Pho Hoa Noodle Soup

NO LONGER OPEN — BUSINESS IS GONE AS OF MAY 2012

I feel bad for other tourist that might go to the Asian Square in Atlanta and want phở while they are there. There are new joints there now that serve phở too but Phở Hoa sits at the corner and is the first thing you see. Its the biggest too, so many tourist, like myself, would walk in there expecting a good meal.
For a big restaurant, it was fairly empty. My entire family ordered phở, the signature dish there. It took awhile for the phở to get out. While we were waiting, my parents ordered hot jasmine tea to drink. While we were talking, my mom noticed a baby cockroach crawl out of the neck of the kettle. We didn’t want to create a scene so my mom called the waiter close to tell them. The waiter was very disrespectful and made it seem like it was my moms fault the cockroach was there. They then, in a condescending tone, if she wanted another kettle instead. My mom said know and asked me to run to the sandwich shop a couple doors down and buy us bottled water to drink because she didn’t trust them. By the time our food got out, we were ready to walk because of the prior incident. But we were facing a 4 hour drive home so we decided to stick it out. We should have left. The phở was all broth, little noodles, and little meat. You had to pack it with condiments to get taste. Horrible experience all together. I know they lost 5 customers for life, and it was only our first time there.

EuPHOria. A baby was asleep in the corner. I ordered the Phở with «fatty» cuts of meat and tripe. DH ordered the «beginner» with leaner cuts and meatballs. His meatball tasted great but had an odd texture. I doused my phở in oil chili and sucked down my coconut bubble tea. Hardly making a dent in my large bowl of phở for $ 6.50, my vacation was over too soon. baby was awake. Time to go. Restaurants are no place for a crying baby. Sure, she’s my baby. but still.

One of my regular phở /​Vietnamese stops. The phở ga (chicken) is tasty and the mango bubble tea is acceptable to good.
Not the best Vietnamese in town, but accessible and relatively cheap.

I have decided to stop by this place to give it a try since I was in the mood for phở. The food here is alright, but I was terribly disappointed to see how quiet and dark the place was. I believe that the owner decided to turn off the lights to keep this place cool as I was told. However, I felt that it was very comfortable to consume a hot bowl of phở when you’re sitting inside a hot restaurant on a hot spring day.
If this was the case, then i’d rather go somewhere else where I can get a decent bowl of phở and enjoy it in a conditioned climate. So come prepare to sweat your butts off when entered.

Even though I knew what I was getting myself into (I have some excellent friends who introduced me to phở), I appreciated that Phở Hoa had the menu divided up by comfort level, from neophyte to adventurer. (And sure enough, with dishes ordered from 3 of 4 columns, we could see the range – the adventurous column had more chewy, tough cuts of beef.) I ordered #6, which seemed like it struck a good balance between lean cuts and tasty fatty bits. :)
And of course, be sure to have some bubble tea.
The service here was okay, better than some others have said, though they didn’t stop by once our food arrived. (I find the need for plenty of water when eating phở.)
I stopped by the bathroom and found it disgusting; it smelled of urine. (Yeah, it kinda killed the mood for me too.) I know it’s Buford Highway and all, but this was gross.
Overall though, I found the phở itself to be quite good, which is what I came for. :)

My wife and I visited a Phở Hoa in Charlotte, NC, and actually had ourselves two fantastic bowls of Phở. It was definitely among the better either of us has had. Given that we had such a good experience at another location, we decided (when craving some Phở one evening) to head to the Phở Hoa here. It was the first (and last!) time we went to a place without first checking the Unilocal reviews.
BIG MISTAKE.
Without going into much detail, Phở Hoa in Atlanta serves up the worst bowls of Phở my wife or I have consumed. Our first indication that all would not be well was the fact that the place was almost completely empty (including my wife and I, there were two tables). With all of the other Phở places on Buford (heck, in Asian Square), we probably should have taken that as a sign and gone elsewhere. Alas, we did not …
The first thing to note is (as other Unilocalers have pointed out) their service, which is essentially non-​existent. No one was there to greet us, and it wasn’t until we were standing in the restaurant when someone acknowledged us.
Beyond that, how was their food? My main complaint about their Phở (which is what we each ordered) was that it was almost entirely tasteless. In order to get it to taste like anything, I had to pour in tons of extra sauce. This is probably driven by the fact that the fat to meat ratio of the beef in the Phở was way out of whack. Beyond that, the meat was also a bit tough (= overcooked), making it a bit more unappetizing. We also had spring rolls, which were all right, but certainly not in the same league as the best I’ve had.
Overall, an overwhelming disappointment. Phở Hoa on Buford Highway is a place to avoid, especially with all of the other Vietnamese places so close by. Do yourself a favor, and drive right on by.

