Pho Bistro

Great place, great food and amazing caring owners! Support local business and try the GTC! Quiet, great service and food to tell your friends about… Check it out!

Hooray! This is my new go-​to place for my Chinese cravings. I came on Saturday around 4:30 pm to order take out. I was the only one there, but that didn’t deter me. I placed my order and waited about 10 minutes. I spoke with the young man working the front and he told me everything is made fresh to order. He also said most of their veggies are from the fresh produce store next door. I believe it’s called Straight from the Crate. Sounds good to me. When I got home I was hopeful but wary. I didn’t want to get my hopes up too high.
I am happy to say this place is very good! The lo mein was tasty. The shrimp was large and they didn’t scrimp. The noodles were perfectly cooked and the dish itself not overly oily. The fried rice was excellent. Not too much soy sauce. The veggies in the shrimp and vegetables stir fry were perfectly cooked. Everything was delicious. We’ll be back for sure.

My husband and I come her as often as we can. The food is great, very well priced, and the staff is really nice. Immaculately clean. The Chinese food is great and the phở is great. We took my dad, had an appetizer and three mains and spent just over $ 30.

I took my family here last night and will definitely be back. The service was quick and friendly. The food was well prepared, fresh, and plentiful. I have no idea what restaurant the other reviewer was at who complained about the small size of the phở soup, but it was not this one. It was a huge bowl with lots of noodles and beef. I ate my full and took plenty home. My husband had the spicy fried rice and enjoyed it. One of my boys had the sweet and sour chicken and the other had kung pao chicken. They both liked their meals. However kung pao should not have sauce to it so that was a bit strange. However my son said it was good.

Very good, the cook just arrived recently from Vietnam, no shortcuts here! Authentic Vietnamese food, no tendon option though.

When you first walk in, you’re greeted by white walls and very minimal decorations. It’s also awkwardly quiet (no background music, etc). We were told that we could have a seat of our choice.
For being a phở restaurant… There is minimal choice. I believe about 5 – 6 different phở you can choose from. They did not have phở chin (brisket) which is odd. I ordered the P3 (phở tai bo vien/​phở with rare beef and meatballs). My boyfriend ordered the P2 (phở tai nam) but wit only the nam (flank).
When our order finally came out after sitting in awkward silence, we were pretty shocked. The broth was very clear (and tasted like it was chicken phở broth and not the beef phở broth). We were given a very small amount of noodles. My boyfriend literally counted how many times he filled his spoon (5x before he was finished with his phở). The soup however was flavorful, so I’ll give them credit for that. The amount of meat that came with it was laughable. For $ 7.50−8.00, you seriously should get more. I’m from Arlington, TX and my boyfriend is Vietnamese. Both of us know phở well since it’s pretty much a staple in our diet lol. But this was pretty upsetting.

This is one of the better local options for Phở. The broth is clean, clear, and flavorful enough that I prefer it without added sauce.

I took everyone’s advice and got the spring rolls. They’re good, but I’ve definitely had better. Fish sauce it came with seemed «fishier» than it should have been, so I just ate them plain. Fried rice is very plain with no veggies, egg or meat in it. Their sesame chicken was awesome, though! I could’ve eaten twice as much of it without any of the rice. I’ll probably go back just to try the Phở.

Vietnamese rolls and the phở here are amazing. The meat (rare steak) was tender and the noodles and broth were good. Small bowls but so yummy. He said he’d get a bigger bowl just for us next weekend so we’ll see ;-) but we’ll definitely come back for more.
Lady wasn’t very nice and it seemed when we asked for anything it was a short answer and like we were bothering her. All we wanted was a few extra limes. «THAT (points to 2 wedges) is not enough?» Maybe someone was having a bad day…
Guy is friendly and seemed interested in how our food and time was.

