Pho Kien Giang

Best phở in St. Pete area, for sure. Friendly staff and food comes out very fast. I wish they would work on their spring rolls… the dipping sauce is weird and the rolls themselves aren’t that great… also the egg rolls are wayyyyyy too drenched in oil (but delicious) lol. If not for those 2 reasons I would give a 5 star just for the phở.

Everything was great. Ive eaten a lot of Phở, and they didnt disappoint. Food and price were excellent.

I love the chicken phở here. The broth is real chicken broth and the chicken is the walking chicken. This is the most delicious chicken phở I’ve eaten in USA

I have to admit that the restaurant looks kind of dingy, BUT don’t be fooled by its exterior. The phở here is AMAZING. I always get Phở here. The broth is rich and reminds me of home. The plate of vegetables is also very fresh. Truly authentic Vietnamese food! I thought the portions were huge, especially for the price I paid. I also ordered a Thai Tea which was really good as well. This place is my go-​to for Vietnamese cuisine in St. Pete.

We wanted to like it here, but we won’t be back. The service was pretty stellar, and we got our food in just a couple minutes after ordering. We ordered the spring rolls, which were pretty fantastic and fresh. However, the peanut sauce was so thin and flavor-​less. It took away from what could be a really good appetizer.
My husband tried the rice vermicelli with pork and egg roll. The egg roll he wouldn’t even eat. The pork tasted burnt, and he said the sauce was bland.
I had the phở ga. The broth was pretty bland and flavorless. The chicken skin was so gummy and the chicken meat was chewy.
There are many better places to get Vietnamese. We will not come back here.

Stopped by for lunch today (Sunday) and it was so crowded I waited for about 15 minutes. When I was finally seated they were very apologetic and once I ordered they insisted that they will not charge me for my spring rolls for being so patient. Now I don’t know about you, but I would never expect that considering how busy they were. I ordered the #10 phở, 2 spring rolls, and an iced coffee. My entire meal was excellent, it I guarantee you I will returned again & again.
Do yourself a favor and pay this place a visit if you’re in the area. You will not regret it.

In town on business and needed a phở fix after a few days of bad (but tastes so good) eating.
The storefront isn’t much, but that’s deceiving. Inside is clean, we’ll lit and well laid out. Staff was friendly and efficient. Lots of different items on the menu in addition to phở.
Phở had great flavour, but not as much protein as I’m used to. But to be fair, it was also $ 2 cheaper than the one I get at home. I got the small serving and it was enough for me. The large serving looks to be almost double. There are 2 bowls on shelves on the wall so you can decide quickly.
Was slightly disappointed in the fried pork egg rolls. Slightly overcooked and really quite oily. Looking past that, it seemed to be pretty good. Chicken wings looked awesome, but I didn’t get any. No way I could have eaten that too in addition to what I already had.
Will definitely eat here again if I’m back in town.

I had to see what all the hype was with this place since this is supposedly the best phở in the area. The only thing I care about when it comes to phở is their broth. I love me a clear broth. This place did not disappoint. The broth was clear and flavorful. They had a variety of meat in their special phở, which is what I ordered. They had the usual condiments for your phở but they gave lemon instead of lime. I guess the price of lime has gone up again is what we were told. Still a good place for phở.

Really enjoyed my first meal there last week. I’ve never had Vietnamese food before so it’s hard for me to say whether it was truly authentic, but I will say there were many Vietnamese there eating so that should tell you something.
The portions on their soups are HUGE. And it will take a good half hour just to get it down because it comes out piping hot and there’s so much to eat.
I had the Bun Bo Hue and fresh spring rolls. Both were excellent. There are blood cubes in the Bun Bo Hue and I had never tried them before. It’s a bit of an acquired taste probably, but I will get that again and see if I can acquire it. :)
The soup was spicy – right on the edge of being too hot (for me), but the flavors we so well balanced in the soup that I enjoyed every bite.
Spring rolls tasted very fresh to me. I’m quite sure they had just been made.
They seemed to be short handed that day (all the men were waiting tables and clearing them, etc. and I heard one of them say to another table there were «no waitresses»). But my order didn’t suffer. You could just see that they were hustling. There was a slight delay in noticing and then seating me (2 – 3 minutes) but I was not bothered by it since I could see they were moving fast to keep up.
I’ll definitely be back!

