Ly’s Vietnamese Cuisine

Of all the Phở I’ve had in my life this is by far the «cleanest» option out there. I’d give it the title of «intro phở» for those of you why shy away from these amazing noodle soups. The reason being that it’s a more modern atmosphere inside the restaurant and the food seems a bit «cleaner» too.
The phở gá (chicken soup) is actually really good. You get all white meat, which is not traditional in any asian dish. The broth has a heavy influence of onions and less of chicken stock, which is also not typical. They give you all the standard «fixens» for phở: bean sprouts, lime, siracha, etc and they are all fresh.
I guess what I’m getting at is that if you’re a newbie and want clean, fresh Phở, Ly’s is your spot. If you’re looking for something thats more traditional, I’d venture into the Inner Richmond or Tenderloin to find some Phở.

Their garlic noodles are delicious. Perfectly cooked and not greasy. The imperial rolls are also tasty. Our waitress was very nice.

The five spice chicken rice was tasty, crispy in the outside and juicy in the inside. Affordable and clean environment.

El Niño has got the best of us this weekend in the Bay Area. Heavy rains. plus my beau and I were also both sporting some sexy colds. What’s the best thing to address cold, gloomy weather and runny noses? Why, Phở, of course!
Hit. The. Spot.
The establishment itself is really simple and really clean. White chairs, white walls, white tables — super minimalistic. The phở speaks for itself. I had the phở bo with rare beef. He had the brisket. It came out appropriately burn-​your-​tongue hot with sprouts, peppers, and too little lime. I needed to ask for more. The hoisin and hot sauces are on the table for you when you need it.
Oh, that broth was so delicious. My problem with phở is that I feel full so fast and and I always try my damndest to finish the broth entirely, but I never do. Disappointing, I know. Good portion of beef and noodles which I did clean up.
Anyway, top notch Vietnaemese food. We’ll probably hit up this place again when we need our Vietnamese fix.
***I tried putting the correct accent mark on the word «phở», but Unilocal deleted the «o» *sadface*

The five spice chicken vermicelli noodles are a huge let down. The chicken was grey and very rubbery/​fatty. I took one bite and spit it out. I did order the vegetable phở and that was good. Recommendation would be to stick to the vegetarian dishes.

They closed at 9 pm the day we went and we found out why. They don’t need to stay open late, everybody, EVERYBODY orders delivery, so they do ok.
Had the rare beef and beef ball phở, noodles were the thin chewy ones, really good, the soup stock was super hot which is a warm welcome compared to other phở places but the beef portions were tiny :(Also the smallest wedge of lime I’ve ever seen, unless they were cutting key limes, and not enough bean sprouts.
Friend had the 5 spice chicken vermicelli, she inhaled it and said it was amazing. The fresh shrimp rolls were actually fresh and yums.
The staff is Cantonese speaking and they were really considerate in English and Chinese. The delivery guy was working miracles from what we saw and the water had cucumber in it which was a nice touch.
Go for the hot ass broth, very good on a rainy day, but maybe get vermicelli too, looked way more filling. Go forth and eat!

They delivered it to my work (Hospital), but, would not come up to the Floor, I literally had to go down & get my food in the main lobby. They don’t even deserve a TIP, but, I Did it anyways! Food is just average, not the best.
IT WAS BETTER WHEN IT USED TO BE «SWEET AROMAS»!!!
They don’t even deserve a 1 Star!!!

Great place for delivery phở!
I was dying on New Years Day, and Ly’s Vietnamese Cuisine delivered a piping hot bowl of combo phở to me in 45 minutes. It was delicious, and everything i needed.
Their 5 spice chicken rice plate is pretty good as well.
Pass on the spring rolls — too expensive!

Authentic Vietnamese food by authentic Vietnamese people; not a Chinese imitation or a bastardized distorted fusion of Vietnamese cuisine.
After reading the other reviews that questioned the authenticity of this restaurant, we had to try it out for ourselves. I’m Vietnamese and verified this venue is «phở real!»
We ordered the phở tai, gio cuon (spring rolls), cha gio (emperor rolls) and string beans with oyster sauce. The phở was definitely authentic, delicious and came with the traditional condiments of fresh bean sprouts, mint, basil, green chili peppers and hoisin sauce. The spring rolls were refreshing. The emperor rolls were delectable and came with real nuoc mam. By the way the true litmus tests for authenticity are the phở broth and the nuoc mam. This place passed with flying colors and then some!
Like most authentic VN restaurants, ambiance is secondary to the food so don’t expect more than delicious food with great service!
If you’re looking for a phở fix, this place is it! I’m definitely hitting this place after working out at SoulCycle and Equinox. This is a great addition to the Cow Hollow neighborhood!

