Pho Hoa: First post from the El Cajon Pho Jungle

Location: 4717 El Cajon Blvd
Phone: 619 - 283-6431
Hours: 7am to 10pm
Website: Yelp it.

Pho Hoa: #1 rated on Yelp, you say? But the credibility of yelp is nothing compared to the authorité of The San Diego Pho Blog (must be channeling Beth channeling Cartman). Anyways, this December trip was my 3rd time to Pho Hoa and I got to say, consistency isn't really one of their selling points. The past Pho Hoa phos were solidly good, but my most recent bowl of pho at Pho Hoa was straight from pho heaven. The soup was well balanced and left me wanting to take a mug or two home. You could detect the slight anise and cinnamon taste that's in every bowl of pho but a couple of us also picked up on a garlic flavor and another unidentifiable delicious green herb.

The meat was abundant, tender and flavorful, really flavorful. At bad pho places, the meat just provides variation in texture, at good pho places, the brisket and flank will be savorily delicious and the steak- meh. In my bowl at pho Hoa, the flank, brisket and steak made me feel like happy little cows were dancing on my tongue. And according to my liking, the steak was sticking out of the broth when they served it, so it was still a bit pink allowing you to let it cook as much or as little as you like. All of these things are standard from a top of the line pho place but what was truly remarkable about Pho Hoa was the tripe. Normally, I end up with tripe in my bowl because I don't particularly mind it and it always seems to follow tendon into every pho bowl, but I really enjoyed this tripe. It too was tender and flavorful.

Other Pho Hoa Facts & opinions:

Their service is shit. Throwing the menu on the table and mumbling at customers shit.

Their sate sauce was very yummy. On par with Pho Cow Cali.

Their food options are pho, pho or pho, which costs $5.75

Their 3-color-drink was super yummy but maybe that's because I hadn't had one in forever.

They are never bad, but neither are they consistently amazing.

They officially open at 7am!! Once I even called at 6:45 and they said they were already open.

Hao:

Not that impressed but only because he was turned off by the noodles coming in one big clump. ( hmm.. I didn't notice but its sort of instinct for me to stick my chopsticks in and pull the noodle apart right after adding the basil)

Matus:

AWESOME!!!! (But, this was Matus' 2nd pho experience ever)

Beth:

Sadly, I cannot say at this moment that I shared Katie's enthusiasm for Pho Hoa. I mean, it was good- the broth was well-balanced and flavorful, but I ordered the crunchy flank and steak and my meat was generally unimpressive (that's what she said...?). There was a LOT of fat on it.

But everything else was pretty good. So I guess I have to say that I, overall, give the place 7 1/2 spoons. But maybe another visit will change my mind.

Back to Katie:

Based on my one bowl of pho alone, I would give this place 9 spoons but taking into account Hao's and Beth's comments and their lack of consistency, they get downgraded to 8. Will definitely check this place out again.