Phonomenal

The food is really good. The restaurant is clean and nice. This is my 4^th time and I will definitely be back.

Great service but pretty small menu. We were attended to and given excellent service even though the restaurant was nearly closing. I really enjoyed having a late dinner here with my family. Also the phở and rice plates are reasonably priced and will have you full!

This place is awesome, beef soup fresh and taste. I came all the way from Mountain view. Great Vietnamese cuisine. Definitely come back.

Great service. Parking was easy. Food was good. That is about what I am looking for. Soup was hot and noodles were cooked perfectly. I would go here again, no problem. Phở is kind of a weird thing to have in Pinole, so people might not know what it is. But it is actually not weird and it is good.

I hate to give this place a bad review because the owner was extremely friendly and sweet. My husband and I got two orders of the ribeye and flank steak phở and the shrimp spring rolls. We are frequent eaters of phở and usually go to a place in Richmond that’s delicious and highly rated on Unilocal.We decided to try this place because it’s closer to home.
I did read the bad reviews about the meat being too rare and that they didn’t like the broth cooking the meat. Being a frequent eater of phở, I knew that was normal. When I ordered, I was surprised that ribeye meat was one of the listed meats for phở. Now I know why it’s not a normal cut of meat. It is bloodier and bleeds out a lot. It made our whole broth red and you could see the red tint which was off putting. We still tried to eat it. The meat had tons of fat and tendons. We didn’t order it that way. Overall, it wasn’t a good experience. The spring rolls were tasty though. Like I said in the beginning, the owner was so charming and sweet, so giving a bad review is hard.
Hopefully, they improve this problem and stick to the traditional cuts of meat for phở.

My family and I had dinner here this past Saturday because we were craving Phở and didn’t want to drive 15 – 20 minutes to get some where we usually do. We thought we’d try it out and we were pleasantly surprised.
When we first walked in, I thought it smelled a little funny (like cleaning products), but it may have just been me… There was only a table of 2 in the restaurant, so we were seated right away and given menus. The service was quick and friendly and the food was well above average! The portions were pretty fair and everything came out super hot. We liked the broth a lot, and that they had egg noodle as well. The egg noodle seemed a little thinner than what I’m used to, but it was still good and had a nice chew to it. My mom’s pork chop dish was also very good. It wasn’t greasy like other places, but it still had a lot of flavor. I wasn’t really a fan of the egg rolls we ordered as an appetizer because it was very mushy on the inside, so I wouldn’t recommend it, but everything else was a hit. The thai iced tea was delicious – it was just a little small for how much it was.
We’ll definitely be back.

Went here to try the Pork Deli sandwich. It is a sit-​down place (w option for take out) that is right next to Tinas Place in quaint downtown Pinole.
Pros: Inexpensive (pork sandwich = $ 4.33), Yummy! — as far as Vietnamese pork sandwiches go, I give it an 8 out of 10. Large enough to be a lunch or a light dinner, great service (frequent refilling of waters), hours (open late (as far as Pinole goes) most nights)
Cons: didn’t try much else on the menu so I can’t really comment

Tried out this new phở spot in town because I was craving their deli sandwiches. The sandwich was ok, nothing to rave about, and I’ll stick to Lee’s sandwiches.
I ordered their ham sandwich which is what I believed to be the regular combo, as I was told. My ham looks and taste like tofu, and there was no pâté in it, and had sliced tomatoes wtf.
I was told it would take 10 mins but took longer than 20 mins. Not a big deal, but I’m not impressed with the food either. I don’t think I will be returning.