The food here is great but don’t come here if you expect to be served. I came here on a Friday night and they were packed. But my party of 2 was promptly seated after they cleared a table for us.
I ordered the large Bun Bo Hue and was glad I did because I finished it with no problem. Opt for the bigger bowl as its only 75 cents more. After we got our food, no one came to check on us or to refill our waters. My spring rolls I ordered as an appetizer never made it to me. But I wasn’t bothered by this as their Bun Bo Hue was delicious. The broth was the perfect balance of sweet and spicy. I will definitely be a regular here.

The phở here was pretty legit, comparable to what one would find on the west coast or in the DC area. The broth was rich, the portion size was huge for the price, and they included a variety of beef cuts in the bowl, including a beef hoof in the phở dac biet. The latter was something I had never seen in a phở before, so that was pretty interesting. The bean sprouts and basil were fresh, which was a plus. We also ordered a caramelized fish, which took a bit longer to come out – we were warned about this but it didn’t really take that much longer. The fish was uniformly caramelized all around, so every bite was tasty and savory, which was tempered well by the rice.
There are some concerns about service by other reviewers, but honestly they were friendly and nice enough to us, bringing everything out in a timely manner. It was certainly better than the lack of service commonly found at a lot of other Vietnamese restaurants, even those with highly rated food.

Best Phở in the Tampa Bay area. After looking for a good Vietnamese restaurant in the South Tampa area to no avail, I happened upon PKG after weekend training with my Army Reserve unit nearby.
The spring rolls were pretty standard as far as taste is concerned, but the peanut sauce was sort of weak and bland. The Vietnamese tea was fantastic however and the Phở was amazing. It comes with a pretty heavy plate of sides (bean sprouts, lime, basil) and fresh sauces. The flavor is rich and hearty with a hint of sweetness. I prefer mine spicy so the mild sweetness complimented the spice nicely.
If only we could get a place like this in South Tampa. My girlfriend and I love it here.

IMO the best phở in Tampa Bay.
—– Positives —–
Freshness: What separates PKG from other Vietnamese restaurants is freshness of their phở toppings — bean sprouts, Thai basil, onion, and lime. Most restaurants the toppings look a few days old so oftentimes I’m hesitant to dunk them in the soup. That’s not the case at PKG. Bean sprouts were perfectly white like Carrie Underwood’s teeth; Thai basil was perfectly green like a leprechaun; lime was perfectly lime green… umm… lime was lime.
Broth: Phở needs no introduction. Their Bun Bo Hue, however, had distinct flavor that I’d never had anywhere else. It was sweet (rather than spicy) and refreshing… almost artificial, ramen-​seasoning like flavor. It was different in the nicest way possible.
Portion: I went with the large portion because I’m a man. I was warned that large is really phở-​king large. Dude, I don’t want no baby phở… hit me up with the man-​size one. For extra 75 cents, it’s really a no brainer.
Value: Large, tasty phở for under $ 9. It’s a winner.
—– Not So Positives —–
Service: Servers were nowhere to be seen once the entrées came out. My water cup was not refilled once. No one came over asking how the food was. On top of that, they forgot to bring out the egg rolls that we had ordered. We reminded them of the forgotten egg rolls at the end of the meal, so we ended up getting them to go instead.
Reading other reviews here, it appears a couple of Unilocal Elite members received a 15% discount for a 30 minute delay. Umm, hello? Our appetizers never made it to the table but we didn’t even get an apology, let alone a 15% discount. What is this, Unilocal Elitism?
Egg rolls: As mentioned above, we ended up getting egg rolls to go and eating them at home. These were meh… The «peanut» sauce that egg rolls came with were some watered down, bootleg sauce.
Location: Located in a dimly lit strip mall. Leave your Hermes handbags and Rolexes home. Take your beater car, not your weekend sports car.
Despite one small mishap, PKG tops the list in my book. My opinion on best phở in Tampa Bay:
1. Phở Kien Giang
2. Phở Cali (Sarasota) — Good but pricier than PKG.
3. Phở Quyen (Tampa)
4. Saigon Deli (Tampa) — Broth is too sweet for me.
5. Bich Nga (St. Pete) — Just so you can say you’ve been to Bich Nga.
6. Bamboozle (Tampa) — Meh. Overpriced.

