UYE “La Vie En ‘Pho’s’” – Nov. – Bring the Aloha @ Aloha Pho

UYE = Unofficial Unilocal Event
This means that any person with a Unilocal Account can post an Event and invite everyone to participate, right?
Our host, Victoria M., enjoys Phở (pronounced «fuh») and shares her enthusiasm monthly or thereabouts. It’s really fun for me because I use this as a time to meet fellow Unilocalers and catch up with friends! I get to eat at different Phở restaurants and learn new things! Victoria is such a social butterfly, working her way amongst the tables and presenting fun games and cool prizes! She’s amazing!
Another benefit is: I get to experiment and test out recipes on people whose opinions I value! They give me great ideas and excellent suggestions on how to improve a dessert!
Aloha Phở was a great location with free, convenient parking and good food!
I look forward to the next Phở Event and hope that you will be able to attend and celebrate the wonders of Phở!

UYE Phở get togethers are so much fun! You better believe it!
I’m glad to say that these UYEs are one of the highlights of my weeks (when I am not traveling or just crazy busy at work or forever marathon training). It’s those gatherings of Unilocal enthusiasts that make life much more fun and entertaining when you have nothing to do at night sometimes. This UYE is co hosted by the fabulous Victoria M and John N! They did a fantastic job with this event and had a fun time in the process. It was good to see the usual Unilocal elites up in this joint, including Paul C, Maka K, Cathy C, Nadine C, and Jacob N. It was also cool to meet up with Daniel C as well. This UYE is apart of the monthly UYE series on Phở /​Vietnamese restaurant dining and while I wished to be apart of it in October (if there was one), I had a few Phở while vacationing in Europe, so it wasn’t all bad all around! The experience was a good, positive, and fun one. UYEs are always fun with friends and good food. Good times indeed.
This UYE was held at the Aloha Phở Vietnamese restaurant in the University area. There is private parking, but very limited due to Sweet Home Café and other anchor restaurants next door. I arrived here at about 5:45pm, where the restaurant is definitely a mom and pop operation. I have been here before, so the phở is good. We Unilocalers occupied about 4 out of the 6 possible tables in the restaurant. I had overheard that they had to turn away people just to accommodate our reservation. I guess they’re just too popular! In any case, the ambiance was good and we were the loud bunch — obviously. Thanks to Nadine C for the delicious cake that she brought. I later learned that it was midori bundt cake, which would explain the green frosting on it. It was good! Aloha Phở accepted Visa and MasterCard, but we were instructed to bring cash, as it was easier for splitting the bill by table. Thanks to the random customer guy for the group photo. That was pretty awesome.
I ordered the combination large Phở with extra side noodles, since a lot of times, restaurants tend to be skimpy on the noodles. The restaurant itself was gracious enough to host us, even though we all lingered around till 8:45pm, when the party started at about 6pm. It was pretty epic, but casual at the same time. The Phở itself was pretty good. I probably should have gotten the XL bowl John N had, but there’s always next time! There was some games for best photos and such, so that was pretty sweet. The night was epic and couldn’t have it better myself. We all left feeling satisfied and happy. This UYE is best with great friends and good food all around. The experience was amazing, as always. Thanks again to Victoria M and John N for the great job in organizing this event!
I didn’t take photos of this event, as I am sure the others will anyway. :)
Support local!
A+

I love these phở events because I really like phở! I ordered brisket and sirloin steak phở. With my phở came the usual fix ins with Thai basil, culantro, bean sprouts, lemon, and jalapeño peppers with my favorite sauces of sriracha, chili oil, and chili garlic sauce.
Nadine C was so nice to bring homemade Midori cake! Eating it was a treat! Nadine keeps making amazing treats and spoils us!
Thanks so much for hosting John N and Victoria! It was awesome winning some cool looking chopsticks! Can’t wait for the next event!

This event was phở-​king awesome thanks to Victoria M and John N! It was a little challenging to secure parking during dinner time but aside from that, the night was great. We took up most of the tables in the restaurant and ordered up a storm from appetizers to sandwiches and of course bowls of phở. Thanks to Nadine C for the delicious Midori cake! I don’t like dessert much and I had TWO slices of her cake. It was that good! The phở was better than I expected and it came with all the condiments but with a twist. The hot sauce was a little sweet but still good. Their sauté sauce was a great addition to the meal (need to ask for it, not on table). Lots of fresh veggies and the soup came out piping hot. Can’t ask for more when it comes to phở. Overall, great night with great people! 5 stars! Looking forward to the next phở UYE!

This was my first UYE phở event and it was phở-​tastic.
I ordered a medium rare steak phở with the meat on the side. The broth was tasty and better than a majority of phở places I’ve been to.
On my table was Cathy, Jacob & Alex (co-​host Victoria ’ s husband). The conversation was fun and Cathy ordered the best appetizers for our table. Which consisted of fried chicken, spring rolls and a vietnamese sandwhich. (P.S. having fried chicken with lemon squeezed over it, you’ll never go back to plain fried chicken)
It was great to see familiar faces again like Victoria, Paul, Cathy & Maka.
Thank you co-​host Victoria & John for a great night.

I’ve been to a handful of the PHO UYE’s and they sure don’t disappoint. Co-​hosts Victoria M. and John N. have done it again! Yes, PHO-​real Yeeps! So much fun and good food!
An intimate group of 14 Yeeps gathered for an early Sunday supper. We had bowls, bowls and bowls of PHO and had so many great conversations.
Aunty Nadine made this AMAZING MIDORI pistachio bundt cake with frosting that would take you down! Half of the bottle of MIDORI was used in the frosting where the alcohol was NOT cooked off at all!
Food was outstanding and the COMPANY was even better.
Was great seeing old faces (Nadine C., Daniel C., Alexi D., Jacob N., David T., Cathy T., Maka K., Terrance Y. and Gary N.) but was a nice surprise to see Erica W. and Ed L. again.
Upon request we loaded up on their house satay and Culantro, or «pokey leaf» as Jacob N. calls them.
We enjoyed taking lots of photos of our food where we competed for prizes. Our co-​hosts prepared cool prizes and presented wooden chopsticks to the contest winners at the previous Phở UYE at Sterling Hotpot.
What a great way to spend Sunday night. Thanks Victoria and John. Cannot wait for the next PHO UYE!
NOTES:
1) You learn things from your fellow Unilocalsters. Daniel C. (who lived in Cali for a few years) and John N. (who has cousins who live in Cali) revealed to us that peeps in Cali eat their beef RAW when consuming PHO.
2) It was my 2^nd time to dine here. This time after our meal we were given complimentary after dinner chocolates (Ghiradelli Dark Chocolate Sea Salt Squares).