PHỞ HÀ NỘI SAN JOSE — Restaurant in San Jose

The food gods rarely give second chances. But to many pho devotees, their prayers have been answered with the re-opening of Pho Hà Noi in Little Saigon's brand-new, upscale Vietnam Town plaza. Ph Hà Noi was a beloved Pho shop on Capitol Expressway that inexplicably closed in late 2013 despite a steady following and a solid four star Yelp cred. After speaking with owner/head chef Charlie, he said that they closed because of family issues and nothing business related. One of my good friends, who actually first got me into eating pho, used to wax poetic about Pho Hà Noi and how no other pho could compare. Well, when I heard about their soft opening in early December, I grabbed him and told him it was time to put up, or shut up.

Unlike most Pho shops which are sparsely decorated, Pho Hà Noi's new location and décor are upscale; with fancy chandeliers, quartz countertops and a stunning mural of Hoàn Kiem Lake adorning the rear wall. The service was also friendly and terrific, contrary to other places. At the behest of my cohort, we ordered their special combo Pho đac biet ($11.25)―and to prove to our server that we were real Pho-Kings, we ordered the tái riêng (rare beef on side) to accompany our ph. Every other place I've been serves the rare beef in thin slices, but Pho Hà Noi dices, or tenderizes the beef and tops it with a little cilantro, green onions and fresh garlic.

Pho Hà Noi is known for their Northern-style broth, so it will be a little different than what most people are used to; it has a strong beefy taste with hints of green onion and ginger, unlike the southern broth which is more star jasmine and white onion. The depth and breadth of it is phenomenal as I slurped up every last drop. Their other specialty is that they hand-make fresh, wide noodles every day, and while there are a few other shops that do this sort of thing, Pho Hà Noi's seem to be thicker, tastier and does a great job of capturing the nuances of the broth. The tripe, tendon and brisket that all come standard with the special combo were all tasty and fresh, but the absolute highlight was the tenderized rare beef that was so supple, beefy and cooked quickly in their piping hot broth.

I was a little worried coming to Pho Hà Noi on their opening night because they may not have had all the kinks worked. However, other than a little payment snafu, they were up and running like a place that had been doing it for years. Second chances are rare in the restaurant world, but Pho Hà Noi is making the most of it, and South Bay pho lovers are rejoicing as Christmas...

I've been to this place several times in the past year, including it being one of the first places I ate at after abstaining from eateries during the two years of covid. On this particular occasion I was meeting a friend who I had not seen in a while and chose it due to its close location to my place of work. There is lots of outdoor seating available, for those of you who are still covid conscious when you eat, and a fair amount of indoor eating space available as well. On this particular day the interior seating was quite full and was beginning to flow to the outdoor seating but I was able to get a seat in door. But I will caution you that my seat was close to the far rear which is near the bathroom area and you can smell that bathroom smell of odor control so try to avoid sitting here if you can. Now, this place is known for its pho as is seen in the name, but I find that when I come here now I gravitate towards the bun bo hue, which is a red beef noodle soup made famous by the city of Hue in Vietnam. Whenever I go to pho restaurants I tend to order this dish, or rather, this bowl of soup versus ordering the pho as I prefer this soup over pho in general. If you've seen any of my other reviews you will know that I am somewhat picky with this soup and the version they have here is very satisfying to me. I should also say that the first time I ate here and had the fall I was alarmed at how much fat was on my spoon after the soup cooled and allowed the oil to collect on it as can be seen in one of my photos for this restaurant. However, I don't want that to detract you from eating here or trying the pho as I am told by my parents that a lot of gay and oil is common and is why this place may be popular. That and the only reason I even saw it was that the Covid eating, which was outdoor in colder weather, and the see-through plastic spoon they gave as the eating ware highlighted this fact more than you would typically recognize in other pho restaurants. This place has become a well-known spot in this Vietnamese shopping and eating area. I do believe the number of patrons that you typically see at the restaurant indicates that it is a local favorite. I don't know about their other dishes, but I do recommend it for...

I used to go here all the time. It used to be great but now it's mid. The quality has gone down significantly in the past few years. Maybe they opened too many locations and stretched themselves too thin.

They're always popular, but wait times are generally under 30 minutes. Usually with a party of 2 I can get seated in less than 10 minutes. It's difficult to find parking right next to the restaurant, but you can easily find parking around the area because it's in a giant shopping plaza. Lighting is bright and the restaurant is spacious. Indoor seating has a combination of booths and chairs.

Food: Beef pho: This is northern-style pho, so they add a lot of chopped scallions on top. My preferred order is the combination beef pho with fresh noodles (ho fun). The rare beef one is also solid. I've also ordered the beef rib pho but found it disappointing for the price point - the meat is stuck to the bone and difficult to eat. Plus it feels like it hasn't been cooked for long enough because it's still chewy instead of tender. My main issue (and the reason for the 3-star rating) is that the soup and noodle quality has declined severely since the first time that I went here about 5 years ago. The soup used to be extremely rich, fatty, and beefy. In the recent times that I've visited, the soup has tasted very watery. It feels like they've taken a shortcut and instead of slowly simmering the soup using beef bones, they've just popped a few bouillon cubes into a stockpot. The noodles are also disappointing in that their texture is off and they break apart really easily, which either indicates that they're using day-old ho fun or that they're overcooking them. 1/2 roasted chicken with egg and sticky rice (xoi ga roti): This dish is still solid though. You can get the sticky rice crispy or regular - I prefer the crispy version. Chicken is tasty, juicy, and seasoned well. No complaints about this dish.

Overall, I probably won't be coming back in the future. Maybe I'll be back if I'm craving the roasted chicken dish. But there are better restaurants for good pho...