Pho 111

This restaurant has an odd odor. Both times I’ve been here it was present and annoyed the heck out of my wife. She says it’s a dirty, fishy smell. Not the aroma of seafood being cooked but something wrong. Anyhow we stayed and just ordered small bowls of Phở for $ 7.25. The larger size is $ 8.25. I had the special beef Phở. The kind with the raw steak piled in the middle. She went with the chicken Phở and commented that the noodles were a little gummy and her chicken broth had real beefy flavor. The sprouts on the small plate that comes ahead of the soup appeared to be a little old and wilted. The basil, lime and jalapeños were nice. The lone bright spot of this meal were the fried sesame balls stuffed with mung bean paste. These aren’t on the menu but sold up by the cash register for 75 cents each. What a deal! These were fantastic. Overall, the Phở was just okay. It needs to be seasoned better and served hotter. If you really looking for a great Phở fix, keep on moving. There are tons of other places to choose from with way better Phở. I can’t say I would go back here again unless it was to snatch up a dozen of those sesame balls.

Got three instead if two stars only because the fresh spring rolls were passable. I won’t go back.

Please step it up before you get people sick.
Feb. 22: Routine check (115 red; 5 blue)
Comments: Red — Person in charge was unable to answer basic food-​borne illness risk factor questions. Improper hand washing by employee was observed. Improper bare-​hand contact with ready-​to-​eat foods was observed. Hand-​wash sink was inaccessible. Whole-​shell raw eggs stored above ready-​to-​eat foods. Improper cooling: Phở stock was prepared in pot at 52 – 55 degrees in walk-​in cooler. Stock must cool from 135 to 70 degrees within two hours. Improper cold holding: Foods are unable to hold below 41 degrees in double/​triple stacked inserts in prep cooler. Bags of onions stored on floor of walk-​in. Sanitizer not made. Blue — Dishwasher not properly sanitizing. Re-​inspection: A re-​inspection was conducted March 2, at which time 40 red violations and 5 blue violations were noted.
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Came here and got denied service because they close in 30mins! They close at 2000 (8:00pm) and I got there at 1925 (7:25pm)
All I wanted was 5 – 6 fried sesame balls and a bubble tea and I wasn’t even going to stay. Just so ridiculous. –First time coming here and never again–

Good food.
Good staff.
Fast!
Affordable.

Dang, I knew I should’ve read Josh B’s review before going here. When will I learn…
The broth is super-​meh. It’s missing those spice notes that a lover of phở starts to crave at 10am.
You know what I’m talking about… Your co-​worker asks if you want phở for lunch and suggests trying a new place.
Your mouth immediately starts to water and your nostrils do a little flare with the anticipation of the hot, clove-​anise-​fennel spices.
You won’t get that here. While their broth has a rich mouth feel from what I surmise is deliciously melted marrow and cartilage, it’s missing that zing a zing zing that makes phở so fab.
Couple of other notes: it’s nice that they ask you if you want beef or veggie broth with an order of tofu and veggie phở. And they sometimes have fresh fried sesame balls filled with sweet mungbean at the cash register for 75 cents.

More expensive and less tasty than almost all the phở places in town.
I’ll admit, I’m a frequenter of Phở Vy over on Sleater Kinney (a restaurant highly reviewed on Unilocal). That said, when my friend recommended this joint to me I decided to cheat on my beloved and take a chance on a new spot.
Don’t do it.
The broth here is tasteless. The meat is over-​cooked. And the noodles are ramen quality, no real weight or feel to them.
I ordered the duck and bamboo shoots, the meat of which was shoddily cut in such a way as to spread bone shards thoughout the meat rendering it inedible.
The seafood phở is no better: overcooked.
Save yourself the money and experience and head to Phở Vy. I promise it will be worth the drive across town.

So, it’s about time to update my review. The rating hasn’t changed though. I’ve been to Phở 111 at least three to four more times since my original review and I’m still not that impressed. Recently I went for a tofu phở and a strawberry bubble tea. The phở was the same as my first review. It wasn’t spectacular. The broth was just basic chicken or vegetable broth. There was hardly any seasoning or originality to the phở. Even after adding lots of hoisin and sriracha, it still was just bearable. The bubble tea at $ 4.25 was also very basic and had too much ice & barely any flavor, so I had to wait for it to melt several times and then just got impatient with it and ended up tossing it.
So tonight I decided to go with my Guam/​Chamorro friend from my original review. She has since converted to one of the other phở places in Lacey and only goes to Phở 111 for the wonton soup which she continuously tells me is amazing. I opted to go for the pad thai as my last attempts with phở were unsatisfying. We also ordered the little egg rolls. They came five for $ 3.99 so that was a pretty reasonable deal for an appetizer. One thing that irks me though is the point of an appetizer is so that it is brought prior to your entrée arriving to in a way tide you over until the main course. What irked me is that the rolls came out at the same time as the pad thai. Not a huge deal, but defeats the purpose. In the back of my mind, I was thinking please let this pad thai be great because I really want to give Phở 111 a chance. Sadly, the pad thai was also lacking. Most places that make pad thai will ask you if you want it a little or a lot spicy. This pad thai had zero spicy and almost had zero flavor. Also, it was made with drunken noodles or like pad see ew noodles which I’m not accustomed to for pad thai and the large noodles kind of made it feel like you were making out with worms in your mouth. I really wanted Phở 111 to be my 2^nd or 3^rd phở go-​to place but I have to mark it off my list for a long while.