Honestly, probably the best phở I’ve had in St Pete so far. There are a ton of Vietnamese restaurants in the area, but this one will probably be my go-​to unless I find a place to top this.
When you first walk up to the restaurant, it is located in a shady looking plaza, but can’t judge a book by its cover. Once you walk in, there is definitely an improvement in the interior compared to the outside, but nothing too fancy.
The food here is delicious. The wings are crispy, the phở is probably the best broth I’ve tasted in the area. Bun Bo Hue, had an authentic taste and included everything you’d expect it to have, pigs feet, blood cubes, yummy lol. Forgot to mention that for only 75 cents more you can upgrade your bowl to a large. This bowl is gigantic and well worth the 75 cents upgrade!
The service could be a little better. I feel it is lacking, a little slow, and unorganized. A few times, I suppose a table that came after me, ordered the same appetizer that I did and received it before me. I believe its because the mixed up who
Overall, delicious food, service could be better, but it is my favorite place for Vietnamese food right now. Definitely recommend it for people who want to eat phở.

If the term hole in the wall had a face it would be the exterior of Phở Kien Giang.
Seriously, this place looks like somewhere you might get car jacked, but the interior is a tad bit nicer. It kinda feels like an old diner, like on the 1970’s TV show Alice where Flo might tell you to kiss her grits! The lighting had that familiar old fluorescent glow, the chairs and tables were wrapped in that old 70’s-ish red vinyl and the table tops were dressed in floral sheet linens topped with a protective glass cover. Spotless would be a pretty accurate description of the cleanliness of the interior.
Service here was lightening fast! I don’t think we were seated more than 5 minutes before our phở was steaming in front of us! While my wife and elder son were a little phở’d out, my youngest son and I decided to spend a day together touring three Vietnamese restaurants. This was stop number two. We didn’t know it at the beginning of out adventure, but Tampa phở is undeniably sweet, much sweeter than we are accustom to back in Atlanta. Today we also visited Saigon Deli and Tasty Phở and found the phở here to be the least sweet of the three.
THE FOOD
Meatball Phở (3.25 stars) | $ 7.75
The phở itself was a little better than average. What I didn’t like were the quality of the bean sprouts. They were fatter than I’m used to and tasted earthy. Solid choice but not as flavorful as I would have liked. The meatballs were your typical processed globes.
Coconut drink (2 stars) | $ 3
Not what we were expecting.
FINAL THOUGHTS
I met a girl when we arrived that said Phở Kien Giang was her favorite place to eat phở in all of Tampa, primarily because the others are just too sweet in her opinion. While I would definitely agree with the sweetness factor, nothing about this phở would draw me back here for a second visit. They’ve got great ratings, but to me the taste was just slightly north of average.
Out of the four Tampa area phở’s we tried, I would say Bamboozle Café had the best broth, Tasty Phở gave the best overall experience, Phở Kien Giang was third and Saigon Deli was our least favorite (much too sweet).
²⁰¹⁶⁄₈

The inside is spacious, spotless, and friendly. But, you’ll never know if you judge this book by it’s cover. Hidden in a scruffy strip mall, with a unassuming sign, a single black door, and a dark window adorned with a sunset scene and neon letters spelling «Ope» concealed behind the darkly tinted glass, you might not want to venture inside.
But, I’d recommend you take a chance and head on in. It’s a huge well-​lit establishment ready to serve up some tasty phở! I think I was the only non-​oriental patron but it didn’t stop me nor should it you! Our gracious server brought out our summer rolls and Vietnamese iced coffee to drip deliciously right at our table. Then, the «small» bowls of phở which were more than enough to feed us! I took half of mine to go for later!
Word of mouth or word of Unilocal is the only way you could find out about this! But, with 81 reviews and counting and 4.5+ stars, clearly some very trustworthy Unilocalers have already made their statement and I’m quite late to the party! Perhaps the only other way to find this place is the yet-​to-​be-​released FindPho app…
Finally, let’s discuss the name. Is the correct pronunciation similar to a «fxxcking gang»? I was afraid to ask so I’m truly not sure. Please clue me in! Anyone?

