Pho 79 — Restaurant in Saint Paul

My girlfriend and I were craving pho, so I decided to Yelp a pho place around the neighborhood. I've been disappointed for the most part to what Minnesota has to offer in terms of pho, with an exception to Quang's. At first upon stumbling upon pho 79, I had some doubts due to its generic name.. pho 79, but due to it's 4 star Yelp average, we decided to give it a try. I've mostly had terrible experience at those generic pho stores like pho 38..pho 68..pho 88..pho 888. I've been to so many..One of my bucket lists is to go to all the pho places starting from Pho 1. I must locate it! I would prefer to have started chronologically from 1, but hey, I have to start somewhere!

Enough of the rant! It's review time. I gave this place 3 stars. We ordered egg rolls and 2 different phos. I got the usual: Number 1 on the any pho restaurant menu. I don't even have to look at the menu. I just say "Number 1!!" It's the pho with all the meats, tendon, tripe, meatballs etc.... You know.. the usual. My girlfriend got some other pho, that I don't quite remember. I think it was the one the straight up meat with broth. The food came quickly upon ordering! They had super fast service, as do most other vietnamese restaurants. The egg rolls were quite crispy and pretty decent. Better than some of the other ones around the Twin Cities area such as Bona and Trieu Chau. However not as good as Quang's.

Next came our pho. It came shortly after we started chowing on the egg rolls. At first, the pho tasted good. However, a third of the way through, the broth started tasting a little bitter. I'm not sure why, but both my girlfriend and I tasted a little bitterness. At that point I decided to squeeze the lime and add Sriracha to try and mask the taste. It did a decent job, but still tasted a little bitterness. Other than that, the portion was pretty good for the price. It's about or slightly cheaper than most other pho places around the city. The portions seemed to be bigger than Quang's, Bona, and Trieu Chau and Pho Tau Bay.

Given all that, I probably wouldn't come back here again. The only place I'd go back again is Quang's. However, I'm still in search of good pho around the cities! Next up may be My Huong Kitchen or Lotus Restaurant. Any suggestions? Shoot...

I recently visited Pho 79 with my wife and sister-in-law, and unfortunately, our experience was far from enjoyable.

When we arrived, we stood at the entrance for about five minutes before anyone acknowledged us. An older lady eventually seated us, but she barely spoke and didn’t seem particularly welcoming.

For appetizers, we ordered the spicy wings and shrimp mini egg rolls, which turned out to be the best part of our visit. Both were flavorful and well-prepared, which initially gave us hope for the rest of our meal.

My wife ordered the Pho Hue, my sister-in-law had the Pho Combo, and I chose the Chicken Noodle Salad with Shrimp—a dish I’ve had at many other restaurants. Unfortunately, this was by far the worst version I’ve ever had. The chicken and shrimp were severely overcooked, with the chicken pieces sticking together and the shrimp resembling rubber. To make matters worse, I only received four shrimp, and they charged me $3.50 for them—an amount far smaller than what I’ve received at other restaurants for the same dish.

My wife and sister-in-law were also disappointed with their pho, both finding it bland and lacking in flavor.

A gentleman later came by to ask how the food was, and when I told him it was horrible, he apologized but made no effort to fix the situation—no offer to adjust the bill or even ask how they could make things right. At the very least, I would have appreciated a partial discount on my meal, but that didn’t happen.

Between the lackluster customer service and the poor quality of the food, I can confidently say that I won’t be...

Visiting Pho 79 was for me a walk down memory lane, and what a joy it was! The first time I tasted Fresh Spring Rolls was when the strip mall at Raymond and Energy Park Drive opened in 1991/92. So I was hoping the taste would be as good as 30+ years ago (when I was a student at U of M). It was sooooo good! Delicious and very rich in taste, served with the signature dip sauce that is excellent and a very good combo with the fresh spring rolls 😋 We also tried the Pho 79 Pork Egg Rolls, which may be the most crispy fried rolls we have tasted. Quite tasty and well made. A plus to the chef for pre-cutting the rolls before serving them. It may have been a mistake to not order Hû Tiėu (chicken broth) or Phô (beef broth) soup, but our choice was the Pho 79 Combination Fried Rice, with pork, chicken, shrimp and vegetables. Tastes great and with the big serving, we had to ask for a box to bring the delicious leftovers with us home. The charming lady that served us kindly told us that the fresh spring roll would be best if eaten before the end of the day (to prevent the moist rice paper to get too dry). Hopefully I can return to Pho 79 soon. It definitely was worth it❗️ It should be added that the current owners are not the same as when the Vietnamese restaurant opened over three decades ago. But we were told that they are related and have kept the good food secrets in...