Kim’s Vietnamese

Came here for lunch and they said no more Phở. LOL. They open for lunch only and they make just enough phở each day. Once they sell enough, they go home. I wish I could work like this.
Even if Wayside Noodles phở, two blocks down the street sucked horribly, they at least feed their customers.

Giving only 3 stars because I was expecting REAL Phở like Hoa Viet or Saigon. If I only went for the sandwhiches, I’d give 5 stars. Beef Phở was good. I judge my Phở by the broth before adding anything to it. This one, nothing special. Not all the options as far as ingredients that I am used to. Lots of green onion gave a nice flavor.
Service was quick.
Has seating for 21 people. Saying that because their were 21 chairs. As far as comfortable seating, I can’t see 21 people fitting in there unless you don’t mind bumping elbows and rubbing chairs with others.
If you work in the area, good spot if you are in a hurry.
The rice plates looked good, but didn’t try them.
I would return, but probably just to get a sandwhich or maybe to give the eggrolls a try. If I really wanted Phở, I would go somewhere else. I read the bowls were HUGE. Only one size. Not the HUGE bowls I thought they were going to be, but for 1 person, good enough.
Somewhere for some really good Phở in a really HUGE bowl and cheap, New Saigon Bay on Stockton near 47^th.
Located on J and 10^th, so expect a «variety» of people coming in and out and hanging out on the sidewalks.

My go to place for Chicken Phở. If you’re looking for something else, then this isn’t your place. Literally only about 11 things on the menu. Also have a great Vietnamese sandwich.

Their banh mi is good for being located downtown. I like the cucumber addition. The portion is really big for downtown food wise. I like that they gave me extra jalopenos with no charge. The cashier is really nice too. I hope to try their phở since everyone talks about it.

Kim’s definitely makes the BEST phở in Sacramento! Maybe even the best phở I have ever eaten! There is only one size bowl of phở and it’s HUGE. It almost takes up the whole size of the tray. They make chicken or beef phở — I always get beef since I love beef meatballs. The bowls are filled to the rim with broth so be careful stirring up your soup so you don’t splash yourself with hot broth! The amount of meat and noodles are perfect and pretty consistent every time I have had it. The menu is very limited, but you really just need to try the phở. I tried the banh mi once and it was good, but a little too bready for me. The eggrolls are delicious and also HUGE! The eggrolls are thick and meaty — no lame cabbage filler! Kim’s definitely doesn’t skimp on their food portions. The lady at the register (Kim??) is always very nice. There is a sign behind the register that says to-​go boxes are 25 cents, but she always gives them to us for free when we need to pack our leftovers. Maybe they only charge when you order to-​go? The only downside about Kim’s is that they aren’t open on weekends and close early on weekdays. Their phở is sooo good that they probably don’t need that extra business!

I came here on a Friday, around 11am, before the lunch crowd. The place was never really packed, but they had lots of people placing orders to go. There isn’t much seating so I guess people ordering to go is a good thing.
I ordered the rare steak phở bowl. It’s probably one of the best phở bowl’s I’ve had. Best in Sacramento I’d say. Very tasty.

Tiny little place on J st with a tiny little menu. Just about perfect! I’ve been coming here for years and have always had wonderful, fresh, soup served quickly. The only problem is that this place is so small and so busy that you have a very hard time finding a seat during lunch rush. Come early or late and no problems.

The only thing I have ever gotten from here is the chicken and shrimp soup which I refer to as phở, but it’s probably incorrect since it’s not beef. SO good and I wont stop! get there before noon because it gets packed, especially on cold days. cheap, tons of food, and fast.

This place was not bad! Great food, fantastic prices and they are quick! Definitely a great lunch spot of your work downtown and need to be in and out plus want a delicious meal. I’ll defiantly be back! Glad i found this place.

This is my first time here. My BF always tells me it’s good, but he’s never taken me. Today was the day. Not too hot out so they had the doors open. The place was packed. We were thankful that the guys in front of us took it to go so we got the 2^nd to last table. The menu is small so I quickly picked beef phở. I’m not a fan of beef balls, but it sounded better then chicken phở. We got our water and took our table and the food quickly followed. The phở also came with sliced beef, now that’s more my style. I ate it all. The bowl is huge. I barely made a dent. They gave you a plate of bean sprouts, basil, and jalapeño. I ate 2 of the 3 and though it was good. I also added a little hoisin sauce.
I would come back. The place was small, well organized, fast service, tasty food, reasonably priced, and clean.
I’m not sure where you’d park if you drove, but everyone walks. Thus parking isn’t an issue.

