My husband and I live in Santa Cruz and finally gave it a try. I was a little apprehensive at first one because of mixed Yelp reviews, two because the exterior signs suggested it's both a pho house and Mexican spot, and also because the inside was empty on this Friday night around 6:30. We decided to give it a try and are now so happy we did. I got the veggie pho and my husband got the rare steak, meat ball, tendon pho. The veggie pho included tofu, mushrooms, bok choy and green onion, as well as a healthy portion of noodles. The full-bodied broth was absolutely delicious (I did add the accompanying spice from time to time). My husband was super happy with the bowl he had too. I haven't seen him get so excited since he last had pho in Seattle. The service was also wonderful. The younger cashier that took our order, brought us water and served our bowls of pho was super friendly and attentive. Additionally, my husband initially planned to order the vegetarian pho with meatballs added. The cook (possibly owner) came out to ensure that's what he wanted. He instead recommended the dish my husband ended up ordering and commented that it would cost us a little less money as well. I felt that said a lot about the establishment and its workers. The restaurant was clean and really large. I noticed some coming in for pick up orders but my husband and I were the only ones dining in at the time. I was sad thinking about all the restaurants that came before it in that exact space that eventually closed. Given the great service and delicious pho (best I've had in Santa Cruz), I highly recommend trying it out. This spot deserves our business! read more

I was really happy with this banh mi. The bread was soft and easy to bite into, which my jaw honestly appreciated, and it made the whole sandwich feel comfortable and satisfying from the first bite. The fillings were fresh and well-balanced, with pickled veggies adding a nice tang and herbs keeping everything bright. It's not about a loud crunch here--it's more of a smooth, easy-eating kind of sandwich that still delivers on flavor. Service was friendly and the space was clean, making it a great spot for larger groups. I'm already looking forward to coming back to try the pho next. read more

Pho House - Pan Asian Near Me - Santa Cruz, California

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Pho #1 soup broth smelled and tasted good, comforting warm soup, just good for the soul - sometimes you just need it. Especially after a rough night. It felt small, seeing the amount of noodles in my bowl. Happy to support a small business, Wish food was more substantial in terms of value. Came with a thoughtful side plate of vegetables and hoisin and hot sauce already poured out into a two part sauce tray. Quiet ambiance. Large space. Friendly service read more

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the banh mi has lettuce I got the pork belly one, and the meat was pretty good! it's also only ten dollars which is pretty rare for food nowadays (although the portion is pretty small). the iceberg lettuce though was pretty strange and the daikon and carrots were not fresh. I wouldn't go as far to say this place should be avoided--I will be returning because the location is convenient for me and there's a lack of banh mi in santa cruz. if you want a banh mi and can't get over the hill, then I guess this is an option. read more

Pho House - pork belly banh mi - Pan Asian Near Me - Santa Cruz, California

Pretty empty when we came but we ordered the black bean noodles ($14.95) and omurice ($17.95) They were out of curry sauce so got it also with black bean noodles. Server was super sweet. There are 2 TVs with sports or a kdrama on it, with classical/soft music in the background. It's pretty clear the black bean sauce was not made with love, but came from a jar. But the noodle texture was pretty good, fried rice was also pretty good. Nothing too mouthwatering but definitely gets the job done with okay portions! What got us in though was the smell of Pho, so definitely going to try that next time read more

Pho House - Black bean noodles - Pan Asian Near Me - Santa Cruz, California

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We originally wanted bagels which wasn't a far walk but Gavin was getting impatient and annoying, so I suggested to eat here since he opted for Asian as opposed to bagels. Santa Cruz has a lot more Asian cuisine now, but most of them open at 11AM. We were there early so we don't have to deal w/ traffic. His football game was set to to 3PM, so we wanted to eat early so he can have time to digest his food. Service was great. The gentleman was patient, genuinely friendly, and checked in on us a few times. The restaurant is spacious and clean. The menu is pretty extensive, offering various dishes from different parts of Asia but I would not come here for pho. The pho lacked flavor; beefiness, star anise, ginger, fish sauce... I didn't try Gavin's wonton noodle soup, but he seemed to have enjoyed it. I wasn't expecting much, but I'm thankful I can afford a meal when some folks can't do that. read more

I was craving black bean sauce and this omurice hit the spot. Place was empty and there was only one staff member, and the service was a bit slow, but the vibes and TVs playing football made it up. I took a piss in the bathroom and the goofy ahh toilet didn't flush but if you're having serious asian food withdrawl symptoms go here. Bit pricey for my poor ahh read more

