Pho Hao Bistro

Not impressed at all. This restaurant is doing Phở «on the cheap».
I ordered some bun with pork and a Thai tea with Boba.
It was disgusting. For parts coffee creamer one part Thai tea. It was almost white! I asked them to please redo it and bring me some with some actual Thai tea in it. The second one was better. Boba tasted a little old, but it was OK.
The bun was not great. I got exactly 3 shreds of carrot and three shreds of cucumber. The rest was all Jicama and two handfuls of shredded iceberg lettuce with the noodles and very thin sliced pork. If McDonald’s served bun, this is how it would be.
My friends got some bánh mì sandwiches. For $ 7.95 each, I expected more. Lee’s sandwiches make better Bánh mì sandwiches than this and for half the price.
There are better Vietnamese restaurants in the area, stick with them and don’t come here.

I really like this place and I’m picky about where I go to.
The customer service here is really legit. Some of the best I’ve received. Price for the stuff you pay is on par for what you get as far as quality and quantity. I order a banhmi combo and a chamoy and mango sorbet. This runs about $ 15. It’s pretty good. Banhmi in the phở broth… whaaaaaa you haven’t lived. And garlic fries. Again, quality foods go into this.
They’re traditional but they’re also modern and innovative with the dishes. Which kind of throws me off at times. I’ll figure it out later lol. I want to get the phở to go but I keep forgetting to buy a bowl for phở.
On their customer service. They try their hardest to please people and they care. They take pride in their business.
I also like the way it’s decorated. Pretty nice.

Very very disappointed this evening. The phở soup tasted like it had soap in it. No flavor, and watered down. The healthy chicken tasted like a spit wad. Yech.
I never like to complain or wish bad luck. But this restaurant really needs to take action and fix their phở. We are at Choc hospital a lot and usually look forward to get the phở instead of eating at the hospital, not any more. We are going to the phở at the mall it is much better.

Healthiest Vietnamese food I have ever had! You can taste the quality distinctly.
I am almost positive that I have wholly made the rounds and been to every phở restaurant in Orange. I can say with confidence that Phở Hao is high above the rest (and above many/​most of those in Little Saigon).
Oxtail beef broth, free range chicken, gluten free options, vegan options, no msg (or almost none, it’s tricky to tell– but being the kinda person who only shops at Whole Foods, Mothers Market, and Sprouts– I can tell that I do NOT feel crappy after eating here… like I do when I rarely and regretfully cheat on my dietary standards and try something subpar somewhere else)
I’d wager that most things on the menu would leave one feeling like they ate a clean, healthy meal.
Great staff, great cooks, they care about the quality of their product. Very friendly owners! They recognize me when I come in and are extraordinarily polite and friendly.
Wonderful ambience to the restaurant too; love the flower arrangements, artwork, and high ceilings!

Decent quality phở with friendly and fast service. My only problem here is that my order has been wrong a few times. I will order off onions and celantro and 25% of the time it shows up with them.
I am a huge fan of the large vegan/​vegitarian menu. The mushroom umami phở is awesome and I highly recommend it!

Got here at 9:45pm and the open sign was still on but when I walked in they said they were closed. I understand wanting to get out on time at a restaurant but at least top off the sign if you’re going to close early. Very disappointed!

Broth was too fatty. Server couldn’t understand me after thres times repeating a simple order. Fish sauce way too fishy. There’s enough places around to get a different phở. Don’t go here unless you want low quality everything… lemons were Brown even. Told server he said it’s the only kind they have… I guess they only serve rancid lemons with their fatty broth.

My husband and I decided to come here because we wanted a nice soup place that was near his work. Needless to say, we came out of there feeling pretty full and happy because their food pretty much hit the spot.
We ordered two phos with meat that we liked, spring rolls, and Vietnamese coffee. The food came out fast and was exactly what we’d expected when it came to phở. Also, their spring rolls, to me, was one of the best ones I’ve had in a while. What set their spring rolls apart from the other Vietnamese places I’ve been is that there’s actually an adequate amount of protein in them and their peanut sauce accompanying it doesn’t have too much hotness in them. This is good because I feel that most phở places make their peanut sauces hot to make up for the lack of protein from their spring rolls. I topped my lunch off with Vietnamese coffee and I was good to go!
My husband and I were totally impressed with their menu. Even though we didn’t really venture outside of the phở-​and-​spring-​rolls zone (we were not feeling too adventurous that day), I personally want to come back here and try some of their lemonades. There are not many Vietnamese food places I’ve been to with such and extensive drink selection. Also, their food choices are quite diverse. They do have a vegetarian section, which, although I’m not one, is good to have since I can take my vegetarian sister here. Also, they do have hearty entrees, appetizers, and plated dishes that looked delicious. This is not really an ordinary phở place.
The dining area was bigger than what I’ve expected and was quite cozy. I liked the pictures on their walls that depicts possibly the life for women in Vietnam. I do pay attention to those things and I found myself quite intrigued by it. I felt it was some sort of history or anthropology lesson. One of my close friends is like me in that respect, and I can’t wait to take him here.
My husband and I did enjoy the service, but I docked off one star because we waited a while for our check to the point where it became a concern. When we dined there there was not many people dining, so it was kind of questionable and not consistent with the service we received when it came to our food.
Nevertheless, I would find myself dining here again! This time, I hope to try other menu items.

