Pho Lemon Grass

The lady was so nice, but I came in here to get a Vietnamese coffee. That’s all. It lietrally took 30 minutes for her to make it, and then another 10 minutes for me to pay. The reason why was because the lady was a one woman show – taking orders, wiping down tables, making the food, running the orders, and taking the payments. I’m all about being economical in this time and age, but when it affects your restaurant like this, it’s not a good thing.

Most amazing food ever! I eat here every chance I get!

I feel horrible giving them a «ehh» because they’re sooo nice and helpful. I got a good suggestion for a Korean restaurant from the chef! :)
I got the bbq pork /​vermachelli dish. The noodles were thicker than the standard fare and the meat was pretty greasy in spite of looking non-​shiny. The egg roll was the best part of the dish… piping hot and crispy! I might be back to try the Korean bbq dishes but probably not for anything Thai that they offer. Sorry…

Food was great here. Had a bit of everything… spring rolls to start and a
small bowl of phở and bulgogi. The spring rolls had shrinp, lettuce, and
rice noodles in them. They were pretty fat too. The phở broth was fantastic and the bulgogi was off the hook. Will be back many times.

I’ve ate here a couple times and always really enjoy it. I feel like their bowls can be way bigger though. There is always that one woman working all of the time (can someone please give her a break please, haha). She’s nice though, although you will need to ask her to refill your water because she doesn’t really check up on you that often. Overall, I like this phở and come here from time to time.

I was sitting at my desk earlier today and I couldn’t decide what I wanted for lunch. Being a fairly chilly day, a nice hot bowl of soup was sounding pretty good, but I couldn’t decide where to go or what kind of soup I wanted so I got in my car and started to drive.
Caldo? Phở? Caldo. Phở. What’s it gonna be? I was still unsure as I reached the intersection of Placentia and Yorba Linda, then I noticed the inconspicuous sign «Phở and To Fu House» off to my left. A quick turn and a short drive through a parking lot lead me to their front door.
I was a tad concerned by the lack of patrons, especially since I was arriving at the heart of the lunch hour, but hey, in these tough economic times even the best places can have an off day so i went on in and grabbed a table.
The place is fairly small with fewer than a dozen tables and it appeared fairly clean. The menu was limited, but seemed to have a little something for everyone and offered 14 varieties of phở for me to choose from so I went with my go to bowl: rare steak, brisket, tripe and tendon (#2 on their menu).
The soup arrived quickly enough and it looked decent. The stock smelled as if it was traditional. Then she brought out the condiments and it was this point where things stated to go south. First off, they didn’t offer any basil. Cilantro was offered instead. Next thing I noticed is that they didn’t have any jalapenos on the plate either. What a bummer. They did have lime though so that was a plus. And there was the traditional bed of bean sprouts as well, however upon picking them up to add to my soup, I noticed that the sprouted tips were all brown, wilted and slightly mushy. Definitely not good eats.
I am not a phở novice. I’ve been eating it quite regularly for over a decade in doing so, I have a fairly good idea about how much meat would be considered a «normal» portion for a medium to large bowl of phở. This place was well under the norm for their meat portions. There were only three slices of rare beef, maybe five small slices of brisket, not enough tripe to mention, but the tendon was in abundance. Even if it was undercooked.
The noodle was in a very dense clump and it took a while to break it up into manageable portions. Even after doing so, there were some large «chunks» that just couldn’t be separated.
The only real saving grace was the broth which I did find full bodied and flavorful.
I hate to say it, but IF I do ever go back to PLG, it won’t be for the phở. I’m even questioning whether the rest of the menu is worth a try. It would seem to me that if they can’t get their main fare up to snuff, the rest of the food is probably sub-​par as well. My two star rating may be a little on the generous side.

Everyday i drive past this place so i finally thought i would give it a try. Its clean and the service is friendly. I walked in at 1:15 and the place was EMPTY. That has never really scared me so i went to the counter and was planning on ordering a Vietnamese sandwich mean it is a Vietnamese restaurant right? Nope not on the menu. So i ordered the spring rolls. 1 order came with 2 spring rolls for $ 4.50. The spring rolls were not fresh and didn’t have ANY meat in it. It was just noodles and lettuce that was browning and 3 ½s of shrimp. Not even WHOLE ONES!!! I’m always down to help out the mom and pop places but i wont be back to this place…
Please remember my review is based on what i ordered and only that…

This place was just fine. I have yet to encounter a really good Phở place in the Fullerton/​Placentia area. The food was nothing but ordinary and was just ok. Maybe I will give this place another try.