Ok, accidentally listed this one under Phở Bac– sorry Phở Bac! My one star seems much more at home here.
ANGER.
After a delightful dinner at Ming’s a few doors down, I followed my traditional Buford Highway routine: find a spot for bubble tea. Since Phở Hoa was only a few steps away, it seemed like a logical choice.
NEVER AGAIN.
The minute we came in to the restaurant I felt uneasy. The «host» (put in quotation marks because no one this angry and bitter should be considered a host) shot our group some seriously dirty looks before gruffly asking what we wanted. «Just some bubble tea» we responded, looking anxiously around the completely empty restaurant. He gruffly mumbled something along the lines of «choose flavor» while shoving a menu into our hands, never asking us to sit down. The majority of the group, who smartly decided against a boba treat after this exchange waited outside.
Alain L and I trudged forward in our desire for bubble tea, and I ordered up the green milk tea from our oh-​so-​friendly host. A few minutes later it came out and was BRIGHT (as in neon) green. I was concerned, and after taking a sip I realized they had mistakenly given me green apple. Not a huge problem, I’ll just ask for what I ordered.
I felt like I was asking the dude to buy his first born son to sell into slavery. I’ve never received such a hostile look from someone in my life, and he snatched the grossly colored bubble tea out of my hand. At this point, I turned to Alain, knowing full well that my tea would be poisoned, at the least spit in.
He (or his peons in the kitchen) made my next tea quickly, but it still tasted awful. There were tinges of green apple remaining, and the balls were absolutely disgusting. This was the first bubble tea I’ve ever thrown out, in my life.
The phở might be good, but I won’t be back. Mr McNastypants needs to learn some manners, and I’m sure as hell not going to be the one to teach him.

I love Vietnamese food. I’ve been in and out of all the Viet restaurants in Chinatown in Boston, including the Phở Hoa there, and while it’s not my favorite it’s certainly adequate.
Atlanta’s Phở Hoa, however, is the worst Viet restaurant I’ve been in. This includes places that looked dirtier, had fewer seats, and had menus that were harder to read.
I think the worst part of the experience was the service. When we walked in, the restaurant was empty except for two tables. Despite this, they completely failed to welcome us to the place, and waited for us to walk halfway across the main room before they even acknowledged we were there.
After being seated, I scanned the menu looking for Vietnamese salad… nope. Only four kinds of Bun? Really? Any restaurant in Boston would have at least ten, and more than one without pork. Seafood noodle soup was there in the small section of the four soups that weren’t beef, right next to the Phở Ga, but it only came in sweet and sour style. Okay, that’s fine, I like that.
The hostess took our order and I thought she was colossally rude to my friend, who is Chinese… she didn’t even let her finish her order before cutting her off by repeating it and writing it down. She didn’t do the same to me, however, and I took longer and ordered more slowly– deliberately.
Then, to add an additional insult, they forked us. I’m sorry, I know how to use chopsticks, thank you. If they’re not already set on the table, keep your forks in the kitchen unless someone asks for one, okay?
The summer rolls were meh– the shrimp was okay but they put some poached chicken in there that tasted like canned tuna fish. When my soup came, it was regular seafood noodle, not sweet and sour. That’s okay, but not what I ordered (and not even on the menu!) The fake crabmeat was mushy, the squid extra rubbery… it was just a sad bowl of soup, really. The bubble tea was waaaay too sugary and the tapioca balls weren’t cooked right– they were much starchier than I think anyone likes.
It goes on and on… I spent almost fifteen minutes trying to catch the eye of the hostess to get the check, which she dutifully ignored. I finally had to walk up to the desk to pay. In a restaurant that’s almost empty, that’s just stupid– it’s not like she was doing anything else.
Anyway, if you find another Vietnamese place in Atlanta, try that one first. It’s gotta be better than Phở Hoa.

