Pho Reign

Here’s the story leading up to why I went here:
I wanted to go to the ramen place down the street (forget what it’s called but it’s next to Tofu Ya) but of course it was packed with a huge line (a line of hipsters no less. The bf adamantly refused after seeing that). Not wanting to wait we walked around trying to find somewhere else to eat. Not seeing anything we liked (the bf doesn’t eat sushi… sigh…), we randomly saw the sign for this place (and yeah the name… oh the name…) and decided phở is always a safe choice and while it doesn’t taste anything like the ramen I craved it was still noodley soup.
Like others have said this place is tiny inside. There were a few tables outside that night but they were all full and we decided to sit at the bar. Pretty standard options on the menu but not as diverse as other phở places. I went with the rare beef phở, the bf with the chicken, and we ordered a spring roll appetizer. I thought the rolls were really good. They were big and fat and stuffed with beef and shrimp with a good sauce. They were too big for chopsticks so we ate with our hands (classy I know).
As for the phở, the bowl is a little on the smaller side and they don’t give you a choice of sizes like other places do. They were a bit skimpy on the noodles as well. I thought it tasted fine but yeah, a little less rich and flavorful then I’ve had at other places. We ended up dumping a lot of hot sauce into it to perk it up (but no Sriracha alas!). I would go with the beef option over the chicken as well. The chicken was various parts of the chicken that I do not particularly favor (think cartilage and chewy bits like that) but the beef was great.
Overall, I was toying between 2 or 3 stars as the service was fine and I did not enjoy the rolls but yes, the phở itself is lackluster. I’d give it a 2.5 but we’ll push it to 3 for the rolls.
And what did I see when we left? Why an uncrowded ramen place right next door! Dang it…

Best Phở EVER! Best spring rolls EVER! Good coffee too. Not your traditional Vietnamese place. LOVE it!!!

$ 8.50 for flavorless phở? Naw, no thanks!
My coworkers and I have been searching for phở on the westside so that we can sate our phở appetites, but this is definitely not the place to do so. The broth is nearly flavorless. I was surprised by the lack of selection as well.
Honestly, I don’t really see how this is a Japanese take on phở. It’s more like a tasteless take on phở. Regardless, it’s not worth it.

Not feelin ‘da love!
I like the fact that Japanese are trying to put a spin on Vietnamese food. But it’s not happening!
Tried this place since I’ve eaten at most of the other restaurants on the Sawtelle strip. Nice effort. Not executed great. But service is nice n attentive!
The phở Tai and brisket was a nice effort. For $ 8.50 for the small bowl, I could’ve gotten a HUGE bowl from Phở 79, with a better flavor profile.
The Fried egg rolls were, at best, fair.
Appreciate the flavor, but let’s leave the Phở to the Vietnamese.
It’s definitely worth a try for those trying to eat healthy…

Bad food, worse name. It hurts my brain just thinking about it.

Japanese take on phở. Well, more like a phở place owned by Japanese people?
Or something?
Portions are a little smallish, the pork spring rolls have a pork sausage in them instead of the sliced pork expected (odd, not very tasty), and the phở just isn’t quite right. Portions are a tad small, broth isn’t quite flavorful enough, the brisket is a little overdone, and the phở choices are limited. They offer seafood phở, but no tripe?
The vegetable phở, strangely, is somewhat appealing as it actually is loaded with vegetables.
Service is there when you ask for it. If you don’t, the waitress never shows up.

Let me break it down
Environment: 1.5÷5. this place is incredibly cramped, my girlfriend and I could barely fit our food on the table. The store was extremely stuffy which is terrible when you are eating hot soupy food like phở. The one up was that the bathroom was clean.
Service: ³⁄₅ though our waitress was friendly, we were the only ones at the place and she forced us to sit at what felt like a 1.5ft by 1.5 ft table, I asked to sit at one of the larger tables (I’ll admit that they had reserved signs, but absolutely no one was there for the duration of our meal) she refused.
Food: ³⁄₅. I had the rare beef phở (²⁄₅) The broth was good, however, the portions were ridiculously small for the price of 7.50 and I counted 4 pieces of beef. I also tried the bbq beef, shrimp, egg roll bun which was pretty tasty (⁴⁄₅)
Lastly I have to knock it down a star for authenticity. It just didn’t have the feel of a real phở place, not somewhere that I would want my first bowl of phở.