Immediately greeted with smiles, a desire to server quickly, efficiently. Winter displayed a sense of servitude that was unlike other restaurants. Chef gave me a free shrimp sample. Typical start-​up restaurant behavior that should win them many more customers. Coming back and bringing friends.

I cant give 5 stars simply because i got it to go. The short time i did interact with staff they were super friendly. Now on to the food…
Its really great knowing they have vegan AND gluten free options whaaaat?! The vegan tofu veggie phở is amazing! Broth isn’t salty and still had amazing flavour. They also didn’t skimp on the veggies which is always a plus.

If you are the type to measure an Asian business’ success based on how many Asian people you see in the restaurant, this is NOT the place for you. Perhaps it is because of where it is located, perhaps not, but we were the only Asian people in there.
We got their avocado and mango spring roll. I have never had a spring roll this way before, so it was pretty interesting and refreshing.
We also got an XL phở with the kobe beef. We were told that it would be 40% more meat, broth, noodles, etc. It all came out separately, which is new for me at a phở place. Noodles were barely enough (it’s about the same amount of noodles you get in a regular bowl elsewhere), the plate of meat was okay, but broth was plentiful.
We got the kumquat thing for the Unilocal check in. It was good but really sweet. They ran out of the watermelon strawberry one, as well as Che ba mau (3 colored dessert). For reference, this was at noon time.

Phở Hao is managed by a caring family. They have a diverse menu that incorporates both traditional Vietnamese cuisine and American influenced selections. The medium rare New York steak with house teriyaki sauce was fantastic. Coconut Thai tea is always good here. Thank you!

I’m definitely not an expert in what makes phở good vs. great, but I think this phở is pretty great. When I had my tonsils taken out, I was here almost every other day for broth + noodles. I prefer the beef broth over the chicken broth. I like the shrimp + wonton phở the best. It’s light and hits the sick or hungover spot. Hehe!
The 2 missing stars are for the service, it’s inconsistent. I’ve been here lots of times with great service, but also really bad service. Sometimes you have to ask multiples times for the same thing, they don’t refill your drinks or they forgot a part of the order.
I keep coming back because it’s close to my house, easy and pretty delicious. However, they could step up their service game.

Went here for the first time last night for dinner. I ordered the Umami phở (vegan) and the veggie eggrolls (vegan without the fish sauce). When I arrived I stood by the door waiting to be seated. I just figured it was a typical Vietnamese restaurant where guests seat themselves. No one came to me for awhile so I just sat myself. A server walked by and I asked if it was ok. First she said «no» and then she said «yes».
Someone came in after me and they took his order first – NOT COOL since I’ve been waiting for awhile. Another server finally came by and took my order. I specifically asked if the veggie eggrolls were vegan and he said they were. When they came out it was served with fish sauce – gross. Anyway, it was easy enough for me to set aside. I tried the eggrolls and if they weren’t so pricey I would have set them aside too. Probably the worse vegan eggrolls I’ve had. I was really surprised since I’ve had a lot of good ones elsewhere.
The umami phở shouldn’t even be called «phở». There was no star anise flavor or aroma which is one of the key ingredients in phở. Plus there was garlic in it – what the heck? I was so confused. It was really expensive for what it was too. It has a lot if mushrooms which I love. Mushrooms don’t cost that much and rice noodles certainly don’t cost much either so I could only guess the reason why it was priced so high which is that they’re located in Orange by the mall & hospital. Who knows. Again, I’ve had really good vegan phở elsewhere so it was quite disappointing what I had here.
I understand that I’m going out to eat and someone is serving and cooking my food but the way some places inflate prices of vegan food is really lame and unnecessary. It’s uncalled for, really. I don’t mind pay an extra few bucks if the food is incredibly delicious but it was even good here. It wasn’t even hot! I also got the worse headache afterwards too which is a common sign (for me) that they use MSG. :(
It’s nice that they have vegan options here, but I won’t be returning. If I somehow end up here with animal-​eating friends then it’s cool that I could order something but it’s definitely not worth returning.
******Update: In response to the owner’s comment on my review.*********
While I appreciate his concern and apology for my experience, I’m concerned that even though there are vegan options, there is no integrity in the preparation and serving of it at this restaurant.
I’m pretty bummed out that non-​vegan food was served to me. If the phở broth was really beef, (which I don’t think it was because it didn’t taste like it) I’m pretty sad about that. I had veggie eggrolls so it definitely wasn’t chicken as he mentioned. They served it with fish sauce which I didn’t touch (well, only to move the bowl away as far from me as possible).
I’m not sure if I’ll be back even though I received a private message from the owner offering to make up for my bad experience. I just wouldn’t feel safe eating there. He did ask me to give him some notice if I return so that he can be there to assure everything is executed appropriately but that’s not enough for me to return. No restaurant is perfect but they should be consistent at the very least.

