Pho CALI — Restaurant in Rocklin

My wife and I were visiting family near here and I unfortunately was sick. Well, being sick I was craving some good soup. Thankfully Pho Cali was close and I ordered some Pho and a Bahn Mi. I ordered take out and was stoked initially that it was probably only going to be a 20 minute or so wait, but by the time I finished ordering I was told it was going to take 60 minutes... So that was weird.

The Bahn Mi was great, the head cheese and ham offered a great salty meat, the veggies were super fresh tasting, and the pickled veggies were great. The bread was pretty fresh and crispy. And the pho was nicely put together. I ordered the large since it was only a couple dollars more than the small, I was shocked to see it was basically double the small order. So what a great deal. That being said I was really looking forward to a lot of tripe and tendon, especially with a large order, but there was not much at all. Sadly the pho was almost entirely rice noodle and very little tripe and tendon, but it was loaded with bean sprouts. The broth was great and it was delicious, but they need to step up the portion size for the proteins...

Checked this place out last night, my gf wanted pho to warm up. It had great reviews & good prices! We started with #4, shrimp and steamed pork spring rolls: we thought they were really fresh, and tasted better than most others we have had before! She had #35, chicken noodle soup, with rice noodles: she said it was very good! I had #47, wonton and bbq pork soup, with egg noodle: it had great flavor before I added any of my usual extras!! We also had 1 pineapple and 1 mango smoothies! They were pretty standard, but still great! I must say.. Great Service!!!! That is something that is usually lacking from pho places with good food, and honestly not a deal breaker for us. But, we were super happy that our server was attentive and helpful!!! Wish we lived near here, cause we'd make it our go to pho place... We will definitely be back there next time we're in the area! Also, they have giant portions! We usually get the large size (which we did last night) so we'll have leftovers... We each had 2 full leftover...

My husband and I have eaten here several times, on several different occasions. I've brought friends to eat here as well. The staff is very nice and friendly. The kitchen will accommodate reasonable changes and substitutions.

My only qualm is: consistency in meat cook times. Specifically, the Korean style short ribs. The short cook time issue with the beef ribs seems to have been rectified.

On Sunday nights, when it's packed, you'd have to roll me out because I'm so full, and the food is cooked to perfection. However, on any given weekend lunch period, you get what you get. And, while staff ask, 'how is the food?' They have zero power to return the food or remove from bill if you are not satisfied with cook times.

So, we are thinking to just stop by only at heaviest customer periods for better food cook time consistency. This is a bummer because I would eat here far more...