if that wasn't his title). The server's grandfather was the chef, so this is definitely a family establishment. They were, in fact, Vietnamese and they sure knew how to show us a good time! Everyone was courteous, gracious, and despite being understaffed we never had to wait for anything...

...and the food. OMG the food was out of this world. This is by far the best Vietnamese restaurant I have ever eaten at. The manager even brought us out an extra egg roll when we told him that we didn't wrap ours with the lettuce leaf so we could eat it properly. And we are glad he did. These were the best egg rolls any of us ever had, but eating it wrapped in the lettuce made them even better! He even shared with me how the amazing sauce that we dipped them in was made.

We left with full bellies, new understanding of how to eat Vietnamese cuisine, and with some of their delicious-looking rice desserts (steamed rice cakes and baked rice cake with palm sugar and cane sugar).

I am recommending this to everyone I know. I always consider someone's first taste of delicious Pho as a "significant emotional event." But if this place is their first, they may wind up disappointed for the rest of their life if they never get to eat at Pho Cali again.

Cheers to the family/staff who own and operate this hidden...

It seriously pains me to write this, because my husband and I were die hard Pho Cali fans for years. The last few visits we have ordered take-out dinner from them (pho, fried rice, and a couple other entrees), it has been mediocre at best and just plain sad at worst. Regardless, because we were die-hards, we decided to give them one more try and ordered some take-out dinner tonight. Shrimp fried rice and an order of broccoli/tofu with rice. Two dishes were $30. My husband paid, drove 10 minutes home, only to realize they forgot the rice for the broccoli tofu. Annoying. But also, the main broccoli tofu dish just looked…pathetic. Like “I really paid $15 dollars for this?” pathetic. I even took a picture of it and asked the kid at the counter if an entree was supposed to look like that… he said “yes.” The shrimp fried rice was dry, salty, and—again—not worth $15. Throw in me having to drive back 10 minutes to get rice that should have been in the bag in the first place (they gave me an extra side of rice for the trouble. Thanks so much for the bland white rice that probably costs forty cents to produce), and you have yourself The Final Straw.

It hurts my heart to say this, but Pho Cali has lost our business.

Order take-out from them at...

Quality was a pretty subpar from what I was expecting from my last visit.

Black coffee was actually really good. It's actually sweetened very nicely and is iced with a real solid coffee taste. Not watered down and would order this again.

The spring rolls were okay. They were stuffed with a lot of shredded lettuce and some rice noodles. Not any additonal herbs to make it interesting. Very basic and simple.

The entree I ordered this time around was #61 Wonton and Pork Egg Noodle Soup. It came with an eclectic bunch of vegetables such a cauliflower, cabbage, broccoli, carrots, jalapeños, bean sprouts, basil and lime. I like veggies so I didn't mind, but they did not make sense overall. The broth was chicken based and not super flavorful, but adding sriracha and sambal helped bump it up.

Lastly, I got a Honeydew Boba to go. The tapioca pearls were really tough and I did not enjoy them. The drink itself was alright too. Not overly sweet and mixed well.

I think I'd stick to their standard offerings the next time I visit such as pho or a...