Although the sign outside this place now says Phở Tofu House, the menus still say Phở Lemon Grass on the front. Not too sure what’s up with that, especially since (as another Unilocaler pointed out) they have absolutely nothing on their menu that lists tofu as an ingredient. That was a little bit of a bummer, since I am a tofu fiend, but the phở ended up being tasty enough to make up for it. The prices are pretty average, although I’ve had similar phở for cheaper. The egg rolls were delicious, but I was bummed that they didn’t come with the usual accompaniments (carrots and daikon).
My boyfriend and I both ordered a small bowl of phở, which was completely, gut-​bustingly filling. The broth was flavorful, but I added some sriracha for a little extra kick. Also, they get major bonus points for their delicious Thai tea. This place is probably worthy of 3.5 stars overall. The waitress was so friendly, and refilled our water 3 or 4 times. Better service than I’ve had in many other phở restaurants, so that was a nice change. Also, it was spotless inside, and the tables and chairs were pretty nice. I’ve been to many phở places that looked quite rundown on the inside, so I was impressed with the cleanliness of this place.

Reviewers need to be a little more realistic and candid about their reviews on Unilocal!How am I to ever trust Unilocal if it’s not based on candid reviews. Honestly, how on earth does this place deserve 2 stars let alone 4 or 5?! Perhaps they have never had ‘real’ phở?
When you think of Phở or Vietnamese food in general, you think Little Saigon. However, we were by Cal State Fullerton, short on time, everyone in our party of 6 was starving, and it was getting late… there was no chance of making the drive to Little Saigon. Admittedly, it was a poor choice from the start.
Upon pulling into the parking lot, I read «Phở & Tofu House, Korean BBQ» and got increasingly excited because (1) it was freezing and hot soup sounds fantastic, (2) spicy soon tofu? even better!, and (3) Korean BBQ with Phở and Tofu… eye-​popping due to starvation! To my disappointment, no delivery on these promising signs on the window.
The 6 of us shared 3 platters of their appetizer (spring rolls, egg rolls, fried battered shrimps, fried wontons). This temporarily fed our hunger but did nothing to awaken our taste buds. The nuoc mam (fish sauce) was so watered down that our visiting-​Korean-​uncle-​who-​lives-​in-​China-​and-​loves-​Vietnamese-​food said to me, this isn’t how nuoc mam is suppose to taste right? Darn right it isn’t!
Phở — they have 14 options for phở however the soup base was bland and below par, especially once you’ve had ‘real’ phở. Their «large» and «xe lua» was comparable to a small elsewhere. Our uncle actually asked the waitress to bring out a jar of their soup base spice and scooped several spoonfuls into his phở. We also waited a lifetime for our Phở… and when it finally made it to our table, the noodles were still stuck together in a block. I’m not sure if this wait was due to some quarrels over the check being short with a huge party of teenagers at the next table or what… but there was no luck getting service or any attention during this ordeal. And over $ 7 for a bowl of phở? Might have been worthwhile to make a trip to Little Saigon.
Soon Tofu — None! White pieces of cold tofu — Yes. What they meant by «Phở & Tofu House» was that you can order tofu to put in your phở. AND you cannot get this tofu in a small order of phở… it has to be a large bowl. I can count to 7 in Spanish, Vietnamese, Korean and English… and that’s how many small cubed pieces of white tofu there was in my ‘large’ bowl of phở.
Korean BBQ — If by Korean BBQ you mean (1) a plate of bulgogi (spicy pork), or (2) a plate of galbi (marinated short ribs). Yes, #1 or #2…nothing else ‘Korean’ about this place (well, other than the fact that the owner is Korean).
I ordered soy milk and had to send it back because it tasted like it was expired. I swapped it for ca phe sua da (vietnamese iced coffee with condensed milk) and it also tasted watered down… but by then, I stopped caring. The thai iced tea was apparently good though.
Then why even the one star, you ask? The waitress was really nice. She speaks Korean so automatically that takes off with the future in-​laws.
I had a good time, again, due to the company I was with. I couldn’t say the same for the food, unfortunately. And the thing is, I’m not demanding and I’m not that hard to please, food-wise…so that makes it extra disappointing.
HI: clean for a phở place.
LO: high prices, slow service, tasteless food/​drinks, this makes my list of ‘Never to Return’ places. :(

I wish there was a way to give ZERO stars. Thanks for nothing to all those people who gave okay marks to this place. The food at this place is not edible. The phở (bland and lukewarm, with little quality ingredients). The meat just sank because it was not getting warmed up by the hot broth (broth was not hot at all). The egg rolls are just fried wrapping with no filling and also COLD. I just couldn’t eat anything because everything EVERYTHING tasted like there were a week old. The spring rolls (Where’s the sauce – they just give you the hoisin sauce) But who cares, because it also tasted as if it were made last week and left in the fridge.
Crazy people upped the rating based on good and friendly service. It is NOT GOOD SERVICE TO GIVE PEOPLE SUB-​PAR FOOD. These people know that they are making horrible food and basically ripping people off. If they don’t know, they have no business running a restaurant.
I WILL NEVER EVER GO BACK TO THIS PLACE… NOT EVEN IF THEY WERE THE ONLY PHO JOINT WITHIN 100 MILE RADIUS. I WOULD RATHER EAT CUP RAMEN.

