Pho 14

We ordered the chicken/​beef/​pork/​shrimp stir fry curry flavored and a grilled pork vermicelli bowl. For an appetizer, we ordered the grilled meat spring rolls– 1 steak, 1 chicken. It was kind of busy in there, but we were still served in a good amount of time. The food portions were smaller than most phở places, but considering that most phở places serves rather large portions, I was completely satisfied with my portion. The spring rolls were HUGE and delicious. I had no complaints about my food and neither did my partner. The best part about this was that my waitress (who I think was the owner or the manager) was great! She’s very friendly and welcoming.
As far as drinks, we ordered the Thai iced tea and the iced coffee. There were «meh». Not the best, but good enough to drink. The kicker though was the AVOCADO SMOOTHIE. We were reluctant to try it, but I’m glad we did. I promise you’ll never regret getting this one.
Overall, it’s a great place and I plan on visiting again!

This is the worst Vietnamese restaurant I ever been to! We’ve waited 45min after we ordered the food. My gf deluxe rice looked like it came out of a burning house and the meat portion was slim to none! $ 12 for the rice deluxe! Not worth it!

This place is spacious, but they must have too many customers and not enough cooks, because it took us 30+ minutes to get our phở.
I think the good thing about this place is that there are a lot of options – you can get vegetarian soup, beef soup, or chicken soup. That’s pretty much the only plus – the portions were small and the prices were steep for phở.

such great Phở! The portions were perfect I got a regular size phở and customized what I wanted to put inside, I loved having this option! The customer service was really great. At the end of our meal the server was picking up our finished dishes and a glass of water was spilled on my lap and the server gave us a discount on our bill, this was not necessary because we all know accidents happen but it was very considerate and was much appreciated. The next time I got back to DC I will make a visit back.

Visit from Chicago, first time trying phở, the server was very helpful. I tried a seafood phở with carrots and mushrooms. Great experience!

You can create your own phở which is great as other phở places only offers bean sprouts. Here you can add broccoli, carrots, etc. Price is reasonable too.

How is this place getting 4 stars? I’m baffled… The phở here is mediocre at best. The broth is too salty and not flavorful. The beef is too chewy. Well-​done thinly sliced beef in a bowl of phở should always be soft and tender. And I was quite turned off by their choices of toppings for phở — it is bizarre and not authentic. If you get phở in Vietnam (I grew up there in the city where phở originated, so I know my phở :-P), you would never, ever get a choice of broccoli or mushroom in your phở (what???).
A lot of reviews for this place mentioned the Eden center. But I actually recommend going to Phở 75 in Courthouse in Arlington to experience the best phở you could get in the area. A bit of a drive from Columbia Heights though.
We also got the pork crêpe. It was crispy but WAY to oily. There was a layer of cooking oil at the bottom of the plate. I wish they had left the crêpe rest on a rack so that most of the oil had dripped out before the serve it to us.
Long story short, I will not come here again. I have yet to succeed at finding a decent Vietnamese restaurant in the city. For now, I will continue to go to VA to satisfy my Vietnamese food cravings.

So I discovered Phở about five years ago and I’ve been hooked ever since. I literally have it at least once or twice a week and Pho14 is my go to spot. I am so serious about my phở that I have no problem going alone and sitting at the bar (speaking of bar, are they ever going to get a liquor license? Can they at least make it BYOB?) Everything I’ve had here is great. The phở broth is flavorful and they always give you a generous portion of protein. The only reason I’m giving them 4 stars instead of 5 is because it’s pretty expensive. The other phở restaurant I frequent charges $ 8 for a large tai, Pho14 charges $ 12.

We trekked across town to go to Target and wanted some Phở on a cold Sunday night.
We called in our order which as ready after our shopping adventure. We got home and got our large bowls out. As we were putting everything together we realized that they only give you one small container mixed with hoisin and saricha. It would have been nice to have it separated to control the sweet and spicy levels. Other than that, everything was nicely packed to go.
The broth was kinda plain and noodles on the edge of being underdone. I might give this place a second shot if I knew I was eating there so I can add as much hoisin and saricha as I like…
Vegetable broth had a hint of sweetness from the apples they use. The chicken was good but the flank steak to fatty for my tastes.

My favorite dish here is an appetizer — crunchy fresh spring rolls. It’s as if an egg roll and spring (summer) roll had a baby! So good, and I don’t understand why other places don’t make this dish. To my knowledge I have never seen this so maybe it’s not even authentic at all but rather fusion. I don’t care. It rules. It is grossly overpriced at $ 3.25 per roll but holy crap it is so delicious. An order comes with 2 rolls and is seriously not enough.
Phở here is okay, not the best but the best in DC. It hits the spot, but I prefer the bun dishes. I think their pork tends to outshine their beef. Their banh mi are also quite good.
The people here are so nice and I think this place satisfies my craving for Vietnamese food without having to trek to the ‘burbs. I’ve had worse even in Eden Center, so come here with an open mind, branch out beyond phở and adjust your expectations and I think you’ll be satisfied.

