Pho Holic Stanton — Restaurant in Stanton

It was raining hard, windy, and cold when we got to Phoholic, the perfect reason to have a hot bowl of phở.

We came here quite often and tried different kinds of phở, but usually ordered our favorite: tái chín bò viên (rare, well-done beef, and beef meatballs).

We like the way rare beef is prepared, very tender. The broth this time was good, early mornings were usually good, but very often late afternoon and evening were either bland or salty (all good cooks know why...lol).

Halfway thru our meal, we had to stop a server to let him know that we didn't get any drinks yet. He acted surprised, and asked to see our receipt before saying "we're preparing them, they'll be out soon"... We're sure they're being prepared, but did he know for whom and what table?!..lol

We won't talk much about food this time, as we like the consistency of phở served here, and the price is reasonable. We would recommend that you try PhoHolic, and bring out-of-town friends and relatives here too.

We were very disappointed with the service this time, by one particular server, hence the 2 stars. This server was the first one to bring out the basic condiments: lime, beansprout, and basil.

There were 5 of us and we were seated at an extended table, meant to seat any party from 5 to 10 guests. We all sit on one side of the table, so there would be extra seats for other customers.

The young server (mentioned above) stood on the empty side of the table, he practically tossed the condiments plates on the table. Then with one hand he "flicked" these plates so that they slide across the table to us. Well, there's a problem with this, because there wasn't one table, there were 4 small tables connected to make a long one, and of course, there were uneven gaps between them. The first gap made all these small plates stop in front of one of us, piled up like a train wreck. To no surprise, the server just walked away, we can only guess that he didn't want to be there working on a rainy day. We wish he could have called out, or better yet quit if he was so unhappy.

(We hope the paragraph below puts a smile on your face) ...Or perhaps the server didn't get proper training from the management team? Or could it be the management team there could care less about customer service? Do we humor ourselves by trying to figure out what was the root cause of this behavior? Oh yeah, there was no other reason except that the server was lazy, it required him to walk about 3 steps to the other side of the table where we were sitting...lol

We will be returning to Phoholic soon, and hope service will be better.

Please forgive our manners if we say we don't expect much when it comes to service at these Vietnamese "restaurants". But please don't throw food/plates/drinks at customers, either directly or indirectly. That's just disrespectful to all customers! Let's hope the server learns his lesson before he got served in the same manner he had served...

UPDATE July 2024: I raved about this place for the last few years and a lot of people I’ve taken here agreed it was good. But this last visit my parents stopped on by without me for the first time and they told me the service has gone way down hill compared to the other times I brought them here. They came by early in the morning on June 21st and their experience was pretty bad. According to them, they weren’t allowed to sit outside when they asked and they were stuck having to sit at the family style table with another family who didn’t seem to welcome the idea. The restaurant was not busy at all around 9am and just not being able sit elsewhere seems like a bit much. The food portions were smaller since they switched to the white bowls as well. The bean sprouts were soaked in hot water before hand, not sure if they’re trying to cover up if the sprouts are going bad or what, the meat they use isn’t as tender either so I’m not sure what’s going on. Or maybe they’re trying to get yesterday’s stock out for the new day who knows. The extra side of broth that’s usually given wasn’t given to my folks either. Overall my parents had a terrible experience, customer service wasn’t the best to begin with and it’s much worse according to my folks. I don’t know if I will go back to try it again or not after their experience here.

Went with my little sister on Thanksgiving Day. Pho broth is pretty good, nice flavor not overly salted nor was it too plain but it was good. They serve some sort of steak and brisket soup in a small black bowl before you get your actual pho, which I was confused of having never had that at any other pho shop I’ve been to. It’s an appetizer of some sort I guess. I had ordered the #2 bowl as pictured here, plenty of meat and a good amount of noodles for a large bowl. There’s no soy sauce or fish sauce here, only the oyster sauce or hoisin sauce I couldn’t tell and then sriracha sauce along with black pepper for the soup. Like I said this place seems a bit different from the traditional pho shop, here you even pay for your food before you are seated. Me coming from the Bay Area, this is something completely new for me too. Overall the pho here is good, it’s not a bad place to go to at all. Customer service here isn’t really great, the young lady helping us up front wasn’t really friendly but as with a lot of Asian restaurants, service is hardly ever really friendly. So check this place out if you’re looking for pho, I don’t think you can go wrong here unless customer service is a very big...

My wife and I decided to drive down from Northern California to hang out in Southern California for the 4th of July holiday plus an extended vacation. We decided to meet up with my family for dinner the first night and after a long drive, I didn't have the energy to look up specific spots to try out thus I leaned on my brother (a local) to make recommendations- Phoholic 2- was one of the choices presented to me. After some consideration and follow up on reviews and business website, we decided to meet my family at Phoholic 2 specifically the Stanton location because of its ample parking.

What's different about the business set up at Phoholic 2 is the fact that you pay upfront; line up to order your meal/drinks, pay (with tip) where then the cashier will hand you a number that correlates with your order. Not sure about other folks, but I prefer to tip base on service so I would recommend others to NOT tip upfront and only tip after your meal is finished; if you share the same philosophy then I would recommend to bring some cash at hand for tipping purposes.

There was decent amount of seating inside and outside of the facility. The waiters will bring out the usual sprouts, lime, jalapenos and basil based on the size of your party or order. The service was great and the decor was great as well- nothing special to write about.

Now for the pho itself, there was a good portion of beef in the pho, but I didn't find the pho aroma to be inviting. The soup itself, which all of my family agreed with, was on the salty side. In fact, I had asked for more lime hoping the lime juice would cover the saltiness...maybe I should have asked for some hot water instead to calm down the salt. In my mind, their pho did not live up to their promise as posted on their website- "....our local restaurants offer a sanctuary for Pho lovers seeking pinnacle of taste and authenticity. We are committed to the quality of the food....providing a meal worth your while."

Looking back, I am not sure if it's worth the extra trip to Stanton for the salty soup. If I could, I may assign a 2.5 stars to this business. I would prefer my old go-to pho spots- Pho 79 or Pho 54 in the heart of Little Saigon as they offer a better...