Pho Dung Noodle House

Oh boy, the current 4 stars rating for this place sure was misleading! We wanted to try something new while at the Hong Kong City Mall and we settled for this phở restaurant but I regret on making this decision. Like any new phở places, I always ordered the phở dac biet (special combination) to see how good their phở is. When I first saw the menu, I was pleasantly surprised by the $ 6.99 price for it as many places have raised the price for their phở.
When the food came out, I was already disappointed as there was only 2 pieces of the bo vien (the meat ball) and the meat portion seems light as well. The broth and every was pretty bland as I always taste it first before putting any condiments to it. With many other restaurants inside the mall, I would say skip this one if you really want to eat decently good phở as my experience here was not decently good at all.

I usually don’t post bad reviews because I feel that there are rarely places that are bad and are still in existence. This place is far than worst.
I ordered a Phở Tai Sach Bo Vien and is sadly to say it’s has to be one of the worst bowl I ever had. My bowl came with HALF A BO VIEN. Literally. And possibly 4 or 5 pieces of meat! When I complained, I was told it was the «normal» portion.
Service was horrible. Drinks weren’t delivered until AFTER we were half way through our meal.
I will do whatever it takes to avoid this place. I suggest my readers do the same. There are plenty of better places in the area.

I come here a lot and I get the phở dac biet most of the time. Today, when I went there 1−20−14, I ordered a phở dac biet and when I was finished eating, I noticed a DEAD FLY in my bowl. I was really pissed (after eating the whole bowl, I finally saw it). I called the owner over quietly to show him and when he saw it, all he said was «ohh» and walked away. NO APOLOGY or anything. And then I walked to the counter, and you know what he said to me? «Whatdid you have to drink a lemonade… ok I’ll only charge you $ 3 for the drink, that’s it. Are you kidding me? I have a dead fly in my food that I ate and he charges me and didn’t even apologize at all? Forget him and his slow no customer having store. Stay away guys, who knows how clean his other dishes are.

When it comes to Phở in Houston there are TONS of great spots, however this is one of my personal favorites.
Atmosphere: Like almost any other Phở place, don’t expect much décor wise. The restaurant is essentially a super large room with tables. It’s located in the Hong Kong Plaza in Chinatown. Long story short, the décor is pretty «blah» overall.
Service: Service is pretty fast here. They’re quick to take your order and get your food out ASAP. Sometimes it can be hard to flag someone down for drink refills, but as long as you catch the eye of one of the staff it will happen pretty quickly.
Food: Man the broth here is stellar. It’s perfectly MSG and has a hint of cinnamon. I love it. I can finish an entire large bowl on my own and it’s unbelievable. They’re super generous with their meat portions and have always given me extra beansprouts and lettuce when I’ve asked. In addition they have great egg rolls but know that an order consists of 6, so it’s best to share an order with someone else. I don’t recommend the soft tendon here. It’s not exactly «soft». Other than that, this place is as good as it gets for Phở.
I’d definitely recommend this place as your hangover hotspot because nothing cures a hangover like a bowl of Phở.

Less than $ 7 for a great bowl of Phở.

Compared to other noodle houses, what we had (2 different soups & an order of egg rolls), was mediocre. Makes me wonder if the glowing ratings on Unilocal,which prompted us to try it out, were from family members. We were that late on a Friday evening, so maybe the cook was tired.

The # 21 here should be renamed to «First Love» or simply promoted to #1, also a number adorn by excellence (Deion Sanders, LT, Tim Duncan…). Also one of the best dish’s I’ve had and repeatedly visit, over the past 5 years. Also there isnt enough stars on Unilocal to describe this simple yet game changing player.
Although I should have reviewed it decades earlier, I’m afraid I will just fail at penning down it’s magnificence.
Food:
#21– I call it the shrimp ball soup, and surely there is a real name for it. It is like another wonder of the world, breath taking leaving no description. No terms in the dictionary covers it’s range, broader than Mariah Carey’s control of the octaves. A+ Must Try.
Strange part is I’ve been coming here for years and never ordered anything from the menu other than the reliable old #21. So now you know, lots of things want to be #1, but only if they retire #21.

