Pho Banh Mi — Restaurant in Palo Alto

I stopped by here for lunch with my dog, Charlie, on a Saturday. There was plenty of outdoor seating and the outdoor seating is situated like most of the restaurant on University Ave. I ordered their shrimp spring roll, grilled chicken banh mi and their walking chicken pho.

I tasted the pho broth immediately and initial thoughts was that it's light, a little less flavor than I would like but I still liked it. The shredded chicken pieces are one of the most tender and succulent I've had at any pho restaurants. I normally get dried tasting chicken pieces in other pho restaurants. They also offer a chicken pho for $2 less.

The spring rolls was also good and looks like it was made to order. The peanut sauce is on par with other pho restaurants.

I only ate half of the grilled banh me sandwich mostly because I was getting full but I still enjoyed it. The baggutte was soft and warm, you get pieces of chicken, cilantro, pickled radish and carrot with every bite.

Now the prices. I see a fair number of complaint about the price and how they can get it cheaper and better elsewhere . That's probably the case in most instances but you should have known that going into this restaurant. I knew the prices and still wanted to try it and it was a good meal. It more than what I would typically pay for banh mi and a bowl of pho but I didn't let that hinder my experience. The staff were nice, attentive and brought water immediately. I can't also take Charlie with me to a vast majority of pho restaurants so I really like that aspect of Pho Banh Mi also.

Total bill was around $48 with...

Solid place to get Vietnamese food. It’s definitely a little cheaper than Pho Ha Noi down the street, but it’s also not as fancy. The food is still good though and I like how they have many classic Vietnamese dishes.

I like to get their Vietnamese pate pork banh mi. My partner likes their popcorn chicken. I also like their grilled pork with rice. And recently we ordered their grilled chicken and it was surprisingly good too

I also like that this place’s usually not too busy for dinner so you can usually sit wherever and order fast. They serve food pretty fast. We waited less than 10 minutes when we ordered 3 entrees and 1 appetizer. I also like how they have a utensils box at the table so you don’t need to flag down a waiter for a spoon or fork. Also they make the water so fancy here! They give water in a large mason jar with citrus and add citrus and cucumber to the water cups. I like that touch. It makes the water feel fancy.

Also want to mention they auto-add a 10% service charge on the bill.

The inside feels new and clean. I think they’ve redone the restaurant a bit because I don’t remember it being like this before, but I really like their new decor. It feels modern and warm.

Parking: There are many parking garages in Palo Alto so it’s not too hard for us to...

I only had an hour to eat and found this restaurant by chance. This would be 5 stars but I found the restaurant dirty. There were food crumbs on my bench chair and scraps of food under the table. The table was greasy looking so I used a napkin as my place mat. If it wasn't for my companion, I would have left the restaurant.

I ordered the steak and meatball pho. The steak (high quality than most restaurants) was tender but the strips were so long that it was hard to eat - too much for a mouthful and no knife to cut the meat strips. Soup was flavorful and hot. Meatballs were seasoned well.

The regular vermicelli bowl was presented well. It was enough for one person.

I ordered the traditional spring rolls which never came, although I reminded them of my order when I was eating. The traditional egg roll finally came with my check. They said I had to take it since it was already made. I did not want to make a hassle so I asked for a take out box. I ate the spring rolls the next night. I covered the spring rolls with a wet napkin and microwaved it. It still tasted fresh and the lettuce, etc. weren't wilted. It would have better if it were...