Pho Bamboo

Smelled like sewage upon entering the restaurant. I read that this smell was there in a previous review, but thought that maybe they fixed the problem and it was worth a try. We left the restaurant immediately and went down the plaza to Saigon. Smelled great there and the food was delicious!

i had eaten at this place once before and it was good. i am not sure if there was a change in ownership because i did not not recognize the ladies that were working and the previous people were not there. the Phở was bland definitely not like it qas previously. i even heard them warming things up in a microwave. i will not return.

This place is not authentic nor good. Cha gio (egg rolls) are the frozen kind you can buy at the super market… Even the fresh rolls were not good… The meat tasted old too. I ordered the noodles and the meat just tasted liked it had been cooked and re heated… I asked if they changed the owner, they said same owner but different management? Because the old people left? I don’t know… But either way… It was not a good experience. Even walking into the restaurant I smelled a gust of mold in the restaurant. That should have been my first warning. :(

Very disappointed. We were excited to try this phở location and will never be coming back. Vietnamese imperial rolls were Chinese buffet egg rolls with no sauce. Bun Bo Hue had more fat than beef and the pork was canned. Our girls wanted chicken noodles but there was not a variety. We ordered the crispy rice noodles with chicken, they should haven softened with the sauce but they stayed crispy and hard. The chicken was good as well as the Vietnamese coffee, but that’s about it.

Great service and unbelievable phở in the traditional way for a reasonable price. Atmosphere is great. For those in McAllen that are looking to try something different that will stun their taste buds this is the place

Good phở. Good service. Very little to complain about. The beef phở was a little skimpy on beef and had more tripe and tendon than I would usually like but I think that can be fixed by request, so I expect to shift my rating to four stars on the next visit.
The atmosphere is pleasant and you are not squeeze in between tables so it is a good comfortable place for family or business lunches. Location is great and this would be a great place to grab dinner before heading to movies across the street.

If your not in a hurry this is the place for you! Only one waiter, but the food? Delicious! Great music as well! Great place to go if your waiting for your movie to start!

Very good food, very healthy. Good service, I’ve seen Viatnamese people eat here so it must be legit, also, music selection is the bomb. Feels like I’m back in Da Nang, getting some booty sweat.
But in all seriousness it’s great food and very healthy.

I hadn’t been back in about a year. As soon as I sat down I could tell it is under new management. The service was excellent, very attentive and friendly. I ordered the pork vermicelli and it was delicious. I would definitely eat here again.

Disappointing food! Great customer service! If I don’t mind driving 5mins longer and pay for mediocre food, I would definitely come here!
Bun bo hue/​spicy beef noodles soup tastes like bo kho/​beef stew, with no flavor of bun bo hue whatsoever.
Their snail bun rieu version has squid in it. WTH is that??? a mixed seafood version? NO! Just NO!!!
The $ 5 spring rolls were poorly executed. The rolls were loose like bowels after collard greens! With 2 half shrimps (yes, add up to 1 whole shrimp!), not deveined at all!
Last but not least, their black jelly drink is a can drink! I was looking forward to the real deal with coconut milk and all, but boy were they good at disappointing me!

NEVER COME HERE!!!
Before ordering I let them know I had a severe shell fish allergy, I was told it wasn’t a problem.
When my food comes about 20 minutes after my husbands it has a shrimp egg roll cut up on top of my dish. REALLY!!! When I told the server to please just bring our bill because I couldn’t eat the food she said oh ok and charged us everything even though it was their fault. When she took the food back we could here the wait staff arguing to just pick out the shrimp. Way to care about your customers!
Aside from that the Phở is watered down and not good at all. I asked for Vietnamese Iced Tea and I get iced coffee. This place SUCKS!!! We will not be coming back EVER!!!
Go To Xing Xing, on our way now!!!

