Pho Momma earned a spot in the 2025 Michelin Guide, and maybe it deserved it back then - but in June of 2026, the quality here is below the typical pho spot anywhere in Sacramento.
TL;DR: Do NOT order anything extra. They'll charge you for it without telling you and only slip it onto the check after the fact. And the owners are possibly racist, homophobic, or both - based on what her husband screamed at me on my way out for no reason at all: "We don't need people like you here."
I walked in on a Saturday night, two hours before closing. Not busy, no line. I got seated right away - well, the waitress (who I later found out was the owner) pointed at a booth.
The booth was dirty. Crumbs, spilled fish sauce, half-eaten strands of vermicelli all over the table. I asked the owner if she could wipe it down. She said "Oh wow, sorry," then delivered drinks to a few other tables and left me at the dirty table for another five minutes before coming back to clean it. There were plenty of empty, clean booths - it was NOT busy. Any one of them would've been fine.
The menus were dirty and sticky too. I let it go, figured I'd just wash my hands after ordering.
We ordered the crispy pork sausage spring rolls, one order of pork egg rolls ($12, per the menu), two Thai teas, and two lemongrass vermicelli. Then I went to the restroom - toilet paper all over the floor, sink area filthy.
The waiter brought out two orders of egg rolls - he'd misheard me and didn't even know the price - but he owned it and took the extra back. No harm there.
The food was a letdown. The lemongrass vermicelli was a mountain of noodles, an OK amount of bland chicken, and barely any vegetables. No texture, no flavor, no spice. This was not Vietnamese cooking - it was lazy. I wouldn't order it again.
So I tried to salvage it and asked for some extra veggies to fix the texture. Here's the problem. The dish already comes with salad mix - it says so on their own menu. Nobody told me extra veggies would cost anything. We got the bill, it wasn't on there, and then the waitress came back, said "I'm just going to update the check real quick," and added a $2.50 "extra veggies" charge after the fact.
Now look at their menu (photo attached). They have a whole "Additional Add-ons" section, and the ONLY veggie add-on listed is garnish/beansprouts at $0.50 to $1 - not $2.50. So they charged me up to five times the only veggie price they actually print, for something they never disclosed. And on the receipt it's typed in lowercase as "extra veggie" while every real menu item is capitalized - you can tell it was punched in by hand.
I asked the waiter to take it off since nobody told me it'd be a charge. He refused. I asked to talk up front so I wouldn't bother other tables, and asked for a manager - out came the owner, the same woman who'd sat me at the filthy booth.
I asked her to remove the $2.50. She refused, said people ask for extras all day so they have to charge, and that she considered this a "side salad" - even though there's no side salad at that price on the menu. I said, "That's fine, but you have to disclose it first." She told me it was on the menu. It is not (see the photo). I told her no restaurant in Little Saigon charges for a few extra veggies without telling you up front. She refused again.
I paid, told her I'd leave a bad review and no tip and wouldn't be back - all over $2.50 she could've just removed. She asked what the review would even be about. I listed it: the dirty table, dirty menus, dirty bathroom, the undisclosed charge, and her refusal to reason with a customer making a fair point. She went quiet.
As I walked back to grab my things, she kept talking, but the music was so loud I genuinely couldn't hear her, so I said "Sorry, I can't hear you over the music." That's when her husband SCREAMED across the entire restaurant: "GET OUT RIGHT NOW!" I said, "I'm already leaving, and I won't be back." And he screamed, "WE DON'T NEED PEOPLE LIKE YOU HERE!"
People like me? I was respectful and calm the whole time. I never cursed, never raised my voice, I just pointed out facts. So what did he mean? Because I pushed back on an undisclosed charge? Because my partner and I are LGBTQ+ and sat next to each other? Because I'm Black? I have no idea why he said it, but if you're Black or LGBTQ, I'd think twice... Either way, screaming that across a full dining room, at a customer who simply said he wouldn't return, is unhinged. No competent owner does that.
Here's the kicker: Pho Momma's 2025 Michelin recognition is a Bib Gourmand - which is specifically the award for good value. A restaurant honored for value nickel-and-dimed me $2.50 for veggies they never disclosed, then had its owner scream me out the door. Is that what Michelin recognition looks like? Absolutely not.
If you're Black or LGBTQ, I'd genuinely reconsider eating here and save yourself the possible discrimination. Go to Pho Xe Lua, Pho Saigon, or honestly any other pho spot in town. read more