Pho House - Pan Asian Near Me - Santa Cruz, California

My son and I visited a few weeks ago before moved in day at UCSC and decided on pho here. Great choice. Soup came out piping hot with full body flavor. I ordered the Cajun chili shrimp, which was huge and definitely could've been a full meal. Had it with steamed rice. Delicious! read more

Pho House - Cajun Chili Shrimps!! Delish!! - Pan Asian Near Me - Santa Cruz, California

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my friend and i went in an hour before closing and they served us & let us finish our food even though they ended up closing 30 mins early ! they have a lovely white chicken pho it was super yummy and the cajun shrimp was good as well! very spacious and clean inside we will def be back to try other stuff on the menu :) read more

We came here on a Friday around 10:20am yelp says it opens @10 but all lights were shut off and closed. Maybe if they are going to open later they can at least update their opening time on yelp for other people. read more

Good customer service Food was good, I ordered the spicy pork belly noodle it was delicious read more

Pho House - Spice pork belly noodle - Pan Asian Near Me - Santa Cruz, California

Food was incredibly bland in surprised they're even open still, one person in a large building when I went in on a Thursday evening

Aesthetically, this place is great. The server took awhile to warm up to us but eventually he spoke to us and was friendly and attentive after we close to finishing our meal. It was a very dead spot compared to the surrounding restaurants. Coming from Sacramento, I guess I can be bias on the broth. Here, it was bland, the portion was small and protein amount just bare to none. 22 dollar bowl did not live up to the value. Granted, the place is on the "busy" strip, so price is as expected. The spicy pork belly dish actually made up for the whole order. Again, the portion of pork belly was very small. I am not exaggerating at all, I literally counted about 15 little pieces, If I had to guess, it was maybe a 2 ounce slab-That was about 17 dollars. Overall, I would give the flavor of the spicy pb and the server (Juan) the 4 star. Otherwise, it's too pricey of course for the portion and the lack of flavor of the pho broth. This place was more of a Korean fusion Vietnamese noodle style. Not quite authentic but it is the only "pho" place around. If this is at your convenience, I'd recommend the spicy pork belly. read more

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5 stars for customer service, the young Korean girl was so friendly and gratuitously accepted my mom's ridiculous jokes about how she was Korean and not Vietnamese but working at a pho restaurant... the other server was also very attentive to us. 1 star for the food... Broth was decent but the meat tasted questionable and I stopped eating it because it started to taste like a stomach ache for later. The bean sprouts looked old, the lemon (instead of a lime) was super hard and I literally could not squeeze it. No thai basil! The noodles were good. The place is huge with lots of tables so a good place for groups. Bathroom was clean. Hopefully food quality control will improve. read more

Pho House - Good broth, questionable meat... - Pan Asian Near Me - Santa Cruz, California

There's a new Asian noodle house in Santa Cruz and it could not have come at a better time. Despite its name containing pho, they offer a wide variety of hot and cold noodle dishes with great quality. I ordered their Gyoza Noodle Soup and asked to make sure it could be fully plant based. Our server was very kind to check and make sure the ingredients were fully vegan, substituting for rice noodles and vegetable dumplings in a veggie broth. My bowl of noodles was simple but good! The dumplings were all homemade and ended up using impossible meat. I didn't realize at first and was concerned there was pork in my dish. The head chef reassured it was all plant based. I recommend that they update their menu to indicate the veggie gyoza as using mock meats, since it's uncommon and some folks might not want that option. Overall, a great spot with great service. I will definitely return to try more dishes as long as they got the plant based options for me. read more

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Ok I can't speak for all their food because the first time I went there I ordered the spicy pork belly noodle soup, and when I went back I ordered the same thing because it was so good! Ha. I've heard the pho is good but I haven't tried it. I've also tried the gyoza and enjoyed that as well. Definitely too expensive for the appetizer though. This is a pretty big space and it always seems kind of empty which I find surprising. The service is great too. Will be back (probably for more pork belly soup!) read more

Pho House - Spicy pork belly noodle soup (hit the spot!) - Pan Asian Near Me - Santa Cruz, California

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I had a very disappointing experience at Pho House. Unfortunately, there were bugs--specifically flies--in the food we were served. When we brought this to the attention of the host, instead of addressing it calmly and professionally, she became defensive and started raising her voice. We politely asked to speak with a manager, no real solution was offered Despite the clear issue with the food, they refused to offer any reasonable discount or compensation, which added to the frustration. It was not a pleasant dining experience, and the lack of accountability from the staff made it even worse. I won't be returning and would not recommend this place based on how poorly they handled the situation. read more

Not inedible but not good..the nacho fries were good but clearly frozen and the cheese was bad, the burrito I had was a 5.5/10..my brother devoured the pho though..great service tho, but ima be head honest, I wouldn't comeback pho was good tho Zero ambiance, it was empty, 5pm Saturday read more