I’ve tried 3 different things here so I think I have enough information to leave a review.
First was the pork Vietnamese sandwich. my only complaint was that the meat was a lil fatty for my taste but other than that the flavors were great and the quality of veggies was good!
Next beef noodle soup. the broth is so flavorful and it’s deep flavor not like they just threw a bunch of basil and ginger in! Again the beef was pretty fatty but I know that’s where a lot of flavor comes from!
Today it’s chicken and shrimp noodle soup. no complaints here I love everything about it! Also with both soups I didn’t even make it ¼ through before I was full and I think I ate about half of the sandwich and in all 3 cases I continued to eat more because I just wasn’t ready to stop eating it!
Like has been said don’t go during lunch rush other than that I highly recommend!

At first glance, it seem to be a hole in the wall sort of a place. It was pretty busy around noon and there wasn’t enough seating in the front. So we got lucky and found a place in the back room. If you’re looking for style, I would have to give it a D but from what everyone was telling me to try their speciality, yes the Phở «Beef Noodle Soup». When the order came, the soup was serve in a hugh bowl almost the size of your bathroom sink. There was shreaded shank beef with a few beef balls. The noodles served was white rice noodles, seems ordinary with most Vietnamese restaurantss. Garnish came with when served was white onions and green scallions. Typical side garnish they offer were: Basil, Lime, Jalapeño and bean sprouts. Optional: Sriracha sauce.
Now I was ready to taste. At first, you can really taste the beef in this soup and the unique flavors and aroma fills every taste buds your pallet can take. It was a little more salty than others I’ve tasted but you can’t beat the flavors it produced. I finished off the soup leaving about two cups of broth and a few pieces of strains of noodles. I completely domished it. The only thing more would be a few more beef balls please. In conclusion, I would highly recommend coming back very soon, especially on cold days. great job Kim’s.you did Phở right! 3.5 Stars!

Small hole in the whole that seats maybe 12 people, simple menu. But really, the gem here is the banh mi sandwich. Quick, easy, tasty, choice of teriyaki chicken or pork for about $ 5. Many customers got big bowls of phở, or grilled meat with rice plates, but I wanted to grab and go.
Located right there on J street, so parking can be a chore, but if you work in the area, it’s perfect to walk to. They are only open during lunch times as a lot of small places downtown are. Give it a go!

Although the veggies were fresh and the rare steak portions in my phở were generous, my meal was ruined by a crazy transient who reeked of vodka whom was allowed into the restaurant after having a run in with the police outside.
Aside from that I have an allergy to having citrus with chocolate. Shortly after leaving and having eaten nothing else; my palms began to itch intensely and then became very swollen. I squeezed lemon into my phở. There must have been an ingredient used in chocolate in the hoisin sauce or in the making of the broth.
Not only is it very difficult to find parking, but the space is tiny and if there is air conditioning; it isn’t utilized. I’ve had better phở and needless to say I won’t be returning.

This hole-​in-​the wall is a few blocks from the courthouse and beats getting fast food while on jury duty lunch break. It’s across the street from some dilapidated J Street buildings and next to a corner burger joint. Basically, you could miss this alley width restaurant if you don’t have your eyes peeled. The pros: the serving sizes are huge! The service is super quick. The Phở sides: basil, sprouts and jalapeños where fresh and generously served, as well. This closely seated lunch spot, gives you the homey feeling with no fancy-​anything and a dirty ceiling fan spinning above your head. I typically like these type of restaurants as they produce some of the best dishes. If you like fine dining or lunching, this isn’t the place for you! The cons: the noodles were a bit mushy. Is it only Italian noodles that are to be cooked al dente? Phở is high in sodium, but I hate having an after taste of sodium.
I eyed other people’s dishes and the mixed veggies with chicken over brown rice looked fantastic. And the customer appeared to be enjoying his meal whole heartedly. Next time I’ll try a Bahn Mi, as I’ve seen some good ratings on those!

Solid, inexpensive food. Not WOW. Not even close to disgusting. Very good for lunch. I’ve had their ramen soup and their bahn mi. Both are good. I especially like that they taste like I expect them to taste unlike, for example, the bahn mi at Star Ginger.

