Pho #1

This is as authentic as it gets! Great service, very friendly staff. The food is amazing! Must try if you’re in the area. Will be back the next time I’m in Tucson!

Truly the #1 phở in Tucson to my standard. I really like their spicy beef phở, the broth is very rich.

Super great food!
Great Phở, great fried springrolls… the kids even love it!
Service tries really hard

I’m a Phở rookie, but this was some very good Phở. A few months ago I had similar soup in San Francisco, this gives that competition.

Absolutely LOVE this spot. I’ve tried other places in town and this spot is definitely my favorite so far. It’s in an odd part of town but the restaurant is nice looking inside and the service is great. Can’t forget about the food. The lady always remembers what I want and doesn’t hand me the menu. Definitely go here some time :-)

Very friendly staff! Just got takeout and was treated like we were eating in. Food was great. Fresh herbs and veggies with all meals we ordered. We will visit again when the Vietnamese craving hits.

The #32 was terrible and made me feel like I got food poisoning. We ordered take out and they had everything prepared nicely minus the fact that they forgot to add my Vietnamese coffee, which I asked if it was in the box and they confirmed it was in there. My fault for not double checking with my own eyes but I was trusting.
The phó had a weird smell and I thought it was just because of the raw meat from the other orders that came on the same box as my vegetarian phó. I ate a couple spoonfuls and couldn’t stand eating anymore. I felt shaky and threw up what I ate within 10 minutes of eating the soup. I later looked and someone else commented on feeling sick after eating here with a possible reaction to msg. Everyone who got the regular beef phó was fine but my chicken broth phó was terrible. I will stick to miss Saigon.

Great Phở — broth is rich and flavorful. I have been ordering the Tofu Phở — fried. Fast, courteous service. Good prices.

My experience here was pretty weird. I came here a couple months ago with my friend because we used I eat phở all the time back home in San Diego, and we hadn’t tried any places in Tucson yet. We went on a weekday and it was completely empty. They brought us water right away and then took a little while to take our orders. After taking our orders, the guy picked up my phone off the table and said something along the lines of «ooooh I’ll have this» and then pretended to walk away with it. Then he turned back around and brought it back and started laughing. It was just kind of odd.
We both ordered chicken phở soup. The food came out really fast and tasted great, but after a few sips of the soup my entire lips started tingling. Same type of feeling you get when you get jalapeño pepper seeds on your mouth. It was really weird. So I kept taking breaks, but kept eating. (Because the soup was really good) then about half way through I started feeling really weird. I felt extremely light headed, sweaty, and had a headache. Meanwhile my friend felt nothing. My friends a nursing major and said she thought this was a typical reaction to MSG. Which made sense, because only a small percentage of people react to MSG. Which is why she probably felt nothing.
Anyways, after that I stopped eating the soup because I felt terrible. When we went up to pay I politely asked if they used MSG in their food, just because I was curious. The guy got all weird and uncomfortable and started saying «no no no no no, here just sign» as he shoved the receipt in my face. It was all just really weird. Bottom line is, I’m almost positive this place uses MSG in their food. Probably isn’t a problem for most people, however for people that do react to MSG I would not suggest eating here. And even aside from that, it was just a weird experience. On a positive note, the soup was good, however not worth the tingling, light headedness, and sweating.

It’s a keeper!
I came here because I was picking up a Mother’s Day gift next door at maya tea company and was craving Vietnamese. Seeing that this was well-​rated and close by, I decided to give it a try. Was NOT disappointed!!! As a few of the other reviews have mentioned, this place is rather lacking in the ambiance department. There are uh… Interesting… Very, interesting… dragon paintings, fake bamboo plants, and paper lanterns randomly found about the restaurant. It was a little uncomfortable because the dragon’s eyes would follow me no matter where I was in the restaurant, hungrily staring into my soul…
Anyways! Onto the food– I had the grilled pork, pork meatball, and egg roll «dry noodle» vermicelli bowl. It was delicious!!! I’ve been a loyal customer at Miss Saigon’s but I’m going to skip the wait to be seated and come here from now on. Bigger portions too! Give it a try!

