Pho Cali

Not a fan of Vietnamese cuisine, however this restaurant changed my mind. Usually, Vietnamese style restaurants are met with a sour staff, stale tasting food and no atmosphere.
PHO CALI was clean, wait staff was friendly and PROMPT! The food had plenty of flavoring and excellent texture. I highly recommend this restaurant when you’re in Reno. If you miss it, you’ve missed an experience!

We’ve been here before and they use to have this dry noodle dish that I would always crave for when I’m in Reno. I never really knew what it was called but It usually comes to mind when I look at the menu. I asked one of the waitresses to see if they can figure out what dish it was… but she said there has been a recent change of owner and the menu changed. But when I explained to her the dish. she pointed to one of the dishes and I have it a try. It was basically a dry noodle with soup on the side. The noodle was originally an egg noodle stir fried with a very tasty sauce. and the noodle is usually very wet with the sauce. This «new» dish was sort of dry and didn’t have as much flavor as it use to. Also they have the option to have it half egg noodle and half rice noodle and that is what I got. I thought it was ok. disappointed that it wasn’t as «wet» and saucy. Then chow mein that we got was pretty tasty and their broth was pretty tasty too; a bit on the salty side. But i would probably still continue to come here when I visit Reno. Phở is always good on cold days :)

The vegetable soup was absolutely delicious! Very flavorful and the veggies tasted very fresh. Reasonably priced, as well! I see myself being a regular here just for that soup. If you’re a vegetarian or vegan, I highly recommend it!

Good location, good broth, meh service. They were out of both orders we wanted which was grilled pork chops and beef stew so we had to order something else after we placed our initial order. I asked for a small plate for my kid but they totally ignored my request so I had to go to the kitchen and ask for one. Also, they wouldn’t accept my Unilocal check-​in offer of 15% off because she said it was a «holiday weekend.» She told me to save it for next time. I’m not sure if I will return for a next time. The location is ideal though as it is right outside of Circus Circus, Silver Legacy and El Dorado.

Came here to get away from the hotel food in Reno. Had the Bun and Chow Fun (they have a mix of Vietnamese and Chinese food) and both were quite tasty. Also had the Cha Gio which was delicious. Service was acceptable and prices very reasonable. Also gave us 10% off with a Unilocal coupon.

Good food especially the specials. Things you can’t order at any other restaurants in Reno. Only problem is the service is slow. Trying them out again. Hopefully they get their service up to par.

The Phở was so delicious and price is reasonable. And they have a really good BUn Bo hue

Great atmosphere, service and food! Easily my new favorite place in Reno for phở. The spring rolls were fresh and delicious and the phở tai bone broth was thicker than most and some of the best broth I’ve had. Will definitely be coming here when I’m in town.

It was weird walking into such a huge space, with so many tables, and not one other customer in the entire place.
UPSIDE: We got our pick of where to sit! LOL
I don’t understand why it was empty though… the server was extremely sweet, and the food was very good. I was a little disappointed that they didn’t have any Boba though (I had been looking forward to trying the Avocado Boba drink they advertise), but I ordered the Rare Steak Phở and Spring Rolls with extra Peanut Sauce, and it was all delicious.
I don’t think I would go out of my way again, to go here… but if I were downtown and wanted to go somewhere good for lunch, Phở Cali would be on list of places to go.

This is a regular stop whenever I come to Reno to get away from California life. The place is clean and service can be hit or miss. The Phở broth is much better than at Golden Flower down the street.
Restaurant is clean and can get busy since it’s right on the downtown casino strip.

Horrible service walked in got seated quickly, then waited for over ten minutes to have someone come back to take our order. We tried to flag down the waitress twice and she literally looked at us and turned around and walked away the second time. At which time I decided we were not going to wait anymore, grabbed our stuff and left, they didn’t seem to care at all we were leaving. I would not go back again or recommend it ever.

