Pho Ca Dao

Thank you for the food! My family and I really enjoy the noodles!!! LOVE number 17 in the menu!!!

Great service! Always a pleasure coming here getting p17 well done flank and ice coffee with my bro! And we are regulars! Thanks!

Great place great food nice staff and right prices. I highly recommend it to San Diegans as well as tourists visitors from other towns.

Came here for phở and they barely put any soup in this bowl. My phở basically had no soup in it. I asked for more soup and they’re charging me extra for soup lollllllll is this even phở !!! Where’s the brothhhhhh ?! :(
So I am already paying extra for the broth and they took so long to bring out just the broth. My bowl of phở got all mushy…

We have Vietnamese closest to our place, but my husband won’t go to another. They do live up to fast, friendly, and fresh motto here. Kids meal portions are also a good reason– my picky toddler eats without issue.

The food and service was phenomenal! Thank you Phở Cao Dao!!! :)
The music was very soothing while enjoying our meal!

Great service, great food and at a very reasonable price. We live close to another phở place, but drive further because this restaurant has better food quality and gets the food out quickly.

Grabbed lunch here with coworkers. Got the bun bo hue and phở before — pretty good! Workers are helpful and prices are fair.

The restaurant’s service has made a total 180! There are many servers to cover the entire restaurant! They will get you seated quickly and get your orders in so fast, that before you know it, your food will arrive hot and ready to be devoured! I was pleased with their pork loaf and marinated pork. The pork was so tender and juicy. My beau had the chicken and it was pretty tasty! Our waters were quickly filled before I even realized they were half-​way down! Good job Phở Ca Dao, you really blew my socks off.

⁰¹⁰⁄₁₀₀ — 2016 Unilocal 100 CHALLENGE.
Great phở at an affordable price. I like to eat here every now and then with my family (it’s close by and they love the phở here) and have had the chance to try most of the dishes.
My favorite is the phở bo vien and I always get the regular size. They always pack on the food and I always leave this restaurant full and on the brink of having my stomach burst. The rice dishes are ok and, sadly, I have yet to find a great restaurant that has super delicious bun thit nuong. I would say that if you are looking for super amazing Vietnamese food, this place’s phở (and other noodle dishes) is probably what you want to stick with.
The only reason why I didn’t give Phở Ca Dao ⁵⁄₅ stars is because of the service. It’s gotten better over the years, but could use a little more work. Everyone is prompt in re-​filling your water, but they are always really quick to give you the check. Sometimes it feels like they’re trying to rush you and get you to leave.

For me, Phở Ca Dao was another case of me overhyping myself and setting my expectations too high. From the relatively high ratings to the high review count, I was expecting a truly remarkable phở. But alas, I was only contented and the service needed improving.
Though we were seated quickly, it took the servers quite a while to get to our table to get our order. I would understand if the place was packed with more people, however– this was not the case at all. Though there wasn’t a lot of people, I want to say that it took quite a while to actually flag down someone to take our order. Our table ordered 2 phos and 1 broken rice dish. Though I don’t recall what my friend’s phở consisted of, I knew that I ordered P13: Phở with rare beef and flank. Though we only ordered 2 phos, the server managed to confuse our orders and present us with the wrong bowls– even after I clarified with him that I did indeed order P13. We only really noticed after my friend put in the jalapenos in her bowl and I put in the basil in my bowl that I had a larger variety of meats– which was NOT what I wanted. We managed to make it work however, and got to tasting everything. The broth was a pretty standard beef soup– nothing absolutely remarkable. My friend noted a slightly bitter aftertaste, which in our good conscious credited to the use of star anise generally used in cooking phở broth. The meal contented me but again, wasn’t anything too remarkable.
The service got good only near the end, when we had to pay for the meal. The bill came quickly to our table, and I got up to ask about the Unilocal deal with the bill. The conditions to the deal ended up being a bit confusing to me. When you check in, Phở Ca Dao will take 10% off your order. But only [your] order, which makes it confusing and sort of unfair when you come with a group of friends. Good to the Unilocaler, but not good for general audiences, if that makes sense.

Service here is really nice! Since the space is so big I always get seated right away.
I always get their egg rolls and house special # 1 phở. The food comes out in a timely manner. Fresh & hot !! Phở broth is very tasty and the noodles were just right. They add a lot of brisket but barely any tripe.
Don’t forget to check in for 10% your order. After our meal the manager came to our table and asked how everything was, which made the dinning experience a bonus.

Came here with a party of 10. We had a few servers, one was attentive and made sure our drinks were filled. The one who took our orders was rude. 5 of us ordered phở and were were only given two plates of the garnishes. From what I’m used to, you usually get a plate of your own garnish with your phở. But our server said the plates of garnish are big enough for 2 – 3 people but that wasn’t the case since we had to ask for more. We ordered 4 boba drinks and one was missing. My cousin had to ask for it repeatedly and didn’t receive it until the end of our meal. Our food was alright but and with the number of phở places out here, we won’t be coming back to this one.

My absolute favorite phở place to go to; it’s the spot when I’m hungover… lol.
The phở is great in my opinion. The broken rice dishes are delicious too! The service is super fast and they’re pretty attentive in refilling your water, which is a big plus for me.
The reason I take a star off is because of my experience here yesterday. I came with a group of friends and 3 of our orders came out wrong… It also took a while. Kind of odd to me because I’ve always had great experiences here. Well, one bad experience doesn’t hurt. I assume it’s because we were seated in an isolated place.

