Pho Huong Nam

Authentic Vietnamese food.
Small portions and weirds meats.
Decorated beautifully for a tropical climate, definitely the cool effect.
I think they missed the fact it’s not so hot here.
Needs some «warmth» to the décor.
Stuff the place full of plants or something.
Because it’s just a big cold echoey room.
Don’t let the décor keep you away if you are looking for fresh light Vietnamese.
And Yes! They do cater to vegetarians!

My restaurant value triangle has 3 factors: price, service, and food quality. Rarely does a restaurant score low on all 3 factors, but Phở Huong Nam is one of those rare exceptions.
Prices were on the high side for Vietnamese. The waitresses seemed like they didn’t want to be there. The food took a very long time to come out which was strange considering we were the only table there. The final straw for me was the tasteless vermicelli that I had a difficult time finishing because it was so bad. Oh yeah, and don’t park in the convenient parking lot next door because it’s not theirs.

I bought a Groupon for this place — $ 15 for $ 30 worth of food. I couldn’t get anyone to go with me before it expired, so I decided to pig out at Huong Nam. I ordered several mango smoothies, with no tapioca in them, because they were out of tapioca. They informed me they were out of clay pot dishes after I ordered a clay pot dish because it was expensive, and I had $ 30 to burn. I also ordered something else that they were out of. I did get some average spring rolls, average egg rolls, and an average rice plate with pork and shrimp (with chicken added specially to use up some of the Groupon). They had two people on, and the place was practically empty when I got there at 5:45 pm, but it did fill up a bit during the 45 min I was there.
The food here is cheap and reasonably good, but Phuong Nam and Saigon in downtown Oakland provide bigger portions for about the same money, the service is better, and they’re not chronically «out of» things. I wouldn’t eat here again.

Ordered take-​out from the vegetarian menu. Got home and realized the broth was chicken. Called to confirm, and they openly admitted to serving chicken broth with vegetarian dishes. The person on the phone basically said it was the first she heard of it.
We did get a meat dish, and the broth was too salty.
I’m clearly disappointed in the misleading menu and lack of awareness.

Bought a groupon a few months back and it’s expiring soon so I had to use it fast. Came here for dinner w/​the BF and ordered 2 appetizers (spring rolls/​fried egg rolls), bun rieu (shrimp&crab noodle soup) and the seafood noodle soup.
Fried Egg Rolls: the stuffing wasn’t good & the sauce was kind of sour (most places, the sauce is sweet)
Spring Rolls: Overall, the taste wasn’t too bad; however, it was still dripping water when I picked it off the plate.
Bun Rieu: Does not taste authentic at all. There was a lot of cooked tomatoes in the soup so that’s all I tasted. The fish cake and crab balls (?) tasted old and funny. Serving size was sooo small!
SeaFood Noodle: My BF had this bowl and he kept saying to me how salty the soup was. I didn’t really pay much attention until I was done eating, then I tasted his soup. He didn’t add any fish sauce/​soy sauce to this soup at all. The soup was sooooo SALTY! I was shocked! I asked him «HOW THE HELL DID YOU EAT THAT?» I eat a lot of salt and always need to add fish sauce or soy sauce in my soups, but damn, that was extremely salty! He ate only the noodles and didn’t drink any soup. Not only was the soup salty, his portion was even smaller than my bowl! It was like a kid’s bowl! Way less that a small bowl at any other Phở shops.
This was a very bad experience for us. Maybe they served smaller sizes because of our groupon? But then again, it wouldn’t matter because the food was awful. That was our first AND last time. 1^st time expressions means a lot to us and we definitely will NOT be going back.
I really tried to like the place since we LOVE their other restaurant VH but it was really bad. =/

Got the Chicken Phở and it was WAY TOO SALTY! I was a bit disappointed as the broth seemed to have potential. I had to ask to add more water to dilute it. Their beef phos seem like they might be better. Their portions are a bit small however. I like the décor inside. Would try this place again but definitely avoid the chicken phở. Also CASH only which is a bit inconvenient.

I came for lunch and the front desk was super friendly.
Take some time to get the food but then I understand they do every thing fresh .
the Sandvich was great, the bread was crunchy, the beef was very tastefully
I want to try their soup and other items on the Manu

Nice little place. The first time I came here, they didn’t let me use my GroupOn, because it wasn’t dinner yet, but because it was only couple hours early, they should’ve let me go anyway with the GroupOn,. That’s the bad part.
They have an ATM machine conveniently for those who needs it. Service was better the second time I went. Again, I had a a GroupOn, but this time it was actually dinner time. The place is broken into different areas & they have garden décor that looks nice too. They have boba in variety of flavors which is a plus. (Some phở restaurants don’t sell boba, but if they do, they only have maybe 1 or 2 flavors, but this place has more than 2 flavors.)
I’d say I would reconmend this place to dine in, since it is a nice decorated/​classy restaurant. (Some phở restaurants are not as classy.)