I love phở and Phở 14 does not disappoint. It’s a good place to go with friends with various food allergies/​preferences as there are broth options (beef, chicken, or veggie) and a good amount of toppings from which to choose.
I do not recommend the curry chicken tho! My dining companion ordered it and was super disappointed. It kinda tasted like a frozen meal. The waiter was totally accommodating though when he requested to switch his meal to phở.

Been here twice, their chicken broth phở is the best I’ve had it in the United States, and I’ve had phở in Boston, NYC, San Francisco, and Philly. It’s just the right amount of flavoring and heavy. I got it with the brisket, tofu, and broccoli the last time. The food here is excellent and affordable for a nice night out. They don’t have any alcohol, but my Thai iced tea was great.
The service was a little slow though but it was Sunday evening so I’ll give them a pass. I’ll definitely go back for phone, its my go to for Phone in the DMV area.

Lots of veggie options here!
They have a vegetarian phở with yummy vegetable-​based broth. Very comforting dish. They also have vegetarian banh mi, summer rolls, vermicelli and also a noodle soup dish with seitan/​soy protein faux meat. Basically for every section of the menu, there is a vegetarian dish equivalent. This place is perfect for omnis + vegetarians/​vegans to dine together. There is something for everyone!
I love the summer rolls ! Usually very soft, fresh and chewy.
Decent price for Phở in DC (of course it will be cheaper if you go out to Virginia). The service is fast and good.
I’ve been here several times in the different locations in DC. Just a nice go-​to place for good, affordable food whenever I feel like having Vietnamese food and don’t want to travel to VA.

They had me at Fuji apple soup.
To be honest, the food is actually worth 3-​stars, but the dining experience as a whole bumped it up a star.
Since I’m from the Bay Area, where phở restaurants are as common as Au Bön Pain is in DC, I expect my phở to be meaty, fragrant, and covered in a mound of fresh basil, bean sprouts, lime juice, and plum sauce.
I can’t say the phở at Phở 14 meets those expectations. But I can say I’ve never had a Fuji apple broth anywhere else, and it was light and delicious. Phở 14 was a little skimpy on the toppings, but the flavor of the soup almost made up for it. Spring rolls were crisp and tasty. The interior is lovely and the waiters were friendly, accommodating and flirty — what more could you ask for in a waiter? ;)

Just had an unsettling exchange with a Phở 14 staff. The staff refused to deliver 1.8 miles away (within their 2 mile radius) citing that they do not deliver to Northeast, and that it would take an hour and a half to deliver (11 minutes according to google maps). Curious why Northeast is a cutoff, curious why she felt the need to exaggerate about delivery time and lie about their delivery policy.
She accused me of threatening her when I suggested I would write a Unilocal review. So here I am.

We were visiting Columbia Heights and had the hankering for phở. Unilocal pointed us in the direction of Phở 14.
The restaurant has a nice casual atmosphere with comfortable seating. We were greeted upon entry and offered our choice of seats. The bulk of the menu offers their phở options, basically a formula where you pick broth, add-​ins, and meats/​tofu. The phở was great, full of flavor, perfectly cooked noodles, and tons of hot, «fire» level spice as requested.
We also ordered the rice dish 53 with grilled shrimp, carrot, and cucumber salads. The shrimp was insanely good and seasoned nicely. The rice mixed with the veggie salads made a nice light plate that didn’t lack flavor.
We also ordered the Vietnamese coffee, which knocked our socks off. Sweet, milky, and chilled, so it was nice to take a break from the D. C humidity and get a great meal and coffee drink.
Service in the restaurant was friendly and quick. They offer delivery too. If I’m in the neighborhood again, I’d stop by for sure. All in all, I recommend this place.

This has been my go to Phở place for the last year or so. They’re phở is solid, friendly service and they have a consistently good menu full of other solid entrees and apps for the people who don’t want phở.
But let’s start with the phở, because that’s probably what you’re looking for. First off, they got variety of beef cuts like brisket, top round, meatballs, along with more adventurous options like trips or tendon. They also have a a chicken and a veggie option that taste pretty good. I hate when Phở places oversimplify the menu and just say beef, chicken, veggie. Choosing different cuts of meat definitely changes the experience. My usual combo is top round served raw in the bowl (it’s so cool to watch the broth cook the thinly sliced meat) and fatty brisket (it adds a wonderfully rich fattiness to compliment the lean top round). Finally, I highly recommend you order the onion in vinegar! It’s a bowl of diced white onion soaked in a sweet rice vinegar. It adds a tangy, sweet crunch that use as a palate cleanser when the soup or siriracha overwhelms my tastebuds.
Bahnmi’s are good. There’s little meat in them but the bread is has a nice crispy crust with a soft center and the fresh cilantro and jalapeños combined with pickled carrot and radish is very refreshing. They have a good deal where you can get a Banh mi, a cup of berg soup (like a french dip) and a full appetizer for $ 10. It’s a great deal!
For apps, I really like their green papaya salad. It’s a good balance of sweet, sour and spicy and they add little crispy rice cakes which give it an awesome change of texture. The steamed spring rolls with pork, shrimp and shredded lettuce is good, but not as unique.
Enjoy!

