Pho Ly — Restaurant in St. Charles

I heard about a new Pho place in the area and I had to check it out! On Fridays I will usually treat myself out for lunch and check out a new restaurant and this was my chance to visit Pho Ly. I make my way to Pho Ly and parking can be very very tricky as they are right on Main St. and there's no parking in front of the restaurant, so you will need to plan accordingly. This made my experience at Pho Ly rather cumbersome as I didn't know where to park! It was only after I arrived at the restaurant that there is a sign that says "parking in the rear" but it's camouflaged by the grand opening sign.

I make my way into the restaurant and it's rather weird that the door awning is in the inside part of the restaurant. Usually this awning is on the outside in the entry way of the restaurant. It makes the restaurant look tacky and weird by having this huge awning in the middle of the front part of the restaurant...weird. As I get inside there are 3 other people just standing around and I'm standing around and we're waiting to be seated. Weird. After a few seconds a gentlemen greets us and I head to my table and I'm handed the menu.

I do a quick scan of the menu and the very first thing I notice is that they are selling appetizer chicken wings for $13.99! I was shocked, appalled, and quite frankly I contemplated getting up and just walking out of the restaurant because of how absurd charging $13.99 for appetizer chicken wings was! YIKES. I knew I wanted the pho and I can tell you that I've eaten at all the Pho restaurants in the area, Pho95 and Pho Xich Lo Geneva. I went with the pho special and they provided me with some ice water. As I sat there taking in the environment I still couldn't get over how much those chicken wings were. Also you get your choice of two sizes for Pho, either the medium size for $14.99 or the large for $15.99. I'm the old school way of thought and a lunch time pho should never cost more than $15 period and Pho Ly just made the cut by 1 cent. My pho arrived in no time and on to the review!

I break my pho reviews up into 4 separate parts starting with the broth. It's my core value in that if you don't have good broth then you don't have good pho. The broth is the most important part of this noodle dish. I take my first sip of broth and I can honestly say that it's the best tasting broth out of the three pho restaurant in the area. It's clear, flavorful, and seasoned just right. Next up were the noodles and I honestly didn't really care for the noodles. I'm not sure if they used fresh rice noodles or it was dryed and rehydrated rice noodles but it was just OK. It was missing the fresh chewy texture that you get from fresh rice noodles. Next up is the protein in the dish and this was very lacking for me. Per their menu the Pho Special includes sliced steak, flanks, beef brisket, soft tendon, tripe and meatballs. Yes, they include these different meats but man did they provide the bare minimum besides the slice steak, which is the cheapest cut. It felt like I was searching for the proteins and for $14.99 they could have provided a bit more. Last were the toppings and everything was fresh, from the bean sprouts to the lime, to the thai basil.

Overall, this place was average at best and will not blow your socks off. You're not going to be hyping this place up to your family and friends. I'd be interested to see what sucker ends up spending $13.99 for some appetizer wings, hopefully they write a review about them and post pictures because I most certainly will not be ordering...

I could eat here everyday - but my wallet and stomach would hate me, but I try to at least twice a month, or more.

My favorite place in Elgin closed down months before Pho Ly opened, so I went on a hunt to find a new pho/ Vietnamese restaurant. Local (and “established” as another reviewer mentioned) and further away locations featured bland taste, takeout order not near the portion size of in-restaurant, and gentrification. It was a disappointing time to be alive.

Then Pho Ly opened. They had some growing pain and seem to be near empty each time I enter, but it’s homely and they offer a large bowl of pho - keyword: large. Their smoothies and side dishes like spring rolls are delicious as well. The pho broth melds w everything together nicely. I order the same thing each time, and being that it’s a small place, you will be remembered. I also add onto my smoothie order and combine strawberry with mango; the drink staff will see me, ask if I want my regular smoothie, and inform the server to add it.

To top off the great service and food, they even make their own chili oil… Had my heart from that moment on. Empty or bumping, it’s worth the visit, and so are the leftovers. Shoutout to whoever put on house music; it definitely made the atmosphere more upbeat and lively, and shoutout to David for...

THE REVIEWS ARE MISLEADING STAY AWAY!

If you want to go to an absolute horror story of a “restaurant” this is the place to go I ordered pho and after the waitress trying to convince me to get a different kind that I could not eat she insisted none the less I stayed open minded and waited for my food the place was absolutely empty and while I was waiting for my food an employee was getting fired begging to keep his job at the table next to us also very profane language and not very appropriate conversation was taking place

FINALLY THE FOOD CAME

After what felt like forever our “food” arrived and the best way to describe it was someone grabbed a clump of noodles that were all stuck together for who knows how long the steak was like if someone threw a napkin into water and had no flavor very chewy and crunchy at the same time I left this place sick to my stomach I will definitely never ever under any circumstances come back here I’d rather starve

BONUS

Creepy staff and if you love getting stared at come...