Pho Mai

This place is awesome, friendly people, clean, great food, quiet and peaceful atmosphere. I love it lol

Great spot! Was just visiting from SF and craving some good phở. Came across this spot on Unilocal and decided to try it out,
It does have a mom and pop feel as mentioned in other reviews. It didn’t smell like incense as another review mentioned but maybe they changed it. Overall the environment was perfect after a long day.
Service was awesome! Super attentive and friendly which I always appreciate.
We ordered their special phở, crab rice noodle soup and summer rolls. The main dishes were delicious! Full of flavor and won’t disappoint. The summer rolls were average. Personally think they were a little overpriced and not my favorite. But other than the summer rolls, highly recommend this spot!

Love this place… Best Phở place by far and service is great. We eat here often for lunch bcz it’s across the street from our clinic. I always order the winter rolls and tofu Phở. When we walk in he greets us with a huge smile and remembers exactly what I want.

The guy working was cool, we came in through the back before they open and they were real nice happy ti serve. Food was good. Idk about the bad reviews about this place, I liked it.

Late night dinner phở? Yes please! We wanted to try a new-​to-​us phở place. The place is small but cozy and the man who runs it is very warm and friendly. He cares about his customers and it shows.
We both ordered a phở dish and it was great. It is such a large serving and you get so much noodle and meat for such a reasonable price. Under $ 8 for a bowl of yummy in my tummy phở!
The phở was great and we will come back for sure.

The best phở & spring rolls; always hand made & fresh. The owner is extremely friendly & sincere; *****
Love the clear, full flavored doup, hand made won ton & spring rolls. You alwsys wait about 10 minutes for an order as nothing is pre made.

Weather you’re going to take out or dine in the service and food here is Great! Fast and made to order so your not waiting. I had the #5 and a friend had the #15, they both were great and you can’t forget about the spring rolls (oh so yummy)!

Food taste so so, serving small amount vegetable and meat but has a lot of noodle. Probably won’t go back.

This place is a small mom-​n-​pop type place on King. The guy is really friendly and helpful with where to park and when street parking is free, etc. But the food is really not so good. Sadly.

Love this little place on King Street! My daughter’s favorite Phở spot in Honolulu, and she took me there knowing how much I’d love it. Well, she was right!!! Great food, great owners, and left feeling full, happy, and writing this place in as a MUST on my next trip to Oahu!!!

I will have to say that this place is more of a hole in the wall that focuses on the sense of quality and presentation that goes beyond measurement. I walked in to meet up with a friend. I had the vermilion dish that I always get. The dish was simply written as ‘rice noodle’ but that was okay. I got the dish and I drenched it with all the sauce I could get. I can go on about the quality of the food and how it was made with a certain skill that goes beyond words — but that isn’t necessary. The Thai Coffee was very well done. The egg rolls were really well done. I would go on about the quality. Perhaps this will suffice — Phở Mai is an actual dive that fills in the specific definition of the word. Whomever the cooks are, they are quite skilled, and I shall try this place again.
Parking is abundant. Getting through the parking pass is rather difficult given it’s along the way to Ala Moana. The sign alone tells you where to go. The prices are moderate and it’s great.

It’s Saturday (or Sunday for that matter) and you wake up from a night of drunken frivolity and the pangs of pain hit your head. It dawns on you… you had a few too many shots of vodka or tequila and made the ultimate mistake of mixing the two. Well, after you’ve consumed a bottle of water and a couple of aspirin, might I suggest you reach for the time-​tested, and friend approved hangover remedy of consuming phở.
A friend was in desperate need of phở after one of these nights out on the town and come to find the nearest spot open is you guessed it, Phở Mai. While you’ve probably passed it on your daily commute, the big sign fronting King street is hard to miss. It’s menu features not only the traditional noodle phở, but appetizers like spring and summer rolls and rice dishes if Phở isn’t your thing.
Yet, you come here for the phở. I opted to try the beef brisket phở and the broth was simple and alright. Nothing truly shining, but nothing that really disappointed. However, phở luckily has the luxury of adding hot seasonings like siracha or perhaps a sweet plum sauce to get it to the flavor you like.
Service was good and attentive, while the charming nature of its small size is really kind of cute. Parking is available on the street or in the private lot out back.

