Woo!Food | Pho Nguyen Hoang

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DEC
10
2011

Pho Nguyen Hoang

Photo: www.yelp.com/biz_photos/-DT3kLKAFxwawkP9O5
yGWA?select=NGWg6Un7c1QGNT893Oy1Yw

It was the end of a long Wednesday. Having finished most of our tasks at church, my companions and I decided to call it a day. It was cold outside in the deepening night and what we needed were some hot eats to ward off the shivers. "P", my erstwhile roomie and clergyman cum breaker, suggested that we eat pho - a most delicious and appropriate solution. We drove our cars in search of the source.

Unfortunately, the first place we stopped at was closed. My fellow expeditionaries (which we were at this point) charged me with the task of finding a good substitute. I blindly accelerated west on Valley Boulevard in San Gabriel, hoping that I wouldn't let them down. Like a providential vision, I couldn't miss the brightly lit sign of the restaurant dead ahead on my right: Pho Nguyen Hoang.

Pho Nguyen Hoang has a long list of items on their menu. I barely glanced at it but I registered that there were all kinds of Vietnamese dishes, even set, multi-course meals.

What I ate:

1. Pho Dac Biet (5.75 USD). What a huge bowl of pho! The photo above doesn't convey the size properly. Really, my eyes bugged out at the sight of it! Beyond the size, I thought that the broth was decent, possessing enough depth to appreciate the cooking. Also, I liked the raw serving of sliced beef round, which allowed me to control the doneness of the meat. On a scale of ten, I give this bowl a solid seven.

2. Our table shared an order of egg rolls (not pictured). Nguyen Hoang's egg rolls were about four inches long and had the diameter of a twenty-five-cent piece. The wrapping was thin, smooth, and crisp after deep-frying. The egg rolls were tasty but they really don't compare to the ones at Golden Deli on the other side of town.

There were some aspects of this dining experience that I disliked. First of all, I didn't like how the restaurant only provided two individual plates of vegetable garnishes to accompany our four orders of pho - stingy. In addition, my dining companions and I had to keep asking for other items that I consider to be standard provisions, like cilantro and hoisin. Second, service was lacking. Our server was wholly unattentive and we had to depend on one of the bussers to fulfill our many requests. Pho Nguyen Hoang needs to make some urgent improvements in the service department.

What I liked about the restaurant, other than the food, were the low prices and attractive decor and lighting. In fact, I think Nguyen Hoang's pho dac biet is the best deal for pho in town, by taste and by price!

Parking: My fellow church members and I didn't have a problem parking at this restaurant. However, we showed up at 9:30 (fifteen minutes before closing) on Wednesday night, which isn't a peak period for restaurants in general. The parking lot consisted of something like fifteen or twenty spaces.

The Bill: For four bowls of pho and a plate of egg rolls, it must've cost between 25 and 30 USD. I don't know the exact cost because I didn't have to pay for my meal. Thank you for dinner "PC"!

My Rating: Tentatively,

out of four stars (satisfactory to good): I'd have to try more dishes to award a more appropriate rating. Open every day, 8 AM to 9:45 PM. CASH ONLY.

Last Word: Next chance I get, I would like to taste the rest of the menu. I'm optimistic that there will be at least a couple of delicious surprises.

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