Needed a Phở fix and I live literally 4 mins away.
I called a To-​Go order in of chicken phở. I picked it up within 10 mins, noodles were hard, broth was literally luke warm, and pretty much flavorless. Not so sure I’d be coming back ever which sucks because it would be nice to have a phở restaurant in the area :-/

So this place is near my house and I’ve always passed by this establishment. I’ve heard so many bad things about this place. I had to see and try it for myself. Let me say if all fairness, this is a clean and comfy place to eat.
Now let’s get to the food. I ordered the house special phở. #5. I have heard that the broth had no taste, noodles were hard and undercooked, and many more. I have to agree with the noodles being slightly overlooked. I always try the broth before I add anything to it. I though the broth was ok. It wasn’t great, just ok. Maybe a little more seasoning. The meat and tendons were good, but the meat balls were awful. Hard and had a very strong flavor that was distasteful. I wanted to spit it out but didn’t want to be rude. It was like trying to swallow down cough medicine as a kid. Overall the phở was just Ok.
Let’s get to the customer service. This is a very small place, which means maybe a little more interaction with your customers. Check up on them and see if everything is alright. I got greeted, seated, and served. THAT WAS IT! I finished my cup of water long before I had left the place. I was there for about 30 minutes. At about my 10 minute mark of being there my cup was already empty.
I gave this place two stars based off the cleanliness and the mediocre taste of the broth. I left a $$ tip in the table just because I didn’t want to look like an a**h0£e. But if it were only not frowned upon to not tip, I wouldn’t have.
Please encourage your staff to be more engaged and make people want to talk about this place in a POSITIVE way. I definitely see potential.

Disappointing. Service was very very slow. We ordered egg rolls and they came out cold. We ordered 2 drinks and they came out wrong. We asked for 4 waters and they brought 2. The phở itself was ok. As my husband was finishing up his bowl, a girl came to clear off the table next to us and sprayed cleaner all around and it landed over our table and into his phở. Fail.

I’ve gotten food here multiple times and every time the service is great. The workers are kind and the food comes out quickly. We always order a rice plate, fresh spring rolls and phở, but the phở is almost always lacking. Considering phở is in this place’s name I think it should be much better than what they provide. There are always waaay too much onions and the broth isn’t very flavorful. I ordered chicken phở and literally all I could taste was onions! The rice plates and spring rolls are always great though, haha.
The interior is small, clean and inviting. I usually order take out, but the phở containers they have are poorly insulated and my soup is always warm/​cold enough for me to need the microwave by the time I get home. I live about 3 – 5 minutes from the place.

I was left slightly disappointed with Phonomenal.
Service was lacking and slow (though they were nice!). It took them a while to take my order despite the place being fairly empty, and they didn’t bring water until the end of my meal. Small things, nothing to get mad at though!
Phở portions were meager. However, the broth was pretty good and in general it was tasty.
The shrimp spring roll was lacking in content. I guess I’m just used to the standard spring roll having both pork and shrimp. Since the shrimp is halved, there was literally only 1.5 shrimp in one roll. I was expecting at least a little more shrimp to make up for the decreased protein content.
I’d probably come back to try it again someday, but I’m in no rush.

Went today with my friend. We decided to share the pork sandwich and pork vermicelli noodles and a shrimp spring roll. The bread on the sandwich was much harder than the usual bahn mi I’ve had in the past at other great places. The meat portion was very small but the veggies were good. The pork itself was very fatty and grisly not my favorite. The noodles didn’t have much flavor. The shrimp rolls were tiny compared to most places. The service was good and very clean place. Thought I’d end on a good note. Just not going to go again. Our bill was about 22.00 with no tip added (we did leave a tip) and that included one lemonade.

I am SOOOOO happy about having such a delicious phở place so close to home! I came here with a friend and ordered the first beef phở option on the menu. I didn’t know what to expect as I didn’t even Unilocal the restaurant before coming here.
Food comes, and it was absolutely scrumptious! It was a cold, wet day so a nice warm bowl of phở really hit the spot! The beef was so tender, not hard or rough at all! The broth was flavorful but not overwhelming, and the staff was very sweet!
My friend ordered a small, I ordered a large, and we ordered a pork sandwich to split. Turns out small is the perfect size as the large portions are very generous! I couldn’t finish it and therefore, didn’t get to try the sandwich :(
Total was under $ 25 including a Thai iced tea! So worth the money. Give this place a try, it’s really phonomenal.

