Pho Flavor -The Background

There’s a lot of Pho resturants in Orange County and it takes a lot to stand out amongst the many fine options available. One way to stand out? A unique presentation. Pho Flavor certainly delivers on this end, which I’ll explain later on.

Pho Flavor slow cooks their bone broth for over 12 hours. The “secret” ingredients, have been refined and perfected over three generations and is offered in two different styles – Southern and Northern.

There’s currently there’s two locations – one in Garden Grove and the other is in Fountain Valley – with a third opening in Irvine. I visited the Garden Grove location.

The Experience

I went to Pho Flavor for lunch on a recent weekday, and they quickly seated me, with no wait, at around 11:30 am. The restaurant is fairly small and narrow, and I can see it filling up quickly during peak times, but at this time there was ample seating.

Something that stood out right away with the menu was the option of the “style”. There’s both a Southern and Northern choice. I honestly have no idea what the difference is but after looking at the below I opted for the Southern Style with brisket.

Pho Flavor also offers two different types of noodles to choose from: fresh flat noodles or thick flat noodles. I went with the thick flat noodles which were supposed to be chewier.

The pho, like most pho places came out within minutes. The difference? Without a doubt HOW the pho came out. There’s three different containers stacked on top of one another. I’ve never seen pho served this way before!

This presentation definitely makes the experience memorable. They also provide Thai basil in a bottle which you can take home with you!

Of course, presentation is important to a certain extent, but food is what makes a place memorable, one way or another.

Fortunately, Pho Flavor also delivers on this front. The Southern style broth was quite light but still managed to be rich and flavorful, just not in a heavy-handed way. The noodles were very fresh, springy, and the chewiness was great. These things were slick too! It was hard to grab them with the chopsticks!

The brisket is thicker than in other pho places but is quite tender, especially the longer it got to simmer in the broth. There’s a lot of meat in the bowl as well. The more I stirred up the bowl, the more meat seemed to float to the top. This is always a good thing by the way, lol.

Speaking of the bowl, it’s deceptively deep, with a lot of noodles and meat. At first glance it didn’t look like a ton of food but it seemed to be a never ending bowl as I dug in. Definitely a good thing!

The Verdict

Looking beyond just the dish the pho comes out in, the pho itself is quite good. I really liked that they have two different broth options and noodle types. It makes me want to go back and try the other combination.

It would be hard to try the flat and soft noodles since I really enjoyed the chewiness of the thick, flat noodles. They were my favorite part of the pho.

I wouldn’t consider this to be my own personal favorite pho place, but it’s certainly a quality spot and worthy of place in the pho rotation.

Pho Flavor

phoflavor.com

10130 Garden Grove Blvd,

Garden Grove, CA 92844

Phone: (714) 591-5265