The Phở Kien Giang is a large Vietnamese restaurant can seat many people. The inside of the restaurant has booth on the wall then the rectangular table in line. It almost like the beer garden.
We were here because of Thao review and the Unilocal Top 100 restaurant. This will be number 22 restaurants I have try in the list.
The have good selection of phở including the raw beef soup that you can add into the soup by yourself. We were here to try the Ban Hue noodle soup and their unique specialty caramelized fish. The noodle soup is spicy soup base the slice beef, pig blood cube, pork shoulder and flank beef slice. It was great and they good enough.
I like the caramelized fish. It has brown sugar to cook inside. The fish is cook with fried pork skin fat then added the brown sugar sauce. They are very sweet but it go well with the rice.
We wait the food for 30 minutes but the restaurant make it up with 15% discount due to the delay. I like them to treat the customer fairly.

We arrived there late around 9 pm. The place was still very busy. I ordered No 38 Bun Bo Hue. it’s a spicy beef noodle soup with pork hook and blood cube. The broth was flavorful but seemed not spicy at all. Plenty of thin beef slices in the bowl plus I added all the cabbage and bean sprout. Overall, it was a big bowl of tasty noodle soup. The price was very affordable. When we paid the check, the manager gave us 15% discount. He apologized for the food came out late because there was a big order ahead of us. (the wait time was about 25 minutes).
I praised that the management recognized how important the customer services is. Good food, good services, the customers will keep coming back for sure.

I have always love tasty phở which is not to far from my house. It was one of the places I have gone with my boyfriend. We decided to go today to Phở Kien Giang tonight to change it up and at first the front doesn’t look appealing, mainly ye parking lot. Once you get inside it is restaurant like many Vietnamese restaurants. They seem to have the same taste.
We got to choose were we were going and we decided to sit in a booth. At the time we came there were not many people there. The waiter was very attentive to our needs. I had decided to get the phở with beef and I was very happy with it .
They have many options with the phở Whig is good because normally I get the baby phở because the regular one was to big. The portion size was big but not too big that I couldn’t finish. I was proud of myself. I love the flavor of it.
I like that by the time we were half way through the meal the place got busy even though it was close to closing time, there were locals and Those that always go there. It made me feel that his place was legit with the true authentic Vietnamese cuisine.

— Short Synopsis —
The place is in a sketchy, worn-​out looking strip mall, but has a nice, clean interior. I have had better authentic Vietnamese in SoCal, but this is one of the best Vietnamese restaurants I have had in the Tampa Bay area. There are some odd (not so Vietnamese) things, but a great overall experience.
— Summary —
As stated in the short synopsis, the restaurant is located in a small strip mall and the exterior of the strip mall looks old, worn out, and maybe not so nice. Once you get inside Phở Kien Giang though, the building transitions into a much nicer and cleaner restaurant interior.
My girlfriend, who grew up in a Vietnamese influenced family, and I ordered spring rolls and egg rolls to share. I definitely enjoyed the spring rolls and the peanut sauce over the egg rolls and fish sauce.
The egg rolls were more like chinese eggs rolls that are filled with mainly vegetables and eaten as is. I am use to Vietnamese egg rolls having more protein, being more crispy, being not chopped up, and having lettuce leaves for wrapping.
Onto the entrees, I ordered the Phở Dac Biet and really enjoyed it. I put in all the toppings (bean sprouts, herbs, limes) they provided, except the spicy peppers. It was tasty and one of the better phở’s I have had in the area. The taste of the broth was a bit more subtle and lighter than I am use to in Southern California, where there are areas with a large proportion of Vietnamese people and authentic Vietnamese restaurants.
My girlfriend ordered the Com Tom Dac Biet (broken rice special). The sunny side egg and (oily) Chinese sausage were a little random for a Vietnamese dish; regardless, it was yummy and we enjoyed it.
We were able to have some leftovers to take home, so the portions were good.
The differences in what I was use to in a Vietnamese restaurant did not really detract from the overall experience much; I look forward to bringing friends and family craving Vietnamese to try this place.
I would recommend coming here for Vietnamese cuisine if you’re in the Tampa Bay area.