It’s been about a year since I’ve last been to Phở Hoa. It used to be my favorite spot for Phở in the city and then the service and cleanliness went downhill.
My favorite part about this place was its fish sauce. The rolls were very tasty and the Phở as a whole was decent.
The problem with this place is that it is filthy. I can’t remember the last time I went in there and saw a health code score of over 80. This normally isn’t a problem for me, phở places tend to get lower scores because of how the food is prepared. The last straw came when two times in a row I received tea that tasted like sanitizer fluid. My other patrons said it tasted like pee, but having drunk sanitizer fluid before I’m pretty confident that’s what it was.
I also stopped going because I would constantly have to ask for more fish sauce. Don’t make any sort of «special requests» because they won’t pay attention to it. It isn’t that they don’t understand it is that they just couldn’t care less.
Oh yeah, if you are paying credit, they require a minimum of 10 dollars for credit cards, which means if you are going alone, you pretty much have to have cash.

I think this ranks as the worst phở restaurant I’ve been to in Atlanta. When we first walked in, we were the only people there — not a good sign. I looked to the right of the entrance and all the tables had big bowls of eaten phở and dirty chopsticks/​spoons on them. It was a disgusting sight. It’s like they took all the dirty dishes from the day and piled them up on the tables to the right and don’t plan on washing them until the end of the day or something.
After we sat down, I noticed there was an awful bathroom smell. We then ordered summer rolls (which were pretty bad — the shrimp tasted very very old) and a bowl of phở. The phở was OK, the broth was salty and the noodles tasted like plastic. There was something not quite right.
My husband and I were afraid to order the water there so we opted for diet coke. I’m not sure there has ever been a restaurant we went to in this country where we were afraid to order water.
One more thing — a few more patrons walked in during our dinner but we noticed they were all white. Nothing against you white folks but it usually isn’t a good sign when an asian restaurant on buford highway is not attracting any asian people.

This is the second Phở Hoa I’ve eaten at, the other one is in Boston and is much better. The Buford Highway Phở Hoa, located in a strip mall that can run out of parking, is huge. The service is fast and the menu is sizeable, featuring all the regular favorites like phở, vermicelli, and Chinese stir fry dishes.
The cold spring rolls were meh. Loosely packed, with too much pork, not enough shrimp, and a not-​so-​fresh taste that came from wilted vegetables and/​or herbs.
The standard phở dish of beef broth, noodles, tripe, tendon and steak is not the best I’ve had, mostly due to the steak being served cooked through instead of rare like I’m used to. The tripe and tendon were good, with the tripe tasting clean and the tendon cut thick, but not too thick.
Service is quick, attentive, and friendly and the men’s room is very clean.
This was my first phở since moving to the area, I’ll keep looking until I find that pink, rare steak.

After a night at the driving range I came here for some good hearty phở. I walked in I saw the zaggat plaque and I was thinking man this is going to be great. But when i looked around there was no one there but us. Anyways I tried out the phở and it was freaking great and so fulfilling. Then I read you guys reviews and I got really angry b/​c I hate restaurants that put msg. I’ll be honest the phở here is great price is great and the service is great. If you guys don’t care about msg its worth going to. I would have given this restaurant probably 4 stars b/​c its atmoshpere wasn’t to great but everything was on the money. But since they put msg in their phở I give them 2.

As others have mentioned already, the broth at Phở Hoa is really tasty. I’m not afraid of a little MSG, so this is an entry in the plus column for me. Overall, I think this phở is pretty tasty, even if it’s not the highest quality I’ve ever had.
It does seem a little pricey compared to some other phở places, but my primary issue with this place is the level of cleanliness and the service. I’m not afraid to eat there, but it always looks a little dingy and I’d rather not touch the tables any more than I have to. The service is sometimes okay, but sometimes realllllllly slow. My husband and I actually stopped going to Phở Hoa for a while because we waited for what seemed like an eternity for service on one occasion. Eventually, we did go back because we craved their tasty broth.
Overall, it’s not the best phở place in the world, but it’s not the worst, either.

