Phở Vân Restaurant — Restaurant in San Diego

I've driven past Pho Van's neon light sign quite a few times when venturing into City Heights for Vietnamese food, but have never eaten there until now. It's easy to miss the sign on the side of the restaurant, advising of Parking In The Rear, as you drive past the alley right before the restaurant. There are also lots of street parking all around if you miss the rear parking lot.

The restaurant was pretty much full house, with 2 small tables available when we went for lunch. The ladies are quickly dotting around the restaurant to take orders, run food and clear tables. They are very helpful with any questions or requests you may have. The man working seemed a bit confused the whole time he was trying to help out the whole time we were there for lunch.

As it was a cold day, my partner and I were craving noodle soup, but something other than Pho. There is a nice selection of other noodle soups offered, aside from Pho here. I ordered Hu Tieu My Tho (#86) with Shrimp, Pork, Fishballs & Imitation Crab. It usually comes with glass noodles, but changed it to the wide flat rice noodles. My partner ordered the Bo Kho (#62) which is the beef stew with wide flat rice noodles.

Service was good, except for an odd situation with the confused male worker that I mentioned. He brought over the Bo Kho my partner order, however it had skinny rice noodles and not the wide flat rice noodles ordered. He then told us that they made a mistake and put skinny noodles and asked if we were okay with that. We looked at him with confusion, not knowing how to respond, as we've never been asked if we would be okay with a mistake that the restaurant makes. Before we were able to tell him that we want what we ordered, one of the ladies yelled to him that it was for a different table and he just picked it back up and gave it to the the correct customer. As the "mistake" was resolved on its own, I didn't hold this against them for my review. Now, if it wasn't for someone else and he expected us to tell him if we'd be okay with their mistake, then I would have had an issue with their service.

Usually when we order Pho, it comes out really quickly, but these noodle soup dishes took a lot longer than usual, but that's okay. The large size was indeed large and we couldn't finish our bowls. They sure don't skimp at this restaurant and are very generous with the proteins and offerings that accompany the noodle soups! Large at many other restaurants are about the same as the small size here. Both dishes were good and we got our hot noodle soup fix for sure!

I will definitely be back for more meals in the near future and will have to try their...

The beef they serve is not beef. It is DOG/Horse MEAT SOME TIMES IT IS BEEF THE POLICE DEPARTMENT CANNOT DO ANYTHING ABOUT THIS BUT I HAVE A CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT AGAINST THIS COMPANY AND THEIR SISTER COMPANIES I HAVE A DNA ANALYSIS FROM THEIR RESTAURANT AND IT CAME BACK ONE DAY AS DOG DNA 2 WEEKS LATER I WENT BACK AND IT CAME BACK AS HORSE DNA IF YOU GO THERE AND YOU ORDER BEEF AND BROCCOLI OR ANYTHING WITH BEEF YOU WILL NOTICED AT TIMES THEIR BEEF TASTE DIFFERENT EVEN LOOKS DIFFERENT HAVE A SIMILAR LOOK TO BEEF IMMEDIATELY AFTER TASTING YOU'LL KNOW IT IS NOT THE SAME THEY WILL MIX IT WITH BEEF GRAVY SAUCE I CAME TO THIS RESTAURANT A FEW TIMES AND LOVED THE FOOD ONE DAY THEIR BEEF AND BROCCOLI AND PHO BEEF SOUP TASTED COMPLETELY DIFFERENT AS USUAL SO I DID NOT EAT IT BUT BECAUSE THE FIRST TIME I CAME THERE IT WAS SO GOOD I FIGURED MAYBE THEIR BEEF THAT THEY COOKED WRONG OR HAD A DIFFERENT INGREDIENT I WENT BACK THE NEXT WEEK AND ORDERED THE SAME EXACT THING I NOTICED THE BEEF TEXTURE HAD A LOT OF FAT STRINGY FAT BUT THE TASTE WAS DIFFERENT AGAIN I PAID AGAIN BUT THIS TIME I COMPLAIN IT ASKING HOW COME THEIR FOOD TASTES SO DIFFERENT EVERY TIME The manager did not understand so he asked one of his employees to translate once when they translated. For some reason they began arguing with each other. The employee that spoken English was Vietnamese. That employee was upset because I guess his manager was saying something bad in his language. So the manager said he was give me a refund but do not come back. When he asked me not to come back I was upset. I noticed the other employee was upset as well. The employee made a comment saying something about dog meat. Another guest that speaks Vietnamese stands up and said you are feeding us dog meat I could not believe what I was hearing so I took a sample of the food in a to-go box. The manager was persisting not for me to take it because I did not pay for it. So I paid for it. I took it to a local laboratory here in San Diego and the meat in the beef and broccoli came back as dog meat. The meat and the soup came back as horse meat I notified the authorities. The authorities are not doing anything about it saying that the Laboratory I took the meat to could have made a mistake or I could have made up these documents. I asked the police detector to investigate and see that the laboratory is a human society laboratory instead. It is now been 30 days and I have not got any phone call back finding out. This is very popular in San Diego with Vietnamese people be careful of...

Whoa… I might be too full to even finish this review. Ratings can be so bias which can certainly clog the integrity of reviews, but isn’t that the whole point? I don’t normally leave a review after only one visit but even those this place didn’t “wow” me it hit every aspect of an experience that I would want. I was left full for an affordable price. The place was clean and the staff was pleasant. The atmosphere fit the mood and the music set a great ambience. Again, it wasn’t red carpet but I wasn’t even looking for that with this visit. Call me boring but I stuck with the general #1 but why steer away from a classic? I paired it with a mango smoothie which may not be the norm for most but it’s my thing and I love it. I added some boba as well. If you’re looking for a chill spot for a quick bite or a casual sit down experience amongst friends then I’m sure this will fit your fancy. I wasn’t here at night but I’m sure this could set as a great date...