Tasty Bowl — Restaurant in Oakland

We go to Pho King right next door almost weekly, but for whatever reason Pho King was closed today so we decided to give this place a try.

I knew this wasn’t going to be as good because there were always more people at Pho King, but man it was absolutely terrible.

I ordered my usual pho with sliced steak, you know, the most vanilla pho there is next to chicken pho and I’ve never had it this bad. The beef that comes with the pho looks like scrap meat, and there was only a few pieces of it. I really tried to eat the pho, but I just couldn’t, the meat was tough and the soup tasted like it was made from powder.

Side note, they have weird highchairs that are not suitable for toddlers (the front bar is too low, child cannot put feet on the bottom bar without getting legs stuck), also, asked the scissors to cut up the noodles for toddler and there were only 2 pairs in the restaurant, both non...

If you like rice noodles dishes, it's a pretty good chance that you'll enjoy the way Tasty Bowl mixes and matches your favorite food items. First time, not knowing what to expect (I'm picky about what I eat...), tried their stir fry vegetarian rice noodles dish with added chicken. Surprisingly pleasing! Realized I didn't really need the chicken because the tofu was so flavorful. Like the shaved carrots (not usually something I would choose), especially the BLACK mushrooms, and the combo of broccoli, onions and everything else they included. Second time (good enough to return, sí!) just got the vegetarian rice noodles stir fry, nothing added. Sprinkled with the usual condiments, this Vietnamese restaurant's food option works for me! Socially distanced indoor (spacious, airy) and outdoor seating as well as orders to go. Wish they had organic brown rice noodles, but what "regular" restaurant does?...

The pho is good but the service is horrible and I'm pretty sure they are prejudice. I ordered the Korean short ribs too, and asked if they could just double the salad instead of giving me rice, and the server/owner was like it also comes with kimchi too but you probably don't want that. Why?! Because I'm black. I told him of course I want the kimchi. Then, instead of chopsticks, he gives me a fork. I didn't say anything about it but took a mental note. Then the ribs came out luke warm and super chewy. I politely asked if they could put it on the grill for me for a few more minutes. The server/owner literally said no but that he could put it in the MICROWAVE for me. I then said, just give me a box please, and I'll take it home and fix it myself since I didn't feel like going back and forth with the guy, which he did. Unbelievable. Will...