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    Pho Real

    4.3 (103 reviews)
    Open 9:00 am - 9:00 pm

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    Recommended Reviews - Pho Real

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    A2. Two Piece Spring Rolls
    Danielle H.

    The inside is very nice and clean. Trendy decor. Staff were extremely friendly. Service was fast. Food was so delicious and fresh. The pho broth was amazing and all the ingredients were so good. The garlic fried chicken had such a good flavor. They were sticky and sweet, garlicky, crunchy, but moist on the inside. Don't even get me started on the vermicelli with egg rolls. Everything had SO much flavor. Each dish was cooked to perfection. If you are in the area and craving Pho. This is the spot.

    Love their to-go packaging . There's uncooked noodles underneath those toppings with a separator in between !
    Angie C.

    I was feeling a little under the weather and my husband decided to grab a few to-go orders from here recently since it's near our house --here are my thoughts: PROS -- 1. Ambiance is clean and inviting . 2. Customer service was friendly and welcoming . 3. The to-go orders are packaged neat with separate containers of each order . 4. They offered cooked or uncooked noodles and we always opt for uncoooked so we can make them fresh at home . 5. Also appreciate the fresh herbs/veggies . CONS -- 1. The uncooked noodles in my meatball pho were cut so when it came time to boil them it all turned into short noodle pieces and were really unpleasant to eat . Not sure if they thought this order was for a child lol, but I like my noodles uncut please . 2. The broth wasn't as flavorful as other pho shops in SD --it seemed too watered down and lacked depth . Overall, Pho Real has a lot of potential and with a few minor tweaks, I think it could easily become a neighborhood favorite .

    Sandy K.

    We held our employee of the year luncheon here. As we walked in, it was a large room with lively music and retro decor. I ordered P1, rare steak on the side and extra meat balls. We also, ordered eggrolls, spring rolls, orange chicken, garlic butter chicken wing, calamari, bbq steak plate, bbq chicken plate and fried rice. The pho broth was a little too salty for me, but the appetizers were flavorful. We had 1 server for a table of 15, there was 1 other guy helping with the drinks. I wished the other 2 staff members helped bring put the food as they were just standing around. There was 1 other table other than ours. Other than that, I will definitely give a solid 4 out of 5.

    Celeste L.

    What a festive and spacious restaurant! Lots of room for seats and no crowd so you have immediate seating. I opted for the bbq pork with rice and taro bubble milk tea with extra tapioca! Must try, I ate the whole dish minus the plate ;) The cha gio fried spring rolls were really Good too! Good crisp and didn't burn the tongue. I liked the festive decorations they had during Christmastime, added some festive feel! Value for the meal were reasonable, good price for the flavor and service, I'd definitely come back to try their pho next time!

    Menu
    Dorian C.

    Very nice decor inside with plenty of seating, so large parties are more than welcome. You can tell a lot of thought went into the details and artwork, which gives this spot a unique, elevated feel. The pricing reflects that lol, items run a bit higher than your typical local shop. That said, when you factor in the larger menu, wide variety of bowls, huge drink selection, and even TVs for catching football, the extra +$2-$3 per bowl (vs other pho shops) feels worth it for the overall atmosphere. The staff is extremely friendly, and it clearly feels like a family owned spot where everyone genuinely wants you to have a great experience. I ordered the short rib bowl. While the beef wasn't quite fall off the bone tender (Phởnominal down south still holds that crown), the broth itself was rich and decadent. The oxtail option was excellent, they give you a massive chunk of oxtail, and I'd personally choose it over the short rib. The combo bowl is also a solid move if you want variety, you really can't go wrong with the classics. I also tried the Vietnamese iced coffee. It's more of a premade espresso style drip mixed with condensed milk and half and half rather than a traditional phin brew. Not exactly what I was craving, but still tasty leaning more creamy and sweet than bold. Parking is decent and easy, thanks to a shared lot with other low traffic restaurants and shops.

    A9. Garlic Butter Chicken Wings
    Steven Binh N.

    Just like everyone says the place looks great friendly staff, the food though, different story. I got the chicken like everyone says to try and first thing I was expecting the chicken to be super hot by touch, but when I touched it, it was like warm. So I took a bite out of it and was expecting crunchy sounds and but instead just a soft texture chicken skin, feels like they reheated in the microwave very sad. The pho was bland and the noodles like others say the noodle were watery. I also had a to go order and ordered the vermicelli and pork with egg rolls to go and got no egg rolls. I probably wouldn't come back, anyone that comes the decorations look great !

    Suite front
    Emmett T.

    For real... this is a fairly new Vietnamese restaurant that replaced a taqueria in a Lemon Grove strip mall. There was plenty of parking in the plaza lot. The spacious interior was refurbished to reflect the South Asian culture. Only a few groups of customers were dining when I showed up for a weekend lunch. The menu booklet contained six laminated pages. From a quick scan of the prices, they looked slightly more expensive than places in central SD. From the dozen varieties of rice vermicelli noodles (bun), I selected the Grilled Shrimp and Pork version. The bowl contents besides the two proteins were lettuce, cucumber, mint, pickled carrot, daikon, scallion, bean sprouts, and roasted peanuts. A cup of fish sauce was provided on the side to pour into the vessel for more flavor. There were only three small shrimp included while the pieces of pork didn't have grilled char marks on them like I have experienced elsewhere. The service was good, and the staff kept the tables clean by frequently bussing the empty dishes and glasses. However, based on the price and quality of the food I ordered, I couldn't give more than three stars for my lunch at Pho Real.

    B2. Grilled Pork and Egg Rolls

    Food is delicious. Great service. Lots of table and very clean. Definitely recommend trying this place out. We came here other time before and you try their spring rolls also. By far, one of our favorite spot.