Mediocre food, AWFUL service. Don’t bother coming here.
Heed the other reviews. I am Vietnamese and grew up eating lots of Vietnamese food, and this place is not good.
I should have trusted my first impression when I walked in. The place is pretty cramped since the kitchen takes up just about half of the space. There were maybe 6 – 8 people when we walked in, but I noticed that two of the tables hadn’t yet been bussed after the end of the meal (e.g. all the plates and bowls from the last meal were there).
The waitress took our order shortly after we came in, but everything after that was down hill. It took them over 10 minutes to bring us the water we asked for, and we waited almost another 15 minutes for our food. I was so confused because I had ordered the bun cha gio (vermicelli noodle with eggroll) with the beef and shrimp and I saw them throw the shrimp and beef onto the grill right after we ordered. But after waiting so long, I figured it was for someone else’s order. Nope. That was my proteins sitting on the cutting board for 15 minutes getting cold.
This is the sequence of events when we finally got our food:
1) My Girlfriend got her phở.
2) The couple who came in just 5 minutes before this get their phở.
3) 5 minutes pass. Waitress comes by, still doesn’t notice that I have no food.
4) We have to walk over to the other end of the kitchen, and ask one of the chefs if my food is ready.
5) They finish my bowl and hand it to me over the counter.
Our waitress gave us our bill while we were eating, that was the last interaction we had. Not even refills on water. My beef and shrimp were cold. The cha gio was under seasoned. And I think I got more lettuce than vermicelli.
If you’re desperately craving Vietnamese food and can’t drive a little further, be prepared for the worst. Do yourself a favor and call ahead for pickup because it seems like they’re willing to cook food for the pickup at the expense of their in-​restaurant customers.
Terrible experience.

Going to Sawtelle for phở seems like a questionable call given the decent ramen and exceptional sushi on this block. But sometimes I just crave the ritual of phở: the perfume of basil as it wilts in the broth, dunking thin slices of beef into the bean and chili sauces, and chasing them with soft rice noodles.
Phoreign is the kind of place that self-​appointed food experts love to bash for not being traditional, but it’s a fine spot for Westsiders too lazy — or sensible for that matter — to brave the traffic to Westminster on a weeknight.
The rare beef and the shrimp and BBQ beef are both pretty good, as are the egg rolls. Despite the many complaints about the price and portions, they’re both acceptable.

This place is gross.
Their phở is terrible, I know because I’ve tried making phở myself, and it turned out horribly too. Fortunately for me, my phở was still better than this.
They did a good job with the presentation though. I’ll give them that. But is it just me or do the servers look miserable here?

I’m not understanding some of these negative reviews. Did we all eat at the same place here?
Firstly, anyone claiming that because the staff is Japanese they can’t make proper phở, well, congratulations… You’re a racist!
Secondly, it is true that the portions are a tad on the small side but they are large enough that they should fairly easily fill up a normal sized adult human.
Third, if you used the word «overpriced» to describe this restaurant then you are probably… homeless? If you think $ 8 for a filling bowl of phở is expensive, get a higher paying job.
For those who know authentic phở because they grew up in Little Saigon (never heard of such a place, I suspect you all made it up), well all I have to say is that you’re coming off as pretty hoity toity over there!
But enough with the rebuttals! I think the phở here is just dandy. The broth has nice flavor and the cuts of meat they use are really good quality. Like surprisingly good. It is small, so come on off hours if possible. Either way the cook and the waitresses are all nice people and will do their best to make you comfortable while serving up a tasty bowl of noodles. And I’ve had phở made by Koreans, Japanese and Vietnamese people so I am triply qualified to weigh in on this debate!

So as far as I know. there are only 2 phở places here in Santa Monica area. phoreign and phở 99 on wilshire… we decided on phở reign today. and being from westminster aka little saigon… this place is little bit americanize…
the amount of noodles they give you is adequate if you are a light eater but c’mon.if you having phở. you need more noodles…(note: 6’2 220lbs here)…the quality of the food is good but its a higher on the price side but what do you expect… we’re in West LA not westminster…
but if you want enjoy some phở and maybe sit outside and enjoy the sun and some nice eye candy… give this place a try at least once…

Having the make up of a ramen house, with the bar and kitchen to the right and to the left a narrow walkway where folks are seated, this place serves up a greasy bowl of phở. My bowl came with the regular sides and to their credit the beef slices were very good cuts. However, they need to skimp the broth better and let it simmer longer to avoid letting it become too greasy while leaving the flavor uninspiring and flat. Portions were small and expensive. This might be a 2.5 star phở place for the west side, but the price definitely knocks it down to a final 2 star rating. Nice premium beef but the broth could be much much better.

Japanese run Phở.
Could be a really good idea — but I don’t think that this particular iteration worked well for me. While certainly edible, it wasn’t phở done in a particularly vietnamese sort of way.
My bowl of phở’s noodles actually were still clumped in the broth. The portions of vegetables was a far cry from the traditional vietnamese portions. The flavouring was decent, but somewhat sweeter than I’d expect.
Décor is mediocre — efficient bar style, without any real flourishes.
I guess I don’t feel any love of food here… so, I didn’t love the experience at all…
If it were in Cleveland, I’d go again. It’s in LA –
You do the math…

Overpriced, Small Portions, Great Service (but who goes to a restaurant for service and no bueno food?) I had to eat two portions of phở just to get a bit full And that’s forking about $ 20 to be full off of phở? which usually should only cost no more than $ 6.50
Try Pho99 on Wilshire if you live on the westside and crave phở, but I recommend going 14 miles to china town and getting cheap, delicious, large portioned, authentic Vietnamese food instead.

