Pho Bac

I have been a customer of Phở Bac for years. Whenever I am in Elmhurst and craving Vietnamese food, I come here. Like many other people, the main reason I go to Phở Bac versus Phở Bang (which is located a few steps away) is simply because it is far less crowded therefore there is never a wait and you never have to share a table. Phở Bac just feels cleaner in comparison as well, you don’t leave here stinking like food, and most importantly the food is just as awesome.
The phở here is a solid choice. The broth is dark, rich, and tasty. Plus, they do not skimp on the beef nor noodles. The grilled chicken on rice vermicelli is another winner. The chicken is perfectly marinated and packed with bold flavors. The amount of vermicelli served was monstrous and enough to feed a 12 feet tall giant — I had enough leftovers for the next day! The crispy spring rolls were damn good as well — seriously, one of the best I’ve had! Yummy.
Service is okay. It ain’t no white glove service, that’s for sure. It is straight to business: get seated, order, eat, get out. Like most ghetto Asian restaurants, they don’t believe that appetizers come out first… everything basically just comes out whenever they are ready so my husband was practically done with his phở before I even got my rice vermicelli. The waiter did bring us extra bowls without us asking because he must’ve seen me slurping spoonfuls of my husband’s phở broth, which was rather observant and thoughtful…
Anyway, I’d absolutely continue to return.

A restaurant i’ve been going to since a child, ordered the 26 vermicelli and the Vietnamese spring roll. Today is really hot, so the restaurant wasn’t that busy. The soup tasted a little more watery than the previous times I’ve had it. The beef flanks were more tender than it was previously so it makes up for it. Hope this restaurant makes even better profit!

Big, angry food from a cook who possibly may hate you.
Upon entry into this hole in the wall in a strip mall, the first impression is that cleanliness may not be it’s forte. I never expect much from low end joints so I tried not to judge until I saw barbaric portions start to come out of the kitchen. A good bargain is always welcomed in my dining experiences but there is something hostile and frightening about the way the food was plated and presented at Phở Bac.
My friend ordered the beef cube on rice and I had the canh chua ca, spicy sour fish soup (catfish was indicated on the menu but the fish had been frozen so long that it was difficult to distinguish). The beef cube was bland and definitely could use more marinating time. But there sure was a lot of it. My «small» soup came in a large pyrex bowl with a cover, a bowl big enough for me to almost sit in. The soup was pale and sad. Again, the portion was aggressively large.
Everything about this place screams anger at the customer; from the ring of the cook inside the kitchen, the careless plating, interior construction done by a ten year old to the TV showing images of the huge plates of colorless, lifeless food constantly reminding you that you are not loved or welcomed here.

I went there with my friend.
Waiter was nice but as soon as we grab spoons we could feel the oil… And we looked at the table… It was not cleaned well.
We order phở. And it had strong smell from meat. I couldn’t eat or anything but i had to leave.
I wouldn’t go there again…
Don’t get me wrong LOVE Phở i went to place by place to taste phở but. Not this place.

Phở tai:
–beef ⁵⁄₅ thinly sliced and rare very good
–noodles ³⁄₅ average noodles, cut short so hard for me to eat
–soup ⁴⁄₅ very good broth
Pork cutlet and shredded pork over rice:
–pork cutlet: ⁵⁄₅ good cut and portion size
–shredded pork ³⁄₅ average, nothing special cold shredded pork
–rice ¹⁰⁄₁₀
–comes with fish sauce on the side and a few vegetables so you don’t feel too bad about yourself
Value: ¹⁰⁄₁₀ very good deal for what you pay.

My friend and I called 25 minute I advance for a pick up and our food was still not ready when we arrived. We had to wait another 10 minutes! We ordered 2 beef cubes over rice, grilled chicken over rice and grilled pork chop over vermicelli. Everyone else that ordered over the phone came in paid and left while we were still waiting.
The beef cubes didn’t taste good at all and it was tough. The grilled chicken was good. Will probably try this place again and stay for the food since take out was not a good idea.

The food is really good in my opinion. The best part is that the food comes out fast and it’s cheap and is mostly empty

I wanted to try this place since I’ve already been to the other one. The food is okay, not spectacular. I like that they have different sizes of phở to choose from (s, m, l). The orders come out quick. Unfortunately, the staff are rude. There was no hello, no greeting, no acknowledgement, no eye contact, no smile, no you’re welcome after I said thank you, nothing! Guess you won’t know till you try it!

It was about 1020pm and I was planning on hoping to have Viet food for a late dinner. I happened to already be in the area and I knew Phở Bang in the area was already closed. I know of other phở restaurants in Flushing that would be open late but I preferred not to delay my meal any longer.
I’ve been in the area a few times to eat at Phở Bang and Joju but I never knew there was another Viet restaurant in the same parking lot.
I only have one item to evaluate but I’ll be sure to update my review once I return. I’ve had various chicken and pork chop vermicelli dishes at several Viet restaurants and I’d have to say the chicken vermicelli here is my favorite so far. The chicken was juicy and flavorful; the bowl serving was larger than what I was expecting and very filling.
I’m happy to know there is someplace in the Elmhurst area that’s open late-​ish (11pm) and I’m even happier to know they have a really good vermicelli dish.

If you just wanna eat phở then this place is good. It satisfy my craving. I’ve been here a lot of times already. Waiters are not friendly but they’re fast. Its like focusing on what you want & don’t bother about the experience.
For drinks My brother got the soy. Its tasteless. Its like drinking a water. Not sweet at all. I got the iced coffee & its slamming! Viet coffee are the best! For appetizer we got the 6 pieces rolls. Its yummy! The usual viet spring rolls. Me & my bro ordered phở. It satisfied our craving. As always phở is the best for cold weather! My bf got the porkchop with spring rolls & fried rice. He didn’t really like it. It taste okay.
Overall I rate this place 3 star because you don’t get a good service but food is good.

