Pho To Chau

Came here while waiting for my car window to get fixed a couple weeks ago. Ordered a Banh Mi sandwich and it was great! I also ordered fresh rolls and they were huge and good. It was a hot day so I got iced jasmine tea and that was good too. I tried my girlfriend’s beef noodle soup and it was o.k. but could have used a bit more flavor.
The best thing about this place is the price. Really cheap even for most Vietnamese places. Not the best I’ve had, but pretty good. I’d come back if I was in the area.

I came to eat there since I read good reviews and a sign on the window said «The tenants we’re evicted by the sheriff»… what the???

I don’t understand all the negative reviews. I’ve had good luck there. I usually get the grilled pork and Vietnamese rice plate combo. Its always tasty and cheap. The couple who own it seem very conscientious. I like that they are open at 10:00 for lunch because I eat early. I do wish the Vietnamese sandwiches were not for to go only. I would not rate it as high as Phở 99 but that is another review. This place is very convenient for when shopping at Ranch 99.

To clarify, this is actually a 2.5 rating. I’ve definitely experienced better, but this isn’t as worse as it gets, either. Of the times that we’ve either been here to eat, or walked by the restaurant, it has never been full – not usually a good sign, when it comes to eateries.
Hub and I decided to give the place another go, before doing our asian grocery run at 99 Ranch next door. As expected, it was almost empty. The dining room itself was chilly (not very inviting), and most of the patrons (all 6 of us) kept their coats on while eating (something we almost never do, given that phở soup is supposed to warm you up!).
I ordered a chicken and spring roll vermicelli bowl, and husband ordered a large phở. Both items were mediocre – my fish sauce concoction was not as strong as I wanted it to be, and there seemed to be a surplus of iceburg lettuce in my bowl, rendering my meal to be more bland than what other vietnamese restaurants put out. Although i liked the texture of deep fried shallots they added, it wasn’t enough to elevate my tastebuds to actually loooove the elements of my meal (and I usually inhale viet food).
Husband stated that the phở, although edible, actually had a sweeter soup than usual, and didn’t have as much tendon or tripe as he was used to.
Bottom line is that this place is consistent and clean, yes, but given that there are a million and a half vietnamese restaurants in Seattle (give or take), this definitely isn’t our first choice.

I have eaten at tons of phở places along 99 but have avoided this one due to the many mediocre reviews for Phở To Chau but I was surprised to find that this is really a very decent phở restaurant. Perhaps those lower ratings are from over a year or two ago. At fist glance, I had serious doubts since the restaurant was completely empty (Monday 7pm). They are stuck on the quiet end/​corner of the 99 Ranch market lot. However, I didn’t feel like going to my usual phở places that I frequent; or Thanh Bros (to compete with crowd & since I only had about $ 10 in cash & didn’t want to give it up there).
The interior is really spacious, bright and clean. The service is good — friendly staff. The lady who took my order was really courteous and she spoke really good English (not that it matters much).
Their menu is huge — lots of options. Plus it is a nice menu — easy to read and comes in English, Chinese, and Vietnamese descriptions.
I got the large Phở Dac Biet with all the works + meatball. The broth is average (may be a tad sweeter compared to others) but not bad at all; great portion, lots of meat (I was pleased to be able to FIND some tripe and there was even more than one piece of tendon!). At the risk of revealing that I am a pig — I usually get an appetizer and the large size phở (the so called «Lg» at Phở Binh @ Lake City for example wouldn’t fully satisfy me). I had lots of meat leftover toward the end and I was stuffed! I’d only had a small lunch today so was indeed hungry to start with!
I didn’t care for the spring roll much though — rice paper kind of dull, way too much beansprouts and I didn’t care for the sauce (not the real peanut sauce that I prefer).
Towards the end of my meal, another customer did come in for takeout (he was offered tea/​water while he waited — awesome) and another family of five did come in too so I was over the ‘emptiness.’ Haha.
All in all — not bad at all! And of course, the main motivation for walking in was that they take credit cards (orders of $ 10 and above)! Will be back to try more stuff on their menu (very pleased to see that they serve Bun Bo Hue — looks like they got all the traditional ingredients in their soup for this). :)

A lot of options, which is good because my wife can get phở and I can get something else when not in the mood. Is a clean place, which can’t be said for a lot of Vietnamese places I’ve been to. The service is always quick and easy and they do to go without a problem.