I can’t believe I came here. This place shouldn’t even have a 4 stars. Worst phở place ever! This place is really small and it’s has a real strong smell of incense which I can’t stand smelling. If you are the type of person who doesn’t like smelling stuff like that, then you wouldn’t enjoy coming here. If you are hungry then you wouldn’t be happy coming here. Serves is really really slow. I think we waited for 30mins or more for our foods to come out. Everyone was so hungry and pissed off at the same time.
This place is own by two old couple, think of it like a mom’s and pop’s shop. You would think it s a good place but really is not. The owner is the only one that was working, so he does everything up front. The man was kind of rude and doesn’t have a friendly smile or welcoming face.
I came here with a group of 5 adult and a kid and we was pretty hungry. We ordered stoping roll and that was nasty. They used PHO NOODLES and there’s like 2 pieces of shrimps and everything else is phở noodles and veggies. Don’t get the spring rolls. Their egg roll is OK, but better than the around rolls.
I order bun rue and that was straight up nasty with no flavor to it. It doesn’t even taste like bun rue at all!!!. My bun rue has half Vietnamese rice noodles and half phở noodles to it. WTF that’s isn’t how Bun Rue suppose to be. What are they feeding people here!!! Pretty disappointing!!!
my bf brother order chickens lemon grass and that came out to be chicken lemon cm grass curry! WTF lemon grass chicken doesn’t have curry!!! the need to write that on the menu! He’s Fucken Allergic to anything that’s has CURRY too it. This shit could makes him so sick. I asked the owner of we could switch it out and he was being so rude about it and pretty much said we have to pay for it and said this is how they cook their Lemon grass chicken!!! Well Sh*t they’re really don’t know how to cook here then!
Their phở doesn’t even taste that good! That’s pretty sad.
I wouldn’t remand anyone here. There’s better phở place than this place and I try some of them too and they tasted better than coming here. U

Sometimes in life, we get hungover. A night of excessive drinking can ruin your next day, but a good bowl of phở can put things back on track. Phở Mai did just that for us a few weeks ago. Oh! And it was a rainy morning. I love having soup in rainy/​chilly weather.
We stumbled into Phở Mai when they opened on a Sunday morning to find there were already a few people in there. We were seated right away, and immediately ordered our bowls of phở and spring rolls. The uncle who owns the shop was so sweet. He made sure we were taken care of. We drank a lot of water that morning, and he was replenishing our glasses regularly. Sounds silly, I know, but I hate when my water isn’t replenished at restaurants. I will straight up drink all of my other friends’ waters when mine is done.
The phở came out and it was steaming hot. It was delicious. The broth was light and had a great herbal/​beefy flavor. It was my fave. The spring rolls were crispy… delicious. This place is one of my fave phở places in Honolulu.

Kitchen Nightmare!
Rude service. We were the only party, yet the owner/​server looked put out whenever we asked for something. He was doing a crossword puzzle at a nearby table, would initially ignore me so he could finish his word, then roll his eyes and heave himself up wearily and go to the kitchen. He just tossed our food on the table like we had a communicable disease. I felt very uncomfortable being there.
And the noodles were stale, like they had been chilling in the fridge all night.
Worst Vietnamese food I’ve had (I’ve spent 2 months in Vietnam so I have an idea of good food).

Ok so I eat Phở at least 3 times a week and have done so for the past … At least 5 years. So I know good phở. I read the reviews here and decided I’d like to try the place, the only reason they get the one star is the spring rolls were very good. The Phở on the other hand had zero taste… Zero aroma. The broth tasted like they opened a can of chicken broth heated it and put it in a bowl. The worst Phở I have ever had…