Went again last night, got the garlic chicken, the fancy very spicy fried rice w Chinese sausage, chicken lo mein and of course the spring rolls. It’s all good but I think my next visit will just be spring rolls and fried rice. As soon as it is not 90*, I will be ordering soup! The only reason it isn’t a 5 * for me is the silverware. I know that’s pretty stupid but the restaurant tableware is just getting so flat and hard for arthritic people to use But that’s just me. I do have pictures if I can figure out how to show you

Their vermicelli was tasty the service was a bit slow. It’s not s luxurious place. Rather plane but good good

I am a phở addict and will try every phở restaurant nearby. Upon walking in for dinner, we were the only table. The place is very plain inside with not much décor or color inside. It’s not very inviting at all. I will say that the phở soup was pretty good though. It wasn’t the best I’ve ever had, but it is better than the phở at Phở Star down the street. I also ordered the sesame chicken, but didn’t really like it. It’s not something I’d recommend. The Vietnamese spring rolls were ok as well. I also got a vermicelli bowl with pork and it was just ok as well. There wasn’t a whole lot of pork. The only item I would come back for is the phở. However, they are pretty skimpy with the garnishes. Also, the temperature inside the restaurant was a little warm, so we were nice and sweaty while eating hot phở.

I’ve never had phở before, or probably even Vietnamese food before, but the flavors in their food are outstanding and very unique!
The interior of the building isn’t too impressive and my boyfriend told me that this building used to be a burger joint, so that probably explains it.
Our waitress was very, very friendly and made sure we enjoyed our food since we said it was our first time dining here. I believe one of the owners was behind the scenes in the kitchen also observing his customers and feeling proud when I told my waitress that I loved my soup!
I ordered the Vegetable Phở which had a really great, clean broth, white/​translucent noodles, and fresh vegetables (Napa cabbage, broccoli, green onion, water chestnuts, mushroom, onion, ginger). If I could describe the broth, I would have to say it’s this combination of savory, slightly sweet, and refreshing. I topped mine with bean sprouts that came on a side dish which gave it an even nicer fresh crunch. There were also plenty of spices and sauces on the table that I could’ve added to my dish, but I decided to keep mine original so I could get the whole flavor of the phở.
All in all, it was a great first time dining here. I would probably choose to come back at night and definitely during the colder seasons, because having hot soup at 3:00pm in July almost made me overheat! It was definitely worth the try though!

Cannot give this place a good rating based on a bad experience with management. The food itself wasn’t bad; my co-​worker enjoyed her phở and my egg drop soup was mediocre (too thick for my liking). The bad part of the experience was that I am 24 weeks pregnant, and I accidentally ordered a dish that had raw sprouts on it (a big no no for pregnant women). The menu was not descriptive enough to say that there would be raw sprouts, so I did not know they would be part of the dish. When I asked to send the dish back, the manager came over to inform me that I would have had to order them specifically that way, and that she ate plenty of sprouts when she was pregnant. Good for her. I, however, will not be risking miscarriage over $ 3 and will not be returning to this restaurant.

Food is superb. Fresh, crunchy, light, satisfying, as great Vietnamese should be. The chef is native Vietnamese and it shows in her cooking. They have only been open 6 weeks so the atmosphere is sparse, but you want to go for the food.

While I am certainly not a phở aficionado, my shrimp phở was delicious. The vegetables & herbs were very fresh. The noodles and shrimp were perfectly cooked and the shrimp was clean. It’s a small place with probably about 10 – 12 small 4 tops. The service was fast. I’ll be back.