I enjoy the pho from here! I believe the broth was very flavorful and the pho was delicious. I do not believe they give enough hoisin and sriracha on the side so I always have to ask for extra (which they generously give extra if you ask!), but overall I love to come here every once in a while! read more

Pho House - beef pho - Pan Asian Near Me - Santa Cruz, California

I should have stuck with my instincts. But my wife and I were cold and wanted something warm to eat. With that said, I can confidently say, this place uses frozen ingredients (fishy and way overly salty) ... I'm Korean and she's Vietnamese, both first generations. I could tell straight away the owners are Korean as half their menu consists of Korean dishes and menu pictures were copied off the internet. Who in the hell makes seafood noodle soup with vermicelli noodles Smfh. They buy frozen mixed seafood (salty salty salty) that they pit in their watered down broth and blanch their vermicelli noodles and call it a Korean dish. Lol. The fish smell from their frozen ingredients shine bright. I'll give this place 4 months until they shut down. What a shame. Their pho is watered down too. Tastes like insta-pho- noodles from Costco Beware read more

Today, we decided to try this place as I was craving hot soup because of the rainy weather. We ordered the spicy beef soup, which was delicious, and the Pho soup, which was also quite tasty. For our appetizers, we had the egg roll and the fried chicken, which were both crispy and flavorful. Our only issue was that our order took a very long time to arrive; it would have been better if we had been warned about the delay. My daughter ordered the pan-fried noodles and Spring rolls but they only came after we had finished our meal. Although it did affect our experience, the two servers who were working today were incredibly nice and accommodating. They did their best to make things right, but I hope the restaurant can improve its service in the future. read more

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The wonton soup was very underwhelming. Worst wontons I have ever tasted. Disgusting. Not too mention that the wait time to get my food was far too long. The chicken that I got was served cold!! then food came in 10 minutes later... Service was below par, woman did not check up on us and had a bad attitude. Nasty. Do not come here!! read more

Spring rolls are a 10/10 definitely recommend on a night out. Thankyou so much. Fresh peanut sauce was excellent.

If I could rate it a zero I would give it zero... place is nasty, terrible service and I had flies in my food. The pho had no flavor and it was watered down ASFK. They wouldn't give me a discount for it and still made me pay in full. Don't come here. read more

On the positive side, the decor is nice and the server couldn't have been more friendly. I ordered the spicy chicken rice bowl. The bone-on, skin-on chicken is served in a bowl with a hot oily broth - like a soup. It comes with a side dish of rice and a pair of chopsticks. The broth was delicious, but that's were the flattery ends. I'm pretty handy with a pair of chopsticks. I'm pretty sure I could tie my shoes with chopsticks, if I tried. I poked around at this dish and was stumped on how to physically eat it. The chicken was rubbery and most definitely not a "fall off the bone" situation. The broth was too hot and oily for fingers to be a viable option. I asked the server how she'd eat it. Maybe with a fork and some fingers - she suggested. They don't have any knives, so she got me two forks. I clumsily picked at the chicken with the forks, trying not to splatter the oily broth on my clothes. Amongst the bone and cartilage and rubbery skin, I managed to liberate a few pieces of chicken meat. This chicken would have been more at home in a $8 hole-in-the-wall Chinese lunch spot - with knives and forks and lots of napkins. Submerged in broth on an $18 plate, not so much. read more

I am from LA...where we have tons of places to get good Pho..including a little Saigon. I was not expecting much when I saw this was not what I call a true Vietnamese place...Pho is one of the items, but they have many other Asian noodle type dishes...kind of an Asian "fusion" place you see these days. That said..the numbah 1 Pho was pretty good...not the best I have had..but good.. read more

The pho was ok but a very small portion for the cost. Although I was the only customer in the restaurant I had to get up to ask for water, twice. The waiter never came to my table and never brought a check even though I asked for it, I had to go pay at the register. 1/10 food 0/10 service, stay away. read more

This resteraunt calls itself "Pho House" yet the menu contains an interestingly large amount of non-traditional viet foods. They have things like Gimbap(pictured), black bean noodles, gyoza, the list goes on. That being said, DO NOT go here if you are looking for a traditional viet pho place. I will say, however, the food I ordered tasted great and was well worth the price. The resteraunt even gives out extra portions of food quite often, I have gone here and ordered baby gimbap twice now and each time they give me extra pieces(I recommend ordering the gimbap, super worth it for the price and tastes great). The waiter was super helpful and honest in suggesting what to order suited for my taste and what was worth the money and what was not. For some reason though, there is always only one waiter working, so if the place is busy service might be a bit slow. The decorations and setting of the resteraunt is pretty nice, there's lots of space between tables and there are real and living plants scattered neatly around. read more