Awesome Food
Great Price
Amazing Staff

I have to credit my sister for the discovery of this little mom and pop Vietnamese eatery – she suggested we check out Phở Mai while she was visiting a few weeks ago and since 1) I’d never tried phở before and 2) it was close enough to get to during my lunch break, I said «let’s go, girl!»
Phở Mai is situated right off of King Street and parking is located behind the building. You can access the parking lot from King Street but just be careful that you don’t miss it since it sneaks up on you pretty fast. The restaurant is cozy – probably fits 6 tables or so – and when my sis and I walked in I was surprised to see that the room was packed with lunch-​goers.
Luckily a table opened up just as we arrived so we were seated right away. Unfortunately, that was the last time anything happened «right away» during our meal. In fact, it took around 40 minutes for us to receive our food, and let’s be honest– aint nobody got time for that.
My sister and I both got the Phở Tofu but requested that they add veggies. When our soup finally did arrive I was ecstatic about all the yummy veggies they had dug up – carrots, broccoli, cilantro, celery… this vegetarian was crossed eyed with happiness. Now, mind you this was my first ever phở experience, but that soup was delish. It almost completely made up for the incredibly long wait.
Aside from the backed-​up kitchen, the service was really good and the waiter (who I think may have been the owner) was very apologetic that we had to wait so long. Since then, I’ve made a return visit to Phở Mai for dinner service and it didn’t take nearly as long.
Thanks to Phở Mai I’m officially a phở fan! I’m sure I’ll be back again, but am also excited to try other phở restaurants in town.

Perhaps the convenience of this place swayed me to think it was better than it actually was (it’s walking distance from my friend’s place). Or maybe it was my first visit to Phở Thinh that upped the standard for all phở places I now dine at. Either way, sorry to say, that I have to downgrade my review to 3 stars.
Why?
Most recently:
1. Lack of AC. I usually come here at dinnertime when it’s cooler outside so maybe I don’t notice, but is there even an AC unit in this place? I hate sweating profusely when I eat phở.
2. The mint leaves were dirty and spotted. I’m sure the spots don’t mean anything but it’s just a little unappetizing to look at… like the leaves have a disease or something. A few leaves were also coated in a watery reddish sauce, as if someone spilled something on it…
3. Lack of cleanliness. This one is Phở Thinh’s fault for sure, but ever since I went there where they keep everything immaculate, I now notice all the little unclean things at other restaurants. For example, at Phở Mai, the cap of the Sriracha bottle was crusted with old, dried up sauce. The hoisin sauce cover was sticky, and you need a spoon to scoop out the hoisin sauce (more unsanitary than squeeze bottles).
4. Whenever I visit here, 80% of the time my party is the only patrons in the restaurant. This yields awesome service, yes, but it’s also a little awkward when it’s just you and the waiter sitting in the same room with no music/​background noise. Err…
I’m also a little annoyed they don’t have different bowl sizes for the phở. All stomaches are not created equal!
I’ll probably still come here out of convenience, but sad to say, no longer a ‘fave’ =(.

Way to much shenanigans on Saturday night and I needed something to soothe my stomach on Sunday. As a kid, my step mother always made me crab noodle soup and was craving it. Therefore, I was on a mission to eat that. However, why do so many phở places not open on a Sunday? Do they not know that Sunday is hangover day? Do they also not know that their food is hangover medicine? Well, this place was a lifesaver as they were open on Sunday for lunch.
Food — Very Good
Ordered Crab Noodle Soup (Aka Bun Rieu)

I don’t know very much places that have it. I know Bac Nam, Phở Thinh & Phở My Lan have it but Bac Nam & Phở Thinh was closed and Phở My Lan is street parking, which I didn’t want to deal with. So I told my wife to find me the next closest phở place that’s open. If they don’t have the crab soup then oh well, any phở will do. I open the menu and lo and behold they have crab soup! WHOO HOO score! Already a fan at this point. I should have looked over the menu better so I could write a better review but I didn’t care to look at anything else after that. That’s just the kind of guy I am. When I set my eyes on something, I don’t want anything else… (I hope my wife is reading this). It turned out to be fairly good. The broth, meat and noodles were all good. The only thing I would change would be the amount of tomatoes they put. There wasn’t quite enough. Everything else was awesome.
Spring Rolls
They were good. They came out hot and very crispy. That’s good enough for me. I think my wife had the beef broth phở. I tried a little and it was good, but not the best I had.
Service — Excellent
This place closes at 230 and we came in at about 130. I felt bad for coming in so late but they were still very welcoming and gave us great service.
Environment — Nice
Parking is in the back of the building. They have a front and back entrance, so if you park in the back you can enter from there too (sorry that didn’t sound right but its valuable information). The inside is fairly small. It has 5 or 6 tables that seat 4 people.
Overall, I think this is a nice place to eat. I will definitely be back for the crab soup since I know this place is open on Sundays.