Pho Thanh

This place sucked, no wonder it closed down…

I give them credit for being open fairly late, but other than that the food here is terrible. The place is called Phở Thanh, so of course I ordered a bowl of phở. Unfortunately, the broth was bland and oily. I could see droplets of oil floating on top of my soup. Gross. The phở noodles were hard and the slices of beef were hard and obviously not fresh. For some reason the later a restaurant is open, the poorer the taste and quality in food. Meh, I wouldn’t come here again and I don’t recommend you coming here either.

I finally went here a few days ago for lunch. Well, for me, first time was not the charm. I probably came at a bad time of the day (around 2 PM). It took what seemed to be two minutes to get the attention of someone to seat me at a table. It took way too long to get the attention of someone to take my order (like 5 minutes). Who were the waiters/​waitresses? There is supposed to be one or two waiters/​waitresses there at any one time. Finally, the lady (who seated me a few moments ago) took my order and apologized for having me to sit there and wait. The quickest was when the Phở came. Very reasonable bowl, even though I had ordered the regular size. However, the broth was a bit salty.
I clearly expected better from this place as it is owned by the same family that owns four Com Tam Thanh’s (2 locations in San Jose, 1 location in Milpitas, and 1 location in Fremont). Obviously, I will not return to Phở Thanh, given that there are many other Phở restaurants located within a mile. It’s a shame too as this place is open late seven days a week.

This has got to be my second favorite Phở place (favorite is Phở Y #1). The broth is pretty good and they give you tea free of charge, only phở place I know that does. They give you very generous portions of bean sprouts and lime. Down side is the broth can be very oily sometimes and the people there don’t really speak English. They always seem to mess up my order. They are friendly however, unlike some phở places where service can be subpar. This place is also open till 3am on weekends and until 1 on weekdays so it’s great if you have a late night craving for it. It also has other dishes than just phở.

I have eaten here about 25 times… it has changed with the new manager, Lan, she spoke with us in detail about the cooking and how the ingredients and their freshness is top priority, they buy fresh produce and meats each day as opposed to long term refrigeration… I noticed a difference the last time I ate here, 10÷7÷10. The broth was truly one of the best I have had in San Jose… Lan insists on no MSG in the broth which is rare… instead they have reverted back to traditional methods… basically it takes 48 hrs to properly stew beef bones to make the broth rich with natural flavor… the broth was right there with Phở Y #1 of San Jose the night I went… maybe better believe it or not. The spring rolls were made fresh to order and not brought out pre-​prepared and thus dry like some places will do… makes a big difference with the rice paper the rolls are made with… Check this place out, its gotten better, though it was always a great place to go as they are open until 1am weekdays and 3 am weekends.

Dont know bout the food
I called for Togo n the lady answering the phone was rude.

first time trying i usually go to lees noodle house because it was open late and it was closed the so we found this place just driving around food was great i had the #19 phở bowl large its pretty much a combo of everything and a thi ice tea with was good to its more nicer then lees the service was pretty good if u can make out what the waiters trying to say but it happens at veit places lol

I ate phở here. It was $ 5.75 for a regular phở and $ 7.75 for a large phở. I ordered the phở tai. It was okay and the meat was already fully cooked when I got it. I guess that’s less work for me to submerge the meat beneath the hot broth. The broth was okay but I’ve definitely had better. I also ordered a strawberry smoothie with pearls (I think for $ 2.85) and that was pretty good. I noticed there were a couple of tables that still had dishes on them. Maybe they wait until everybody was gone to clean them up? I don’t know…

I would agree with the previous reviews that the broth doesn’t seem to be consistent. The first time I ate here, the broth was flavorful, second time, same order, but broth was a bit more on the bland side.
They give out a good amount of bean sprouts and basil, even cilantro!
Parking is probably a lot better at night than during the day since the lot’s so small.
Service was great. We got what we ordered and after everything, they gave complimentary dessert in a small cup! It was yummy! At one time we’d asked for more water, and the girl working there seemed more than happy to bring it out for us. :)
Would definitely come back here again when hunger strikes late at night!

