Pho Bistro

Phở bistro never fails me. I run here for comfort food or for a hangover cure lol. They’re fast and efficient. Great customer service. They even remember that I like extra lemons in my vegetable setting :)

My favorite phở place hands down. Yah, the service can be hit or miss, depending on the time of day you come. But the phở is always a hit. I’ll drive out here into the bowels of Waipahu just to eat here.

Been going here since I was a child. I love this place. Maybe I’m biased, but I’ve tried numerous other phở places and nowhere beats here. Their soup is amazing. I love it here. The service is a bit shifty at times but that’s fine, I’ve had a lot worse.

Here on a Friday night, and it was pretty crowded. Had a seat. Waited approximately 15 minutes, as workers walked past, but never seemed to notice us sitting with no menus, no water, no nothing. Finally had to ask for menus, no apology. Then requested a fork, and got a spoon… whaaa? On the brighter side, food was great.

Phở Bistro is one of our spots in Waipahu where we hold our Karatbars Hawaii lunch meetings … Shrimp Rolls and Seafood Phở hit the spot … The best 3 hours spent that day …

CAUTION Take-​Out Orders!
I’ve done take out orders from this place and they take much longer than the ETA they give you. On average, 30 minutes. So I usually allot for the extra time.
Tonight, I call in my order, and arrive 30 minutes later, only to find out they don’t make «Lemon-​grass Chicken & Grilled Pork Vermicelli Combo»… so they didn’t even start prepping my entire order!!! Mind you, I ordered a total of 5 plates! TANGENT: I SPECIFICALLY asked if I could order a Lemon grass chicken/​grilled pork combo (since it wasn’t on the menu) ahead of time on the phone, and she said YES WE CAN DO IT!
So now, they’re going to make it, and informed me I would be charged extra.
Food’s still good. Service has gotten bad.
After 67 minutes, my order is finally done. No apologies, no eye contact, no «thank you for your business» or for waiting. Just a grunt, «here».

Just left this place not too long ago. Was seated in the corner and first thing I notice is a tiny little ant crawling all over the table. And I killed it. Boyfriend dropped his napkin on the floor while ordering and the waiter, (this young dude) picked up the napkin and handed it back to my boyfriend. Uhhhhh is he supposed to use that now? See another ant. Kill that one too. Food comes, I ordered the summer rolls, is it always two tiny pieces of shrimp in one roll? Or am I just used to four pieces at other places…
*sees ant crawling on my napkin, smash it, and smash another one… and another one*
I drank all my water, made eye contact with the waiters, and they just look away. Getting slightly irritated I shake my empty cup and slam it on the table. Still nothing. Grab the boyfriends water, drank that all up too. Took a snap of the ant trail on our table, paid and left.
Never. Again.

Went here on a weekday around 11:40AM.
There were two servers, a young man and a young woman who both greeted us when we walked in. My party and I were allowed to sit anywhere we wanted. The restaurant only had one other party who was already eating their food.
I think the price here is great. The spring rolls are around $ 5 dollars plus tax. That is cheaper than most places. The spring rolls come with a side of vermicelli and vegetables. I got the grilled chicken vermicelli. The dish was around $ 9 plus tax. The dish consists of grilled chicken, vermicelli, greens, and the side of fish sauce. The chicken was flavorful and went extremely well with the vermicelli.
The restaurant is cozy and got busy around 12 – 12:30 noon. They have air conditioning which is great. The girl who served us was very nice. Overall the price, service, and food was awesome! I would definitely go here again and try their other dishes.

Always go to this phở place, but this time I called in for a take out order cause we didn’t want to dine in. When the guy answered he took my order and started giggling and not paying attention to my order. I’ve had to say it more than twice to make him get it right. My suggestion to the phone order takers, is to be more professional and not playing around when dealing with customers. Thank you.

Best phở ever!!! Good and friendly services! Prices are very reasonable! I will never go to another phở restaurant besides Phở Bistro!

Good food good portions but my girl friend and I made a joke about help serving other customers lol. Had to go to counter to ask for more water then ask for the check (was super slow so idk what servers doing) then ask for boxes to go which they jus gave it to me like I was their employee. Had to stand up and clear the empty dishes then pour food. Had to ask for more boxes too lol. Idk why I tip this place. One of the best phở but hands down but douche bag servers.