Phở 14 is a nice Vietnamese restaurant with more than just phở. Ideal place to eat on a cold winter day.
Pros
Mellow ambience
Attentive staff
Spacious on the inside
Popular; very few tables were empty
Inexpensive
Cons
Pretty generic menu
Not many tables for large groups
There’s a bar, but I didn’t see any alcohol. (Deceiving!) We weren’t given a drink menu, but we saw someone with a piña colada type of drink.
What I got
Vegetarian spring rolls, $ 4.49
Vermicelli bowl with vegetables and marinated and fried tofu, $ 9.99
What I thought
The vegetarian spring rolls were the generic and simple spring/​summer roll with tofu, vermicelli noodles, lettuce, basil and bean sprouts. Nothing special there.
I asked the waiter to help me decide between the vermicelli bowl and the curry vegetable stir fry, and he recommended the vermicelli bowl. When the entrée came out, I was unpleasantly surprised at how SIMILAR the vermicelli bowl is to the spring roll. Tofu, peanuts, vermicelli noodles, lettuce, same spring roll sauce… All the same. It also had carrots and cucumber… But cmon, why would you recommend that after I just had spring rolls?
It was good nonetheless, a Vietnamese version of Korean bibimbap. Fresh and clean flavors. You definitely won’t feel uncomfortably full. I really want to try the vegetarian phở, since my only experience eating it was horrible. I’ll be back, Phở 14!

3.5 stars is probably more realistic, but since I can’t leave half star ratings and I loved the phở, I’m giving it 4. Tonight I came here with some family friends for an early birthday dinner. We arrived around 5:15ish, so we were seated right away. The interior décor is pretty and serene. Service was good as well.
I didn’t love the seafood spring rolls as the veggies were too crunchy and overpowering. I could barely taste the seafood.
However, the phở was excellent! I had beef broth with fake beef and tofu. As a pesca-​vegetarian, I’ve had a good amount of fake meat products, but never fake beef. To my delight, it had the same texture and taste as real beef. Not that I miss meat, but some fake meat products (i.e. chicken) are disgusting. The noodles were thick, more like spaghetti, which has not been my experience at Vietnamese restaurants. The broth was flavorful without being overly spicy (I ordered mine mild) or too bland. Too bad I couldn’t finish it as it was HUGE!
I don’t eat at Vietnamese restaurants often, but the phở I had at Phở 14 will be the benchmark in assessing future phở!

Frankly, I never would’ve tried out Phở 14 on my own, because it looks so unremarkable from the outside — sort of dingy with a you-​shall-​not-​pass feel to it. But a friend of mine insisted that it was the best, & so I gave it a shot. God, I wish I’d done it sooner.
I should preface this review by saying that I don’t know a lot about Vietnamese food & have not had much of it, so what I’m about to say shouldn’t be taken as the words of a person with a lot of comparable meals. While I haven’t eaten at very many Vietnamese places, when I have, I’ve always gotten vermicelli rice noodle bowls — so I can at least compare the same item across a few different experiences.
With that out of the way, the crux of this review & my feelings about Phở 14: I would eat their ban bo nuong every sing day, forever. No question.
It’s seriously one of the best meals I’ve ever had. The beef is grilled & seasoned to perfection — no weird pieces of fat or gristly cuts, just sweet, crispy, chewy strips of thin-​cut meat. I don’t typically love fish sauce, but theirs is light &v sweet, the perfect topping to wet the salad & bring it all together. The vegetables are fresh, crisp, colorful. It’s just such a CLEAN meal — pretty, easy to eat, balanced. Scarf-​worthy. I am actually disappointed at the end of one of these bowls, like, «Are you sure there’s not a little bit left somewhere?» Oh, & you can add a little eggroll for $ 1.25!
Despite its somewhat unappealing exterior, the interior of the restaurant is well-​lit & nicely decorated, with a casual, conversational ambiance. The servers are friendly & quick with the water refills. The prices — nearly everything is under $ 10 — can’t be beat.
Want Vietnamese food? You want Phở 14.