I checked out this restaurant because Phở Danh on the other end of the strip mall was closed on a Tuesday at 7:30. boohoo. I checked this place out because it was well reviewed by other Unilocalers.
The restaurant is open later than Phở Danh and you pretty much seat yourself at wherever you want. A waiter gave us menus and we ordered the phở with beef brisket, eye round, tendon, and tripe. It was delicious. I like the broth although I do like Phở Danh’s better. They had good noodles and were very generous with their meat portion. I do wish the eye of round was sliced a little thinner but I did like the way they shredded the tripe into thin strips. I have been to phở places that do a rough chop and that is not very good. They had plenty of sprouts and greens. I do like their Phở but I must admit I would rank it #2 on my list of Phở places. It still ranks very high though.

I usually come here for Phở but a friend took me here for the Bun Suong (my first time trying it) OMG it was delicious. Not too heavy… a perfect light meal… the shrimp sausages was great. The broth was heavenly

When I find a dish I love, it’s really hard to convince me to get something else. As such, I once again ordered the vermicelli with chargrilled pork at a Vietnamese restaurant. The up-​side, though, is that I can compare and contrast restaurants since I now feel like I know what a good version of this dish tastes like.
My sister and I went here on a whim. We had tried finding another restaurant and found this one instead. It is inside Hong Kong City Mall (and you can’t enter directly from outside). They DO take credit cards — someone had said in an earlier review that it’s cash only. Prices are great. Service was quick.
Now, having had this same dish at about 8 different restaurants, I feel if I were to rank this one, it would come in 8^th place. It wasn’t bad, per se, but it wasn’t fantastic either. (The meat was yellower than I expected it; there weren’t enough cucumbers; the lettuce didn’t seem that fresh; I could barely taste the peanuts). But, all the ingredients that I expected were there.
My sister decided to be more adventurous and try something new: the Bun Bo Hue (traditional spicy beef soup). For those of you not familiar with Vietnamese cuisine: it has pig feet, pig blood and shrimp paste in there. The shrimp paste looks like tofu and the pig blood looks like cranberry jello. She liked hers, but I did not get the impression that she’d order it again.
Overall, it was okay. But considering how many competitors are so close by, I’m not sure I’ll come back.

The very last thing I remember from Phở Dung was the service. We sat down for quite long time but no one come to serve us. I’m not talking about their busy time… becuz there were only couple of people.
We used to come here to have Phở or Bun Bo Hue whenever we’re in HK City Mall. The service was ok back then. Their Phở and Bun Bo Hue were ok too, but now the quality is changed. I’m not sure we want to go back.

While out in the Bellaire area… decided to check on Phở Dung to get some good Vietnamese.
This was located inside Hong Kong Mall, which I hadn’t been inside of for years!
The service was very fast and courteous!
I ordered #24, pork with noodles, there was also some veggies. Now I am not familiar with Vietnamese food all that well. I personally didn’t think mine was that great. but I did learn that you need to add some of those sauces/​spices at your table… now I know for the next time.
My daughter had #11, the Phở with Shrimp, pork and chicken. She loved it! She has become quite the love of ethnic food, thanks to her Aunt!
I am hardly in this area, but if I have the opportunity to try again I would… and use those spices!

⁷⁄₀₈
The name Phở Dung doesnt slide off my tongue easily… the name just doesnt sound like a winner but let me tell you… their phở is winning all kinds of awards.
Perfectly cooked banh phở, nuoc phở is how its suppose to be done, portion ratio is on cue, wait time is quick, lots of tables to accommodate the busy crowd, 2 tvs with videos from the motherland. I guess they can switch to wooden chopsticks… thats the only thing I would change.
Im not sure what time they open but f they opened b/​w 7 – 8, I would give them 6 stars.
Move over every other phở restaurant in Houston! This is who you need to beat! Sorry Phở Danh, you have been knocked from your high horse.