Maybe it was because it was 3pm in the afternoon but the restaurant was completely empty except for me. There was no one in the front so I had to ring the bell. No phở restaurant I know how of should ever be completely empty. Especially one that is so fortunate to be next to 99 Ranch. This was a bad sign.
I ordered the phở dac biet as I always do. I think it says a lot about a phở shop. The herbs looked fresh and clean enough — good sign. The soup came out quickly. But I can tell by looking at it that my phở special wasn’t looking so special. Mediocre meat slices, broth lacking clarity and rich aroma and of course the taste was just so-​so. For the price and the driving distance, I can get better so I won’t come back.

Not understanding all the bad reviews. They have consistently good food, service is good and place is clean and tidy.

I went there in 2008. I still can’t forget how bad this place is! Since feeling very hungry, we felt like eating anything edible. We walked in Phở To Chau and ordered a bowl of phở and rice plate. We got some stale rice noodle, brown bean sprout, cold rice and skewer. Everything tastes so bad! They didn’t even microwave the food thoroughly! I am glad that I didn’t get sick after eating their food.
Like other people say, there is almost nobody in the restaurant. The best thing in the restaurant is their complimentary cream puff. The bill is not cheap by the way.
This is actually how I begin to use
in order to avoid some really bad and not so edible food.

After a day down in Puyallup for the Fair, my buddy decided to drive all the way up here just to get some Vietnamese food. I’ve been to their other location down in Kent and that one is much more packed compared to this one. Came here for dinner and we were pretty much the only people there… sad. Got their bun bo hue and it just tasted like any other bun bo hue. Nothing special… not the best. It was pretty spicy though… that was an upside to it. The egg rolls tasted like any other egg rolls. It’s a good place to go to if you want some bubble tea afterwards because Pochis is located right next door.

I don’t understand why Vietnamese food is so expensive north of Seattle. It’s quite frustrating actually… with that said, this review is only for their banh mi (Viet sandwiches).
My roommates and I were getting boba tea at Pochi’s next door and we were hungry already. She also mentioned Vietnamese sandwiches earlier on the ride there and I was like «hmmm I wonder if this Viet restaurant has banh mi?» so she went to check it out and yes! They had way more than just phở, which was surprising to me.
But after looking at the prices, I was like oh my, $ 4 dollars for a sandwich? The dishes are definitely about $ 1 – 2 above the normal price but then again, nothing beats Chinatown prices.
I was hungry so whatever, we ordered the house special and that was pretty tasty. I asked for no jalapenos and more pâté, which she gave. But, it took about ten minutes for our sandwiches.
Not to be a priss or anything but I thought sandwiches were supposed to be quick? The wait wasn’t a big deal or anything and the lady was really nice but it seemed like she was the only person serving at the time…
I probably won’t go back but it was nice place to get sandwiches at the time!

Growing up in SoCal and spending most weekends in Little Saigon/​Westminster/​Santa Ana area has set my Viet food bar very high. That being said, I have a very low standard for Seattle viet food standards.
The boyfriend and I came here the other day while our car was getting new tires at Costco. I walked in and felt like I was transported back to Westminster… down to the décor, lights, and Viet music in the background. I got the feeling that this place wasn’t even trying to cater towards «non-​Viet» people but was just doing it’s thing.
The boyfriend wasn’t feeling well, so he had phở ga (chicken phở). He said he liked it, but then his nose was stuffed up and his taste buds weren’t all there, so take it with a grain of salt. I didn’t share with him this time because I didn’t want to get sick, so I can’t comment on whether it was tasty or not. I ordered bun bo hue (spicy beef noodle… my favorite). It wasn’t great, but it certainly wasn’t bad either. The broth could have used a bit more flavor, but it was really close to being there. Here’s the thing though, they definitely served it Viet style rather than the «Americanized» versions I’ve seen at other restaurants in the area. How was it Viet style? It came with a huge piece of oxtail, pork knuckle AND congealed pig’s blood. Yeah, that’s right, you read it correctly… pig’s blood.
I give them mad props for keeping it real… just wish they could get the flavors exact… but like I said, it’s not too bad.

How does one screw up Phở?

I love this place. Clean, bright, and tidy. Tucked around the corner in a strip mall, so, alas (for them), it’s never very busy. Service is awesome. The phở is perfectly made every time. Nice clean flavors.
They take credit cards, which makes a big difference for me. It’s not as swamped as Thanh Brothers, either, and Thanh Brothers only takes cash. After years of allegiance to Thanh Brothers, I have switched to Phở To Chau.