Alright how does this place have 4 and half stars?
Maybe it’s because I’m a vegetarian.
First off, atmosphere of this place is cold and uninviting, we were the only people in there and there was a woman who worked there Facetiming behind us – but on to the actually important stuff. The food.
I got the vegetable phở and the bf got the vermicelli. There was an above average flavor to the vegetable phở, mushroom like, which was nice but still not worth 5 stars!
But hey eat here if you want too.

***I STRONGLY RECOMMEND THIS FOR VEGETARIANS (and just health conscious people in general)!***
I’ve only gotten delivery here via Eat so I can’t comment on the service or atmosphere of the restaurant. All I can say is that for people who claim their dishes are flavorless, you obviously have been abusing your taste buds. That is a shortcut a lot of restaurants take — overdosing on sugar, salt, and spice so most likely, your taste buds have lost sensitivity.
The VEGETABLE PHO broth is insanely rich with a strong, smooth mushroom flavor and not your typical MSG-​broth of cancer you get at a lot of asian restaurants. Did I just say a vegetable broth is RICH? Yes, arguably richer than the beef phở broth. Phở is really one of those hearty dishes for when you’re sick or need to balance your diet. I had a fever and ate this to get my body going again and it did the job.
I’ve also tried the BEEF PHO which was also really tasty and non-​fatty/​oily. Again, very flavorful and hearty — I didn’t even need to throw in sriracha or hoisin sauce. I would order this regularly as it’s such a great execution of a classic, if I lived nearby (or even in the same city ha).
VIETNAMESE COFFEE: pretty standard, but not from mix.
All in all, I think this is a no-​shortcut Vietnamese restaurant with solid food and healthy options (just avoid the fried foods which is common sense.)

A must place to go specially in the winter; the warm broth just revives you. I personally am a big fan of phở, I’ll have to have it every week. But my recommendation for this place would be the crab meat soup– it is a little spicy, but you could do with some heat in the winter. If you aren’t at all into spices though, try their regular phở, it’s good too. I know this place is going to turn into my Sunday brunch comfort food during winter!

Had a good experience dining here. There are not many Phở choices in the Marina so thanks to Ly who decided to open a restaurant here.
The BEEF PHO ($ 9) was great — rich and well balanced broth, the brisket beef cooked nicely while sitting in the broth. Mint and sprouts on the side.
The GRILLED SHRIMP RICE ($ 10) was delicious — the shrimp with a nice smokey flavor, nicely arranged on the plate with white rice and lettuce.
4 stars «only» because the starters were just okay — both the VIETNAMESE SPRING ROLL and the FRIED EGG ROLL were a bit too small for the price ($ 7).
Overall a place I’d come back to.

5 stars for the phở here! The beef broth is AMAZING — so rich and doesn’t even need any sauce to be added to it. I got the beef phở combo ($ 10) which came with a generous serving of brisket, meatballs, and rare beef. It only comes in one size but it was more than enough for a meal. The brisket was perfectly tender and fatty. The meatballs were delicious! Next time I’m going to get just beef phở with brisket and meatballs.
The place itself is pretty large and there was plenty of seating. The service here is ridiculously nice and attentive. The free cucumber water even tastes so refreshing! We also got the spring rolls ($ 7) which tasted fresh. My boyfriend ordered the grilled pork vermicelli noodle bowl with imperial rolls ($ 12). It was a solid dish but I would definitely recommend getting the phở instead.
I’m a huge fan of this place!

SUMMARY: I would definitely eat here again, or order from here for delivery or pickup! The food was tasty and well prepared, and the service and wait staff were friendly and helpful. 5 stars for the friendly wait staff and attention to service, and 4 stars for the food! Plus, it’s reasonably priced and affordable.
Full review:
Four of us came here last night for our monthly get dinner themed «around the world» and the letter for this month was V. It was my turn to chose the cuisine and restaurant, so I chose Vietnamese. Since the local Vietnamese spots serving Dungeness crab are unable to serve crab currently because of the meat’s high toxicity, I had to look for other options (I had originally made reservations at PPQ Dungeness). So I chose this spot, Ly’s, since it got good reviews and was easy to access for everyone.
Ly’s was a really good decision, and we all enjoyed it.
Walking in, it was clear that it’s a clean space. A member of the wait staff who welcomed us was very friendly and accommodating and sat us down for a 7pm reservation. I ordered the crab paste noodle soup, and it was delicious. I never had this super for, and I was looking for something different and authentic, something that I never had before. I asked for fresh tofu instead of the typical fried tofu that comes with the dish, and the server was happy to make that change for me. I also got it with the extra meatball, even though the waitress had recommended getting it with chicken. But I had a lot of chicken yesterday, so a meatball was a nice change of pace. Next time I would definitely consider getting it with chicken — not of the meatball wasn’t good, but because the friendly waitress said that was the best /​most popular preparation.
We also ordered the spring rolls with pork, which were large and flavorful. Two of my friends the ordered garlic noodles with the filet mignon and with the five spice chicken, and I would definitely consider ordering those in the future. The beef was really tender and tasty, as was the chicken. The fourth member in our party ordered the shrimp, and it was okay. The steamed broccoli that came with the garlic noodles was good, too.
We also had the sauteed string beans, which were bit salty but the flavor and texture were good.

