Viet Phomula — Restaurant in Monrovia

I just had dinner here and the broth is very authentic! There were no open tables at Saigon Ave across and we decided to try out Pho House 99 and we are glad we did!

My husband had the Special Pho #1 and was surprised at the bonus shortrib that came with the order! There was a lot of meat for the price! My hubs commented that the broth is more flavorful than at Saigon Ave, and he should know better because he’s a half bred Vietnamese but one who knows his pho!

I had the kimchi pho with seafood and it was good but very spicy! The seafood portion was generous; there was even a piece of crab although I didn’t care for it... too much work to break the meat out of the shell! If you like spicy, you will enjoy this!

We spoke with Jeff, our server and probably the owner, who told us that they have 2 other pho joints in Garden Grove in OC. Anyone in LA will know that OC is home to the Vietnamese and therefore food there will be as authentic as it gets!

I am glad we found this little pho gem in Monrovia! It will definitely be our go to for pho whenever we get the cravings!

Not sure why Saigon Ave (competing pho place across the street) appears more popular ... perhaps its the ambience? Think if they replaced their many white LED lightbulbs with yellow lightbulbs instead, it will look more cozy, warm...

Pho 99 problems..... Do yourself a favor and don't go anywhere near this establishment. Run, do not walk the other way.

Everything that could go wrong, did go wrong. I don't even write yelp reviews, but this was a reminder for why an app like this could serve up a purpose for reviews.

Since there was so much going wrong I'll just list what I can remember:

-new management 10 days ago, safe to say they don't know how to service a customers

-took 30 minutes to get our order started

-took another 30 minutes for the food to come out

-got our order wrong twice, brought out 3 incorrect dishes at 3 separate intervals

-kept getting all the orders wrong for 3 other tables (it is not even busy at the restaurant)

-so many orders were incorrect, the new people that got seated left the restaurant after observing the chaos

-correct order finally comes out, the rest of my party is finished eating

-they then say cash only when there is a credit sign next to their register

-we say we only have a little cash, she says their machine is broken, cash only. After 5 minutes of this they bring out their credit machine and guess what it works quickly with no issues

-server never came once to check on us during the entire meal, though they don't speak English, we expected at least a check up...

I ordered a large chicken pho to go via Google. Many things went wrong:

No one was available to interact with me when I entered. I waited until someone saw me.

I was quoted 15 minutes for pickup. I got there 20 minutes after ordering. She asked who I was picking up for, twice. Hard to communicate with her. It seemed like she was looking through the system and realized they didn't even start putting together my order. She asked to give them 5 minutes and didn't offer me a seat or water or anything.

Unfortunately, the food itself was also so-so. The chicken pho broth was bland. The chicken was tough (supposed to be shredded but more like chopped chicken breast). I'm not sure if I even got the large version because there were only a few pieces of chicken.

I suppose the packaging was good. The onion and green onion were separately packaged from the noodles and chicken in a bowl-shaped container. I got utensils...