My partner was hesitant to believe the phô was really vegetarian, but we went and it was. It was amazing and they included so much to put in it. Veggies, herbs, bean sprouts, tofu, sauces, lime. Delish. The veg spring roll was just OK. The fresh squeezed lime juice was ambrosia, but pretty pricy. We will definitely come back for the phô.

I loved it! Friendly and clean place. I ordered soup to go and I cannot wait to dine in.

When it comes to hole-​in-​the-​wall Asian restaurants, I always follow my Food-​Décor Inverse Law because it has yet to be disproven. I’ve never been disappointed where the quality of food is inversely proportional to that of the décor. Phở #1 is that kind of place! (Imagine mounted flatscreen TVs that are tuned into Asian broadcasting stations. It’s that good.)
As a veggie, I’m accustomed to seeing chicken or fish broth listed under the «vegetarian» phở options — you know what I’m talking about! To my surprise, they had vegetarian phở that exceeded my expectations. The portions were very generous (heaps of tofu, broccoli, bean sprouts, and basil), and the broth was very flavorful. I think this place is better than the Saigon Phở, which is another place in Tucson that has vegetarian options.
Excellent food and service at good prices. I would come here again in a heartbeat.

Good food good service and a reasonable bill. Probably my favorite Vietnamese in town.

My bf and I decided to try this place out bc Miss Saigon was too packed. It was quite empty, so we didn’t know if it would be good or not but we both ordered phở and it was better than we expected! The broth is taste so much better than Miss Saigon’s. It was full of flavor and we were both satisfied! Only reason I’m giving a 4 star instead of 5 is bc one bowl of phở is $ 8 and that’s a bit expensive, since I’m from phx and great phở there is only $ 5 a bowl. Lol

When I first walked into this place, it reminded me of the Bay Area. I couldn’t wait to try the vegan phở. I love phở, and finding a place that provided a vegetarian phở was hard to find in Tucson. This place does not disappoint! I had the tofu with mixed vegetables and mushrooms phở. On top of that they provided a good amount of basils, cilantros, sprouts, jalapeños and limes. There are other vegetarian options if you do not want phở. I will be coming here on a regular basis.

I grew up in SoCal with many Vietnamese friends in an area where phở restaurants are a dime a dozen, so I like to think I know what a good phở is, and I’ve been looking for some good phở since moving to Tucson. This place is (so far) the best phở restaurant I’ve tried here, and I’ve tried quite a few.
The most important part of phở is the broth, and this place knows how to make a tasty broth, although it’s a bit on the oily side. It’s much better than Miss Saigon where the broth is consistently terribly weak in flavor. I ordered the first one under the phở section, which had basically all the meats minus the tripe because I’m not a tripe fan. When my order came I was actually surprised by how much meat was in my bowl. It was amazing. The meat was thick (except for the raw meat that’s supposed to be thin to cook in the broth), cooked well, and very filling. I could actually see and appreciate the tendon in my soup! Other phở places in town give me «barely there» tendon pieces that make me feel cheated. This place gives huge chunks of the stuff! Definitely worth the $ 9 for the regular bowl.
This place also gives you plenty of sides for your phở like bean sprouts, basil, cilantro and jalapeño. I really hate phở joints that skimp out on these essential ingredients, and they give you quite a lot, which was nice.
The only things I wish they would change is giving Thai Basil rather than Italian Basil and limes instead of lemons. Just minor things that wouldn’t affect my decision to come back.
I also ordered spring rolls and thai tea. A couple of my noodles in my spring roll were rather crunchy/​undercooked, but other than that it was good and larger than other places I’ve been to. I really loved that they added the pickled daikon/​carrot to my peanut sauce. I don’t think I’ve ever had it served that way, and I order spring/​summer rolls in every phở joint I go to as an appetizer. Their Thai tea was just your average Thai tea.
The place is quite clean, though a bit hidden away. It was bigger than I thought it’d be from outside. Service is friendly and fast.
This place is now officially my #1 favorite phở place in town!

