Pho King Orem — Restaurant in Orem

**Note: I wrote this review and then realized I'd written a 5-paragraph opinion piece. I usually try to keep my reviews succinct but I'm pretty passionate about good pho so I got carried away. Skip to the last paragraph if you just want the quick and dirty review.

My family and I are political refugees from Washington State now residing in NV. On balance, the quality and availability of food options is significantly better in NV than it was in WA but since all of us had lived there for our entire lives before becoming expats and relocating to the desert, we do miss the food items that WA does well. Luckily, it's a short list and even though LV doesn't do seafood quite as well, there are passable options. The two things we can't find anywhere in the city of Las Vegas are passable teriyaki or pho.

I have given up on teriyaki completely. Seattle teriyaki was invented there and exists in great abundance but I haven't been able to find a single spot outside of WA that does it right. LV is particularly bad because everything here tastes like it came out of a box from the frozen section of Winco. This is more of a problem for my wife though because I do know how to make Seattle teriyaki at home but she can't pick it up for lunch on the go and I will never make it as often as she wants to eat it. We all love pho though and that's been the hardest thing to live without. Thankfully, the Ramen, Thai soup and Chinese noodle soups here are fantastic but no one seems to have sorted out how to make consistently good pho.

I did pull up Yelp and Google business to vet it because I've been burned by Utah pho before. Guy Fieri loves Oh Mai, which started in my dad's hometown of Holladay and I think that 1, Guy Fieri doesn't actually know what good pho is supposed to taste like and 2, Oh Mai thinks that their product is good because Guy Fieri likes it. My kid who lives there tried it and said it was weak but I insisted on trying it because Guy was so enthusiastic about it. Well, my kid grew up on the real stuff in WA and knows what she's talking about even if Mr. Triple D doesn't. No disrespect here, I've enjoyed most of his food recs but he got this one was dead wrong. Since he seems to be in UT every other week these days, I'd advise him to come try Pho King and recalibrate. I know they have good pho in CA where he's from but I haven't really had any in NorCal where he's from specifically.

I ordered the King-Sized Pho Thai with extra noodles, which is my favorite along with some fried dumplings. The prices were higher than what I used to pay in WA but I left before Bidenomics set in so I have no idea what stuff costs there anymore. Compared to the $17-$23 a bowl dirt-water they serve in LV, the $10.50 I paid for my generously sized bowl of pho was the best price I've paid for it since I left WA in 2019. It was perfect! Exactly the way my favorite spot in WA that I ate at for 15 years before leaving made it. The broth was excellent and the shaved beef cooked to perfection. Most places in LV cut it a little too thick and then over cook it until it's dry and chewy. Not here, the owner actually knows what she's doing. Speaking of the owner, she's delightful. She came out and chatted with me for a few minutes about pho and her knowledge of her craft is on point. This is a business that deserves your business. As for the restaurant itself, it's clean and comfortable. That's all I need. I focus on the food because I don't care about shiny bistro vibes. I'll be back every...

I dropped in for a quick lunch. The facility seemed clean and open. I was seated right away. It was relatively fast and the service was attentive. There was only one guy working the front (cashier, waiter, etc.) so there were tables that still had dirty dishes on them, but for one guy he did a great job.

I ordered a drink and the Bun Nem Cha Giao (House BBQ pork with egg roll and vermicelli noodles). This is a standard dish for most Viet restaurants. I should have known that if it isn't Pho, then don't go to a Pho restaurant.

It came out after about 15 minutes. The egg rolls were crisp on the outside...but gooey/mushy on the inside. They were the right size and the filling was okay, but the pasty mush on the inside of the wrapper was unpalatable and displeasing in texture.

The pork was flavorful and cooked well. It wasn't crisp but it had a nice caramelized surface and was the highlight of the dish. Unfortunately, the rest of the dish was disappointing at best. The fish sauce, to pour over the meal, had little flavor and had nothing floating in it - no chilis or garlic. For Nuoc Mam, it was weak and barely did anything for adding flavor to the noodles. The vegetables in the Bun were cucumber, shredded iceberg lettuce, and bean sprouts. The cucumber was good. The lettuce was green. The bean sprouts were old and many.

Finally, the final redeeming feature was the price. The food is very cheap. The quality of the food certainly shows in the lack of variety and value that is provided with the food. There was enough for an adult portion, but it wasn't good enough to really finish easting it all.

Overall, if you've never had Viet food before, this would be a terrible place to go for the first time. If you've had Vietnamese food before, there are so many other restaurants in the area with significantly better...

I love the shrimp spring rolls with edimame. Very friendly. Cheep and healthy. Updated review: They have amazing food, but lately are lacking in workers. When customers give a digital tip, it never goes through, pho king should fix that and maybe more employees will come to work there. Nothing wrong with the food, its perfect.. just the choice of employees and lack of employees that there is an issue with. Pho is always good even when they mess up.. only been messing up because unknown employees are too stubborn to correctly make a custom pho bowl i order almost every time. Best of luck your way with getting new employees and more of them so your hours can be during lunch every day too.. I don't eat dinner pho, i eat lunch, that is why i have not been in a long time.. otherwise i would be going more often every lunch time. Lunch for me is about 2 ish and it takes me 30 minutes to get there so there is really no point in going unless I can't get the craving gone then i have to time it right but even then it's a hassle, would rather go when i am ready to during lunch. This is not a downer review from my eyes, it is considered a compliment because i like your food enough i want to help by sharing ideas for improvement. Please stay in business, you're the only pho place that i love the best, has the healthiest best tasting food. All others I've tried are either terrible or lacking with the food items and menu.. no offense. I ate all of the food before i remembered to take a picture,...