I’ve passed by this place a few times and wasn’t sure if it was still in business or not since they just happen to be on same strip mall as Saigon. On the last occasion I was in area, the open sign could be seen so of course for Unilocal and my lunchtime meal decided to give it a try.
It turns out the place has been closed for about two months and it is now under new management according to the waitress. The ambiance is ambiance is definitely more appealing that its neighbor in same mall and has 2 tvs running as well.
I I tried the following orders, Beef Phở, fried rolls, and pork vermicelli. (Note preliminary order was pork chop and spring rolls, but alas that was no available) Impressions: The portions were big and hearty, the prices very reasonable, however I felt that the Phở bro was a little but watered down.
Overall, the place is good and hopefully gets better, I definitely plan to visit again in the future.

Weird business hours… closes 2 – 4? Majority of the menu items are not available and food was under par. Spring rolls not fresh at all and banh mi was okay. I had better. Nice décor, but that’s about it that is a plus.

This place need some serious help with keeping inventory readily available. Took me on my 4^th try to finally order something they had available. With all that frustration I was hoping the good would be good, but I was disappointed. The shrimp and pork in the spring rolls had a weird smell and taste and veggies didn’t taste fresh at all. The banh mi was okay, had much better ones. Only plus I like was they offered the 3 color mung bean dessert, Che Ba Mau.
Overall
Food ²⁄₅ can change if selections are available
Service ³⁄₅
Price ³⁄₅
Décor ⁴⁄₅

Really enjoy this place. Really like the imperial rolls for an appetizer. So far I’ve only had the BBQ pork sandwich, sorry don’t have correct terminology for it, and it’s Awesome! :-) If you haven’t tried this place, you must!

We stopped here for lunch on a Sunday around noon and we were so glad that we did. What a lovely little restaurant! It smells great the moment you walk in the door. The menu has several options; the prices are comparable to other restaurants; the servers were attentive and the food was quite good.
We started with the imperial rolls which consisted of 4 sizable, fried, Vietnamese-​style eggrolls served with a side of fish sauce, pickled (?) shredded carrot, and a pile of fresh lettuce and cilantro. The Vietnamese eggrolls have ground shrimp, pork, wood ear pieces and thin rice noodles and were quite good. For our meal we opted for the bahn mi sandwiches served on crusty baguettes — lemongrass pork sans veggies for BF and lemongrass chicken with all the fixin’s pour moi. Yum. Sometimes lemongrass can be a bit overwhelming to the point that it tastes like, well. .. furniture polish, but this was subtle and quite good. The sandwiches were bigger than anticipated (see the photos) and quite enjoyable, albeit a bit dry. I liked the chicken, but I thought the pork tasted even better.
I was curious about the phở broth after reading the mixed reviews so the waitress brought me a small sample. I am happy to report that it was quite tasty. Not the best I’ve ever had, but pleasantly fragrant and quite alright.
We will definitely stop here again on another trip to McAllen!

Just mediocre… called in for take out, but when arrived took them over 30 minutes on top of my 15 min drive there. Didn’t have my banh xeo because they said they ran out? Should of called me if that was the case. Phở broth was bland and had barely any hint of the phở smell (cloves, star anise, etc). Their spring rolls were horrible and peanut sauce was… I’m just gonna stop there. Oh and my ethnic background is Vietnamese just fyi.

So glad there’s an authentic Vietnamese restaurant in McAllen. Very friendly service and tasty food! Also, they have a bar and karaōke and live music on the weekends.

Went there expecting nothing as several restaurants at this location have failed. And what we got was not only a pleasant surprise but actually a big eye opener. Right here in McAllen a fresh concept of vietnamese cousine.
Our selections included:
Fresh Coconut Gelatin
Banana bread pudding
Mi Bo Kho
Imperial roll
chicken phở
Escargot (Sea Snails)
Everything delicious

Just had lunch at this newly opened restaurant and loved it. The Phở was excellent, among the best in the area.
The atmosphere is clean and modern and the service was superb!
Definitely have to check it out!