I usually come to this area at least once a week. One time, It was a raining and cold so my mom and I decided to grab Phở at this place. First of all, I am Asian. I always cook a lots of Asian foods and Phở is one of my favorite dishes that I cook often.
My mom ordered seafood noodle soup and I had chicken noodle soup. When the server brought our foods, and as soon as I saw the broth I knew exactly the taste would be like. We both really disappointed about our orders. The broth was not much favors and the noodles were mushy. The service was a bit slow when we were there.
However, I will give it a try again if any improvement.

I.5 stars at most. Should have NOT ignored the BAD reviews. Wasted about $ 66 for lunch for group of 4
Will NOT return EVER!

2.5 for lunch recently. Service brought it waaaaaay the heck down. Parking on busy busy SP ave, near the intersection of Solano, right next to 24 hour Happy Donuts… not fun. Best wishes.
Remnants that it was an erstwhile Jp joint evident, and usage of the space results in some awkward table placements!
Food took way, waaaay too long for the scant patronage recently during late lunch hour.
Goi cuon was ok. Not rolled tightly enough, but generous ingredients, fresh rice paper, supple. Mmmm.
His com tom thit nuong with shrimp and grilled pork and my phở dac biet were EHHH. again, took too long for them to come out. What the heck, is all that kept going through my mind. Not bad, not great. My phở broth was a funky dishwater color that put e off, and all of my cow components were overcooked!!! Boo for that.
Café sua da were very strong and excellent.
Prices on the high side of Vietnamese fare.

We were a bit reluctant to try Phở Huong Nam after reading the tepid Unilocal reviews but N, our sweet Vietnamese friend wanted to try it out.
So the Rinky’s and N and her two sons had lunch here.
I went to the Japanese restaurant that was here before and I vaguely remember
it as being maze like. Whatever my memory was, the current ambiance is very clean,
comfy and welcoming.
They have a separate VEGETARIAN MENU – please ask for it.
The Rinkys ordered a plate of veggie fresh rolls — very nice. They had slices
of shitake mushrooms in addition to the carrot, daikon radish, romaine. Served with
a peanut sauce.
Mr Rinky ordered the vegetable rice plate. It came with carrots, tofu strips,
mushrooms, daikon strips. noodles over rice. Served with romaine, tomatoes
and cucumbers. He liked it.
I ordered the Vegetarian Crêpe which I think is eggless – made with tapioca?
It was filled with bean sprouts, tofu strips, carrot strips, daikon strips and served with romaine leaves to wrap the crêpe in along with tomato and cucumber slices.
It came with fish sauce so I asked for peanut sauce instead. The crêpe was crispy
and very delectable. I love Vietnamese crepes – only a handful of Vietnamese
restaurants offer them.
son of Rinkys ordered the Chicken Bahn Mi. He said it okay.
NT and her sons ordered phở.
Beef with meatballs… NT said it needed some red chiles
Seafood Noodles
Shrimp and crab noodles
Their verdict — Phở was okay, nothing special.
I ended up giving them 4 stars for their veggie dishes, which we loved.
The service was great. I know they are just starting out so I hope they will
up their food quality with the meat dishes.
We’ll try them again .I wish them luck – there are so many choices in
the Solano/​San Pablo Avenes area — hope they up their game.

Food lacks depth of flavor. Soup broth is very plain, egg rolls have a very off-​taste (tastes like old fish). Prices look good, but when the food arrives, it’s less meat than other places. You may purchase additional meat skewers, but then the price jumps to around $ 10. Other places are better tasting and value:

A few days before deciding to try Phở Huong Nam, my friend and I had hyped ourselves up, majorly! Primarily due to the fact that the same owners owned VH Noodle House! And we love that place! And because of that, our expectations were high.
So with good vibes and a good mind set, my boyfriend and I decided we were going to give this place a shot!
Upon entering, we noticed how new everything looked. That was a major plus, most Vietnamese restaurants are usually old and the interior is usually very out of date, but the major factor is that they are usually not too clean in appearance.
We were seated right away! Which was another plus! And we were given enough time to place our order. (5min wait time, while we were trying to decide what to get)
We ended up ordering a rice plate with a grilled pork, shredded pork skin over rice with a fried egg on top, any my boyfriend ordered bun suon nuong, which is basically bbq pork over rice noodles with some finely sliced up veggies.
Lastly, we decided to give their imperial rolls a try.
And now the wait begins…
We were told that we were to expect out beverages in a few minutes. That was not the case. 10mins later we had to remind them to bring our tea and ice waters. When we did so, they only brought the ice water. Fine, I can deal with that. It was a hot day anyways.
10mins later, our food was still no there. My previous experiences at other Vietnamese restaurants is that the food will come out roughly 5−10mins after the order. This place was already 10mins behind.
Finally after 21mins or so of waiting we got our spring rolls!!! I was so hungry by that point, I was just happy to see food.
The quality of the roll was just OK. Nothing speical about it, no explosion of yummy, the crispy-​ness of the roll was not crispy enough, it was more soft then crunchy :(
They skimped us on our fish sauce… so I couldn’t go to town with drowning my roll in hopeless abandon to at least get some flavor. T-​T
After we finished our so sad appetizer, we waited another 10mins and our food was finally here!!!
Needless to say, we were disappointing. The portions were very small. Most places are usually very generious with portion size. There was barely any shredded pork =[ which is another minus on top of a bunch of other sad faces.
The food in general needs a bit more flavor.
After we finished, we get up to pay our bill. (totally normal since this is how Asians roll. They kind of never bring you your bill unless you directly ask, or if you want to wait a super long time)
I was looking at our total, and it seemed a lot higher than what it was supposed to be. Turns out, we were over charged for our imperial rolls!!! WTF!!! $ 7.00 for 6 tiny rolls? Gotta be kidding me right?
So i kindly pointed it out to the woman that was ringing us up, she corrected the amount, but still ended up charging up $ 0.50 more that what was listed as the dollar amount on the menu… x. x This was killing.
I really wanted to like this place because the owners are so nice.
This was my first visit, and I really want to give them another shot, primarily because I’ve seen their quality service and how good they can make their food at VH Noodle House. But I need to read some better reviews about this place before I decide to go back…
I was not pleased with how long it took to make and send out the food and how non-​attentive they were to their other customers who were also waiting for their beverages to be served.
Their staff needs to get it together.

They were ironing out the kinks service-​wise on our visit during their first week. For example the waitress forgot to bring a soup spoon with the phở.
But my husband liked the phở and I liked the ambiance in general. Maybe we’ll be back.

Phở Huong Nam doesn’t have the typical cookie cutter classroom seating that vietnamese eateries have. seating is dispersed into several small areas.
music: soft rock
eats: phở tai gan (6.75)
–sweet, beefy tasting broth, onion, msg, and 5 spice influenced
–noodles limp, soggy, not al dente
–tai and gan (tendon) kind of chewy, tai very large pieces
–portion average
leftovers:
–msg during and after ingestion of broth.
–amigos/​amiga working here.
–not sure if parking lot was eaterie’s, so didn’t park there.

Dear Phở Houng Nam,
Just because you have the money to open a restaurant doesn’t mean you should.
Your food is bad and you should feel bad.

Still working out the kinks. There were only three of us and they missed one of our orders. My phở came first, then the appetizer, then the other entrée. At least they asked if we had ordered something else (sensing that we didn’t have enough).
Fresh spring rolls were pretty standard; nothing wrong with that.
I got the Phở Tai Bo Vien. Again, standard. My only complaint is there wasn’t enough meat: I was left with at least five spoonfuls of noodles. I don’t need tons of meat, but I like it to be balanced with the amount of noodle. There should be a little meat with every spoonful.
My fiancée ordered the «tomato and crab noodle soup» (bun rieu). We were warned there was pork, but weren’t told there was also shrimp and no crab. We asked about the crab and they said it was in the soup, not that we could tell.
I’m giving them the benefit of doubt with three stars, since they are brand new. I hope they iron out the kinks soon.

We have been watching the transformation of this restaurant and very excited for Phở close to home.
Super bummed.
We were really really hungry but could not even finish our food.
Broth was too salty.
Eggrolls were flavorless.
Service was as if it had been opened for 20 years and they don’t care anymore rather then the three days its been open.
Unfortunately we will not be back.

Finally open! Ordered P9 and a vegetarian spring roll (the only vegetarian option available), total was about $ 13. Cash only.
Phở was pretty decent, although the broth was not as flavorful as Phở Saigon in the R99 plaza. Decent portion, tennis ball size wad of rice noodles; a little skimpy on the beef, basil, and sprouts. Vegetarian spring rolls were 4 halves (2 full rolls), very fresh, very plentiful tofu and fresh peanut sauce. Dinner came with two hot mugs of tea.
Service was nice, prompt, cut-​and-​dry. I do wish there were more vegetarian options; the majority of the offerings have meat, with a simple and non-​fancy 2 page menu of appetizers, beef noodle soups, a few chicken soups, and rice plates.