Hoa Ky

This place has great phở and the Imperial Roll is amazing!

I ordered the #7 which was the beef phở. The broth wasn’t very flavorful. The herb platter was disappointing because it contained 2 – 3 tiny sprigs of cilantro, 2 thin slices of jalapeño, and a small lemon wedge that had little juice. There was no basil or mint. I prefer lime over lemon. I’ve had way better phở than this.

A staple of Millbrae over the past, say 8 years. A place for quick, simple, solid Viet food around here. Don’t think too much of the décor, but you shouldn’t be spending that much time here. Orders usually come out as fast as reasonably achievable (which is pretty damn fast).
The phở is decent. Simple, but solid, broth with standard noodles that sometimes get a little soggy a tad quickly. Overall pretty decent with whatever meats you get. Nothing out of the ordinary.
My favorite rice plate is #42. A large slab of grilled pork chop that’s slightly fatty and greasy in the right places (pretty tasty) and never dry. Mix this with their fish sauce concoction, rice, and sriracha for optimal amounts of flavor (or just my preferred method of eating). You have to cut up the meat and get around the bone, but I consider this working for the prize (which I am fine with). Also comes with some egg drop soup which is decent.
Don’t come here with expectations of grandeur and out of this world food. It is what it is. A solid place for quick good food. I come here relatively often and that probably won’t change anytime soon.

This place is great. We got two bowls of phở for 7 bucks each! The chicken in my phở wasn’t very good but everything else was very good. Very nice people and quick service.

On a cold and/​or rainy day, the chicken soup phở hits the spot rich with carnosine to fend off the flu. It comes with the chicken skin, but it’s still a clean, clear, and tasty broth. The large bowl is worth the $ 7 — $ 8 that you pay for some good comfort food.
Service is fast with high turnover. There are a few phở places in the area in case you don’t want to wait in line. Parking is ample with the nearby public lot if you can’t find any on the street.

Bad food. Bad service. Stay away. Cigarette pieces in your food. There are much better places to give your business.

Bf and I have tried the #1 and #44. It was okay not as good as I would expected, based on the reviews. The Phở’s broth is a bit bitter and sweet for me.

My regular spot is Saigon City San Mateo, always consistent (no i dont work for them). Thought I would try something new. Not a good idea.
Pickup.
the BADS:
The beef they use for the combo phở was cheap low quality. 90% fat 10% meat.
A pile of fat I just could not eat. Low quality. So depressing.
Got my order wrong, shorted me 1 phở out of 5 i ordered.
Ordered large but compared to other places they are small.
the GOODS:
none.

Excellent phở at reasonable prices. The number 1 (special combo) and number 15 (beef stew w/​egg noodle) are my favorites. Got a sweet tooth? Try the 3 color drink to top off a nice meal.
*we often order two number 1’s and can feed a family of 4 for 20 bucks.

Ordered a Phở Beef noodle soup xtra large. Good serving and amount of beef. Would be satisfied if serving of meat will match the size of the bowl. Soup is tasty and ok. Will come back for sure.

We just got off the plane at SFO & were craving Vietnamese without the craziness of the city. It’s an easy drive from the airport and Millbrae is darling! I had no idea. Parking was easy.
The restaurant has a diner like family restaurant feel and is clean & uncluttered. The place is built for efficiency with the menus were under the glass of the table and utensils, napkins etc are on the table.
The family were efficient and hard working and great characters. They made me wish I lived here so I could be a regular and know them. They were busy.
Not being used to the Vietnamese diner thing we were a bit disoriented by the menu. My Honey ordered what he thought was a cup of won ton soup and a lunch plate of chicken fried rice. The woman pretty much just rushed away after taking his order without getting my order (which I guess is okay since I hadn’t quite had the menu figured out.). Honey raised his voice to call her back (she is a kick-​I really like her.). She got my appetizer order for Spring rolls and rushed away. I figured it would work out even though I hadn’t really ordered.
Out came a cup of hot & sour soup (who ordered that? It was mediocre) and a plate of mung bean sprouts, basil and cilantro (which IS why I go to Vietnamese.) Then came a HUGE bowl of won ton soup enough to feed both of us for the entire meal. The savory sausage in the won tons and the soup in general was good!
Then came a PILE of fried rice to cover the table which was not bad but nothing to shout about either.
The spring rolls came next– 3 BIG rolls with shrimp and beef, great consistency for the rolls and the dipping sauce was fair. I’d tell you if it was bad. I missed the fresh cilantro, mint basil in the rolls although they were good (and I did eat them all) they were not the powerful fresh that Vietnamese cuisine has come to signify in my mind.
Overall, a good meal and I’d definitely go there if they were in my small town, but with the amazing choices of restaurants in this area, I doubt I’d return there.