I wish that I could give negative stars because this place would be minus 10 stars! The service was absolutely horrible. Not only did the waitress get our orders wrong TWICE and make us pay for things we didn’t order but not once did we get an apology for the inconvenience. Aside from the HORRIBLE service the food was disgusting. The phở was bland and tasted like dishwater, the vermicelli had the WORST meat that I’ve ever had and it was very suspicious looking to begin with. All in all this was one of THE WORST experiences I’ve ever had in a Vietnamese restaurant. I recommend anyone who respects their tastebuds to STAY AWAY!!!

Phở Cali is really yummy. Very fresh and I thought the service was great.
The fresh rolls were good, we got the tofu variety… there are lots of cool items on the menu, so we will for sure be back soon!

Oh wow, a new replacement phở restaurant. I just remembered Phở Country 2 being here the last time I was in this area. I was downtown on business and though, well, OK, let’s give this new place a try. I did like the Phở Country in Carson and that used to be the same owner in Reno but was sold, so I was curious to see what this one was gonna be like. I’ll have to say the neighborhood is not the nicest, but that’s downtown Reno for ya. But compared to downtown Oakland, not too bad really. I’m staying at the Circus Circus, and this is right across the street more or less.
So I go in and am seated. I see the menu is like many phở Viet restos, with all the same combos. This one offers Chinese food as well. For some reason, I just felt like getting chow fun even though this was a Viet phở resto. So that’s what I ordered. I’ve had chow fun so many times I can’t remember, so I do know what good chow fun is supposed to taste like. This one was just OK. It lacked the wok seared flavor so essential to a great wok noodle dish. The noodles were a little dryish like not cooked or rehydrated all the way. Most restaurants in the Reno area used dried rice noodles and soak them to rehydrate then cook. Fresh rice noodles have a short shelf life in the fridge, so it’s not feasible to keep fresh rice noodles on hand or have it delivered daily. There might be some high end place that does, but this ain’t one of them. No fault to the restaurant, it’s just location and demand, cause I’ve had some good chow fun in the Reno area before. I guess the lesson might be, if at a Viet phở resto, order Viet food and phở. My food was not bad by any means, just decent OK. The service was fine as it wasn’t super busy either. I might only come back if I was right in the downtown area.

This is only the second Vietnamese restaurant I have tried in Reno but it is so much better than the first place I tried. The server was very friendly. Seated quickly and our food came out quickly. Ordered the hu tieu Tom cua and bun thit nuong. The fish sauce was perfect on the bun thit nuong and the pork was fresh and flavorful. The Hu tieu had very fresh tasting ingredients but not a ton of flavor. Definately worth eating at if your in Reno. Directly across the street for Circus Circus

Great spot for fresh Vietnamese near Circus Circus. My friends got the phở which looked delish and they both said it was tasty. I first judge a Vietnamese place based on the freshness of phở add-​ins… The basil, limes, jalapeños and bean sprouts. I ordered #42, a bun noodle dish served on a square plate rather than in a bowl. Amazing! Service was quick and if I lived/​worked in the area, would def be back.

One star for service, 3 stars for food. Came in 2 separate times in the day, since it is the closest non-​casino food. The first trip it was at a lunch hour, so a wait was expected. There were so many empty but dirty tables. They did not have the man power to quickly reseat people. The employees look extremely confused, and don’t seem to know what their role is. Once seated after a long wait the food was average, but it came out relatively quickly. 2^nd time that day around 7pm the restaurant was basically empty. One of our parties dishes did not come out when we were almost finished eating, we asked about the status and the waitress said it was being cooked. We asked again in another 10 min and the order never went in. The waitress had to much pride to apologize for the inconvenience or acknowledge her mistake. For the food: the phở was average; not good, not bad. They go very light on the beef. One person at my table asked for the bean sprouts to be cooked– they didn’t even do it even though they said that was fine. The rice plates had a giant side, the grilled beef and chicken was good but small portion. Overall experience was poor under the new management, I’ve gone to this place before the new management and it was a wait, but it was better overall.