Vietnam Restaurant

One of the great things about being on the road is discovering new places to eat. I was stuck in King City, CA and I needed to find a place for dinner, Mexican was not an option this evening so I kept driving and I came across a hole in the wall called Vietnam Restaurant. The crispy rolls were very nice as well as the main entrée: Chicken in Lemon Grass. I was the only person in the restaurant, what a shame because this place could teach a few big city restaurants how good food is done! Please drop by soon!

KING CITY VIETNAMESE?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
IS IT A MIRAGE?
IS IT FROM AN ALTERNATE UNIVERSE?
IS IT A PRODUCT OF MY DEMENTED BRAIN AFTER DRIVING
Endless & Endless &Endless &Endless &Endless &Endless &Endless &Endless
EONS…
On the near Infinitely BORING stretch of the 101 between Salinas & Paso Robles?
Well, it could be a Hallucination…
Phở deprivation has been reported in Major Medical Journals to cause
Nausea, Vomiting, Diarrhea, Headaches, Hair Balls, Hemorrhoids, Jock Itch…
oh wait…
I am confusing that with the side effects of my Thorazine!
Anyhow, I make damned sure,
that whenever I escape from the nearby Asylum &
my Purple Polka-​dot Straight Jammies,
I head right over to King City
for its
AMAZING NIGHTLIFE!!!
HA HA HA!
HEE HEE HEE!
NUTS IS ME!
but before I paint & pillage the town, I got to warm-​up my tummy…
with lots & lots of PHO!!!
I really like to be full,
before the angry townspeople round me up,
hog tie me,
and call for the nice people in the white coats…
who kindly provide me nice drugs &
FREE ACCOMMODATIONS that cost you
wonderful TAXPAYERS A COOL ¼ MILLION BIG ONES A YEAR!
You suckers… ophs…excuse me… the demons made me do it…
or was it
VISIONS OF THE DONALD AS THE NEW PRES?
I think I need another round of Thorazine…
& Risperdal… ophs again… no, that can cause
MOOBS to form (Man Boobs)…
Anyway, the best thing for worrying about
THE DONALD,
MOOBS,
or DONALD’S MOOBS…
is a
NICE CRISPY (like me)
Vietnamese Sandwich…
which is here as well.
As for the AMAZING NIGHTLIFE in King City
there
is
101 CAR GAZING or
STARGAZING…& both are absolutely FREE!
Thank you for your kind attention to this matter.
Sincerely yours,
Mr. Paul Moo Bee the CXIV
The Honorary King of King City!

We went fishing at lake Nacimiento and we were starving and decide to make the hour or so drive to Kings City for phở. The phở was okay at best but it did hit the phở craving spot. However one cannot complain as Kings City is a small town in the middle of nowhere. The portions are small for the price however the service and hospitality were awesome!

Stopped here for some Phở along our way back to Nor Cal. Place was less desirable. I ordered phở w/​tendon & meatballs. Asked and paid for extra meat. My extra meat included 5 pieces of tendon & 1 ½ small meatballs. Broth was light in flavor & they didn’t have limes. Would not go back again… would prefer to drive out of my way for better food.

+1 for being one of the only Asian restaurants available alongside the highway 101 between San Luis Obispo and Gilroy.
+1 for healthier food options compared to fast food joints (at least there are lettuce, bean sprouts and carrots)
negatives: lack of vegetarian dishes; un-​fresh shrimp being used in the dishes (crêpe appetizer, vermicelli, and fried shrimp rice plate) that were very pasty and mushy; only five tiny shrimp pieces in the crêpe appetizer, the filling of the crêpe was 97% bean sprouts and nothing else; suffered with dehydration, unquenchable thirst and parched mouths after the meal; MSG? also the rice was like barn feed, mashed up white things that do not resemble rice and with absolutely no aroma (sorry barn animals.)

Great find while on a road trip today! We stopped here for lunch and ordered #7 phở and #15 dried vermicelli noodles with bbq pork and egg rolls. They both had great flavors and portion sizes. I also ordered a coffee slush boba with pearls for $ 4.25. It came in a large size (default size) and very yummy! Haven’t had a good boba like this in awhile and very refreshing on a sunny day. We are so full and glad we came here!

