Pho Long Hai

Let me say that I’m from San Francisco. And was in Fresno for a Jay Z concert. Being hungover… not from the area. and in a major need of some Phở. I naturally Unilocaled. Given there arent even alot of Unilocalers for Fresno, I kinda just randomly chose one that had a relatively good lengthy review (even if the quantity was only 2).
Arrived to the location the restaurant… ghetto… but the best places in frisco are hole in the walls! sooo wrong about this place…
All I say is:
W TF!!!
H our was HOW LONG WE WAITED FOR PHO!!!
A trocious!!! You think the food was plain atrocious!!!
C offee took 15 minutes to make EACH and came out ONE by ONE.
K illing flies while patiently waiting
Asked for beef on the side, how i normally do in the city… BUT where i eat Phở, my beef is never blue.
Got a HUGE plate of veggies to put in the phở… but all the mint/​basil and bean sprouts were dry (old), and brown. Only thing usable was the lime.
Please note: We were a group of 8, it was 12 noon, and WE WERE THE ONLY PPL IN THE RESTAURANT.
AND THIS PLACE IS NOT EVEN REAL VIETNAMESE PHO! it was Laos or something… which is REALLY deceiving with your Vietnamese restaurant name.
And you might wonder WHY we didnt leave after the first 30 minutes of waiting for food? Cus every time we asked how much longer, they kept saying, «Oh its being made» like its being put together and coming out…
WHACK~!~!

First of all I would like to say that I have read the other 2 reviews and was excited to check this place out.
Unfortunately it seems like they have had a different server. My waitress was 11 years old, that should of been the first clue for me to run out the door! A family of five was sitting and waiting about the same time as us for 10 minutes. They were the smart ones– they left. Being the adventurous type I foolishly decided to stay and ask the 11 year old if someone can take my order. BIG MISTAKE! She remembered everything but forgot our appetizers. Good job if your playing restaurant with your friends but bad if your are trying to run a GROWN UP BUSINESS. Don’t get me wrong Mom can cook but daughters would rather chat with each other than take your order. Advice to MOM please hire some help other wise you should you close your doors. Tell your new staff to remove your dirty rags from the table. Try to clean your chop sticks and silverware– flies were swarming the utensils. New staff should also clean the sticky tables and mop the floor. If this is the condition of their dining area I’m scared to think of what might be crawling around the kitchen area.
The bathroom was gross and did not have toilet paper. EWWWWW!
We waited 50 minutes for our food! I ordered steak and meatball phở and my wife ordered chicken fried rice. When I checked with our waitress she said she forgot our appetizers. She assumed that I still wanted them even after we were finished with our meal She billed us for the appetizers as a to go item. This is the worst experience I have ever had at a restaurant. I should give thise place a 0 star but there is no lower rating. Please save your money and go any where else but here!

I recently tried this restaurant for a weekday lunch with a coworker. He had the combo Phở and I had the Seafood soup with rice noodles. We split the Banh Xeo to try something new. We each tried each other’s broth to broaden our sample of the restaurant’s fare.
The condiments already on the table were appropriate for Phở, with everything you’d expect, as well as shrimp paste. The vegetable condiment plate had everything you’d expect but cilantro. I’ve noticed that this is showing up less and less at certain other Phở restaurants (May Café for one).
The broth for the Phở was tasty and for myself was seasoned well. It contained plenty of rare steak, brisket, tendon and tripe to balance each bite of noodles. The Seafood broth good as well with some chewy shrimp balls, squid, med size shrimp, and artificial crab. Their was plenty of seafood morsels to complement the noodles and soup.
The Banh Xeo was also very good. Unlike the other reviewer, I was lucky that they had the required ingredients in stock. This is my first time sampling this dish, so I don’t have anything to compare this to. To me it basically seemed like an ground seasoned pork, shrimp, and bean sprout omelet. The egg in this omelet was mixed with rice flour to add a neat chewy texture and density to the egg portion of the omelet. It is served with a tasty sauce on the side.
The help was plentiful and on the spot to check how we were doing in if we needed anything else. No complaints there.
This restaurant is in the same strip mall as Bingo Market. Which besides maybe AC Market, is probably the first SE Asian supermarket in Fresno. In fact, this restaurant supplies Bingo with prepared foods such as Papaya Salad. and Laab. This brings up another point. There seems to be a Lao or Hmong influence to the menu, since Papaya salad and Laab are on the menu here.

Oh my gosh the Phở is awesome here. Within 5 minutes of ordering the #1 — Phở Dac Biet, I had a piping hot bowl of love in front of me. This time the basil and sprouts came out with the soup. Everything was cold and crispy fresh. I ask for an extra wedge of lime and the owner, who brought my phở to me, commented that I knew how to eat my Phở. She brought me two freshly cut slices and I used them both. But before I doctored it, I did my customary slurp of the broth. No oily layer to coat my mouth. I noticed that broth looked pretty lean. While fat adds extra flavor in dishes like these, it certainly wasn’t needed in this bowl. The meat balls were plenty plus some. They small and sliced as opposed to large and quarters. Bite size is good. The ratio of noodles to meat was right on. Plenty of chewy morsels, lean pieces of rare beef, and brisket that falls apart in your mouth. I probably had two bites left in my medium size bowl, I think small would have been adequate!
I got into a friendly conversation with the owner after I finished my meal. This place serves Banh Xeo, a tasty Vienamese crêpe that resembles an asian omelet of sorts. Next to Phở this is another favorite dish. However, as I’ve been here before, every time I ask for it, she never has it. It bums me out everytime! Including today. So inquired while we talked. She said that she has to go to San Jose to pick up the rice flour she prefers to use. If she gets too much, it goes bad in storage. So every couple of weeks she goes up to San Jose to pick up the 3 Elephant Brand of rice flour. She said to make sure the label had 3 Elephants. There’s a 1 Elephant brand that’s a knock off and it’s not as good she said. I in fact had tried making these at home last night. I told her they didn’t turn out crispy. I told her what I used and that I followed the package directions. She said the ratio of liquid to powder was just right, but instead of coconut milk I should have used fresh coconut juice. Interesting. She said to use beer too and then very little water. I’m so trying this again! The owner was informative and so kind. She said to come back next week for some Banh Xeo, she would have it then for sure. I’ll definitely be back!