I was in the mood for some hot soup/​broth to soothe my sore throat. I decided to try out this phở place. The exterior could be more exciting. It is in a corner, slightly blocked by a protruding building, and in a dimly lit area. I came on a Saturday night, around 7PM. The restaurant was full. I waited a few moments for an older lady, possibly the owner, to clean a table. The area was small, so waiting was slightly awkward. There was a small table immediately to the right. The door was right behind me and there was a bamboo wall décor in front of me. I kind of wished that I could sit down instead of standing awkwardly in a busy restaurant.
After being seated, I had to wait a couple more minutes (roughly ⁶⁄₇) to order. I didn’t mind since the place was so packed. I had to repeat my order twice with my server and once with the older lady that came over to confirm my order once again. I didn’t mind this too much, but I think it may displease some people. My full order was: a glass of iced water, a cup of hot water with lemon, a regular sized chef special phở, a grilled shrimp vermicelli bowl for Togo, a side order of lime, and a side order of cilantro. This is exactly how I told it to my server, and she repeated back to me. She leaves with my order, but 2 minutes later, the older lady come back and tries to make sense of my order. Had me curious about the girl even wrote down on her pad.
The server, a young Asian girl, brought out my drinks, but forgot the lemon. She quickly realized her mistake and went to get me one. She brought it on a napkin. I would’ve liked it more if I was brought in a saucer. My food came out really quickly. The portion was more on the smaller side. A regular size looked like a small to me. I just want to mention here that the server for my cilantro and lime. Any «phở-​natic» would know that the most important part of phở is the broth. Sadly, it tasted bland to me. There was a very faint hint of meat in there but I tasted mostly a vegetable broth. That was a bad start, but… there’s no but. It all went downhill. The meat tasted either frozen or over-​cooked. The onions were cut a little thicker than the traditional slither. The tripe was slightly sour. The phở overall is eh, at best. I would eat it, but I would never crave it. It’s just really bland to me.
As for the vermicelli, I hadn’t gotten to it yet. But I will update my review once I get home. UPDATE: The rice vermicelli was actually pretty good. There was a good amount of noodles but I wish there was more vegetables. The shrimp was well seasoned. I like to eat my vermicelli bowl all mix together. I found it hard to do so. So, I just did it with my hands.
This seems to be a family business. Unfortunate, I don’t think they wanted to maintain it passionately. It seems more like the kids are working as servers because they have to and the adults keep the place open just to make money. Apparently, a lot of the other Unilocalers had trouble with the service. Sadly, this is what normally happens when you make unwilling kids work. The service definitely needs a lot of work. I came to this establishment with an open heart and levant ways. If you want a cheap meal, my bill came up to be $ 19.90. If you are a big broth person, who isn’t when it comes to phở, you may want to find lunch somewhere else. This place isn’t a «never again» for me, but rather it’s a «I’d rather not».

Spent part of the afternoon, hanging out at Kapolei side.
It was close to dinner time! Where to go near Waipahu?
I wanted Phở & also wanted to stop at Magnolia for IC.
I do my Unilocal search for Phở in Waipahu,
Phở Bistro– (I always wanted to try this Phở Place)
I read Emi’s review & video/​I found a place!
Its Phở Bistro time!
My husband asked where is Phở Bistro?
as he was driving.
I remember reading Unilocal tips, that it is near the Suzie store.
(not that I know about the Suzie store…)
I always pass by the Suzie store on my way to Seafood City.
Yes, Its in the same little mall as Suzie, — The reviews are right!
but when I got to the the little mall, I still don’t see Phở Bistro.
Its in the corner, hidden between other shops.
The video did help me, everything was exactly as the video.
I knew what to expect when I walked in.
The restaurant is small but very clean.
I see green (chopsticks, soup spoon) I’m already a fan!
My favorite color is green!
The staff was very friendly! took our order, everything exactly came out as requested.
esp. the steam bean sprouts. — (many rest. miss this when I request steam bean sprouts)
I like that the sauce is so neatly organized in its own container.
Our orders:
2 large Chicken/​Meatballs Phở @ 9.99
The portions are huge!
They don’t skimp on noodles, chicken, meatballs, & veggies.
The broth is so refreshing, I really enjoy their broth.
The noodles, are cooked just right. (al dente) I can’t stand over-​cooked noodles.
We enjoyed our phở. (me, my son, & husband)
I shared my phở with my son, & it was more than enough!
We also got a spring roll appetizer, @ 5.50 (very reasonable)
It comes with 3 spring rolls, cut in half, with all the fixings.
Lettuce, vermicelli, cucumber, & pickled veggies.
This goes so well together, I don’t recall pickled veggies at other restaurants.
I love that the vermicelli is al dente as well and the vermicelli noodles is a thin noodle.
I love that! It was the perfect type of noodles to eat with spring rolls.
Over-​all, I’m so happy I finally checked out Phở Bistro, cured my phở cravings.
& having that ube ice cream was a bonus after Phở.
What a Happy Sunday!

