Pho Gulf Breeze — Restaurant in Pensacola

I let all the 5 star reviews convince me that I needed to come here. My overall experience here left me unsatisfied and a bit annoyed.

My menu was covered in what appeared to be hoisin sauce, and the atmosphere was very much "takeout place with seating", but the owner was nice enough.

The egg rolls were funky tasting. I mean, kinda sour and off like turned produce. They're most similar to Chinese fried spring rolls. I did not care for them and did not make it through the 1st one I had. A waste of $7, 0/5 stars.

My pork and pate banh mi sandwich did not have pate on it. At all. Not even a speck. Yes, I checked. However, it was on nice bread and the meat was well-seasoned with a soy sauce marinade. The pickled carrots were too floss-like for my preference. For $9, I expected better, 3.5/5 stars.

The pho was decent. The large meatball and steak pho is $18. Had all the usual veggies. A fine 4/5 stars.

Bun bo hue was very good. A pleasant surprise. In-store price was $18 (I could be wrong). There was a deep lemongrass flavor, and it was rich without being greasy or fatty. I would have liked more than 2 shards of pork blood cake for the price. The veggie plate brought out for the BBH was missing basil, which I see others have gotten with theirs. Minor flaws, but still good, 4/5 stars.

I ordered 2 raw eggs for a northern Vietnamese pho. $3 per egg. That's an extra $6 on a bowl already nearing $20 by itself. They were not brown eggs, golden eggs, or otherwise remarkable eggs. Considering a low-end consumer retail egg is about $0.16 (resturant supply pricing would be lower), I found the pricing quite unreasonable.

There are no fountain drinks. If they fire up the woks while you're there, expect to smell like stir-fried food. The ventilation is poor.

IF this establishment was set up like a Dharma Blue or a Rayza's, the pricing would not be such a glaring issue, but because it's presented as a casual place, it makes the missteps seem much more egregious.

If you're curious and MUST try it, do, but I warn you, don't get those egg rolls unless you like tart fried...

We picked this place because of the reviews (all 5 stars) after visiting this place I am suspicious that many are fake reviews planted by owners? People were friendly and seated us quickly. We ordered the spring rolls and fried dumplings. The dumplings were good but did not taste or look homemade. The spring rolls were just okay and the pork in them was dry and bland. I ordered the combination fried rice based on the picture from their website ($17.) What I received was dried out pork, dried and bland rice and tiny pale shrimp, most of them no bigger than a nickel. My husband got the wonton bowl which was also disappointing. We aren’t into real spicy food so maybe everything is bland unless you put hot chili crisps or siracha all over the food. I like flavor and spice but not heat. When the young girl came to get our payment I told her I thought my dish was terrible and nothing as pictured. She told me someone would come and talk to us. After waiting for 10 minutes my husband asked if someone was coming and she said they were very busy and we’d have to wait. Only 3 tables had patrons. We decided to pay and leave and when we went to the counter the only “manager” was a very young girl. Probably family? They said the owner had just left. When I told her about my rice and the picture on the website she just gave me excuses about the website developer putting up false pictures or something like that. We paid and tipped them and left. Just beware, having 4 dishes may not be enough to base my opinion on but I know good food...

LARGE PHO TAI... $17 PLUS TAX

Meat was super tender some of the best Ive ever had in a Pho. There wasnt a lot of it though but just an average amount.

Noodles were pre cooked perfectly. In the large bowl I'd like a few more noodles I suppose.

For my liking also, I'd have liked more onions as there were not a lot.

The broth was very flavorfully balanced. Very good broth. A touch salty maybe, but it wasn't grossly over salted or anything like that... and I'm probably being picky. It was very good.

Price is a bit high by my experience and comparison, but I'm traveling and see a lot of Pho in different communities and I don't know the nature of this area to comment on the price further... I could be priced right for the area I don't know.

Overall.... id say if you like Pho you won't be disappointed with this establishment. Their broth is a highlight... if they could add more onions and a few more pieces of meat they'd be perfect ... they already have a high google rating so obviously they know...