Pho-Licious

Found this place while driving on the 10 to Pasadena. It was 108 degrees outside and this cozy, tiny, little place with lotsa glass walls was doing everything they could to keep the temperature down.
I ordered an iced Vietnamese coffee which disappeared quickly because it wasn’t too sweet. Our waitress was attentive with iced tea refills and iced water. The thermometer said it was 93 degrees inside. You could feel the heat radiating off the glass. Thank goodness we were seated under the air conditioner.
The iced tea is served in a cute mason jar like mug with a handle. Their shrimp spring rolls are fresh & perfect. The pork baguette was typical and the Chicken salad was moist and refreshing.
Saw a lot of people running in picking up to go orders. Looking forward to the next time we return when it’s not so hot out so we can order some Phở.

My girlfriend and I came here for lunch today because we were craving phở. She kept saying she wanted to go to a different one in west covina (which is way more cheap with the same amount of quantity) but I had always past by this place going to work so I was eager to try even though it was my first time trying phở. The food was okay it was a bit to hot to enjoy but the service was terrible. When we ordered thai teas I had asked if I could get mine with boba the waitress then stated they didn’t have boba and left for our drinks. As we were waiting I over heard our waiter talking to her coworker about us and they both laughed and joked about me simply asking for boba in my goddamn drink. Next time I’m going to listen to my girl and go to the west covina one, the foods not really worth $ 40.

My boyfriend and I came here and I liked it a lot. My boyfriend got the house special and I just got the flank steak. We got an order of egg rolls and those were pretty delicious. He has ate a lot more Phở than I have… he said it was ok and that he wouldn’t mind eating it again. I would definitely go back. The place is small but it doesn’t feel cramped. The service is ok. Overall it’s a good place.

My phở was not bad. It’s decent but a dollar or two higher than most phở places, looking at 8.50 to 9 a bowl.
Likes: the broth was not oily with MSG. They seemed to just use beef broth. The sides with the bean sprouts, lemon, and mint leaves give it more flavor. They have the hoisin sauce and sriracha chilli on the table. Plenty of noodles and I almost thought not enough meat but at the end it was just right.
Service: average, they were very slow with coming out with phở for 15 minutes. Some other guy across was furious.

The best PHO and BUN in town. Every time we eat here its always delicious. The broth is flavorful, the meat is fresh and tender. Eggrolls are crunchy. The service is good and fast! I was disappointed at one time we walked in at 2:45pm and was told that they ran out of vermicelli. Over all its good. Comforting food.

First time here. I really like Phở. I got chicken Phở, and it wasn’t bad, but it was a little bit sweet. I don’t like sweet in my soups. Not bad though, I still ate the whole thing:)

A hungry wife, for phở, desirous
Noodles, broth and meat: inspire us!
Serve it in a giant bowl
To slake my hunger, quench my soul…
And thus, we visited Pholicious.
A menu full of phở and dishes
Inspir’d by Vietnamese cuisine
Or a culinary magazine.
The place is small, but seated fast
At 6:30 or a little past,
After finding a very convenient spot
To put my truck in the parking lot.
I ordered up the menu special
They brought out sprouts and basil: fresh! All
Glasses stayed quite filled with water;
The server was kind to my sons & daughter.
The food was good, but not like Valley
Phở, or soup served in an alley
Store in Westminster or Garden Grove
But very close to home. We drove
Like five minutes to get here from my house!
And nary a cockroach or a mouse
Was seen or smelled or wont to flaunt
Its presence in this restaurant.
A buck or two the price tag is
A little higher than other bus–
–inesses that sell this hearty soup.
And best not to bring a giant group…
Did I mention yet this place is small?
And their hours, posted on the wall
Suggest they close an hour or two
Before Alhambra phở joints do.
It passes muster, tastes authentic!
Neither shallow, nor pedantic.
A little nicer and prolly cleaner
Than Lil’ Saigon where their servers are meaner.
And so, four stars, I do endorse,
And know, dear reader, that phở, of course
Must be more than broth and meat and noodles rice;
But the soul’s elixir, and a heaven’s slice.
Pholicious makes a solid bowl
Of soup, whose virtues I extol
It’s not the best, yet I won’t decry it…
And humbly suggest you go and try it.

