Pho Bac Reviews

Food & service were decent. Overall we were disappointed. While we waited in the parking lot, the garbage smell was horrible, no matter where we stood. Parking is also wish-washy, which is concerning because it’s not located in the best part of Seattle. We were accosted coming in & going out by a homeless guy screaming he was hungry at the top of his lungs. Will try somewhere else next time.

While in Seattle visiting family we stopped in for dinner on a Sunday evening. The place was busy and we had about a 15 minute wait. The initial service was good, but lacked any follow ups. The lack of any follow up is y only complaint. We all got the short rib pho which was delicious.

Haven’t been here in years! Wow, service was great and the food amazing. Celebrating friendship and this was the perfect place to eat at. 40 Days of lent and had this vegan dish. My friend had another dish that looked just as yummy. This place charges a little bit more than the usual place but it has a great location and the atmosphere is super nice. I’ll have to go back when I’m not rushing, thank you!

We had a melange of dishes at this unpretentious restaurant. Phos, Canh Ga Chien, Cha Gio, Pho Tron, and Pho Ga. All were tasty, fresh, delicious, and flavorful. Yummy.

Authentic Vietnamese cuisine in the heart of Seattle's International District. It's one of our favorite locations for outstanding pho or noodle soup and other savory Vietnamese dishes. Outstanding spring rolls. Good service and reasonable price. It's become a very popular choice for lunch and can be a difficult to find parking nearby.

The pho was different from the normal Pho. You can get short ribs in your pho. The only weird thing is that they had fries but no steamed rice. Weird for an Asian restaurant to not have steam white rice. New place so expect some delay in your food order.

The place is dirty, run-down. The service is noncommittal. But the pho is good and cheap. What more can you ask for? What more do you want?

After a long meeting at the area , my business associate want to take every one to Pho Bac Vietnamese restaurant for early dinner , I hear and read from TripAdvisor this place have a lot good reviews , restaurant very airy , spacious and staff super friendly , it is not too busy , staff sit us right away on a big tablet , it is 7 of us also there is a Bar on the second flour , large menu lot of option , not pricy ! the lady Manager recommend their signature Short Rib Pho and Chicken Wings , she tell me " Number ONE " in Seattle ! I am very fussy eater , finally I did order it and surprised the Bowl so big , portion size not shabby , the meat so tender just fell of the bone , need a knife to cut down the meat to bite size , I feel like a Caveman and the broth very flavourful with very strong fish sauce and savory plus five star powder , lot of MSG ! very delicious and steaming hot , the rice noodle not mushy had a little chew on it , oh the Chicken Wing amazing delicious worth die for ! also the salad rolls very freshly make ! looks every one love their Pho , I honestly to say We do have the best Pho in Vancouver ! so if you in the Little Sango area , drop in and try their traditional Vietnamese dishes very delicious and friendly . the Short Rib Pho okay nothing spectacular

Please know that my review comes with very little knowledge of Vietnamese Food and Pho. That being said, a friend recommended this place and so we gave it a try. We got pho, egg rolls, chicken bah min and pork bah min. The pho was delicious. I could eat that broth daily. The chicken bah min was great too. I liked it more than the pork. Overall this was a good experience.

The Pho here is for real. Excellent stock, not from cubes. Great coffee and spring rolls too. Beef spare ribs very good. Don't get the large Pho unless you are really hungry! It is huge. Four people, eating their fill, about $50. Service a bit lacking but who cares at these prices.

My husband and I eat here quite often. It's incredibly popular, so be ready to be on a wait list during certain hours. They were so swamped during the holidays, it was a total zoo and they were running out of many dishes. Though, they do seat people as quickly as possible and the food comes out incredibly fast. The parking lot is usually packed, so be prepared to park elsewhere. I am generally a pho ga person, but I must say the chicken in the pho ga is boiled and too tough and rubbery for me (which I find to be common in Seattle's pho ga - but I do love the broth). So, I pay $15 for the slow poached pho ga (which is basically a half chicken floating in the soup). The chicken is usually tender, falling off the bone and the broth is SO HOT, that I have plenty of time to cut it and put it into the soup. My other go-to is Babar, since their chicken is rotisserie, amazing, but never hot enough for me. I usually get a kombucha and sometimes fries (which are amazing). My husband gets the pho tron (dry pho) with shrimp and he LOVES it. I think the service is really good for a place that is constantly busy open to close. The kids that work there hustle their butts off. The most popular dish I would say is the short-rib pho. It looks like something Fred Flintstone would eat.