The appetizers aren’t exactly that great but the vermicelli and phở are really decent. The friendliness and service completely compensate from the missing 12 hours of brewing the broth. Plus, I don’t see how one lady can wait on 8 tables all at once and still be that nice after waiting on some really rude people.
In any case, this place gets a 4-​star for the following:
–Really friendly service
–Location (College students want more variety than fast food too)
–Flavor for its price
–Those amazing fruit chews they give you with your check

So I came here a few times since its closer then the better Phở place IMHO (Saigon Noodle House — head east on Yorba Linda). Even though the broth lacked flavor and the prices was higher the waitresses were really friendly and the service was fast.
So why they 2 stars? I would of given it 3 stars but recently they changed their sign to say «Phở Tofu House» which got me all excited since obviously it looked like they added soon tofu to their menu — but to my disappointment when I went there again there wasn’t anything on the menu even that represented a tofu dish. Why change the name from Phở Lemongrass to Phở Tofu House???

I’m very sorry to give only ³⁄₅ stars to this place because the people who work here are sweethearts.
Growing up my parents brought me to eat at probably over a hundred phở places so I guess you can call me a phở expert. Their phở here looks delicious but their broth really lacks flavor. Their Thai tea is pretty good but that’s about it. I haven’t really tried anything else from this place.
For most restaurants that I gave a 3 or lower rating, I probably won’t go back to, however I’ll probably end up back at this place because the ladies are so sweet and I miss them.
I definitely recommend this place is you have a stuffy nose and can’t taste the phở and want to feel loved by these nice korean ladies.

5 for service
4 for taste
5 for cleanliness
over all AWESOMENESS!

It’s not bad in the area. I also don’t really know many other viet food restaurants surrounding the CSUF campus.
I think the weird part is that it’s a korean owned joint. It was iffy when friend wanted to grab dinner here. We also got kind of lost getting here. I said to try and check the Target Plaza and he was like no way it can be in there. After futile attempts of trying to find it, we check out the Target Plaza and to our surprise there it was.
I can’t remember the price on it, but I think it was a bit more expensive than the food out in my area. They have some korean dishes plastered on the wall, I guess they really want to show off they’re korean.
Biggest upside is that the place is really clean from what I remember. A lot of Phở places tend to look… well they don’t look super clean. It’s a nice place to grab lunch or dinner or if you’re just hungry after leaving target and want to try some Vietnamese food.
As for taste — it tastes good, I’d say a bit above average. It’s a good spot if you’re in the area, it’s not a spot you’ll drive out to. Do not get the large size Phở! My friend got a large and I got the regular, all he really got was more soup. Good viet food restaurant for the area.

Honestly, the food wasn’t fantastic, as it was sort of lacking in flavor, but the preparation was great and it was right for the price. I got some sort of soupless noodles instead of a Ph dish, but it was still good. I just had to put sauce in it to make it taste like something.
I’d probably end up going back again, mostly because it’s great for that late night snack in Fullerton!

My husband and I finished his Open House and decided to go get Phở at approx. 10:30 am. We drive by my old apt. that I use to live in when I attended CSF and notice Phở Lemon Grass, a new Phở place. So, that given, I want you all to know I love Fullerton and all the restaurants around it.
We were so excited to see the big red neon «OPEN» sign through their window. Pulling up, we see a Korean woman dusting a floor mat and I respectfully asked if the restaurant was open. She said, «We’re closed — » and I responded with.“but your sign says ‘open’ on the front.” I naturally would’ve never said anything like that to an elder (mostly Asian elders),
Why one star… this is how she would finish off a new customer. «Our sign is always „OPEN“ in the front!»
She did not apologize for wasting our time and was a Korean woman’s version of the Soup Nazi from Seinfeld.
Following my father’s rule, I mitigated all the terrible things I wanted to say and walked away knowing that I would be here, Unilocaling it, one day.
Sadly, this is not a review about taste or ambience, this was a Unilocal strictly based on customer service and advertisement.

I ordered their sampler ($ 7. – ) which comes with shrimp tempura (?), egg rolls, spring rolls and gyoza… but they told me that they ran out of gyoza and that they would replace it with more egg rolls. ‘okay’ i thought. ‘Their egg rolls better be good then’. Spring rolls were okay, and egg rolls were so-​so. They don’t give you the typical egg roll dipping sauce tho.
I did feel little upset stomach afterwards but it might have been just me since two of my friends who were with me felt fine.
I agree with Florance on the price part. You’ll notice that the price is little higher than your average Phở restaurants.
They did have nice interior and friendly staff but I know I can get much better phở at Westminster for half the price.

I prefer Asian food, so it’s a given that I like Phở.
This place you wouldn’t even notice from the street because it’s actually located behind the Sizzler on Yorba Linda x Placentia. The only reason I found it was I was shopping at Target and happened to drive east to get to Placentia to go get some gas for my car. I’m glad I drove that way.
Once I found the place, I was telling my other Phở-​loving friend at work about it and said that we had to go. We went one day for lunch. I ordered the seafood phở and it was the most beautiful dish I think I have ever seen in a Phở shop. Super fresh and very good. I also ordered the appetizer combo plate to see what that was about. The appetizer plate was very basic and did not impress me. Next time, I’ll skip that.
The restaurant was super clean and the service was average. I think the poor location keeps them from getting as much business as they I think they could have.