Order Number 30. It’s guaranteed good traditional healthy beef rice noodle soup.
I ordered coffee, it was freshly brewed, however it was too sweet for me because they mix it with condensed milk, so maybe if you’ll try one ask them to place it separately.
I wish I have more nice words to say for this place but unfortunately I didn’t like their service.
They clean around while people were eating and they didn’t serve us any glass of water while we were waiting. They served hot tea and put the pot on top of the table and leave without a word of what it was.
Service is poor and the utinsils are grose. Tables are greasy oily looking.
That’s all I could say. I didn’t bother checking at their grade.
I’ll probably just do a to go if ever I decide to ho back here.
Ciao!

Unilocal says «You’ve been here 7 times, what bring you back?»
I think its connivence of the location or that Phở Bang is very packed OR its that they have an avocado shake.
Honestly I don’t know what brings me back when their service just about every time is very frustrating to say the least. Its almost like an abusive relationship, you do all that you can to try to get their attention and they stare at you and pay attention to someone else. And apparently it’s nothing personal they do this to everyone. Yet every time you guys break up and get back together nothings change, nothing good and nothing bad. Just the same bad relationship and yet you keep coming back. It’s really not healthy.
The food itself is not so bad but its like how hard is it to make Phở. You dump soup, rice noodles and meat together why does that take so long to make?
Though this may not be my favorite Phở place its not the worst place in the world. I respect that they’ve been here so fine. I will keep coming back. *sigh
Would I recommend this place to my friends? If I have to.

I always order sliced rare beef on the side to go with the Phở and the beef is always fresh. I like the darker color broth also. Good portion of basil and mung bean sprouts to throw into the Phở. Shrimp rolls are pretty good and wash them down with a Vietnamese ice coffee I go home happy.
Service was OK but not bad. Opens late and it’s a big plus for me…

I think Ive finally found my phở’ spot. As a phở’ enthusiast from California I know how it should taste! For starters the broth was dark and delicious and flavorful. not practically clear like phở bang. and thai son was up the street! They brought me extra basil and sprouts at no additional cost. and I like my phở super hot. I loved that they had a jar of jalapenos at the table! I will definitely be back!!! :-)

This is the go to spot for a quick inexpensive meal. I usually come here for my phở fix since i can never get a seat at phở bang. Definitely give this place a try, you won’t regret it. Get the crispy fried squid and a nice bowl of phở, can’t go wrong!

Great price and phở here
the spring rolls are also amazing
There are no manhattan phở spot that is comparable to this!

Ended up at Phở Bac after realizing Phở Bang was closed. Service was brusque and they gave me tendon instead of brisket for my phở. Turns out there’s a newer chef who wasn’t looking too carefully so they scooped out most of my tendon and gave me some brisket. The beef was tender and there was plenty of it but I felt as though the phở broth was a bit lacking. Not much complexity to it so I ended up adding some fish sauce and plenty of lime. They do give plenty of veggies for your phở though!
I’d say a 2.5, really.

It’s OK really is the best way to describe this place. The seating is tight and waiters have the «what do you want» look to them. The place is cheap and quick.
The food:
Vietnamese iced coffee– I really enjoyed this a lot. I thought the flavor of the coffee was nice and had adequate sweetness. I think this is a must.
Banh mi thit– pork sandwich– The flavor was just OK, it was not an authentic Banh mi. The addition of mushroom seemed kinda weird and I think they put mayo in it, the bread was OK but oddly too airy and had a weird crunch/​crumble. The pickled vegetables were not pickled enough, there should be a nice acidic pop but there wasn’t.
Phở Tai Nam Gan– combination rice noodles, beef soup, w/​rare beef, navel and tendon. The Phở was OK flavor wise but the noodles were overdone. The broth and the beef were just OK.

I cheated on my usual go to, Phở Bang next door, with this place. There are some hits and misses, but overall it’s just an okay Viet restaurant. Food is good enough, space is way smaller, people are cramped in more, and the staff barely exists (issue to be described later).
Phở and Beef Balls — Ordered the classic favorite for comparison. Beef balls are standard really, but the phở broth here is lighter in flavor. Sizes of bowls only go up to Large here, not XL unfortunately. Took a while longer to come out, Phở Bang next door can get it to you in barely 2 mins.
Bo Luc Lac — Beef over rice was the best Viet dish I’ve had in a while. Tender meat with a good sauce base, highly recommended.
Fried Calamari — Just needs more salt. Otherwise thick cut and comes with an excellent sweet chili sauce with a flavor twist.
The speed of service lacks here a bit. For a busy Friday night dinner, there were barely 4 employees manning the front of the house, one guy doing most of the order taking and food delivering. Asked another guy multiple times for the check which never got delivered (language barrier?), the main server was too busy serving the entire place. Phở Bang just leaves you the check and you bring it up front to pay, way simpler system than trying to flag someone down. Decent Viet restaurant to try, but I probably wouldn’t return.

Though one of my fav Phở spots in Queens, this place tends to lack in providing the fresh quality essentials needed to make any great Phở legendary. They’re not skimpy on their meat at all though, which I love and definitely works in their favor.
My husband and I are also huge fans of their beef fried rice and Shrimp Rolls. Both delicious and made to perfection! However, getting back to the Phở, most times I’ve been here they have lacked in providing or even having the fresh herbs and chili peppers. Most of the time they look old and not appetizing to eat.
But then why do I keep returning back? Guess good service and availability of parking ate always a plus. Perhaps it’s time I check out Phở Bang (located in the same plaza). Hope the place improves on the suggestions to keep me along with other customers returning.