Viet Cali: ...Seriously? Just drive the extra 3.1 miles to Cow Cali

Pho Viet Cali
Location: 6755 Mira Mesa Blvd #113(near the Bev Mo...)

Hours: 10:30am to who cares

Photos: Courtesy of Hao and his fancy camera

Beth:

Sometimes we weary in our great quest to review every pho place in "America's Finest City"- like this last month, in which all our attempts to try new and exciting pho establishments have turned out pretty lame. Not quite Hall of Laaame-worthy, but somehow, that makes it even sadder.

Well, it was about half an hour after they were supposed to open. The door was open, but no one seemed to be in there. And certainly there were no other diners. But we're used to that by now... If you don't go to one of the really good, popular places where a lot of Vietnamese people go to eat (like Pho Cow Cali, Pho Hoa, and Pho Ca Dao- which we will be reviewing soon), then you might not see other people in there for breakfast. Frankly, this should just be a hint to us that we may not be in for much of a treat.

So we walked in... The door was just open... And someone from the kitchen came out and graciously sat us, acknowledging that they were, in fact, open.

The menu had one of those great pages where you can choose you own combination of meats. We all ordered and received our pho quickly.

Katie:

Well, I decided take advantage of this make your own pho option, particularly because their combo included meatballs, not so much my favorite. I also took this opportunity to intentionally order the "crunchy" flank as opposed to "fatty flank" and "some other flank." Well, the waitress assured me that what I ordered was the same as the combo...I figured she would just punch that into her fancy computer with a few replacements, etc.

Now...when the pho came out, it was obvious my pho had meatballs in it. Not a big deal, last time I tried them was 8 years ago so I figured it was time. Not as off-putting as my first experience but certainly wouldn't order them again.

Beth:

Yes, even though we had "created our own" combinations, the guy just brought the bowls out and said numbers, like the numbered combinations on the menu. So we had no idea whose pho was whose. Awk-waaaard....

Katie:

I did manage to order my steak on the side and the sate sauce was good, but thats about it. Oh that and, we got 20% or 25% off cause it was happy hour all day saturday. But considering Beth and I only ate 50% of our pho, not a great deal.

Most common comment was "Interesting." Meatballs were "interesting," said Hao. Broth is "interesting" says Katie.

Anyways, Beth says it best:

PREPARE YOURSELF FOR--

MORE MEDIOCRE PHO! WAH HA HA HA!!

the pho crew: "Nooooooooo!!! Haven't we suffered enough??"

Viet Cali: "NO, NOW YOU MUST EAT MORE PHO THAT IS NOT PARTICULARLY GOOD!!!"

the pho crew: "May god have mercy on our souls!!"

Back to Katie:

Verdict: 5 spoons and an imaginary half. At any rate, not good enough for Beth and I to eat more than half a bowl of pho, espechially with the knowledge that some amazing buy-2-get-1-free banh mi from Lucky awaited us (See pic below)

Anh Hong Pho Pasteur

Location: 7612 Linda Vista Rd, Suite 117- Clairemont (near K Sandwiches)
Phone: (858)-569-7515
Hours: do you really care that much? If you still want to go there after reading this review, you could call.
Website: their Yelp page

Beth:

This is going to be a quick one, because there isn't much worth talking about here. We went back in December, and the details are a little fuzzy. But trust me, you won't be missing much.

We were initially hopeful when we entered Anh Hong Pho Pasteur... We were in a new, uncharted pho neighborhood, and we were so close to K Sandwiches. People who like Banh Mi don't put up with sub-par pho, right?

So we went in... The decor was pretty wild. One wall had neon beer signs on it, there was some ridiculous plastic gate with golden dragons dividing the dining area, one wall had murals of life in rural Vietnam... Also, a very dirty tank of crustaceans. A little tacky, but nothing particularly alarming to people who have been all over the pho scene in this town.

The menu made us (myself, Katie, Matus) very hopeful- they had a 7-color drink in addition to the usual 3-color! Maybe something fun and unique was going on here. Maybe we were about to have a great pho experience!

...


Not so much.

So, not as bad as Bolsa, but not really worth the time. Nothing was particularly bad, or gross. But it just didn't leave us with a very good impression. The broth was particularly mediocre- a bit bland.

Katie finished her bowl, but I didn't... After all, we were about to go get some sweet, sweet Banh Mi.

Bottom line... We didn't find it remarkable enough to post about it right away, and the fact that we don't remember much about it now should tell you that you may not want to waste your time. Just go get some Banh Mi. Or drive to Mira Mesa or PB.

6 spoons out of 10.

Bolsa: Pho Purgatory

Location: 9225 Mira Mesa Blvd
Phone: (858) 693-3663
Hours: : Mon-Wed, Fri-Sun 8am-8:30 pm
Website: their Yelp page

Beth:

Katie, Hao, and I were excited about Bolsa because of their early opening time (yay!) and their location right in the middle of prime pho country in Mira Mesa (right across from Pho Cow Cali and kitty-corner from Lucky Supermarket and pho). However, it seemed mediocrity was the order of the day.

There really isn't much to say about the place, frankly. Nothing about the experience was particularly bad... or good. It was so-so... More or less.

The restaurant was not remarkable in its decor or anything else. The service was OK, the decor was standard. It was clean. Meh.

We opted out of spring rolls because we were thinking about getting their banh mi, so we went straight for the pho.


Katie:

First sip of the broth and it hits you a bit weird. Something a bit different, not really in the good way. I was thinking, hmm chicken taste? But then, Hao and Beth hit it on the nail: a peculiar fast food hamburger kind of taste. It was still edible but didn't have that fresh pho feelin'. The meat was average, the noodles were average, the veggie plate was average (missing culantro). If they were close by, I may consider going again but if you're in Mira Mesa anyways, there are at least 3 better pho places within a few blocks of Bolsa: Lucky Pho, Pho Hoa Cali, Pho Ca Dao, each of which have their own charm.


Beth:

Yeah, bring back that fresh pho feelin', whoa-oh that fresh pho feelin', you've lost that fresh pho feelin' now it's gone, gone, gone...



Sorry about that. Anyway, I basically echo Katie's sentiments about the food. Not very memorable. My flank was nice and tender but it seems like it might be hard to screw up crunchy flank. The saute sauce was also unremarkable.

Anyway, I think the most telling thing about this experience is that we left half our pho on the table, so we would have more room for banh mi. And rather than order banh mi from this bastion of mediocrity, we opted to go to Cali Baguette, which just opened a new location in the same mini-mall as Bolsa.

The banh mi from Cali Baguette ($3.25) were good, I thought- Katie said she found them OK but not great (although she acknowledges that her banh mi standards may be impossibly high). But the real standout there was the service- the girl manning the counter was very friendly and answered any questions we had about the foods they offered. She even gave us a delicious baguette covered in butter and sesame seeds for free with our order!

So I guess the bottom line with Bolsa is... meh. 5 spoons out of 10.


(photos courtesy of Hao Ye- except the spoons.)