Pho Island — Restaurant in Stockton

Foodie Buddie Trip to Stockton, CA: Pho Island

During our visit to Pho Island, I ordered the Korean beef short rib, which came highly recommended by our server as their second most popular dish. The ribs were delicious, tender, and had a generous amount of meat. The rice was reminiscent of Uncle Ben's white rice—simple yet satisfying. For my drink, I had the sweet mango green tea. It was perfect for mango lovers with a sweet tooth like mine. It’s on the sweeter side, but it's still quite enjoyable.

My daughter went for the Pho with grilled beef ribeye, the most popular item on the menu, according to our server. She found it good and flavorful, though she wasn’t a big fan of the noodles. Her jasmine tea was fine to her taste, but for me, it tasted pretty standard—nothing particularly authentic or distinctive.

The service was generally good, with most servers being polite and attentive, although one of the four wasn't as courteous as the others. The atmosphere was cozy, with tables set close together, making it easy to overhear conversations from nearby diners. However, I was not impressed with the cleanliness of the restroom; it was evident it hadn't been cleaned that morning before opening, which was disappointing.

Overall Ratings: Food: 4.5 stars Service: 4 stars Cleanliness: 3...

I rarely leave reviews, but my recent experience at this restaurant was deeply disappointing and unacceptable. From the moment we arrived, the service was subpar — we waited a significant amount of time just to be acknowledged and seated. Once seated, we were ignored for another 15 minutes before we were even able to place our order.

When it came time to pay, we were shocked to find that we had been charged for six adults, even though our party consisted of five adults and one infant who did not eat and slept the entire time. The staff claimed that they count every person, including infants, as an adult for the purpose of adding an automatic gratuity. This explanation felt completely unreasonable and appeared to be a deliberate tactic to increase the tip.

What made the situation even worse was that when I questioned the charge, the staff began speaking negatively about me ! not realizing that I understood their language. The unprofessionalism and disrespect they showed in that moment was appalling and completely inappropriate.

I cannot recommend this restaurant to anyone, especially families with infants or small children. Be WARNED they will COUNT your BABY as an adult to justify an automatic gratuity, regardless of whether the child eats or not. This kind of practice is misleading, unfair, and...

Came here on a misty, Sunday afternoon. The smallish corner restaurant was warm and smelled amazing with pho broth and all the Vietnamese cooking aromatics. My partner has short rib and garlic noodles plate and was very happy! I had the medium size pho with brisket and flank. It was tasty with thin rice noodles that grabbed on to the pho broth well and we're tender and not soggy. This is my favorite style of noodles for pho. The broth was light, perfectly salted and had the perfect thickness and texture. We are so glad we stumbled onto this place! Oh yea, and if you need a JOLT try the vietnamese coffee! It's like a supersized sweetest espresso. Be ready to conquer the day after drinking this!!! Overall really good. We will come back when we...