Pho King RESTAURANT — Restaurant in Oakland

207 E 18th, their new location after relocating from International Boulevard. The old location retained the same name under a new operator, but 207 E 18th is the one and only with the outstanding taste.

Pho King 18th St is my favorite pho restaurant. Only the old Kevin’s Pho about a mile or two away matched it, and Kevin’s just vanished 5 or more years ago.

The pho here used to have a note of anise. Either I’ve gotten used to it and don’t even notice anymore, or the chef has dialed it down; for comparison, when I go to Pho Saigon in Pleasanton, the broth tastes good but thin and “weak” compared to the current Pho King flavor.

Old defunct Kevin’s would occasionally serve us pho tai with “freezer burned” meat slices. Not spoiled, but probably kept frozen too long. Pho King is consistently fresh and high quality, also never any wilted or “on their way out” basil or other garnish veggies. Pho King also has an additional chili sauce jar that isn’t the norm at most pho joints.

I used to love the Slanted Door in the original Mission location; tender, gourmet level thin beef slices. Pho King can’t - and doesn’t try to - match that pricey upscale beef, but oh man, their broth beats Slanted Door’s any day of the week.

Serviceable, but not king of the hill, pork chop rice plate and ditto on the dry noodles with bbq pork.

Pho King used to brew each iced coffe to order. Like all the other pho shops I visit, they’ve switched over to bulk brewing and serving out of a pitcher. I miss the old hand brew, it was much better but it also meant I was finishing my meal about the time the slow drip was ready.

The register needs to offer 12% and 15% tip options. Starting at 18% seems too high. However tip inflation is rampant in the Bay Area, at least no one says “tip or no tip” or otherwise tries to shame you unlike many hipster hangouts in Berkeley who don’t even have table service (Pho King of course has efficient table service).

My favorites here are tai nam...

4 of us just had lunch here about two hour ago (Sunday about 1130AM). Two of our friends were dying to come back from their last visit a year ago, since they really love the bun bo hue here (spicy beef/pork noodle soup) but the place was closed for months for remodeling. For two of us, it was our first time.

As it turned out, we verified that the original owners have moved and opened their own restaurant about 4 blocks away at 207 E. 18th St under the SAME name - Pho King! We'll have to go give them a try another time.

We ordered a spring roll (goi coun), a beef pho, two bun bo hue, and a bun rieu (crab noodle soup). My friend really liked his bun bo hue, he said it was one of the best he's had in Oakland (nearby Ao Sen restaurant's bun bo hue is his other fav).

For me, unfortunately, I was very disappointed with the bun rieu - it was one of the worst I've had in the Bay Area. The bun rieu was overly greasy (you can see a lot of grease in the pic). The primary flavor/taste of bun rieu is supposed to be crab and tomato, which are the primary ingredients of this dish. This however, was more pork tasting - they even included chunks of pork, which I've never had in this dish at other restaurants. The other highlight of this dish is supposed to be the chunks of crab meat, egg and pork balls but the ones here you can barely taste any crab and was on the bland side. Definitely would not order bun rieu here again because it's too greasy and porky as opposed to a rich crab and tomato based broth/flavor profile of good bun rieu.

Warning - kitchen staff may NOT follow requests. Waiter wrote down my request for no pork blood cubes but my bun rieu came out with them anyways ;/ Service was so-so - understaffed and folks who bring your food hurried away and didn't want to help if you asked them for anything (another sauce dish etc.). Likely will not come back here and go give the other...

"2.5 : Very loud and unwelcoming"

Look, the food wasn't bad, and I was ready to sit down and have a nice meal if not for the experience. I couldn't wait to leave this restaurant.

Even before we were seated (~6:50 with a short wait; they close at 8), the staff was asking all parties waiting in line for a pre-order to get folks moving.

Then there was the noise. It would sound like I'm exaggerating to say that it sounded like a car horn constantly blaring, but that's how loud it was inside; people are constantly speaking as loudly as is politely and/or yelling to be heard at their own table. I blame this on the lack of baffling or some kind of sound dampening mechanisms (all nice new tile and bare, newly painted walls).

If the message wasn't clear enough, when we got our drinks (after our food, which came very quickly) they were in to-go containers (where other patrons had glasses, sitting around us).

I like Vietnamese food and the food here is decent, but there were too many other factors that will make this an unlikely return trip within the next year. I don't recommend attempting this place anywhere near closing time... or when it's busy.

Pros: Decent food, fair prices, clean facilities, good parking, good location. Cons: rushed service,...