Viet Pho

I’ve been just once but I would like to come back. I had grilled pork with lemon grass and chilli and it was delicious! Prices are very reasonable and service is fine. Hope that next visit won’t be disappointing.

It was a rainy day in London, said everyone always, or so it seems. I’ve been craving phở for a long time. The broth is pretty good, it’s rich as expected. Beefy, slightly sweet from the shrimp, sweeter from the anise, and onion flavor. The broth was a little too sweet for my taste. The noodles are bigger than noodles served with Phở in the states (that is my point of reference). They were closer to the size of udon noodles than the phở that I’m used to. Regardless on a chilly London afternoon. it was tasty.

We got the phở craving while in UK, and this place was only a few blocks from where we were staying. I was surprised to learn that the noodles were different from what we had in the states. Even the broth tasted sweeter. I guess it was very different from what I am used to, so it didn’t satisfied my cravings. But that’s just my opinion, the food was not bad, just not what I am used to.

Big fan. Get a Phở or the grilled pork. and a bunch of summer rolls. Place is small so be prepared to share your table with randomers. Prices have been creeping up slowly in the past 5 years alas.

Popped in for lunch with a friend the other day as it is round the corner from the Curzon Soho cinema. Had the Phở Prawns, which was decently good though too salty for my taste. It’s the sort of place where you have to ask for tap water 3 – 4 times despite the food coming out rather quickly. My friend got the Pad Thai which he enjoyed but looked very heavy on the sauce to me. Comparatively it’s a decent quick lunch spot though there is better to be found, obviously further away from Leicester Square.

I visited Viet Phở during December 2014. I tried grilled pork meat with noodle, and it was great. The meat was soft and tender that I came back for the second time: D

I was so looking forward to some good phở considering the winter weather and the reviews on Unilocal.Disappointed doesn’t begin to describe my experience. When I walked in the restaurant was pretty empty – this was probably a sign since it was past noon.
The phở was so terrible for so many reasons. First, the soup base was awful. It was salty and had no depth. Second, the noodles were atrocious. The average length of my noodle was about 3 cm. I feel like they probably just gave me the scraps left at the bottom of the noodle package. Gee, thanks. Third, the sides looked old: bean sprouts were not fresh and the cilantro was withering.
Maybe some of the other dishes are decent but I definitely won’t be back to try. The best thing about a place with crappy food is that you’ll always get a seat so come here if you need to rest your legs and you don’t mind eating bad food.

I love this place. It’s the closest I’ve found to the Vietnamese stand-​by I left behind in Philly.
Let’s break it down.
Food? Very tasty. Limited menu, but consistently good. Could do with bigger portions of herbs.
Value? Excellent, especially for this part of town and for a big, tasty bowl of food for about a tenner.
Get the bún (not a bun) with grilled pork. Share a side of raw (rare, really, though I wish it was raw) beef salad and the excruciatingly piping hot ch giò (you will burn yourself with the first mouthful, inevitably; just wash it down with some coconut drink). Enjoy the laid-​back ambiance and, if you’re lucky, get told how to season your food just right.
Best for lunch, just try to avoid the full-​on lunch hour rush by popping in a little early or late.

Love this place. First time stopped pre theatre for bun cha, one of my favourite dishes. Despite being crowded, we were seated right away and food came quickly. Bun cha was perfect.
Second time stopped for phở. Special phở with chicken, Vietnamese sausage, beef and prawns. Great fragrant multi dimension flavour soup stock with beansprouts, thai basil, lime and chili slices to add.
A great find in Soho, quick, efficient, reasonable value and very good.

I am picky about my Vietnamese food. I expect a lot since I have traveled there many times. This place is a small local place and is wonderful.
Being a tourist here, I usually try a different place each meal, but I came back here and was not dissapointed. Friendly people and great food… you cannot go wrong.

I was quite regular here, working in the nearby Soho Sq Even before the actual refurbished place, food and atmosphere were both great.
I was there yesterday after a long shot and had bun with grilled pork, one of my favourite dishes along with phở and udon. Same good stuff as usual, price increased just for £1 and a more welcoming service. Love this place.

the place is decent, lacklustre i should say. plain white walls, with open kitchen.
place doesn’t really stink of «phở» — a pet peeve of mine when eating at temperate countries where they shut the doors to keep the warm in. some place makes you reek when you step out.
food is on the dot, nothing special. had the bun cha and wife has the com dac biet. nothing special. standard vietnamese food. does not leave any impression,. we were just damn hungry!

Not the best phở but not the worst. I ordered the special and it came with both chicken and beef and also shrimp. the fuck? weird as fuck. the noodles were great though. i have no idea why my order took forever to come out though and it was really starting to piss me off. small place small seatings so come at the right time.

Really like this place — for the centre of town its a good place to eat. Not a patch on the Vietnamese places in the East but still worth a munch.

I actually really liked this place but the portion sizes are a bit uneven. By that I mean, you get a heck of alot of noodles for bun dishes but the phở didn’t really have alot of noodles in it, just ALOT of broth.
That said, the broth was pretty rich and good. My friend had ordered that and he was very unimpressed with the portion size and also the false advertisement that said it was rare beef. The cow is WELL DONE. (Ibelieve he went home to eat a second dinner. What a fatty. LOL Joke) I, on the other hand, ordered a bun dish which was cold noodles with a hot topping, i ordered a pork topping. I figured, it’s pretty good for a summer’s day where it was not too cool and not too warm. The Bun dish was very nice, and the portion was massive in comparison to phở. But I did have to add alot of sriracha so maybe it’s not as flavoursome as it should be.
I’ve had better vietnamese food for sure and I told my friend we’d definitely be heading down to Deptford to get some of the real shit.