If you want great Vietnamese that is inexpensive and a good clean atmosphere and wonderfully nice staff — that sums up this place!
I typically like to add garlic to my phở and they accommodated my request.
Additionally, the chicken needs to be thin and shredded to be easy to chew and grab with chopsticks and they have the perfect chicken and texture.
Great job!

Pretty standard Phở joint. The main draw is that it’s close to the office so I can drop in whenever I want or order in for lunch/​dinner at work.
Service is what you’d expect. Not exceptional but not bad. Food-​wise, the imperial rolls are a little small but the taste is fine and the spring rolls are pretty much what they’re supposed to be.
Now on to the Phở.
I generally get the Beef Combo which includes rare steak, brisket, and meatballs. Noticeably absent is flank which I found weird but it’s not a deal breaker. The noodles are fine from all the times I’ve been there so nothing in particular to worry about. The broth is where things are slightly different. It’s just a tinge off from the reference Phở flavor. Not enough to turn me away, but it’s certainly not what I know and love.
All in all, Ly’s will get the job done for a Phở craving if you don’t want to go to Sunset but it’s certainly not going to knock your socks off.

BEST chicken I’ve ever had at a Vietnamese restaurant! like for real for real! I’m Vietnamese and I never order chicken cause when beef or pork is a choice, chicken never wins!!! however, I have a kid now and sometimes when her father doesn’t order something she can eat, then I have to. with that said, I ordered the garlic noodles with the 5 spice chicken. it was so delicious! the skin was crispy and the chicken was tender and just perfectly cooked! my kid ate most of it but the pieces I did get were amazing!
other things my fam ordered that I tried:
beef phở — pretty good! meats tasted high quality and the broth was perfect.
shaken beef — super tender and good cut of filet mignon
crêpe — my sister had it without shrimp and I know it would be much better with them but it was still good! super crispy!
coffee flan — never had it before but I want it again already! the coffee was nice and strong and the flan was perfect, not to sweet with good texture!
we ended up here by dumb luck (taking the wrong buses multiple times) and I’m couldn’t be happier! would definitely come back when we visit SF again!

Ly’s Vietnamese Cuisine is such a great addition to the Marina. I have an unruly addiction for phở and since there aren’t that many good phở places in the Marina (and Asian food in general but that’s a story for another time) Ly was my saving grace.
I’ve had the beef phở, vegetable vermicelli plate, chicken phở, and crab paste noodle soup here so far. If you come here for your first time, I would definitely recommend the chicken phở. I’m usually not a fan of chicken phở because I find it to be less flavorful than beef phở, but Ly’s chicken phở is so fragrant and flavorful. In fact, I’ve literally gone here to get chicken phở three times now in the past week and a half that they recognize me now. The beef phở is delicious as well and if you’re looking for something heavier, the crab paste noodle soup hits the spot! My least favorite so far was the vegetable vermicelli bowl. It didn’t come with the pineapple, lettuce, bean sprout, daikon, carrot, scallion, peanut, and fish sauce like the menu said. It was just vegetables and vermicelli, which was a letdown. If you’re going to eat here, skip everything else and get the phở.
The food here is authentic (in terms of adapting to the Marina crowd the best it could) and delicious. And their service is fantastic. Their service been impeccable every time I’ve come here, both picking-​up and sitting down. The girls are the front are so sweet and always have the best attitude. It’s so hard to come across that in the city!

Yay finally a legit Vietnamese restaurant in the Marina. No need to go to overpriced Saiwalks, you can get a fresh hot large bowl of phở for $ 9 – 10 bucks. Still more expensive than Chinatown or Tenderloin, but it IS the Marina and rent is probably crazy high.
Very clean and quiet place, it can probably use a little soft background music or décor on the walls. Other than that, very friendly staff and great food for cheap!