We went to Phở Thanh last nite since most of the place was closed so we decided to give it a try since I was referred by Com Tam Thanh’s owner. The services sucks, We ordered Phở and Bun Vit. The phở’s broth was terrible, too much sugar in it, the noodles were not even well cook. Our orther dish Bun Vit never made it to the table, they totally forgot and I tried to mention that I didn’t not get my food but the waiters did not seem to care. After half an hour, we took off and Paid for our Phở. When I told the cashier, she did not even care or apologize, I would never come back again.

First time’s the charm and second time. just sucks? Well that’s what is was like when I came back. Our waiter didn’t speak English and ruined my order which is forgivable if the food is good. It wasn’t. The broth was bland and tasted like hot water with a hint of chicken. And what was the worst part of all this? I found a tiny curly hair in the soup. That’s so GROSS!
Too many other good phở places to come and here and waste money.

Decided to try this new place last week, it was okay only. I ordered a phở tai, but the meat was pretty much cooked when it came out. The broth wasn’t great either. I probably wouldn’t come back for phở.

San Jose has a lot of PHO places to eat, I wanted to try somewhere new. The soul of Phở is all about the broth. Everything else is extra.
1. Service was fast and our Tea & water along with the Phở dressing of mint, beansprouts, lemon, & peppers were out fast.
2. The Tai Phở I ordered was in a regualr bowl, which was pretty big, the large is even bigger. The broth was hot enough not to burn your tongue, which I have at other places. The noodles and meat was good.
3. I was very surprise with the free dessert at the end!
I enjoyed the clean environment, fast service, and free tea & dessert!

I needed a bender after a long night out. I heard talk that Phở Thanh was opened till 3am on Friday and Saturday nights.
The restaurant had a condensed menu, specializing in Phở. I ordered the Moon Cake (Banh Xeo), fish congee (Chao Ca), and special spring rolls (Bo Bia).
The special spring roll came first, it was filled with Chinese sausage, egg, and greens. It was quite spectacular.
The moon cake was huge containing many bean sprouts, shrimp, and pork. It was dryer than I expected but I did enjoy the side of greens, making lettuce wraps with the moon cake.
My fish congee was hot and filling. There was a huge chunk of fish in the congee and it was rather delicious.
To my surprise, I was given a free desert. I got a hot bowl of Vietnamese Tapioca. It was rather sweet but the «icing on the cake.»
Free desert, hot food, attentive people, what is there to complain about especially at 2am.

Me and a friend were suggested coming here to eat instead of Com Tam Thanh since the com tam place was about to close, and the servants at Com Tam Thanh (CTT) claimed this Phở place which was only a few foot steps away and CTT were owned by the same person, so we were like «Alright, we’ll give it a try!»
So as we arrived, I could see a lot of people sitting inside already, and it was like 11pm. I guess that was because this place was one of the very rare Vietnamese restaurants that were open that late. Before stepping inside, we also saw some Asian gangsta-​dressed-​like smoking cigs and talking loud right at the front door, I was not sure if they were doing something else after that, but that freaked me out a little bit… I know I know, I shouldn’t have judged them just by the looks but it was late and dark outside, not mentioning how ghetto this area is.
The environment inside the place was somehow moderate, the service was average. My friend and I agreed to share a large bowl of Phở and two dishes of appetizers (Spring Rolls and Egg Rolls) since we were not that hungry. The rolls were really good, we really liked them (+1 star). But when the Phở arrived, and I took a sip of the bowl, I didn’t really like the broth that much to be honest, it didn’t have the distinctive Phở flavor that I wanted. The noodles were too soft for my liking. I came to the servant that brought us food to ask for 2 small bowls because we were sharing the bowl, and he brought me 2 super dupper tiny bowls that could only be used to contain sauce. I explained what I really needed, but he was like «That’s all we have! Please use them!!» (in Vietnamese)…I just nodded disappointedly. They also brought us two little bowls of sweet soup for free, so that was a reason to add one more star!
When we finished, my friend offered to pay 75% of the bill, and also himself brought it to the cashier. I forgot to include a couple bucks for tips but I remember seeing him putting $ 2 extra for the tips so I thought it was okay UNTIL I saw the cashier’s facial expression (!!!). From his face, I could TOTALLY tell what was running on his mind. He did NOT like the amount of tips my friends left there. NO THANK YOU from him either. I just shrugged and walked out of the restaurant.
Oh well, I really don’t know what to actually say about this place. I like the rolls but this is definitely not for PHO!!! Nope!!!

