Pho Kim

Restaurant is closed with signs and banners that state «Café India Coming Soon»

Standard fare Vietnamese spot located in the strip center at Beltway 8 and West Road.
I eat a lot of phở. I was told once that all phở contained MSG, it’s just part of the magic. Well this spot boasts that their phở (and entire menu) is «MSG FREE.»
Unfortunately, I think maybe they need to start incorporating the MSG into their recipe. Or more salt, or SOMETHING because their phở is bland. The noodles were very good, the meat (rare steak and meatballs) were so so.
My server was polite and friendly, and the food came out quickly.
One side note: the sriracha was runny, like someone added water to it. What up with that? I’ve never encountered runny sriracha before. I kept having to add more and was wondering why my phở wasn’t getting spicier.

I came here for lunch over the weekend and there was nothing wrong with the place but it wasn’t very memorable. I had a large phở and an eggroll (fried). I ordered a large phở but I hope they gave me a small by mistake because it wasn’t very big. The broth wasn’t as flavorful as my usual spot and they were a bit skimpy on the meat. The eggroll was good.
With an awesome phở place right by my house (Phở Vang) there’s no reason to come here. That said, if it was the only place in the neighborhood I could deal.

I have been a customer of this restaurant when they first opened. From all the restaurants that have tried in the same spot, this is by far the best. My family frequented the place so much that the front person working knew us all by first names and gave us free cake. The food was good compared to the Vietnamese food in the area. A few months ago the restaurant was taken over by new management and thus quality has gone down. The service has become horrendous to the point where I have walked out before putting in an order.

This was a suprise to say the least. Great flavorful food. It is a little small and does feel like you may not know what to expect, but a great find.

I’ll agree with both reviewers, this place is great and definitely deserves the 5 stars!
It’s a small restaurant so it may feel cramped at times if there are a lot of people there, but it’s so worth it. My bf and I went there for lunch and started the meal off with the spring rolls with the pork in them (I forgot what they’re called how to say them in Vietnamese) but not very many Vietnamese restaurants serve them. We’ve only been to a few places and they’ve all been in town. Oh man, were they GOOD!!! The ingredients tasted very fresh and all the flavors combined into a good way to start the meal. I was very satisfied. Then main order came out. We both ordered a regular size bowl of the «house special.» This is the one with everything in it. Their phở bowls are a good size and are packed with meat. Usually there’s only a few slices of meat and some tripe and mostly noodles and broth, but here it felt like there was enough meat to last the entire bowl. The meal was finished off with a nice iced coffee with condensed milk… yummy! As we were paying, we noticed the posters and the machine they use to seal the cups at milk tea places and decided to order one since one would be good enough b/​c I was totally stuffed. When they brought it out to us, we were shocked at the fact that it had whipped cream on top of it because I haven’t seen that done before. It was so good. Woo Hoo new milk tea spot!
I am definitely going back when I have a craving for Vietnamese food. I just have to time it right so I go when they’re open.

The first reviewer was right on — this is a terrific little place. It’s located in a shopping strip with a supermarket or dollar type store, sandwiched between a liquor store, nail salon, and dry cleaner.
The restaurant is pretty small, so tables are packed in tight but it wasn’t too crowded when I visited on a late Saturday afternoon. Taking the recommendation of the earlier review, I ordered the pork paste spring roll, which came out right away, and it rocks; it rolls with the fish sauce. This is better than the shrimp or sliced steak spring rolls I’ve had in the past at other places, and it came with a special sauce. I couldn’t tell exactly what it was but it was good and I couldn’t stop eating it, as my distended belly will testify.
For the main course, I ordered the phở with nam and chin. The broth was steaming hot and it also came with generous portion of the mint leaves and cilantro (first time I’ve seen cilantro with the usual plate of mint, sprouts, and lime). What set it apart is the use of sliced red onions instead of the usual green. Yum!
Phở Kim offers phở in regular and large sizes. I got the regular, which was pretty good sized, even for a remorseless eating machine like me. They also had a nice selection of other appetizers (including VT crêpe) which I may try next time, as well as the usual vermicelli and rice dishes. The two servers/​cashiers (sisters?) were very polite and cute.
The Asians outnumbered the non-​asians three to one, so highly recommended for those of you keepin’ it real. Word.
Miscellaneous — 1) I think they deliver, at least to nearby businesses. 2) There is a $ 7 minimum for credit card use; cause even real gangstas need economies of scale, yo.

Oh, my review for this place is long overdue. How would I describe Phở Kim?
Let’s see…
Would it be:
a) A slice of Vietnam in my backyard
b) A place where everyone knows your name
or
c) All of the above?
If you answered ©, you are correct!!! :in Bob Barker voice: Ding ding ding ding ding! :cue «The Price is Right» music:
This place kicks ass. I’ve only been here 3 times, but that’s because I either show up after 8, or on a Sunday, or Sunday night at 8. (They are open from 10am-​8pm, Monday to Saturday and closed Sundays. The top chef’s daughter, the one who pretty much runs the show in this tiny hole-​in-​the-​wall place, told me that her mother has been a chef in Texas for over 30 years. She wanted to «retire,» but still wanted to run a restaurant «for fun», so they decided to open a much smaller restaurant with less grueling hours. How awesome! Hell, a place this good should be able to dictate when they open.) The place is run by cute little Vietnamese women who just wishes I was one of them! I walked in and the daughter said, «Hey, I haven’t seen you in awhile!» (They always speak Vietnamese to me even them I’ve repeatedly reminded them I’m Chinese… maybe I’m just a very versatile Asian. I get mistaken for everything else BUT Chinese! I blame my Taiwanese darker skin… anyway, I digress).
The phở is made fresh. I like to get the phở with the raw slices of beef. It’s sliced so thinly that when dunked into the hot soup, the soup cooks the meat perfectly. Some places add MSG to their soups – I can tell because I get hella thirsty afterwards – but their beef broth is simmered to perfection. I like to add a ton of Sriracha and Hoisin sauce to my phở. It is the perfect winter picker-​uper. It will guarantee your belly warm and full and nose running! I believe their signature dish is their appetizer, actually. Now, everyone knows what the spring roll is. They have this pork paste roll. It’s pretty much like the spring roll as far as the construction of the roll and the accompanying veggies inside, but they ground up the pork, make it into a paste, and grill it. They also add some crunchy stuff inside (like the fried shell of an egg roll). Then you dip it in this special pork spicy sauce. It is Mmm-​Mmm good!
When they first opened about a couple of months ago, they had a grand opening ceremony where they gave out free (yes, FREE) food during lunch, and they had lion dancers come to grace the restaurant (I will post pictures later). Now, it seems like the neighborhood has heard about this quaint little place because we came last night around 7pm (we managed to get off work «early») and it was PACKED! At least 3 people came in and out for take-​out within the span of an hour and 5 families/​couples were in the restaurant dining. The daughter and their sole waitress were swamped. However, they were super nice and apologized when we had to wait a bit longer for our Phở (in my experience, Phở comes out within 5 minutes, no kidding). But it was totally worth it! Just thinking about it makes me hungry… aw damn it, it’s not lunch time yet.
This is as close to Vietnam as you can get, people. In my book, 5 stars is a truly transcendental, orgasmic experience… this wasn’t exactly that, but pretty damn close!