Super good phở and really large bowls. I got a mango icee dessert. The staff and owners are always on site and super tentive and friendly definitely will be coming back.

Amazing Phở. Best place in town. First time here and I have to it was not what I elected. I had the phở rear steak and it was bomb

So normally I go to Thang Long in Westminster or Phở Tasty in Artesia, but didn’t want to drive that far tonight. It was about 9pm & I live in Orange & looked to see who was open until 10 or so, close enough with decent reviews. I’ve been here once or twice about 15 years ago when I used to work @ the Good Guys. I decided to give them a try. I went alone & they looked confused when I walked in. I’m Caucasian.
I ordered a Phở w/​Shrimp, Beef Broth & Rare Steak.
Once the Phở came to me, I asked for Nuoc Beo. They lady was surprised. She was like, oh, you know how to say that? She then asked the Owner for Nuoc Beo & they repeated it to each other a few times. I was laughing.
Finally, the owner came by & asked if everything was ok.
The Shrimp was very fresh & decent sized & delicious I told him. I asked for a Thai Tea to go.
Once I was done & went to pay, he opened up to me & asked me what I like?
I said normally I’ll drive to Westminster for Banh Canh, but also like Hu Tieu.
He says, please come back, people drive all over to try out «Kobe» Ox Tail.
I told him, it’s interesting, because I also like that & just cooked Ox Tail for New Years with my family.
Sorry for the story, but this place is pretty good & the Thai Tea is decent as well.
I will be back for «Kobe» Ox Tail.

First time here and will definitely be back. My initial impression I thought it would be like every other phở restaurants. They had more variety of dishes and drinks. I ordered I Jasmine milk tea boba with their Monday lunch special Hot Pot Caramel pork, shrimp and eggs with a side order of egg rolls.
The milk tea was good. A bit on the sweet side for me but most normal people love the sweetness, lol. Their egg rolls were crispy and flavorful on their own I didn’t end up using the sauce at all!
The lunch special reminded me of my dad’s homemade meal. The pork was the star of the dish. It was so tender it was like eating ribs and the pork was like the meat falling off the bone. Everything was delicious and I’m looking forward to trying something new next time.

This place has some of the BEST tasting Vietnamese foods hands down!!! Do not hesitate to come here for your meal fix. The owner is truly a nice guy and cares for his diners. Both times I have came here, I always leave this place feeling happy & well fed! :-) So, a waiter messed up and gave us a regular bowl phở versus «X-​Large» for my bf, so instead of taking it back and adding more water/​noodles to fill it out, the owner offered us two regular sized bowls of phở which was a very kind gesture.
+Apparently the phở is healthier and you can definitely taste it here! It’s amazing how they managed to get the flavor still so delicious after taking out most of the bad stuff that normally goes into phở.
Drinks. The drinks here are really, really, really good. Especially the yuzu flavor drink, and their new drink «Summer Kiss.» Definitely not some cheap half assed drink, it’s so refreshing and yummy like candy :)
Oh and don’t forget to try to mango rice pudding dessert. It’s also delicious! 5 stars.

3 and a half stars is ridiculous. Don’t believe that false rating. A three and a half star place does not have the chef come out to give you samples. A three and a half star place does not use actual kumquats in their drinks. A three and a half star place does not offer a siracha sauce that’s both cool and spicy.
I had the Kobe beef combo that comes with rare Kobe, phở noodles separate from the soup, and the standard lime, bean sprouts and herbs. It was amazing to taste the difference between well cooked Kobe and lightly cooked Kobe.
This place is a hidden gem that needs to be tried before you believe the false 3 and a half star reviews!