Pho Almaden — Restaurant in San Jose

Better than I expected! The soup is clear and flavorful. It's a little on the sweet side meaning they used natural ingredients and not msg since it's not too salty. The food came out really fast!

The normal price is fair for the area and size of the pho bowl. Small size was just enough for me, more than enough for my girlfriend. The seafood noodle soup was a little bland according to my girlfriend but I liked it that way. They have banh xeo (the Vietnamese egg omelette) and it's made very well, except for the mung beans inside.

The tea is really good, served in a cup without the teapot, though. I think it's oolong tea. We asked for extra basil and they didn't charge extra. A few times, there was lipstick on the cups and the tables weren't wiped well, so they could be just a little more thorough on cleaning.

There's very little space in front of the restaurant to park so we parked behind the Safeway next to it. The set up and atmosphere...

This review is for my Takeout order

Found long black hair in my BunBoHue. Twice. I gave the benefit of the doubt because I was craving these noodles and I did thoroughly enjoy my experiences when dining in at this restaurant– it was my new go to. So, I had ordered BunBoHue as a takeout in the past and found a strand of hair. Personally it was off putting but not the worst thing ever. Told myself if it happens again, I wouldn’t order from here anymore. Couple months pass by and I decide to order the same dish and I guess I was given a sign to not eat from Pho Almaden anymore because I found ANOTHER strand of long black hair in my noodles. I do not understand why the quality just declines by a mile when comparing the dine-in and takeout dishes. The flavors become lacking and too watery; the pieces of meat turn smaller and fattier; and I even had a strand of hair.

Just...

Nice clean place, friendly staff and fast service. The reason it is not 5 stars is because they do not offer MSG free food. When I asked the waitress if they use MSG, she looked very surprised and replied, rather condescendingly, that OF COURSE, they use MSG. All Vietnamese restaurants do! Not true. Real Vietnamese pho relies on slightly charrred ginger, onions, toasted star anise and cloves, fish sauce (which of course, does contain some natural msg and imparts the umami flavor) and tasty beef bones to impart that characteristic flavor. MSG is often employed to compensate for a lack of genuine flavoring. Their soup was average and the meat was not quite falling-off-the-bone tender. The fresh spring rolls and accompanying sauce were pretty good, though. If you are really hungry, this place is okay, but there is...