I was recommended to come here by a friend, he swore this place was the best ever. So as we drove by to park in the lot,. the restaurant was empty. I told the hubby that I thought this place was closed. We walked in, and I was a bit put off by no visible person to greet us or what not. Then finally the lady walked out and gave us two menus. After contemplating what looked to be a promising menu, I went with their Special Rice Dish. At 9 something for the dish I thought it would beso good and filling, like in CA. I ordered the items in Vietnamese, the lady looked annoyed and repeated my order in English. Okkkay… I guess she doesn’t want to speak to me in our native tongue. We also ordered the spring rolls. We also got a teapot of tea that was enough for one person. Then out came our orders I specifically ordered two #57’s with an order of spring rolls, and a additional 57 to go for my bro which he did not like and I ended up feeling bad about the bad dinner purchase. Out came one #57, and our spring rolls. She messed up our order. The rolls were very lackluster and didn’t look appetizing or appealing. They could of at least cut in half or make it looked like they cared. The taste was meh, no flavor, even the peanut sauce was flavorless. The rice dish… I have seen a lot better, heck I make a better rice dish. The shrimp paste on sugar cane, sucked, heck I don’t even know if was shrimp, it tasted like a sponge. The pork on the skewer was so bland, as with the pork patty on a skewer. See the theme here? BLAND! I really don’t know how the fish sauce could be bland, but damn it was sure bland. Service was lackluster with dirty dishes from previous customers strung about probably sitting there all day. I got checked up on once, if you call it checking on me. I was practically done by that time. The highlight of the meal was my tea and cream puff at the end of the meal. $ 24 bucks for two rice dishes and spring rolls is a bit much for a place like this. I can guarantee you, I will NOT be back here! Oh and you have to spend more than $ 5 dollars to use your credit/​debit card, no problem, everything here is overpriced anyways. I took a real note when no one walked in while we were dining and it was suppose to be the dinner rush.

This review pretty much sums up what everyone else has said. The broth doesn’t have much flavor, they don’t give you a lot of meat, and it’s a little pricier than Than Brothers. Hmm… I guess that’s the reason why it’s always so empty every time I pass by this place. The service was ok, which I think was the only good thing. I don’t think I’ll be coming here again unless someone drags me here out of my own will.

I don’t know… I was on the fence between a 2 and a 3 here. I don’t think this is the worst phở I’ve had in the area, but that might just be because I had worse in Woodinville! I’ve been here a few times, just because it’s really close to where I live and I shop at 99 Ranch a lot. I figured I’d give it a couple chances. I don’t think it’s lived up to my expectations of good food. I’m not even asking for «great» food, but it’s just really mediocre. It’d be different if the Phở Than Brothers wasn’t right across the street and didn’t provide good phở right there, but it is, so what can you do? The phở really does seem to need some «doctoring» to get it to have much flavor and there isn’t much in the soup besides that lackluster broth. I like 99 Ranch, I like T & T, and for phở, I can manage to run across 99 to get to Phở Than Brothers before having to eat here.

Decent, clean, generic phở joint in Edmonds. Service is kinda bad but is it every really good. We used to go here before we found Phở Sai Gon but its too far to drive for just decent phở. They put a lot of greens in their soup.

Pros: Dunno this time.
Cons: Food is bad. Very hollow and empty feeling inside.
I strongly disagree with Amy W’s review. This place sucks! I’ve been here twice in the past 3 years, and the first time it was garbage. So what was I thinking? Well, they’ve been in business 3 years, so they must have changed for the better… nope! Food still sucks. No wonder everytime I pass by no one is there… hmm… I know the restaurant business is tough and since we are in Seattle, not Oklahoma, you’d better improve your quality as there is lots of competition.
1 star for the food, 3 stars for the service, 2 stars overall.
Edit:
Amy,
Do we have the same place? It is quite possible that the cook you ate from left!

Meh. My friend Chloe and myself have been to almost every phở establishment from lynnwood to broadway and this joint didn’t satisfy.
First off, we ordered drinks (Chloe had the lychee, I ordered a bubble tea) but didn’t see them till the very END of our meal. And let me tell you what torture that was after dousing my phở with Chiracha sauce!
Our soups were pretty barren, and the service hauntingly distant. The side of broccoli I requested was forgotten until I finally found someone to remind. It wasn’t busy at all in there, so these little brainfarts of theirs just got on my nerves. I guess I should lighten up… it’s PHO, for godssakes! But it just makes me grouchy when someone screws up a good thing.
*joy
p. s. the BEST phở is at Phở 900 on Broadway. They’re just so outgoing there, and reeeally generous with hooking up your soup!