Pho Cafe

The food is absolutely fantastic. I’ve never been a fan of Thai Food, but this is now my new favorite place on campus to eat. Get the PAD THAI. You will not go wrong, i promise that

This place has the best phở on campus! The employees there are always so genuine and kind. I am never disappointed after eating here every time. Their Pad Thai portions are also very big and taste great too. I would definitely choose to come here for Vietnamese/​Thai food when down on green street.

The food here is very high-​quality, fresh vegetables, crisply served and perfect flavoring. The owner is a pleasant fellow who interacts with all the customers. The food is served on clean china plates and the restaurant is much cleaner and well decorated than most of the campus Asian restaurants.
You’ll find it on the south side of Green street between Wright and Sixth.
I often get the yellow chicken curry but they sell red curry and green curry with your choice of chicken, beef, pork, shrimp or tofu.
Degree of «hotness» ranges from #1 to #5 and seems to be an accurate wide range from very mild to as hot as any reasonable person would like. Ask and you shall receive.
Their phở is delicious. Their homemade Ho Fun noodles (wide, chewy and made from rice) are served with the Pad Ke Mao and the Pad Siew. Great flavors.
They cook with eggplant, basil, green beans, carrot, bamboo shoots, onion, potato, depending on the menu item. Ask questions to make sure you get what you want.

Best phở I’ve ever had in my life. Also they give you extra noodles for a dollar which is a deal.

I have came here twice now. Once, when it just opened and now again. The first dish i had was the duck rice. It was overpriced and lacking. I was expecting a grilled duck, but they fried it dry.
This time, I was recommended to try their yellow curry and they did not fail to disappoint me. Run-​down watery curry with meat that taste like dog-​food. The taste was bland. Lack the uses of spice and herb. What a disaster.
I am from Thailand and I am very embarrassed for them to call this Thai curry.

Tried every single noodle pad style and it was amazing!
Great Food. going there once a day!
Flavored perfect! and served quickly!
Definitely going back there!

I would give no star if I could. I should listen to my friend. Will never come here again!

This place is awesome. Very good food. Wonderful service. Great experience! Would highly recommend.

One of the good places to eat with friends and relax. The owners are very nice and polite. Highly recommended to try it and it fills you up!

Wow! This place nailed it!
It’s kind of a hole in the wall place… We actually walked right by the first time.
We had the Phở, the Pad Thai and Red Curry.
All were amazing! Best we have all had in town so far. The owner even brought out our food and the daughter took our order. I asked for fresh cilantro and the owner brought it out!!! Great service and amazing food. We will be back and recommend it to our friends. What a hidden jewel.

This is a fantastic place for cheap, fast, and delicious food. It is not fancy — it is your basic noodle shop, but with a wonderfully nice family running it, a clean, bright environment, and a decent menu.
We had the fresh shrimp spring rolls, chicken pad thai (requested spicy), and duck yellow noodle soup. All were good, but the pad thai was one of the best we’ve ever had. At the owner’s suggestion, a squirt of lime juice brought it to life (it was already good, though), and the serving was enough for two meals. The spring rolls were very good, and a good fresh start to the meal. The duck yellow noodle soup had very generous portions of duck in it, and while it started off a bit bland, the addition of a bit of Hoisin and jalepenos (that’s what those accoutrements are for!) it was lovely. I demolished it (and I usually can’t finish a bowl of phở).
For two, with one meal easily making two meals, we spent $ 24. Very reasonable in my opinion.
The only minor quibble I have is that there is no basil or mint with the phở or in the spring rolls. I would imagine that’s either chef’s choice or a cost thing. I loved everything we got and this will be a regular stop, however, so it must not be that big of a deal to me.

It may not look like it from the outside, with its overly-​lit and plain inside. But it’s the best far-​east food on campus! The time it takes them to prepare the food is slower but it’s well worth the wait. You can taste the difference in quality here. I won’t forget to mention the kindness of the workers here and it’s cheap too! I encourage everyone to try this place out!

I ordered tom yum goong which disappointed me so much! the broth is watery and flavorless, shrimp and veggie are too little compare with the price you pay for. Rice were dry and not warm as if it’s leftover. What a waste of $ 10! Also on the menu I don’t see carrot and green pepper as ingredients (I hate them) but there were… yukkk…never again.
In short: $ 10 for the quality of canned soup at grocery store!

Super super super nice owner, place is really clean and the best part FOOD IS AMAZING!!! Their fried rice is my favorite, not oily or salty at all, and their pad Kee Mao is great too!!!