This is probably my favorite phở restaurant. I absolutely love the décor here. You can tell they put a lot of thought into their interior design, which I really appreciate. Love the floral arrangements and especially the window display of a tropical scenery. It’s like being connected to a museum. Very modern and clean environment.
Great customer service too! I’ve come during rush hour times (lunch time and New Year’s Day), and still got seated immediately. The food came out so fast. The waiters and waitresses kept checking up on us and filling our waters. I like to order the Phở Tai Bo Vien (rare steak & meatballs). It’s sooo good on a rainy day and/​or after a long night of festivities, if you know what I mean.

After a long day at work in Mira Mesa. Being tired and hungry. I decided to eat somewhere local with a friend. Mira Mesa is very heavily populated Asian and Indian community. Being here, my friend and I decided to try something different from the normal burger and burrito faire. This led us to Phở Ca Doa.
From my experiences dining. I haven’t eaten phở many times. Not sure why but when I have it’s been a good experience. Probably because I see it as a soup; and I am not a big soup guy. That is all about to change.
The service for one was very fast and attentive. The employees on the dining floor mostly looked to be made up of high school students. Which kind of made me weary. But they were friendly; they never let my water cup run empty. Filling my water cup a least six or seven times while I was there.
We ordered drinks, appetizers and a big bowl of phở each. All coming within five minutes of ordering it. The fastest service of beverage and food ever. I only take thirty minute lunches at work. I can see coming here on my lunch and enjoying a popping hot bowl.
The food itself was served hot and delicious. The cha gio appetizer reminded me of Filipino lumpia. Very good. Served with a light sweet and sour sauce as well as big leaves of lettuce. The phở was especially good on a cool January day. I added some bean sprouts, green peppers and some Sriracha hot chili sauce for the added kick. The bowl itself was full of tripe, thin slices of beef and rice noodles. The broth itself was amazing. Wasn’t long before my friend and I started warming up body wise. The perfect food on a cold day.
The price to dine is very affordable. For two people it was $ 30 with a tip included. This for more food than we could finish. I didn’t want to stop eating the broth was so good. But after a while I was done and satisfied. I will definitely return. This place is a must try if your in the Mira Mesa area.

Second time coming here and I don’t really remember what my first visit was like, but I know that I didn’t care for this place. Decided to give it another chance because I was craving phở.
Service — 1 star
When we came in for dinner, no one greeted us. There were no other parties waiting so we didn’t know if we should sign in. We kind of stood around for a couple minutes until an older man came and said follow me. He didn’t smile and seemed unwelcoming.
After getting our food no one came and checked on us to see how everything was and our waitress brought the check before asking if we wanted to order anything else, as if trying to rush us out of there.
Food — 3 stars
We ordered the egg roll appetizer and while it was up to standards, they skimped on the lettuce you use to wrap the egg rolls. 2 small lettuce leaves for 6 egg rolls is not enough…
I ordered the phở ga and while the phở was good, the ginger sauce that came with it was basically just the fish sauce but with ginger in it. Not a fan.
The food wasn’t amazing enough to overlook the poor service. I won’t be returning for a third visit.

How have I never reviewed Phở Ca Dao? I’ve been a loyal customer to this phở place since 2006, when they had their basic shaky metal tables and wobbly chairs. Obviously some improvements have been made to the restaurant in the past almost-​decade, but the food quality has stayed consistently delicious as ever!
Their phở broth is amazing and has great beef broth flavor do it. I’d describe it has hearty but light. I’m sure the noodles are all pre-​cooked and portioned out because boy do they serve their hot phở fast!!! I usually order the vermicelli with either grilled shrimp or pork along with fried spring rolls atop. The fried spring rolls are never a disappointment. Fried and packed full of flavor, it tastes great on its own or with a bite of mint with some sriracha sauce. The pork and shrimp are always grilled perfectly — never overcooked, and a mouthful of meaty flavor coated in the perfect amount of peanut oil. Their Thai iced tea is a little too milky and rich for my taste, and the tea flavor is not quite there, and their boba is always a little stale and old for my liking. Kind of like it’s dissolving into an agar because it’s so old…
Service is always lightening fast. I mean, you sit down and before 2 minutes are up, they come and ask if you’re ready to order. Water is served without question and if you take a sip from it, they come and refill that one sip. And like many other reviewers mentioned, your order is in front of you within 10 minutes! I’ll always be back to this favorite phở place of mine.

Solid Vietnamese restaurant! No complaints. Good phở and spring rolls. For a phở restaurant, it is also very clean and spacious.
My new phở spot! I would definitely recommend!

Was a bit disappointed this time around as I dined in with my aunt and cousin. We were seated as soon as we came in. Our appetizers, K5 and K2 tasted wonderful. K5 came out first, and then K2. It looked as though there were many new people working. Out waitress repeated the order back to us at least 3 times to confirm she had our order correct.
We finished the K2 and K5 as soon as we got them. They were still on the table when we got served our entreès. I had ordered the C7 in which the rice was watered down. If you see a picture of what i posted it looks as if it is a white blob. It did not look good and it also did not taste good. Flavor of the pork chop ok. Taste does not seem as good as it used to be.