You Love Pho?
We Love Pho 2.
I Love Pho 3!
Set!
Actually, I'm not totally sure that would be considered a proper set in that card game, but either way, if you love pho, you'll almost certainly love the pho at We Love Pho 2!
I went out for lunch with a co-worker who had been to this pho spot before a couple of times, but I hadn't been. I hadn't had pho in over two years, and that was at an airport in a different state lol. What better way to break my fast of pho than at We Love Pho...2!
But no We Love Pho 1? Well, I don't know if there ever was one (or 1), so I can't really comment on that lol.
We Love Pho 2 is located on the northeast corner of Carson and Norse. There's a pretty big menu board on the sidewalk where passersby could stop by and check out what offerings are available at this Vietnamese eatery just east of Lakewood Blvd. It's also right next to a sculpture of a tennis racket and ball that you'd normally see at parks signifying that they have tennis courts. In this case, the tennis courts are on the other side of Carson St at Long Beach Community College (LBCC).
As soon as we walked in, a server in the back pointed towards an empty table where we could sit. They don't have any laminated or paper menus; instead, they just have a QR code that you scan with your phone so you can see their menu.
My co-worker ordered the #30 Shaken Beef with Rice. When I read the description of that on the menu, it almost sounded like there'd be no vegetables, but it turns out there was a good amount of vegetables on there.
When I saw my co-worker's dish, it almost looked like a deconstructed hamburger with some steak fajitas piled into the mix. It looked pretty good, but seeing that it was my first time at a place that specializes in pho, I felt it would have been remiss to choose a non-pho dish.
There are a dozen choices for pho - rice noodle soup, but keep in mind some only come in Large size. I didn't see any empty bowl sizes, like boba shops would have empty cups at the register to inform the customer how much drink they'd be getting. Luckily, we saw a few bowls on other tables, and my co-worker immediately knew they were the Large size. Having empty bowls available for the customer to see up front would be very helpful here.
I was torn between the #9 Pho Special Combo and the #11 House Special Egg Noodle, the latter of which comes with quail eggs. I wasn't sure how I'd like quail eggs in pho, so I went with the #9 Pho Special Combo, which comes with sliced rare beef, brisket, tendon & beef meatballs in a beef broth.
It took about 5 minutes for the server to come and take our orders, and it took even less time than that for my order to come out! That's how fast it was! It's like they already had the soup prepared in a large pot and just poured it out onto a large bowl for me to consume. Alongside my bowl was a small plate that held basil leaves, bean sprouts, and a lime wedge.
It took about a couple more minutes for my co-worker's Shaken Beef to come out, but we also got some spring rolls to share. The spring rolls came at the same time as my #9 Pho Special Combo, so we could commence eating at the same time.
One order of spring rolls consist of three rolls supplemented by a peanut sauce of some sort. Each roll, wrapped in rice paper, has some sliced pork and shrimp alongside a small medley of vegetables. I had one and enjoyed it with the peanut sauce, but didn't like how the rice paper got pretty sticky on my fingers. They also have shrimp rolls, which are the same minus the sliced pork; it's pretty much the pescatarian version of spring rolls.
My co-worker enjoyed his shaken beef with rice and various vegetables, which also included lettuce and tomato, hence the aforementioned deconstructed burger. I enjoyed my pho as well! After dumping the contents from the small plate into my bowl, I poured some sriracha sauce on the plate to dip the beef into, and that was pretty good I must say! I also added some hoisin sauce in my soup since the beef broth, while delish and flavorful on its own for the sodium-conscious, could have used more flavor in my opinion. The noodles did get quite clumpy at the bottom of the bowl, however, but it wasn't too much of a drawback for me, though I understand it might be for others.
We also got a couple of fortune cookies alongside our receipt, but the fortunes inside were more akin to proverbs.
For parking, there are a handful of spots on Norse Way, but if all the spots closer to Carson are taken, there's also parking in rear.
The food itself was worth 5 stars, but I later realized that we could have gotten egg rolls and soda for free since we came during the lunch special hours, which are weekdays from 10 AM to 3 PM. The server didn't mention anything about that. Also, for the Large #9 Pho Special Combo I ordered, the menu outside states that it's $15.50, but the online menu says $16.50. Our server also seemed kind of dull and vapid during our visit. read more