Surprisingly good for such a small town. I would recommend it and the owners are really nice or whoever looks after the front counter. I always ask for extra limes and they are super chill

Super nice staff. I’ve eaten here a few times. I really like the phở. The only thing is that sometimes, their credit/​debit card machine doesn’t work. I just have to remember to have cash on me.
They also have a really yummy bbq chicken banh mi sandwich and fun boba drink flavor options.

Food is okay. Menu is super limited. I do not agree with some of the other reviewers saying Carl’s Jr. is a better option. No friggin’ way! This place is decent. Way better than fast food.
We ordered their chicken salad, mixed fried rice and spring rolls. All were good, but not great. None of the dishes were authentic in flavor and quality.
I was just passing through on a drive home from a wedding up north, so I will probably not be back. At least not any time soon.
Better than fast food.

Very reasonable and very delicious! Visit phở-​sure. Worth a stop of just cruisin by on 101

Ok, I know what you’re thinking. You’re driving on 101, and you really don’t want fast food. You look on Unilocal,and hey, Vietnamese food — 4 stars. You think, fake reviews, maybe? You think, it’s King City, it’s gotta be bad. You think, 4 stars, it can’t be THAT bad!
IT IS THAT BAD! Go to Carl’s Jr. — trust me.

Made a pit stop here on the our way to LA. Ordered a BBQ Pork Banh Mi and a Taro Smoothie with Pearls. Both were very good. I would definitely come back here.

Stopped by here on our way home down south for a quick bite to eat today. I have a lot of experience with vietnamese restaurants and I know Vietnamese cuisine. We walked in and the temperature of the room was below 50 degrees so I had to put my winter snow jacket on.
The «Bahn mi» I ordered looked fine, but it was cold. When I say cold I mean COLD like it came out of the refrigerator. My mothers bun was also very cold and the sauce was half assed and missing the vital ingredients. It was made from just fish sauce and water. The phở was hot, but the broth tasted like water with salt, and the few pieces of beef were overcooked. Flavor was bad and
Not at all a the way vietnamese food should taste. How ever as a foodie from Santa Barbara I have high expectations, and these are hard to be met in king city.

Meh. Seriously meh. Stopped for what we hoped would be a quick and tasty alternative to fast food. I’ve eaten Phó probably 300 or 400 times all over the world including Saigon and Hanoi. This was the blandest I’ve ever had. The $ 7 Rare Beef Phó literally had 3−½ paper thin slices of beef and the broth tasted like watered-​down canned imitation Phó broth. It was barely discernible as anything but flavored water. The Bahn mi came COLD as if it had come from the refrigerator. The bread looked fresh but it was so unappealing that we just wrapped it in foil and ordered bland Phó instead for my son.
The restaurant was FREEZING cold inside (like literally 49 degrees by my thermometer on my jacket zipper!)
I can only conclude that the absentee owners are too cheap to turn on the heat and they water down the broth to save money.
Big disappointment!

Thanks to Unilocal,made a pit stop for a late lunch off the 101 freeway. I was skeptical about the good reviews until I tried it for myself.
Located right off the freeway for easy access and parking. The menu is pretty simple with pictures. I got the phở with everything, $ 8.
The phở broth was light and tasty, very home-​style and not greasy. Bean sprouts were fresh and crunchy. Meat was thin and not too chewy. Meatballs were ok as well. Thai ice tea wasn’t too sugary.
Prices are definitely higher than other phở places, but given that there are probably not too many competitors within a 20 mile radius, they can charge a bit more.
I’d definitely stop by again if I’m passing through the area!

Not your average pitstop during a roadtrip. On a trip from san fran to santa barbara we stopped by this vietnamese restaurant in Kings and it was an oh so good decision.
The phở broth was flavorful with a little plate of fixins. The beef was a bit overcooked for phở (I prefer mine thrown on at the end and cooking in the broth) but overall a good meal.
Plus the guy at the counter wished my friend and me a safe drive – considering our skills as drivers we needed the luck and we made it down to sb in one piece. Now to make it back up…