I ordered the chicken phở. It was $ 7.50 and the portion was great. The service was also great and everything was clean. Décor was cute and it has its own parking lot.

Ordered togo grilled pork and tofu spring rolls which tasted quite good, especially fried tofu. Rice paper filled w tons of lettuce, cucumber, vermicelli and your choice (pork, shrimp, tofu, chicken, etc.), paired with peanut butter sauce, perfect match! Healthy and light food!

First time having Phở. Wasn’t sure what to order or what to expect. l know! What the phở!?!
Fresh, tender meat; flavorful broth, exceptionally fresh condiments on the side. Sweet as pie server.
Had the house special phở, the BF had shrimp phở. Will definitely be back.

Great food and service. I love this place. The curry rice dishes are awesome and veggie phở is makes this place perfect for all.
Always piping hot and consistently fresh ingredients. This place is food served with care, thus my upgrade.
Small businesses with great service and food deserve special consideration. Order with confidence.

I have the rare fillet and lean brisket phở. Steaming hot broth, flavorful, a bit on the sweet side. i don’t feel thirsty afterward, i guess they don’t put much msg in it (yay). Fillet is tender. Brisket is too lean, haha, i should order tripe instead.
Since this place is nearby, I may visit again.

One of the best phở I’ve ever had. Who would’ve thought they’d use such good quality meat for phở and actually make it taste amazing and delicious. Everything on the menu is clean, fresh, and delicious. And the quality of the meat here is definitely incomparable to any other phở spots.

Not a bad place to get your phở fix… i just thought the place was a bit small and not enough meat ingredients on the phở. While i do have to say service was very prompt. Price was more on the high side for phở.

My friend took me here for dinner and this is quite a cozy and modest looking restaurant. We decided to order the spring rolls, which were decent. The flavor of the spring rolls were good, however I just know that I’ve had better elsewhere — but still, not bad to try.
As for the entrees, we opted for the same beef ball phở noodles. The beef balls were yummy and the broth was on point. The noodles had great texture and everything else tasted delicious.
Service is friendly, credit cards accepted, and there’s plenty of parking. A great phở place in the area if you’re ever craving for some noodles during a cold day.

I’m surprised this place has such good reviews. The service is horrible and the phở is overpriced and not authentic. I came here craving a bowl of phở on this rare gloomy SoCal day and left still craving a bowl of phở.
A bowl of phở here ranges from $ 8 – 9. The quality of the meat was really good, but the phở tasted off. Also, it took over 20 minutes to get our phở… That’s ridiculous. I don’t care if it’s the best phở ever (which it wasn’t) it shouldn’t take that long. Our noodles were undercooked too. We waited 20 min for our food and it comes out undercooked?! Seriously?!
Servers are really horrible. I rarely saw someone on the floor and it was super hard to get one’s attention. We had something floating in our water cup and tried to get it exchanged but it was about 10 min before we could get someone’s attention. The water tasted weird too. And there was a nasty smell outside the restaurant that followed us into the restaurant as well. Gag.
Geeeeez. Never again. I’ll take the rude but to-​the-​point servers at authentic viet restaurants over these guys. 1 star for meat quality. Everything else— sucks

Drove by a couple of times and «pholicious», sounds delicious! Craving for phở today and here I am!
Rare Steak Fillet Mignon (Tai Filet) @$ 8.50
~ Sooooo yummy!
~ Like the simplicity of the clear soup broth, not too salty unlike other places
~ Served in big bowl, big portion of noodles and generous portion of beef!
~ ⁹⁄₁₀
Spring Roll (Goi Cuon) @$ 4.50 — served 2 pieces
(Choice of grilled pork, shrimp or pork)
~ Sooooo fresh and pretty-​looking!
~ I can taste the freshness of the ingredients (vegetables, noodles and shrimps), very crunchy and perfect sauce that goes really well!
~ ⁹⁄₁₀
Though pholicious’s phở is slightly pricier than other phở places but given the quality of the food and the service, I don’t mind coming back again!