They aren’t rude right away here like how other phở restaurants are and they are attentive. The flavor of the phở broth is really good too. Their menu is very simple though with only the main popular Vietnamese dishes so don’t come here if you get something other than the usual like bun bo hue. Their rice plates also don’t come with the little bowl of hot broth like how other restaurants do. BUT this is one of the cleanest phở restaurant I’ve been to so I give them that.
It was kind of annoying with our to go order tho. We dined in but had let the waitress know we were going to order something for to-​go as well. Asked if we should order it now (while ordering our food to eat there) or order it after so that it will still be hot when we leave. She told us to just order it at the same time. We specifically asked her and requested to not make it or pack it until later or when we’re almost done because we want it to still be hot when we bring it home in which she agreed to do. And of course they know you’re almost done eating because they don’t hesitate to give you your check at that time. But as we’re paying and they give us our to-​go order, the broth was cold. So we asked for a new one and she just told us to heat it up. THANKS!

Pros: love the name! Looks like a family business which I care about since my family also ran a business in the past when I was a kid. There were two young girls working the register and the dining area while couple adults were busy in the back. I appreciate hard working people that take care of their family while providing joy to their community. That said,
Cons: they said 20 – 25 min so we got there 40min later just to make sure we wouldn’t have to wait, but when we got there one of the girls said they were just starting on our order. It took another 15min for a total of nearly an hour. Our kids were hungry and needless to say so were we. No big deal… as long as the food was good. Nope. Just mideocre.
We ordered —
1. Combination PHO large. Soup was not filled up to top. Left at least 1 ½inches empty and we ordered a LARGE for a reason but instead we got an amount equivalent to a small. The rare meat was too uncooked so the blood from the meat was dripping down drenching the rice noodles on the bottom (yes, we understand that it is «rare» but we have ordered rare throughout our years in the past at several different phở restaurants so we know).
2. Combination BBQ pork, chicken, and grilled shrimp. The good thing was the girl on the phone was kind enough to include chicken when it originally just comes with pork and shrimp (of course you get less pork instead). But the BbQ pork slices were messy because it had been BBQed on a messy grill… burnt black stuff all over the meat. Chicken was dry like it had already been sitting out all day as well as the rice. Overall, except for the 2 pieces of shrimp, everything about this dish was not fresh and felt more like a left over.
3. Egg rolls. I expected traditional egg/​empirical rolls that have meat and tasty and chewy. Disappointed. It’s actually one of those rolls that come complimentary with lunch menu items. Just veggies and plain.
It was actually our first time since we are new to the area. We would definitely give it a second chance to help support our local family businesses, but not until we see some exceptional reviews about changes moving forward.

It’s an alright Vietnamese place.
Not a huge selection on the menu, but place is clean cozy.
Ordered the vermicelli bowl and regular phở. My mom liked the noodles but portion was very small and both didn’t have many ingredients. Where is all the meat!
Spring rolls were good. But wished their phở was as «phonomenal» as advertised!

Broth of the soup was generally good, but it was very greasy/​oily/​fatty. The layer of grease on the top was more than any phở place I’ve been to. The broth also had a hint of, I think, clove in it (?). It definitely had an extra spice I’ve never tasted in phở before… may have been cardamom or nutmeg… if those spices are regularly in phở, it was in greater quantity here, and definitely much more present.
The restaurant itself is small and very tidy. It’s a nice place to sit.
Service was quite all right.

Phonomenal? Hardly.
Okay yay hooray Pinole has a phở restaurant now woooo we so asian now okay now get over it. Phonomenal is cute and punny, but I could care less if the phở was bland. And that’s what it was here.
The meat here was not up to my standards. They weren’t up to my friends standards. If the meat was up to your standards, then I’m judging you. Harshly. It was beyond tough. Like I really had to grind my gears just to get the meat down. Broth was pretty plain and ordinary. Noodles were super hard and clumped together. Like I had to manually separate this huge ball of noodles that was just apparently plopped into my bowl of phở, or else it probably wouldn’t have gotten cooked all the way.
Barely any veggies were given. Felt like we were given a one person sized portion when there were two of us. I was grabbing my normal amount of bean sprouts, and all of a sudden I realized that we didn’t have any left! Also, kind of a small complaint here but where was our little side dish for the sauces? How can you be a phở restaurant and not have this?
Anyways, definitely going to pass on this spot. Next!