for right now i will give it a 3.5 not to a 4 star yet til i try my other stuff on the list.
Today was a windy day and i was cold and i was hungry and i was in midtown and i wasted to trap something hot but not sandwiches but not ramen and some how i wanted some phở. phở just sound so comfort. so i went on Unilocal and guess what kim viet food popped up and here i go walking there to try the chicken phở since i am a phở ga fan.
so this is how this place work. you walk in and go straight to the register and look at the menu and order it and then pay. i promise you it won’t take long to decide because the menu is limited and small and easy to choose its either a noodle soup or just sandwiches. in my mind i already knew what i wanted to try so i chose phở ga.
the phở ga arrived shortly about 5 mins after i chose a table and sit down. the seats are limited here and is small and not recommended for large groups. they open at 10 am til 3pm. i came here at 10 am and they were open and ready to go. they had about 4 customers while i was dining there and observing how busy they get because from previous reviews they get pack around 11 isn to 12 with state workers. my total cost me 9 something under 10 bucks. tipping is not required since you pay first and they don’t give service but drop the food off to the table.
ok so now lets get to the phở ga which is chicken noodle soup and is what i ordered. it comes with shrimp but i request none inside. ok the bowl was a good size for the amount paid. it was more of a medium to borderline of large size. there was plenty of noodles inside and lots of chicken pieces inside. the chicken is mixed with dark and white meat.
now let me get to the taste and texture. the chicken is steamed and it was very tender and not overcooked but it was well done. the chicken pieces were lightly salted or marinated because when you eat the chicken by itself it tasted lightly salted with flavor. this is how i usually make my steam chicken.
now the noodles were the white kind and it was just regular phở noodles. the noodles were stuck in a pile til u gently remove and spread it out with chopsticks.
the very first thing i taste was the broth and it was so sweet. i already knew this holy phở broth was spiced up with tons of MSG in other words sodium. the broth was more on the sweet side than salty side. if its sweet its means more msg. i knew that afterwards I’m going to be very thirsty from msg and need bottles of water. and as I’m typing this review from 6 hrs later my mouth feels dry and dehydrated and needs water. i didn’t like the sweet taste to the broth so i asked for the hot chili oil to cover the broth up but it didn’t help. so overall i thought the broth was too sweet and not the right flavor chicken broth i have tasted from other places such as phở any dao on stockton blvd. now phở any dao got some good chicken broth and thats what i call good and not sweet like here.
i will come back and try the beef noodle soup in the future. maybe its just the chicken broth made that way. some places i have tried the beef and chicken broth is cooked differently and yes it taste different. i do like the convenience location of this place and is nearby everything and my hangout spots as well. the price and portion is fair. i am willing to try the beef noodle in the future like i said. if its the same as the chicken phở then i won’t return. but i already know better downtown phở won’t be the same as the phở on stockton blvd which is way better.

My newest food obsession is the humble banh mi sandwich. The café in my building serves one that I am crazy about, but I thought, working downtown, I should check out other places before I declare that this one is The Best.
First up: Kim’s Vietnamese on J. Pretty consistent reviews, small menu, decent prices. The service was fast and friendly. I was in and out in 8 minutes with my teriyaki pork Vietnamese sandwich (aka banh mi) for $ 5.41 with tax.
The size was good, but the look of the sandwich left something to be desired. It just didn’t look particularly appealing– kinda boring. Also, they didn’t cut it in half (I guess I just assumed this was standard practice with such a large sandwich). I removed the jalapenos (I forgot to ask for it without) and dug in.
Meh. It was okay. Not great. I didn’t care for the pork, which was a little fatty and also the teriyaki flavor didn’t add in my opinion. The pickled vegetables were just blah. Not a lot of flavor. Even the bread was boring. Overall, it just fell flat.
I don’t want to rate the restaurant poorly overall just off this one experience, but as far as the banh mi, it’s 2 stars. Prob won’t be back, as there are lots of other places to check out. Sorry Kim!

Kim’s Phở, the place you can go to get Phở if you work downtown. Just make sure you get there early, because they don’t have a lot of seats. I guess they have other dishes besides phở (hence the actual name of Kim’s Vietnamese,) but all I know is that they have chicken phở or beef phở, and I always get beef. I have heard the chicken phở is perhaps the best in town, but I just can’t get myself to go with chicken if beef is an option for the same price.
The phở portion is perfect for a work day lunch, as long as you penciled in that 2 o’clock nap in your calendar for the day. There are plenty of noodles and plenty of meat, so you definitely won’t be going back to work hungry. The noodles are cooked just right and the meat is not over done. You also get the standard plate of basil, sprouts of lime. Don’t forget to add those bad boys in, it makes a difference. If you are like me, drink the broth too. Its good and will make you nice and thirsty for the rest of the day.
So to summarize, get there early, get either flavor of phở, use your fixins’, drink the broth, go back to work happy and plan for a 2 o’clock nap and a few bottles of water before you punch out at the end of the day.

I’m partial. This might be a better choice for Vietnamese food in the area, and this might be a go-​to spot for those working here — and it’s decent for that. Not a bad choice.
However, to properly rate the food, I’d say it’s just okay. I can only gauge by the banh mi I had, and I’ll definitely come back to give a more holistic rating (I’ll eat phở :)). My chicken banh mi was lacking in a component that I can’t put my finger on. I think the meat was over marinated maybe and I needed something to balance out the flavor. The bread was good though, not too tough that it scratches my mouth, but it didn’t do enough to mellow out the flavors going on in the sandwich.
Nevertheless, it’s a solid 3 stars. The sandwich was definitely filling, and for almost $ 5 (pricey for banh mi, but ok for downtown), I was satisfied. They were quick and efficient in getting my food out so I can still make it within my lunch half-​hour, which I sincerely appreciate.
Until next time! :)