    Topping for the Pho
    Mike O.

    The Pho was ABSOLUTELY delicious!! Very feeling as always and not to salty at all! My daughter enjoyed the egg rolls and the seafood shrimp pho. I had the seafood shrimp pho as well, and my lady had the brisket pho well done and she said it was good. Unfortunately it stops there. For a Saturday night, first rain in San Diego in a while it was not busy at all which I thought was going to make for more tentative service. That was not the case, the order was taken very fast which was promising. Food came out shortly after. But the service came to a complete stop when the food came (the job was done for them) we were never asked how the food was, we have to ask to have our waters refilled 2x and when it came time to pay we sat at the table with completely empty bowl for a 10-15 minutes so finally I asked for it. The decoration and ambience of this place was very well put together. The floors didn't look as clean as I'd like to see in such a nice place. Side note: the table next to us went to the bathroom and they completely cleaned off the table of food they were still hoping to come back too. The manager attempted to make it right and make the food again but didn't bring out all of the order. I really wanted to like this place! Again the taste was good but I won't be coming back here for the service anytime soon. Definitely will order out if I come back.

    Spring roll
    Gingerlily L.

    Just tried this pho place which took over the old Bollweevil spot (which later became El Cilantro). The remodel is nice and the restaurant looks bright and clean. They are still working on their liquor license. We ordered pho and tried the eggroll and spring roll combo. The soup was good. I would have liked the tendon and Tripe to be a bit more tender in my medium special combo Pho. But all in all we enjoyed all our dinner and wish the best for this business.

    Thai tea with Boba
    Tammy J.

    Been here once to dine in and it was quite busy. We always get their teas to go. Love their drinks, thai tea, Vietnamese iced coffee and their smoothies. Always made fresh. Super clean inside as well. Always very friendly as soon as we step inside. We've had their egg rolls which were very good and the phó with rare steak. Lots of veggies were provided and I really liked their broth. I also really liked their nước mắm for the egg rolls. A great addition to Lemon Grove. If you're an OG this is the old Boll Weevil.

    4 piece egg rolls, Oxtail Pho, Chicken Rice Plate with over easy egg
    Fevian M.

    For starters, we got the 4 piece egg rolls and they were just okay. The Oxtail Pho - the broth was flavorful before putting any sauces in it. I would recommend this dish. The Chicken Rice Plate tasted more like orange chicken then your usual chicken rice plate. The location is pretty new and super spacious. They have TVs around to watch sports. The staff was friendly and pleasant. I would definitely go back for the Oxtail Pho and I would like to try more of their other dishes that they have on their menu.

    Spring rolls
    Sandy A.

    New pho spot. The location is in a plaza amongst other restaurants. Nice decor and spacious floor plan. The food was okay - has potential. I shared the Super Bowl Pho with my son. I chose the rib with brisket and tripe. The noodle to broth ratio was off, a bit more noodles would compliment the bowl much better. The broth was okay. We also got eggrolls, spring rolls and chicken wings. The eggrolls were delicious. The spring rolls, not so much. The vermicelli noodle was hard like it hard been refrigerated and not as fresh. Also, too much noodles and lacking some vegetables. The chicken wings had good flavor but the batter was extremely too thick. Not sure what they fry it in but less batter would make them much better. My husband had the beef plate and said it was tasty and packed with flavors. Overall, we understand this is a new establishment and they did let us know they're still trying to perfect the menu. The service was good and we will definitely give them another try.

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    Ask the Community - Pho Real

    Is this where the Japanese restaurant was?

    It was where the Mexican restaurant was. Right next to yum yum donuts and the Japanese restaurant

    Don’t See Your Question? Ask Away!

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    Pho Mai Cali & Grill

    4.2(527 reviews)
    5.8 mi
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    I've never dined in at this restaurant and have only ordered through Grubhub so my review is based…read moresolely on how they prepare/package the food, presentation, and taste. Every single time I've ordered everything I've had here has been pretty good so I can only imagine having it fresh in house. They package everything well and accordingly. Their portions are big on certain items. Some of the newly repeat items I've been ordering are their egg rolls, spring rolls, and combination special vermicelli noodle bowl. All 3 have been heavy in my rotation and they do a nice job of serving it well! Their egg rolls arrive almost 1 hour later and is still crispy! Their spring rolls are huge!!! So they are definitely worth the price. Their peanut sauce is okay though it could be better. The special combination vermicelli noodle salad bowl is amazing! Huge portions and includes everything like beef, shrimp, egg rolls, pork, chicken, vermicelli noodles, veggies, and nuoc mam fish sauce. Generous portion that could easily feed 2 and they squeeze everything nicely in the container. I also love how big their container for nuoc mam is because I always need extra of that!

    Photos
    Pho Mai Cali & Grill - A wide angle view of the interior seating - fair amount of space here.

    A wide angle view of the interior seating - fair amount of space here.

    Pho Mai Cali & Grill - Egg Rolls

    Egg Rolls

    Pho Mai Cali & Grill - D2. Vietnamese Coffee $4.99

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    D2. Vietnamese Coffee $4.99

    Phonomenal - House Special Pho

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    4.8(489 reviews)
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    Another great pho spot. Also great value. There is a lot of rib meat in the signature pho. The…read morerolls are also one of the largest I've seen. The restaurant is kind of small so when they are short staffed the wait can take a bit longer. But even with that the service was really good and quick.

    Photos
    Phonomenal - Partial view of the dining area

    Partial view of the dining area

    Phonomenal - Their Phonomenal food item that always sells out!!!!

    Their Phonomenal food item that always sells out!!!!

    Phonomenal - Spring roll

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    Spring roll

    Pho Real - vietnamese - Updated May 2026

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