I have had phở at a couple different places outside of Houston, but never in Houston itself. This place met the standards of all the other places I have tried. It was excellent! It can be hard to find since it shares the parking lot with the Hong Kong Mall, but once you find it you’ll keep coming back for more.
The inside isn’t the cleanest or the most spacious, but I didn’t care because the broth was steaming hot and quite tasty! I didn’t try the viatnamese coffee, but heard it was really good as well. I think everyone I was here with said they enjoyed what they got.

Despite its dubious name, Phở Dung is fast becoming my go-​to phở place around Chinatown. Savory broth with just the right amount of saltiness, large deliciously fried egg rolls, and fresh ingredients have kept me coming back for more. Conveniently located in the Hong Kong supermarket, one can take a break from shopping for the latest Asian fad trinkets, and enjoy a great bowl of phở… for me to poop on! Just kidding, its good.
A large bowl I believe will run ya $ 6 exactly, so no annoying small coins to deal with.

My business partner & I were in Houston for our business, and we decided we wanted phở and ate at Phở Dung on Saturday 8÷28÷10. We ordered the Phở Da Biet — combination rice noodle beef soup, with eye of round steak, well-​done flank, fat brisket & tripe. It was delicious, and the broth was not fatty. We loved the avocado smoothie (sinh to bo) and the soda condensed milk, egg yoik with ice (soda sua hot ga). Also, they now take credit cards.

I had the Bun Bo Hue and my daughter had the Charbroiled pork, egg cake and shredded pork with rice. Both of them are OK. The broth came out Luke warm and not hot so when I add fresh herb and veggie in it. It just didn’t taste right. The rice dish barely had any grilled pork and mainly just rice. I remember they were better before.

Phở Dung (phonetically unfortunate name) is located inside the Hong Kong City Mall, to the left of the grocery store once you get inside. It’s become somewhat of a staple of mine, so I find myself coming here several times a month to the point where the staff recognizes me, heh.
My party typically orders the fried egg roll (cha gio). Both the egg rolls and the noodle soup here are amongst the best offered in Houston, imho. Now, against the bazillion other phở places available, things that make me love this joint:
–Broth is clean and fresh and flavorful, unlike the common murky/​salty/​bland/​fatty kind.
–The fact that I can order virtually ANY noodle soup and it’s good. I typically order the bun suong here, and my friends usually get phở tai. They also make an excellent bun bo hue, the quality of which has been really hard for me to find in Houston (read: don’t order at Bodard). So not just a phở shop.
–Service is fast, portions are good, and they’re generous with the meat.
Hungry just thinking about it.

I’m Vietnamese and I love my phở. However, I am convinced it is pretty hard for a restaurant that specializes in phở (i.e. they have phở in their restaurant name) to mess up phở. So I figured I could get my phở fix anywhere.
Wrong! I could tell a big difference here! The broth is not fatty and tastes very fresh. They give you tons of meat too. You even have the option to put the «tai» meat (thin beef slices) on the side and dip it into the broth yourself to have it a little more rare.
The only thing that sucks is it’s cash only. It’s also inside the Hong Kong 4 mall, which can get really crazy with traffic and parking. So to be in the middle of Chinatown with tons of other phở places around, this place does a great job at making a delicious bowl of phở.

I have not had phở in any other place besides Phở Dung in years. Before that, I’d tried it in many different spots all over Houston, but now that I’ve seen the light, honestly, nothing else compares.
First, you have to start off with the imperial rolls. They are fried to perfection, and come with crispy, cold lettuce for wrapping. Imperial rolls are one of those appetizers that you think are pretty standard everywhere you go, until you have some really exceptional ones. These are it.
Next is the phở. The deeply flavorful broth has a lightly oily and rich beef taste to it, and when you add the basil, bean sprouts, and squeeze lime (LOTS of lime, oh god yes) into it, it is absolute heaven. The red onion slices compliment the the thin pieces of beef perfectly, and the lime rounds off the broth with a little bit of tanginess. I cannot praise their phở enough. I don’t know how they do it, and hell, maybe I don’t want to know (voodoo?), but they do it well.
PS. Cash only, suckers!