Phở-​Licious is somewhere that I pass by every so often and always wonder what it’s like inside. Upon reading these wonderful reviews, I decided to try it for myself.
The menu is quite simple and is not as varied as other places– for example, their bun only offered a few selections instead of the mixture of items I tend to like getting on it. But I was in a phở mood when I went.
The phở broth was hot and stayed that way for a long time through the meal– I liked the meatballs but noticed the phở was pricier than other places. The reason being, as others have mentioned previously, that this is a seriously large bowl of phở. Other restaurants will offer a regular and large size. This place only has one size– you go big or you go home. Hence the reason for the price. While the broth was good, it was not as bold as other places.
Egg rolls were a bit measly at 4 for $ 6. I like large substantial egg rolls and did not find them here. Where the phở could have benefited from being smaller, the egg rolls could have been larger. Oh well.
While the food was good and filling, I found myself craving for something more– something that only a dirty phở place could offer me with its sticky tables and somewhat shoddy interior with worn-​down bowls of cheap bold-​brothed phở… ah yes. I didn’t quite smell like phở when I left, which is both a good and bad thing. Considering that Golden Deli Express is just a drive down the same street, I’m not sure if I’d frequent this place.

Phở-​Licious is located on the northwest corner of E. Live Oak Avenue and S. 6^th Avenue in Arcadia. (6^th Ave becomes Hempstead Ave south of Live Oak Ave.) The small plaza does have a parking lot with about 35 parking spaces.
I’ve been here twice with some friends from work. I’ve tried the Vegetable Phở with Chicken broth ($ 7.00) and the Rare Steak Filet Mignon Phở ($ 8.50) so far.
The only thing that I’m kind of bummed about is that they only have one size bowl of phở. (At other places, there’s usually «Regular» or «Large»). The size here is too big for me and I can never finish it all myself. The prices run from $ 7.00-$ 9.50 for a bowl of phở.
Anytime you have phở, the first thing you need to do is just taste the broth by itself. That’s how you can judge if it’s any good or not. If it’s pretty bland, then that’s when you start adding more toppings, sauce, lime juice etc. in it. The broth here is actually very flavorful and doesn’t really need anything added to it. I was here yesterday during lunch and the filet mignon cuts are actually on the thicker side and super tender.
I’ve also tried the Crispy Egg Rolls (4 pcs $ 6.00) and the BBQ Pork Spring Rolls (2 pcs $ 4.50). Both of those are delicious.
Since it was raining yesterday, A LOT of people decided to dine here for lunch. They have a clip board in the front for you to sign in and there isn’t a lot of space to wait inside. Luckily for us, we were seated right away, but after a few minutes, a crowd of people started to build outside.
The service was decent, but they were very busy with walk-​in «to go» orders and phone orders, cleaning up tables etc. We waited a while before we got our bill.
Overall, really like the place and it’s actually one of the better ones in the area.
⁸⁸⁄₁₀₀ Reviews for 2015

December 30, 2014
Happy New Years Eve! So I’m writing this review at 1:04 am because I have nothing better to do, yes not sleeping, but in bed writing this review.
It’s a rainy day and I needed some place to eat with my cousin and friend. So I thought to self, «Diana, where should you take the girls?» And I came up with Phở! It’s phở weather food! Piping hot broth to cozy up our little bodies! So, there we were, Standing in this small little phở spot and waiting to be seated. It took about five minutes until we were seated. All three of us ordered the House Special with a hot beverage (2 hot waters ab da hot green tea).
We waited for a good five minutes after we got our drinks until the massive bowls of pholicious phở arrived before thy eyes! Twas beautiful, flavorful, piping hot, and filling.
There was meatballs in my bowl; never had that before. But I took it like a champion!
Overall, the food is good, piping hot broth and delicious beef tripe. I will come back here since it is closer to my usual phở place.
I leave you tonight with something sweet:
May Your Hair, Your Teeth,
Your Face-​Lift, Your Abs And
Your Stocks Not Fall;
And May Your Blood Pressure,
Your Triglycerides,
Your Cholesterol,
Your White Blood Count And
Your Mortgage Interest Not Rise.
Happy 2015, cheers!