Phở No 1 — Restaurant in San Francisco

Updated review 10/24/2022: Pho #1's garlic noodles $14 are only OK. The last time I was here, the waitress said their version of garlic noodles are better than the ones at PPQ. It is not. Pho #1's version is greasy without a good garlic burn and came with sliced onions. PPQ's version has grated parsley with a hint of butter plus a thing of lettuce and pickled sliced carrots on the side giving it a contrast between the carbs and the meat. The beef at Pho #1 had good wok flavor. Other than that, this is just chow mein without the characteristics of Vietnamese garlic noodles. I hope they survive because I was the only customer dining indoors on a Monday at dinner time, 6pm. You kind of start worrying about a restaurant when the employees outnumber the guests. The people here are nice.

Original review: During the lock down in 2020, Pho #1 was all boarded up. I remember getting take-out across the street at the now defunct Wing Hing and looking at their sad store front. Fast forward to 2022 and they are opened for indoor dining. I came here a few times before today for take-out and remembered they had decent vermicelli dishes. Tonight I got their black pepper beef noodles $14. It had a pleasing black pepper taste with good wok flavors. The chef did a good job. Service was fine as there were only one other party in...

I usually came here several times a year when I’m in the neighborhood. Their food is fine: hot, edible, and clean. Their service is minimal— waitress brought glasses of water and food to the table. No refills offered and she doesn’t check up on you. All the utensils are self-service and napkin dispensers are on the table too. Prices are competitive. Portion sizes standard.

Unfortunately I had a bad experience. We had 5 people and the waitress automatically added her tip to my bill. She refused to give us a breakdown of the subtotal, taxes, and her tip amount. She kept saying the total is $89 with tip and walked away. When I asked for more clarification, she just read off the name of the items ordered and said, “what don’t you understand. That’s what you ordered” and walked away again as she spoke. See attached photo of the “bill”.

In the past, I’ve had 6 people at the table and I was allowed to determine the tip amount. I’m unsure if there was a change in ownership. There was absolutely no miscommunication since we spoke in her language.

If the waitress was transparent and wasn’t so curt, then I would have actually given her my normal tip percentage which is actually a lot more than what she demanded.

I recommend the food here, but I do not recommend the...

My kids & I went here many years ago, it wasn't good or Authentic. The pho was thick rice noodle instead of regular pho noodle & we were not impress with their pork chop or spring rolls either. We haven't been there since until a few months ago when we thought they had changed owner or remodelled. We ordered the Bun Bo Hue & Grilled Pork Chop over rice. Their Bun Bo Hue was almost flavorless. Their Grilled BBQ pork was also very flavorless even with the sauce & the pork chop was 50% fat & 50% low quality meat that didn't look or taste fresh. The servers were all chinese, not vietnamese or mixed chinese vietnamese. I question if the cook is even vietnamese. We went there during the daytime both times. We've ordered these 2 items at many different authentic vietnamese restaurants so we know what is good & not. This place does not serve good authentic vietnamese food. I don't know why there are so many good reviews. Either they are fake reviews or they've never really had authentic good vietnamese food. All the other Vietnamese restaurants on San Bruno ave are not that good but ok. This place has the worst...