Phở is phở. All phở is created equal unless you throw a lot of MSG in it. Yummy. The soup was bleeding with MSG. Phở Hoa is one of these huge phở places that actually remind me of a high school cafeteria. I have decided to set my default phở to beef flanks and briskets. First reason is because I like my soup to be piping hot. There was one place in Fairfax (Viet country), Virginia where I got raw beef with my phở and the soup was not warm enough. The beef didn’t get cooked at all. Bad combination. The second reason is because phở is hard to judge so I wanted to be as consistent as possible to determine if there is any different from one phở place to another. This phở totally stood out because of MSG. MSG makes everything tasty.

Chuan S. and I were complete pigs this holiday weekend. We took some friends from home on a rib tour of ATL. So where do you go for dinner after taking them to Daddy D’z on Fri, Fat Matt’s on Saturday, my own spectacular bbq on Sun, and Elvis Burgers @ the Vortex on Monday? The logical answer would be something light and refreshing… so how did we decide on phở’s then? I guess I just had the mint leaves and raw bean sprouts in mind. Totally did not picture the half gallon of MSG soup, clump of noodles, and chunks of unidentified meat.
Not to mention the cup of hoisin, and hot sauce I threw into my mystery broth. Our first Phở choice was closed early because of the holiday so we just rolled up a little further on Buford.
Surprisingly, this place is pretty big. Aren’t phở places supposed to be tiny? Anyways, I felt like sticking to something light so I got the #8 (Large, phở w 3 diff meats) and a iced coffee. Phở was tasty but not more than your average place. I really liked the coffee though. Strong and black… just the way I like my women.

Phở Hoa is a big chain. I’ve been to Phở Hoa elsewhere and it seems like the quality and execution really varies from one location to the next. This particular incarnation in the Asian Square plaza is OK. I can taste liberal use of MSG, the broth is sloppy although tasty, lots of meat and even more noodles. The meat variety is satisfactory. I could wolf their phở down when hungry and not complain, but this occasion does not present itself because there are better places nearby. I suppose it’s useful as a benchmark – if you are better than Phở Hoa, yay, otherwise, yuck.

Yeah, it’s a chain and I’ve probably been to everyone in each state — well I’m totally exaggrating. Relatively inexpensive, low overhead, you get what you ask for but nothing more. Certainly not a place you take someone to impress unless you’re there to impress how fast you can get in, eat and out the door.
Does it beat McD or any o’ fast food joint? Absolutely. Would I take my homeboy Vietnamese friend here? Probably not.
Quick, relatively inexpensive and chances are, you’ll be full and satisfied, not overly but just satisfied.

I wish I could give 3.5 stars, because this place really is very good. Decently priced, and I always get the noodle soup with tofu added to it. I love Vietnamese food and all of its charm so I might just be biased, but their broth really is good and not too salty. The plate of garnishes they bring is just lovely– that beautiful pile of bean sprouts, basil, chilis, and lime. I love it all! Just add some Sriracha and it is amazing.
I am giving this place 3 stars because one time my boyfriend and I were eating there and we saw a little unwanted guest crawling around on the floor.
Anyway, this place is great to satisfy that craving for delicious soup. And afterwards, you can cool off with some bubble tea.

This is actually an International Chain that I’ve seen in the US, Canada, and in a few countries in Asia. I first learned about it in Seattle, but was really happy to find it here in ATL. Anyway, contrary to Eva T.‘s comments and more or less in agreement with Julia K., the portions are quite generous. I tend to eat a lot, but I can usually handle a large bowl of phở without pains in the GI tract. I don’t know why, but if you want extra meatballs, they’ll charge you for them, but, at least in the past, I’ve ordered bowls of phở with extra meat (i.e., the regular stuff that comes with the phở as listed in the menu) and not gotten charged for it. Be careful, a large order with extra meat is indeed a lot of food.
The quality is good, although at least among the three or so phở joints I’ve been to on Buford highway, they all seem to be pretty decent. (Phở Bac in the shopping plaza on Chamblee Tucker is another favorite.) Compared to the phở I had off the streets in Vietnam, the flavors are comparable.
Even for the less adventurous, after you get used to the «beginner» phở, I recommend branching out a little at time. My wife, having grown up in a pretty normal (white) family, hadn’t been exposed to a lot of the «weird» parts of animals like tendon and tripe, but after some time has gotten used to it and even likes it now! You, too, could someday enjoy tripe! :-P