Toan Vietnamese Noodle Soup

This place’s phở is Outkast worthy, by which I mean it’s so fresh and so clean (clean). This is what I believe phở SHOULD taste like, when it’s not quick cooked to factory farming standards (*cough* MSG *cough*). I like the simplicity of the menu, although the décor leaves a little to be desired (strip mall Generica, but what are you gonna do all the way out in Cloverly?).

I liked this place. A very solid 4 star very tasty cuppa phở. Did not miss the MSG at all, nor its aftereffects. I’m hardly a phở expert, but I think it a good sign when the broth alone is so yummy you want to drink it it with a straw.
UPDATE:
Yes, place went out of business. But there’s a good Thai place in that location now!

I’ve been eating Phở for years now and I went to this place after hearing about it from a friend. The menu is completely Americanized and simplified to make it easy for Phở newbies which is not a bad thing really. The soup overall has good broth that could use some more onion and anise flavor especially since its MSG free. The noodles are cooked well not overcooked but they seem to skimp on the meat portions to be honest. I had to order extra meat to get the same amount I have had with large bowls at other Phở places. They will get fried spring rolls soon according to the staff so that would probably knock my review up a point.

So, I’d been wary of this place since I first saw a few 5 star reviews from questionmark heads. Then I became confused as some positive reviews came from non-​questionmark heads. My head hurts.
On Friday nights, some people go to happy hour. Some go to dinner with their significant other. Some go party it up with friends. Some watch Friday Night Smackdown with strangers at the local bar. Some hang out with family. Me? I go eat phở. By myself. At 8:30pm EST. At Toan Vietnamese Nood Soup. Because I was curious to see how no-​MSG Phở tasted like.
In a relatively new shopping center, the place itself is medium-​small and simply decorated. The ordering process is different here. You walk in, order and pay at the counter, and a few minutes later, someone brings out your order. No waiter service.
Menu is pretty basic. Several different combinations of Phở, or you can build your own. Some other stuff like summer rolls and boba.
I went with a Phở with everything and summer rolls. A few minutes later, my food comes out. I thought I ordered one order of summer rolls, which is I believe 2 rolls, but I must have gotten rung up for their combo, which is a Phở, 1 summer roll, and a drink.
The biggest summer roll I’ve ever gotten. OK, so let me first say that I’m very comfortable with my sexuality. And I’m very heterosexual, not that there’s anything wrong with being anything else. That being said, I’ll just be blunt about this: this summer roll was like cock sized. It looked like an uncircumcised cock. Seriously. It felt more like I was giving head to a rice paper covered cock more than eating it. As the peanut sauce was dripping down the side, I’d lick the sauce, preventing it from drizzling down, but it kinda felt like I was starting foreplay by licking all up and down and around the shaft with my moist but absorbent tongue. And then when taking a first monster bite, trying to take in as much of the cock as I could handle was kinda like going full throttle deep throat on this thing. All I was missing was a set of balls I guess.
The cock-​sized summer roll itself was pretty good. I definitely could have used another one.
As for the Phở, it came out piping hot. Noodles seemed a little bit overcooked. Either that or they were naturally pretty soft. Meat portion was a little lacking I thought. The broth was darker in color. It looked appealing, but at first taste:
Bland bland bland
It was missing body. A lot of body. Reminded me of watered down Phở in a way, but I think even watered down Phở would still have more body than this broth. I felt very unsatisfied going home after this meal
I came here curious to try no MSG Phở, which is what this place advertises, and was pretty disappointed with it. The saving grace was the summer roll.
1 star for the Phở
3.5 stars for the summer roll
2 stars

Not bad… There are several aspects to Toan’s that distinguish it from most other phở places.
1. The menu is very simple. You don’t have 20 options of phở with slight variations of cuts of beef to confuse the heck out of you. In fact, they don’t even call it phở, but «Vietnamese noodle soup.» (is that a good thing or a bad thing?)
2. The place is spacious and clean. (Why is cleanliness such a rarity when it comes to phở places?) The furnishings are clearly new. Chopsticks and spoons come out to you individually packaged in a little paper pocket.
3. They offer a vegetarian phở.
4. They also offer a «combo» option to add one summer roll and soda to your phở for an extra $ 2
5. They’re very non-​Vietnamese/​phở-​familiar friendly. It’s apparent that they are intentionally trying to make themselves accessible to whitebread customers. And they’re more than willing to help new customers figure out what’s what.
I had a very pleasant meal of chicken phở here. The broth was slightly darker than I’ve seen in other places, and my brother swears the soup is sweeter, but I didn’t detect any sweetness. My only complaints are that I asked for beef broth with the chicken meat, but i’m pretty sure it was chicken broth because it was identical to the one my brother got with chicken broth. Not a huge deal, and I still ate it, but it was noted. I also asked for overcooked noodles (thanks wisdom teeth extraction surgery!) and they weren’t overcooked… odd complaint I know, since who would WANT mushy noodles… well that would be me. We also had to ask for cups of water instead of just getting them automatically as you would in most other places.
So… despite those minor issues, I can’t really gripe too much because the food was good and cheap the end.

Best phở in town. It’s very flavorful and NO FREKIN MSGs!!! You don’t feel sick after eating this phở… unless you ate it all and are too full.
The broth is dark, but don’t get thrown off. It’s the only way to make a good broth w/​o adding msgs… so taste it first.
When i first tried the broth it has a little sweetness to it, but when i added some sriracha and hoisin sauce to it… OMG! awesomeness in your mouth!
the staff is very friendly and they actually have a passion for making phở. It’s def worth a try, and will be the only phở place in my area that I’ll ever eat at.