Not exactly memorable, but the phở here is not bad. It’s much better than a lot of the phở around here (UGH Mr. Noodle and Noodle Planet…). The Banh Xeo was done wrong wrong wrong wrong. Traditional banh xeo needs to be crispy and possibly brown. It was all yellow and soggy. Also, they put the bun barbeque meat in. Wrong. Usually it has mung bean (which it didn’t have), shrimp (it had), onions, bean sprouts. It was so wierd to have sweet barbeque in it. I’m okay with leaving out mung bean tho as I don’t like it. Also they gave us rice paper to roll it with. NO Wrong! You’re supposed to wrap it with lettuce. Sigh. Sad… I’m just a Banh Xeo fanatic I guess.
But their phở was good and their spring rolls were mediocre.

Being broke, I tried the spring rolls and bun sao.
The spring rolls were rubbery and oversized. The rice paper is usually a good indicator of how long it has been sitting out or in a fridge. It told me that these were definitely one of the two.
The bun sao (sorry if i’m spelling it wrong) viet crêpe was ok. Nothing special. The rice paper that came with that was also old.
Bottom line is, this place is definitely overpriced for the quality of food here. It is even overpriced for drinks. No way am I paying 2 dollars for a can of coke. I am not one to be fooled by presentation and I definitely was not impressed.

I used to come here every weekend with my bf, but after last night’s experience, I will not be coming back.
First off, I ordered take out. The girl on the phone did not speak very good English. Is it just me or do people who live in the U. S and work here need to learn how to speak English? I dont have high expectations, but if I have to keep repeating myself over and over, it does make me very irritated.
How hard is it to understand PHO!!!
Anyways, drove up to the valet and went to get the food. My order was ready, but they didn’t really understand that I was there to pick up my food. I had to do hand gestures and shit. WTF?
So, for 2 phos and 1 order of egg rolls, the total was $ 21.60. Pricey huh?
I get home and we dive in cuz we are starving.
WHAT THE FUCK? 2 – 3 pieces of beef per bowl. OMG. Yeah yeah, I know this is Japanese run, so is that why is it is $ 7.50 a bowl and I only get 2 measly pieces of beef? WTF.
So. I am eating the egg rolls and guess what I find in it? A green piece of shit, which I will assume is a piece of a sponge that you would find in the sink!!! OMG. GROSS. I was so disgusted at that point, I threw down the half eaten egg roll, and ran to the sink to rinse my mouth!
Bottom line– if you are craving some authentic PHO, you sure as hell aint gonna get it here.
2 stars just cuz I have had decent experiences there before.

They do just such a good job here with the food presentation. There are only 2 food pix posted by another Unilocaler so you can take a look.
When you see the food come out, it’s a feast for your eyes — all these vivid & vibrant colors from an array of vegetables, rice, meat, rolls, etc. When you see your dish — you can’t but be eager to dig in. It really does a bang up job.
But when chopstick comes to food — you are like what the deuce?
The food presentation overcompensates for the food. The food while good — don’t get me wrong — is incongruent with how it looks. You would expect your tastebuds to be saturated with different textures & flavors combining into the quintessential bite — but ehhhhhhh !!!
This is a small restaurant (I’m talking probably less than 10 tables inside) & it does have a small outside patio. Options. =)
For a small joint like this — you would expect the food to be cheaper but i’d say an average lunch here including tax & tip with water as your beverage — $ 12?
The phở here is average. You are better off ordering one of their rice bowls.
* * *
Just went back today for funch and woweeee, that was my last time period.
The phở is just ridiculously bad. The soup tastes like from an instant soup mix but not as good~! I’ve been sick so I wanted to have some soup today and man… I couldn’t even finish the soup — that’s how bad it is. (Consider this is coming from a sick girl whose tastebuds are sick as well) You know that’s bad. Also, how do you mess up noodles? Even their noodles sucked. I had 3 bites at most of the crap noodles. Just so so sad. When I left it, it looked like — it hadn’t been touched. The phở ga (chicken phở) is $ 7.50.
The $ 12.95 combo plate comes with a small bowl of phở AND rice, huge fat chicken skewers, salad with mango? like dressing, and spring roll (which we substituted with a summer spring roll). The chicken skewers were undercooked, pink, rubbery. The summer roll sucked and had beef in it?
All I can say is — I have never left so much uneaten food at a restaurant in my life.

This is a Japanese run restaurant that happens to serve Vietnamese dishes, so you have to adjust your expectations accordingly– you’re not gonna get an truly authentic bowl of phở here.
Unfortunately, though the Japanese X whatever ‘fusion’ idea works often times, this is not one of them, and despite my lowered expectations, I’ve been very disappointed both times here. The phở was uninspiring, limp in flavor. The bun likewise, despite the wealth of ingredients, was surprisingly lacking in much flavor. And what flavor it had didn’t conjure up Vietnam, that’s for sure. Or Japan for that matter.
The décor is nice and they’ve made good use of the limited and narrow space to accommodate quite a number of people (thanks to the long counter, mostly). And they *are* trying (interesting and not-​your-​typical things on the menu, for example). For these things I wanted to like it and give 2 stars. But, the execution of the food is just flat.