A mound of tofu. Pieces of broccoli the size of my palm. A basil plant. A super-​size order of mung bean sprouts.
This is what came with my vegetable phở. Go to Phở#1 with an appetite – you’ll be happy with the portion sizes. I didn’t order anything other than the phở – and I didn’t need to.
But there’s a certain quality that made the portion sizes enjoyable. Not only is it but one of two places that offers a vegetable broth option for the phở (the other is Siagon on University), but the vegetables looked and tasted fresh. The broccoli stems *crunched* when I bit into them and the florets were tender (there’s hardly a worse letdown than ordering a vegan option and biting into limp, overcooked vegetables). The onion was pungent and cooked, but it didn’t smell like a wet sock in my soup (it does happen). Most places can offer a well-​prepared meat dish; what makes Phở #1, for me, is that they seemed to offer the same attention to detail with the veggies.
So what if the décor is divey or kitschy. Even more so if it’s unintentional. Sure, it’s not in the best part of town. But the place isn’t loud. The service was fast and warm. The prices are reasonable. And best of all, the phở is excellent – even for vegetarian/​vegans.

This place had definitely improved since several years ago. I used to love this place when it was owned by my friend’s family. After ownership changed, it took a little while for the new owners to get into the groove, but now they are doing it right! :)
The décor is very Asian. They keep everything nice and clean, even the bathrooms… which is of HUGE importance to me. (From my experience in the restaurant industry, it really is true that the bathroom cleanliness USUALLY reflects how clean they keep their kitchen!!)
While their phở isn’t my favorite in town, it definitely is far from being the worst. I would say it is average in Tucson. So why do I come here, if not for phở!!! Well, like their predecessors, their egg rolls and dry noodle bowls are delicious! They don’t serve their egg rolls with rice noodles, cilantro, and lettuce like some places… but honestly, they don’t need to. They are delicious plain, or with the fish sauce. If you really can’t live without it tho, you can ask for some on the side. They were happy to oblige. :) I would say that their dry noodle bowls are as good as Miss Saigon, but they have waaaaaay more meat. I always order the combo that has charbroiled pork, meatballs, and an egg roll. SO filling and yummy. :)
Their iced Vietnamese coffee is good too. It has a slightly more roasted flavor than most places tho. Customer service is friendly. :)

Imagine stepping into a 1980s or 1990s era grandmother pad and you have successfully transported yourself to Phở #1.
No kidding. I seriously could not stop staring at the gloriousness of the carpet that fills this place. And you can almost hear an audible screech from the pastel pink paint on the walls. For those of you who like to wear your leggings printed with flying unicorns and doe eyed kittens and starburst flashes in abundance — all with an ugly Christmas sweater — you won’t even flinch at the décor.
I came here for a takeout order.
Now, I generally go to Saigon Phở or Phở 88 when I am in the mood for spring rolls, an order of pork bun, vermicelli or a baguette. … I hope the owners of those restaurants are not reading this review because if they are, I’m busted.
The restaurant’s surroundings are somewhat unconventional. Nearby are a motorcycle shop and a log store and gas station. Not screaming «world class restaurant row» in any way whatsoever.
But I’m glad I stopped in.
I found that the prices here were reasonable. You can get a full meal, and maybe some leftovers, for $ 9. Not bad, not bad at all, especially at a family-​style restaurant that serves up insane amounts of vegetables.
I went with a dinner entrée that came with grilled pork, these disc-​shaped mounds of meat (sadly, cannot recall the name), an egg roll and a glorious sampling of tomatoes, cucumbers and cilantro. That cost: $ 8.99, and was enough for seconds. The vegetables were extremely fresh, and this cilantro tasted as though they were growing the plant on-​site.
I also ordered the nearly $ 5 shrimp spring roll. There was entirely too much by way of noodles and not by way of other fillings. It actually tasted like a noodle roll. Strange, I know! And while they did an excellent job wrapping the roll so that it wouldn’t dry up by the time I made it home, the rolls were both a little bit chewy on the edges. For the quality and fillings, not worth the price.
I also wanted a small side order of vegetable broth. They ended up giving me a gargantuan sample of their beef broth, but it was only $ 2. Should’ve measured the container. I think it was something like 32 ounces of broth. Way too much, but good flavor.
I definitely would like to try this place again. I found that the service was very attentive and cordial, even though I was only ordering to go.
Space looks roomy and feels homey. Very casual. They do have a TV in the dining room, which can be a major distraction.
But, in all, this seems to be a great place to bring the family or to visit with friends, especially during lunch hour.