I ordered the hainan chicken from here and it was essentially four little strips of boiled chicken breast that came with a garlic sauce. The sauce was pretty good but the portion of chicken was just so small. The noodle dishes look alright but don’t order the hainan chicken!

I ended up getting the green curry. I thought the portions were slightly small which was slightly disappointing factoring the cost of the food. Focusing on the food, I didn’t think my dish tasted that great. The juices from the curry definitely did not go well with the rest of the dish. Overall, it’s another subpar restaurant in Champaign.

I walked in shortly after 11am and the restaurant already had a steady stream of people trickling in. I ordered the beef phở and egg rolls. Total came to just over $ 12. After about five minutes, my soup was ready for me! It came with the traditional garnishes of bean sprouts, lime and jalapeño (but the mint/​thai basil was missing… but i don’t use that anyway). At first taste, the broth was solid. The noodles were clumped up into a ball and despite other reviews, their wasn’t a lot of meat in it. A few meatball halves and the flank steak. After a few squirts of hoisin and sriracha, i decided that this was just an ok Phở. Nothing spectacular… The broth didn’t seem like it simmered overnight… there was something a little «instant» to it. The egg rollls were crispy but really lacking any seasoning. I don’t think I would order them again. The phở was just ok… I’d rank it probably second best in the land. I would prefer to walk down the street and eat At Phở 911 anyday. The place was busy and it seemed everyone was either ordering the phở or a thai curry. Welcome to town, Phở Café!

Restaurant review
This restaurant just recently opened up at the end of December when the students were away and it was featured this week in the local newspaper. I was excited about trying a new «authentic» thai restaurant. My prior experience at the other phở restaurant was rather disappointing on green street. When you enter you line up to order at the counter, afterwards you are given a number and wait for them to call you for your meal. I wanted to try the roasted duck with rice or the hainan chicken, but I went with a safe order with the chicken pad thai because they recommended it as one of the signature dishes. It didn’t take long for the dish to come out, about 5 – 7 minutes after I placed my order. The chicken pad thai was a bit lacking in texture and flavors. For a good thai dish, you get the nice crunch of peanuts along with the sweetness and soft texture of noodles. There was a few specks of peanuts and nothing more. The flavors also was very one note, not very sweet like at other places, but also not very exciting. Portion size for the price paid was good. My wife had the tom yom seafood dish. No exotic seafood just some shrimp and mushrooms with lemon grass etc. It seemed to lack the sourness which is often a highlight of the dish. It really is a 2 – 3 star restaurant. I was hoping for better, maybe it will improve the next time.
Pros: inexpensive thai food, friendly service, good portion size
Cons: flavors and texture are off, maybe they are new but it just doesn’t have that specialness which would make you crave this place for thai food
Hidden deals:
None

The interior is nice, spacious, and clean although terribly plain. Don’t come for the ambience. Orders are taken at the counter. I ordered the beef panang curry. It was about $ 9. The portion sizes were a tragedy. Most of the dish was rice. You can ask for more rice if you wish, which is nice. Essentially, you’re ordering rice with a side of curry. The curry smelled lovely. It was very fragrant and it tasted good, but it was thin and unremarkable. The beef was also very thin.
I also tried the pad ped with tofu and it was extremely disappointing. Again, the dish had rice as it’s star and some marinated veggies on the side that I assume was the pad ped. The flavors were not very strong and I couldn’t taste the curry at all. It’s hard to believe that this cost $ 9.

I came in on a whim on the way to Panera. The words ‘PHO’ emblazoned on their window caught my eye and I could have sworn there was a pizza place here last time I remembered seeing it. But my hankering for phở overcame my craving for bagels and without any record to be found via Unilocal or Foursquare I went in.
The interior is simple and a little spartan, but it’s fine for a little university eatery. Some decorations wouldn’t hurt though.
I knew what I wanted coming in. A bowl of beef phở. The decision was a simple one, the only have one option for the different types of meat phở and one size. I wasn’t disappointed by the lack of options though. The portion was generous and came out piping hot.
The broth was solid, with a nice round taste and slightly sweet ping. I added some sriracha due to my love for some kick. No hoisin needed for me!
The noodles were good. Hard to get those wrong.
Now we get to the meat. Generous amount of meat slices, brisket, and meatball halves. The slices themselves were a little well done, but the taste was still good.
All in all, I’d have a hard to choosing between Bangkok Thai and here for a good bowl of phở. Guess I’ll have to take turns!