Simple viet food. Most of the time it’s good for the soul. Fancy can get too tiring.
I had the Charbroiled BBQ pork over rice. $ 8.05. It’s very well seasoned. Don’t expect a thin flat out piece of meat. This is done differently. It’s ribbons of pork. Still thinly sliced. It sat on top of white rice. A small serving of salad and some sauce came with it.
A small cup of sweet and sour soup came first before the rice plate. Portions are enough. I went home with about half of the order.
They take cc. No minimum. That makes them alright in my book. At lunch during our visit– the regulars seem to patronize this place. I totally get it. Tasty. Cheap. Great portions. Fast service.

Expensive for bun rieu $ 8.75 and the ingredients not so good (pork, tofu).
$ 6.75 for the rice paper roll was good. they give you 5 – 6 pieces.

«Seafood no,» says Grumpy Cat.
There’s something funny, and not in a ha-​ha way about their seafood.
It tastes fishy and not fresh.
Yes, it’s a moderately big bowl, but it’s lacking in flavor and the shrimp needs to be deveined.
Too much imitation crab and fish balls, when what I really want are more noodles.
Skip this place and go to the Phở place down the street instead.

You come to this place once and you will become a regular. I’ve been going here for over 8 years now and I can never have enough. Their food tastes good and fresh. They are family owned and I used to plumb for them, their kitchen is very clean!
Order this and become addicted:
— Hot n Sour Soup
— sweet red chillie chicken wings
— # 34 with chicken instead of pork
Bomb!

Staff is nice. The food is good. This used to be my sweet little lunch time treat. Unfortunately, it seems like they’ve raised their prices a few times within the past few years. I literally just got used to forking over $ 8.88 for lunch BBQ pork vermicelli. Since last week they’ve raised the price again to $ 9.64 :(
I can’t frequent here as much as I’d like to because I feel like I’m getting ripped off. With that being said I still come here because the food is consistent and tasty. If the prices were lower like they were a few years ago I would definitely give this place more stars.

Don’t eat Vietnamese in Millbrae if you can get it in San Jose… If it’s the last resort, especially a night partying and being hung over… then settle for this.
The people working here were all Chinese! They were speaking Chinese. I then already knew the food was going to be okay. We got a bunch of things, the phở, hu tieu, hu tieu mi, fried chicken, popstickers, It was all okay. My hu tieu was very plain, broth was meh. Nothing special. Seafood in there wasn’t the best either, but decent. Nothing stood out to be amazing. Good cure for hang overs.

Come for the inexpensive food stay for the imperial rolls. The iced coffee isn’t bad either.
I order 39, 40. that both come with the house soup and rice. One is five spice chicken the other is beef stew over rice. both excellent and filling. Not authentic but the food I like a lot.

My goodness, the food here is so good. The prices are great — every dish we ordered was under $ 10. If you don’t know what to pick because you’re not familiar with the names of dishes, the menu will help. Tons of photographs. Just point and pick.
For sports fans, there are TVs situated around the room. Service is fast and attentive.

The imperial rolls were dripping with grease. It was dripping with each bite. Not a fan.
Had the Shrimps in Garlic and Ginger Sauce Over Rice which had a deceiving name. There were about 5 shrimp and I couldn’t really taste any garlic or ginger. There were just a lot of julienned vegetables and kelp. Wasn’t impressed.
They forgot our spring rolls, but when we cancelled, she merely said, «yeah too much food for you». (actually, it wasn’t. we just didn’t have time.)