This place was unbelievably good. And I am only talking specifically about the Phở because that’s all I ordered, so far.
The broth is deliciously sweet, savory, and fatty –all the things we love in a Phở bowl. The only downfall is that a Regular size bowl is quite small. Nothing like an average bowl of Phở. So make sure you order Large instead of Regular! I live in Wahiawa, and this is the best Phở that I can consider «around my area» (:

For some reason I always prefer to come here for phở and their spring rolls. Just something different.
Parking does suck. It’s so small. But it’s worth it!

My husband loves his phở and sometimes I wonder where his true loyalty lies…
1) Phở
2) Wife
3) Kids
All kidding aside though he really does love his rare beef phở and we decided to give Phở Bistro a roll of the dice. We frequent Phở Bistro 2 in town and could only hope that the original was just as good. Well I’m happy to report that I actually think the broth at Phở Bistro is more flavorful than its townie counterpart. I usually load up my chicken phở with hoisin and Siracha sauce, but the broth was so good that I ate my dinner without all the bells and whistles. The flavor was so perfect that my daughter and I gleefully ate every piece of chicken smiling at one another. I hope that this wasn’t a fluke and can’t wait to go back again for more phở-​tastic tastiness!

My auntie is a Vietnamese food snob so we came here this morning to have «decent» phở.
Our waitress was sweet and I am happy they have a napkin dispenser (restaurants are stingy with the napkins these days). Not sure if this place is under a new owner but we didn’t recognize anyone.
So here’s where it went downhill for me. All phở restaurants now are stingy with the veggies (except for To Chau in Chinatown) and I NEEDED more lemon wedges. Our waitress was in the kitchen but this old lady was walking around checking on the customers. When she was close to us we tried to flag her down but she ignored us.
Ok I understand it’s our waitress’ job to handle us but ignoring us was rude and the least she could’ve done was say I’ll go get her or I’ll ask her to bring them out to you.
Phở broth is so so here and that is why I needed to doctor up the broth to begin with. If that old lady was the owner, thumbs down and I hope you all read this review ;-P

This review is for my parents. If it’s one thing my parents love, it’s Vietnamese food. Especially phở!
For many years their favorite place use to be in Pearl Kai, but then a few years ago they started using MSG. They denied it, but my mom is allergic to MSG and is swelling up like a blow fish… Yeah, you’re lying.
But it worked out for the good as they live in Ewa Beach, so Phở Bistro is just a short drive away. The food is better and service is great. The servers know my parents (cuz they’re in there every 1 – 2 weeks) they don’t even give them the menu.
My favorite item to get is their spring rolls.

This is a great phở place whenever I need to satisfy my phở-​cravings or when I’m sick. I live toward the back of Ewa Beach, but I will pass Happy Phở to come here.
The taste is always consistently delicious. They gladly take the cilantro out of my phở (which is a big deal for me… Phở & Company in Kapolei refused) and have only given me the wrong take-​out order once, but it wasn’t a big deal. The staff is generally friendly, but sometimes are so busy they forget to attend to their counter for takeout orders.

The phở here is good. it is not too oily and the portion is worth what you pay.
Menu options are pretty flexible and there is a variety of phở, noodle or rice dishes.
I tried the fat brisket phở, with the order of summer roll.
my order was delicious and satisfied my daughter and i.
customer service could have been better as far as chrcking up ans water refill but overall nice experience.