Pho House - Baby Gimbap - Pan Asian Near Me - Santa Cruz, California

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If you're craving a bowl of comfort that could rival a hug from grandma, Pho House is your spot. Their Japanese curry with egg is soooooooooooooo creamy, savory, and has a touch of umami notes. I love this dish. read more

Pho House - Japanese Curdy with egg on top of rice - Pan Asian Near Me - Santa Cruz, California

Grabbed a gimbap as a snack, and it was pretty good. The space is large and casual, making it a comfortable spot to hang out. The staff was friendly, and overall, it seems like a solid choice for a laid-back lunch. read more

My veggie PHO was excellent! Great broth, veggies, tofu and the extra veggies on top. I like mine extra warm so added more slice jalapeño. Green tea and water. Great atmosphere because of the wonderful, efficient waitress who looks like Isabella Rossellini. I highly recommend this place for a great pHO and dinning experience! read more

Pho House - PHO House Santa Cruz - Pan Asian Near Me - Santa Cruz, California

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Pho is good and serving is good amount for someone like me who skinny lol. I love the inside of place it's cozy with high ceilings, I love high ceilings. Service is great, the server is awesome made sure my 3 year old daughter is comfortable on her high chair. read more

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Meh: we paid $75 for 2 bowls of mediocre soup (which was low on noodles), an order of gyoza ($10.95 for 5 pieces?!), very sweet seaweed salad, and a side of rice. Oddly, our server (the only person working) didn't actually speak to us? She seemed extremely introverted, and we had to ask for everything. No plates or silverware were given aside from the serving dishes and despite our having two small children with us. The name is misleading, too: there are 1 or 2 types of pho on the menu -- everything else is various Asian cuisine. Have concluded that it's not "better than nothing" when it comes to pho in Santa Cruz. Def headed to San Jose next time. read more

The food is not good at all, my chicken pho randomly came with mushrooms. No condiments like soy sauce or hoisin sauce. The server was nice but the food did not taste authentic at all. NEVER COMING BACK! read more

Rare Steak and Meatball Pho: 3.5/5 ~Expensive and not enough noodles! ~Toppings didn't look fresh ~Brisket was bland ~Meatballs didn't taste fresh (no bouncy texture kinda like day old texture or undercooked) ~broth was decent (def had better and much more flavorful broth) (*if u drink it by itself w/o the toppings tho, it's a bit too sweet) Black Bean Noodles: 1/5 ~Only potatoes ~No meat (menu didnt say there was meat, just would've added a bit more flavor if there was) ~Flavorless black bean sauce Friendly waiter! read more

Growing up eating pho, I am quite picky with the broth of my bowl of pho. Coming from the Bay Area to Santa Cruz, this was the first spot that caught my eye. After sitting down and being served by the nice gentleman, my partner and I decided to order the gyoza and #1 pho. The broth by itself was amazing, no additional flavors needed. I'm happy to say that this is my top 3 pho spots to dine in for the taste. Anyone who is looking for pho in Santa Cruz should definitely check this place out! read more

I love this downtown spot, but it seems like restaurants here have the lifespan of a goldfish--there's a new one every month. So, I was pretty excited when I heard the latest contender was going to be an actual Pho place. You know it's the real deal when "Pho" is in the name, right? I grabbed a seat outside with a prime view of Pacific Street, perfect for people-watching and soaking up the Santa Cruz vibe. But, alas, the food didn't live up to the location. The noodle-to-meat-to-broth ratio was all wrong, and the flavors were so bland I had to drown it in condiments just to taste anything. If they manage to survive the apparent curse of this spot, I'm hoping they can spice things up a bit. If not, the next tenant might want to do some serious smudging before they set up shop. read more

The broth is delicious! Don't skip the apps, we really enjoyed the bok choy and gimbap. Our server was super helpful and sweet. read more

I decided to give em a try. I kept it simple. Spring rolls to go. The peanut sauce was awful and runny like water. The spring rolls were old and the lettuce brown. The wrap couldn't be chewed cuz it had hardened. Wow such a bummer I tipped $5 solo I waisted $16 read more

Pho House - All produce old and browning - Pan Asian Near Me - Santa Cruz, California

Service was excellent. Food was mediocre. The spicy beef stew should have been called a beef soup, with several large slabs of beef cooked with noodles. The soy sauce chicken stew was chicken wings with the skin still on it, covered with a thick layer of sauce and a side bowl of rice. The pho was good but salty. There are only 3 pho options on the menu. Not the kind of quality food I expect for an Asian restaurant in California. read more