I drive way to far to get this phở. I have plenty of phở by my house. I need their phở. I have tried most of the things on the menu. My favorites in the winter are the tofu soup and the wonton soup. In the summer I like the bun. It’s like a rice noodle salad with chopped up spring roll and grilled pork. It is so refreshing and filling. I have to make myself stay away from the sesame balls. They are amazing. I go back and fourth between the shrimp or tofu fresh rolls. I enjoy both. The sauce for the spring rolls is the best I have ever had in my life. I try to duplicate it at home but they must have a secret to its deliciousness. Thank you for making the best Vietnamese food around.

Very impressed with the food and the service. I love how the resturant looks and we have always had great server’s. The only thing we didn’t like was the fried rolls, they were really small and didn’t have much in them.

My girlfriend said this was her favorite phở place. When we got there she recognized that the menu was different and was told the owner had changed. When we got in, no one greeted us, we had to wait at least 10 minutes to get menus, and the waiter wasn’t attentive to our water. After we got our meals, about 15 minutes in, the waiter comes and tells us that the restaurant is closed and that we needed to leave.
Apparently, the owners don’t pay the staff after closing. Which sounds illegal. But that is why they hurried us out.
Would not support this business.

This place is very nice and clean! Service is great. Food is okay. Bun bo hue is very plain. 3 stars because it smells like cleaning products aka blench every time I go here, I rather smell the food.

Been here 3 times, the only thing on the menu worth eating are the spring rolls. I tried the chicken soup, beef soup, seafood soup and they were all terrible. No flavor. My friend ordered the duck soup which smelled so bad I couldn’t even try it and the duck had a texture equivalent to rubber. The waiter is always short with us and doesn’t seem to enjoy his job. Do not recommend this place at all

Really modern inside extremely surprised at how very quickly the food was served excellent pricing food tasted great very comfortable seating absolutely coming back here again fantastic

Was very impressed going here. I ordered to go and they had my food ready really fast. The food was delicious and the phở i had ordered came with everything I could have needed or asked for. It was pretty cheap for everything that i got. I will definitely be going back again and would highly recommend it.

Tried the phở and curry chicken, not impressed. The food was brought out the chicken curry had a fishy smell and taste to it I couldn’t eat it and the phở was all noodles hardly any meat the flavor was ok but not great. Won’t be coming back

Ordered at the counter to go. Extremely fast service… less than 10 minutes!
The interior is very clean and decorates nicely. There is a small bar area.
The to go containers were packed nicely. I had the #2 Phở with brisket and tripe. It was deconstructed, with a large container of broth. Besides noodles and meat, there was plenty of green onions, sprouts and basil. It was delicious, and a steal at $ 8.

My daughter and I stopped in here for lunch after the Sushi restaurant next door was closed :(.
We were very pleasantly surprised with Phở 111. The interior was decorated nicely and the server was very attentive, police, and efficient.
I had a bahn mi sandwich (my first one so i cant compare to other places) and it was delicious! The bread was so soft but crusty on top — just the way I like it.
We had a pork bun which was ok — never had one before and probably wouldnt order it again just cause I didnt really care for the taste or texture.
Daughter said her phở was the best she has had anywhere.
We both had lunch for 16.00. Reasonable and delicious.
We will be back.

Swankiest Phở restaurant I’ve been to. Delicious Phở, Pad Thai and BBQ pork bun. Friendly service without intrusiveness. Definitely date worthy.
We tried really hard to determine if the Phở was as good or perhaps better than other places. We decided it was at least as good as anywhere we’ve been, with very fresh ingredients, and with a great environment and very reasonable prices.
Update: Impeccably clean bathrooms, which also says much for the cleanliness of the kitchen.

Phở 111 does have nice décor. However, it is a good indication that the food isn’t going to be good. I personally believe hole-​in-​the-​wall places are the way to go when it comes to Asian food.
My mom and I had dinner here since I came down here as a surprise visit. She was in the mood for Vietnamese food and this place was close by. I should have also mentioned that seeing the place empty was another sign we should have ate elsewhere. But my mom was hungry and I was not in the mood to piss her off.
Anyways, I was flipping through the reviews on here and it seems like the phở isn’t good here. I decided to order their vermicelli bowl with grilled pork and egg roll (my go-​to Vietnamese dish) while my mom ordered the beef version of the dish minus the noodles and a side of egg rolls.
I’ll start off with my dish. Right away, I was very disappointed with the pork. When I order this dish at other Vietnamese restaurants, the pork is grilled and has a nice dark color to it:

Instead of that, I ended up with this:

I hate to say it but this was the blandest vermicelli bowl I’ve ever had. Even the fish sauce had no taste. I just added some hoisin and sriracha to help salvage the dish. The egg rolls in the dish were probably the highlight of it all.
My mom was also disappointed with her food as well. The beef in her vermicelli (less) bowl was tough and bland so my mom followed my strategy of adding hoisin and sriracha. It was weird that her side of egg rolls barely had anything in it. According to the menu, it was supposed to be stuffed with ground pork, taro and other veggies but all we could make out in it was a hint of taro.
Oh and don’t get me started on the service… or lack of. My mom wanted to order a side of spring rolls since she was disappointed with their egg rolls. However, it seemed like they were hiding the entire time we were dining. We ended up walking to the front to ask to pay our bill.
I definitely won’t be returning here, especially since good Vietnamese food is easy to find in Seattle.