This place opens LATE… which is convenient when you’re super hungry at night. =) I just got home from eating there, and the service was GREAT. They were fast and provided hot tea, our food, and even dessert (che). I had phở ga uc long… it was good, but the chicken was kind of dried. Overall experience, good!

Going to cut to the chase,
Ordered:
Banh Xeo
Phở bo vien with beef
Overall, the banh xeo was really good! full of meat and shrimp with bean sprouts. ALOT of greens to make a sandwich out of. The phở was hot and steaming. Just the way I like it.
The only thing I had to hate about this place was that it took forever! Usually any viet phở place it would only take 5 minutes or less to be served. I had to watch the couple across from me who came 20 after my group and I eat first. I was so pissed. The banh xeo I can understand since its fresh. My bowl of phở came out 25 min. seriously? I would go back so long as I dont have to wait that long.

By far, hands down this is the worst Phở I’ve had in my life! Didn’t know that was possible. But I ate there with my boyfriend last night and we ordered the Combination Phở with no tendon. Both our bowls came with with nothing but tendon! We flagged the server and he admitted that there was an error with the chef so we suggested that they just bring us the meats. We took a sip of the phở and the broth tasted like hot water. No taste in the broth at all. My boyfriend is the easiest when it comes to food and he couldnt even eat it. What made it worst was when they brought out the meats, they put it in a bowl of super greasy broth that tasted like chicken broth? with beef meat in it? Super wierd. Would never come back again. I’d rather go to the Phở next to Hai Thanh Supermarket.

this place is newly opened as of 3/​26, they have a few kinks to work out with the service. for the next week or so, it is 15% off everything. they are open late, that’s a big plus.
the service issues were very minor. they forgot to bring us our ordered soda and water. when they spilled something accidentally next to us, they were super apologetic, several different people came over to wipe it up kind of inefficiently.
they don’t have any rice or noodle plate options, this place is soup only.
I believe the hot tea is free.
for an appetizer we got the fresh spring rolls, i asked them to hold the pork. they were pretty typical, with the addition of green onions, i don’t think they usually put that in there. the cost was $ 4.50, the rolls were cut in half and arranged in a circle around the peanut dipping sauce.
i ordered the rare flank beef phở, and was hoping they’d bring the meat out separately from the soup, so i could put it in, but the meat was already cooked by the time it arrived. there wasn’t a whole lot of meat in the bowl, i got the small version. i dug the broth, it wasn’t too salty. it didn’t have a very distinct star anise-​y flavor. but that’s fine with me.
there are 3 beef stew options. my friend got the one with rice noodles. there wasn’t much beef, but the pieces that were in there were super tender and delicious, with very minimal amounts of fat. the broth itself was pretty thin, with a reddish/​yellow tinge. personally, i didn’t really like the flavor of the broth, the spices were not really to my liking. but my friend dug it. it only comes in one size, small (which is still pretty big). it was 7 or $ 8.
our total cost, after the 15% discount, was only $ 20.

Let me preface this review by saying I am Vietnamese so I’ve eaten a lot of phở in my life. Phở Thanh, a new restaurant from the owner of the much better Com Tam Thanh chain, is quite average.
I had the phở with beef slices and meatballs. Don’t be fooled by the large bowl; it’s mostly broth. The broth was a bit salty and lacked the distinctive phở flavor. The beef slices were too hard, which was probably due to them being overcooked in the bowl. The meatballs were small and also hard. What they did get right was including all of the standard phở vegetables.
My parents also got phở bowls and they came to the same conclusion: this place is ok, but there are better phở restaurants out there.
Sidenote: the owner is an interesting and savvy business woman. She came out to advertise her favorite dishes and other restaurants. She has four in total and visits each one of them every day!