I used to regularly drop in here when working on a show at the Palace Theatre. Straight out of stage door and over the road. You could see the cast, leave at the half (the 30 minute window of ‘me’ time imposed to make sure your actors are in place for beginner’s call), neck a bowl of steaming noodle soup and be in your seat for curtain.
They’ve had a spruce up over the intervening years, but not much has changed. It’s still a functional, clean little space with close set tables and an open kitchen at the back, rammed with families, friends and the occasional tourist (you are in sight of Shaftesbury Avenue after all).
Pretty good fried bits and bobs I recalled correctly, and they sell the full range of Pad Thai’s and hot and cold noodle dishes. On a recent visit we wrapped piping hot, blistered and teeth-​sticky Vietnamese spring rolls in lettuce leaves and slathered them in Sriracha sauce, cooling our palates with freshly made summer rolls of cooling prawn and mint. As a nod to my past memories, I went for a large bowl of chicken Tom Yam soup, a heady blend of ginger, tamarind and chilli that took a sledgehammer to my nascent cold. Cheap, comforting and very, very well done.

I’m still looking for my go to phở place in London. Perhaps, it’s a forlorn hope after the great phở I’ve had in the USA but hope springs eternal.
The name Viet Phở promised much and I liked the more local neighbourhood feel to the place despite its proximity to the tourist heartland of Shaftesbury Avenue and Chinatown. However, my heart did drop slightly when I heard Chinese being spoken in the open kitchen.
The restaurant was quite trendy with funky giant lightbulbs hanging from the ceiling.
The menu was largely Vietnamese based with some Thai interlopers.
I started with summer rolls, which arrived immediately. Obviously pre-​rolled, they were fresh tasting as I arrived just after the restaurant opened. These were great, with the fresh vegetables and prawn wrapped in rice paper tasting super fresh on the palate. Dipping them into the dipping sauce added a nice sour piquant kick.
I followed this with special phở, which meant that I got all the accompaniments — meatballs, beef, prawn. It was good without being outstanding. The broth could have done with more depth. This was served authentically with a plate of beansprouts, Thai basil (also know as holy basil) and chilli to pop into with some sriracha
This is a good spot for some off the tourist trail good filling grub

Cheap and cheerful Vietnamese diner. Good customer services but nothing too special as it’s a very small restaurant but very busy. It hasn’t got any fancy décor but it’s still welcoming.
My dinner only costs £8 including drinks & tips. I like the idea of bring your own alcohol. And I have seen people doing that but since I don’t really drink, I settled with the usual Jasmine tea.
I ordered the the vermicelli noodles with beef & salad and it was good. Great size portion too. I only had Vietnamese food in Phở so I can’t really compare too much.
I think this place value for money if you want something cheap and not too fussy. I’m happy that they take card too but too bad it has to be a min of £10.
Think I’m going to try their Thai dishes next time as my friend also recommends their Pad Thai.

I seem to find myself in the most unassuming spots in London.
Friends and I were going to get together before a night of mad partying in Soho… This place was suggested, I was thinking for noodles, I would have gone across the street to Young Cheung (but only because I like Chinese noodles), but Phở worked just fine with me… anyway, this place is like finding a small gem tucked away in a mess of crazy on Old Compton Street.
Anyway, we step in and it’s a smell of awesome vietnamese goodness that flows through the restaurant. Like others have mentioned, this place is really small on the inside and has maybe all of 10 – 15 tables. So, it might get crowded. Anyway, food was quick to come out and I really liked the level of spice of my phở (and added the chillies that came with the side dish of basil, bean sprouts and lime).
We also had the summer rolls as well. And being a fan of summer rolls, I was slightly disappointed because they really weren’t all that great. Usually summer rolls have an amazing taste of freshness… these were just meh. Fresh yes, but not bursting from the inside — I wanna shout it out loud — type of freshness. So minus points on that one.
The main reason why I give it a 3 vs any other place that I rate (see other reviews) is because it’s über pan asian. We’re not talking just South East Asian — but East Asian as well… I’m never a fan of a place that tries to do too much — and it proved it as well, friends had other dishes that didn’t look great, and their green thai curry was definitely disappointing. Nevertheless, first Phở place in London I think, so I’m actually thinking there’s probably better to come.
Will I come back? MAYBE. only if I was looking for a bowl of phở in Soho with no other options that I know of.

My first time getting a bowl of Phở in Europe. Going in with expectations lower from what I’m used to at home in the States, it was actually better than I thought. I ordered the special bowl of phở that had all meats: beef, shrimp, pork, and chicken. I enjoyed the quality of all the meats and noticed the quality of the beef was really good. I didn’t like that they put dark meat chicken in the soup because traditionally it should be white breast meat from the chicken.
I enjoyed my bowl, it was a good portion for one person, and I finished the entire thing. A bit pricey, £7 for a bowl which converts to $ 11. In the States, a bowl of Phở is supposed to be very affordable, about $ 5.50.
Not bad, but not the best. I would go back on a cold, rainy day if I was in the Soho area but not go out of my way to get a bowl.