Finally, I tried Phở for the first time – well, sort of – but I’ll get to that in a minute. I will be making comparisons in this review to Noy’s Bistro
. Why? Well, they are both in Universal City, they both primarily offer another cuisine (Noys is Thai; Phở Bistro is Viet) and secondarily offer Chinese entrees, and they both have bistro in their names (lol).
Because of my cheapness, instead of the phở that I longed to try for $ 7.50 (I am just not a big soup guy), I instead opted for one of Phở B’s 40 Chinese lunch specials for only $ 5.50. I got the General’s chicken with fried rice and hot and sour soup. The soup was horrendous– extremely salty, gloppy and typical msg-​ladened soup. The fried rice was plain, dry, no vegetables, and lacked flavor.
No egg roll comes with this because I chose soup, so I added a Vietnamese spring roll for $ 1.75. It came with a fish sauce for dipping. That spring roll was delicious and was light, crispy, and filled with flavorful pork or sausage. It was like a Filipino lumpia and one of the most delicious spring rolls I have ever had.
The «huge portion» General’s chicken was crispy and delicious, but the sauce was very sweet, but I poured the rest of my fish sauce from the spring roll to cut the sweetness a bit. In comparison, Noy’s General chicken has a very light batter, huge portion, and a very lightly sweetened General’s sauce (due to her Thai background). Noy’s lunch specials are $ 7.50, which comes with an excellent soup and a decent Chinese eggroll.
Here at PB, as I mentioned your lunch will cost $ 7.50 once you add one Vietnamese spring roll, which absolutely makes this for me an equal option with Noys. I may just get an order of 3 Vietnamese spring rolls for $ 2.95 or 6 rolls next time and «call it a day». They were that memorable.
Now, as I was leaving, I was given a cup of their Phở to sample, the master broth upon which all the phở is made. In it was only raw onions and green onions. It was rich, deeply enriched with umami tastes of bones, fat, and gelatin. I could also taste hints of lemongrass or cilantro. That little cup filled me, so I can’t imagine eating one of the big bowls, but in the future I will try. I asked about strange ingredients like tendon and those other nasty bits, and they said if it got real busy in the future, they would offer it.
But, they said I should try the rare beef, meatball, or chicken because every thing is bought daily with nothing frozen. The Vietnamese menu is huge. I just don’t know where to start and I want to make sure I get enough protein as that food is so healthy but contains little meat. But, for people in the know, and because the Vietnamese portion of the menu is in the $ 9 range, I call upon Viet connoisseurs to get through the whole Viet menu and take some helpful pictures of your plates for the rest of us.
A side note: unlike at Noys, where Noy (a master chef) herself cooks all the entrees including the Chinese ones, at Phở Bistro, the master chef only cooks the Vietnamese cuisines, and they have hired another «cook» to only cook the Chinese dishes.

Went last week to try this place. Staff was friendly and service was quick. I was pretty excited to try it out. The fried spring rolls were pretty greasy and just okay. I got the phở with meatballs. The broth was actually pretty tasty. The reason i give it 3 stars is because I feel they skimp on the vegetables and herbs that go in the soup. Pretty stingy in my opinion and doesn’t have the variety of herbs I’ve had from other restaurants. Every phở restaurant I’ve been to in town gives more than what they give and for the same price. I also feel that they skimp on the meat and noodles. Overall, it was just lackluster, not terrible but also not good either. Not really sure I’d go back as I feel that there are other choices in town that are better in taste, portion and price.

Absolutely great, we live in Canyon Lake and it was worth the drive for sure! Have tried other Phở places in San Antonio and this is by far the best. Simple straightforward GREAT FOOD! I had the Phở-​ga with chicken, my wife had the vegetable Phở and added tofu! Not overly «floral» with star anise like a lot of phở’s
Highly recommended!

Best phở in San Antonio area (IMHO), light but flavorful, noodles are cooked al dente, all fresh ingredients. Had the fried spring rolls and «kung fu fried rice» as well (I’m a sucker for any dish with Chinese sausage), the fried rice alone makes me reconsider my «low carb» diet.
Needless to say, I’m a fan and will definitely be getting my Vietnamese food fix here. The owner is super friendly, the food is legit, the prices are reasonable, military discount, and BYOB. A winner all around.
FYI It’s in the same shopping center as Polly’s Pet Shop (just on the other end).