Pho Bac on S. Jackson Street in Little Saigon is where Pho started in Seattle back in the 80s and for most Seattleites, this store was where they experienced Pho for the first time. Since their inception, Pho Bac has added locations and there is now competition from loads of other Vietnamese/Pho restaurants throughout the city, Every Pho-addicted Seattleite I know, however, still swears allegiance to the triangular flagship (now in the shape of a boat) on the corner of 14th and Jackson where both streets merge into Rainier Ave.South. The noodles are homemade, of course, and the chef du jour starts the awsome beef broth at 5:00 AM for a 7:00 AM opening and there is a steady stream of satisfied customers all day long until 9:00 PM closing.. It's inexpensive, great for kids, a quick lunch or an anytime pick-me-up. Chicken Pho and Veggie Pho now available. The coffee is also outstanding. Give this gem a try, you will not be disappointed!

Average portion size on protein. Ingredients very fresh. Broth rich and tasty. Very tight parking, drive your beater. Take out very well packaged.

Okay, I can see "the Boat" (this restaurant has inexplicably decorated itself to resemble a very red boat with a fake prow et al) from our office window but I would travel miles to eat the best Pho in Seattle. Brilliant broth is the foundation of wonderful soups with choices of meat (and other organs if you are adventurous) floating amongst rice noodles and spring onions, all served with a plate of bean sprouts, limes, jalapeños and Thai basil. Very friendly service with little English spoken in very utilitarian but clean surroundings. A perfect lunch, especially as the Seattle rains settle in.

Truely authentic and delicious tasty beef pho at very cheap price. Ordered the small bowl of pho tai for just $7 and the serving was quite filling. Highly recommended place for pho craving!

There were 5 in our group we were seated and served promptly. . The servings were very generous. The meatballs had a texture that was a little unusual, but yummy comfort food. Great value!

I want to start out by saying that Pho Bac, “the boat”, was my single most favorite eatery in Seattle. It was the kind of place where I dined so often and for so many years that they would take my order most of the time without words (literally!). My usual order would be two smalls, or a large and small if I was really hungry. I would typically have one order be chicken and one order with fatty brisket. So they would just ask “small? large?”... chicken then fat brisket?”. I would only need to nod. Every now and then I’d switch it up with tripe or meatballs just for a laugh. My tip was always $5. I felt like family. Now “the boat” is closed. Instead, in the parking lot of “the boat”, is a new, shiny, hip “sup shop”. The beef pho appears to be identical to “the boat” but with a couple of bucks added on. The chicken pho is significantly different and not for the better. The chicken pho at “the boat” had an ultra rich chicken stock with thin and tender pieces of chicken. It was simply addictive and I was addicted. The chicken pho at the sup shop is not chicken broth. I’m not sure if they made a mistake and put the chicken in beef broth or what. It was so salty I was unable to finish the broth - a first! The chicken is now just what appears to be thick, tough, dry pieces of boiled chicken breast. But the worst part about the sup shop is the service. I literally had to wait over 30 minutes to even have someone ask me for my order!! There were times at “the boat” where I was in n out in sometimes close to 30 minutes.

The restaurant, shaped like a red boat, is at the corner of South Jackson and Boren in Little Saigon. The pho is excellent, and the service is prompt and friendly. All in all, great value for money

Located in a parking lot next to the original building, Pho Bac did not disappoint anyone in our party of 4. Prices are reasonable, service is fast and the pho was amazing. I ordered poached chicken not expecting a half chicken...but was happy with my choice. I rarely have been a bowl of pho that i couldn’t finish but i was truly stuffed. I also ordered extra veggies thinking they would be included in the main bowl, but there were so many that they came in their own bowl with broth. Would definitely recommend! No frills, but nice ambiance with 70s Kung fu playing on the televisions.

I get pretty much the same pho every time, regardless of the restaurant. Pho Bac has great meat and noodle. The soup, however, has a hint of sugar, which sometimes is too much. I use the sriracha to mask it if it bothers me. But the ingredients they use are fresh and clean. Meat is of high quality. Their Vietnamese coffee is as strong as it should be. Price is higher than most (small ~$9) but I will pay a little extra for better quality pho.

This place has been reliably good for years, which is why it continues to be full near all hours of the day. The pho is based on a good broth base, with lots of flavour that isn’t watered down. The downfalls I saw were cold vermicelli noodles (although somewhat common, I’m not a fan) and the spring rolls. Although fresh, the spring rolls had zero taste (no herbs) and not near enough peanut sauce to add any flavour. If the broth and prices weren’t so reasonable, I would have given a 3/5.

Ted boat is gone and their new building on the same lot is fantastic. Much cleaner and roomier than the old place. My hubby and I split the brisket Pho. There was plenty and super yummy.

This is my favorite pho joint in Seattle by far. I've been coming here for a few years and is definitely my go to spot for some hangover busing goodness. There is not much for decor here, but usually the best Asian spots don't. Also, it's not a spotless restaurant. Again, the best Asian spots aren't. This place also has a VERY limited menu. If you don't like pho, you'll be going hungry here. The broth here is awesome. I usually consume about half of it before I even add the hoisin sauce & sriracha just so I can get that natural flavor. I finish off the noodles and high quality meat with the typical sriracha/hoisin sauce mix. The portion of meat here is also a bit more than other places. When you keep your menu simple it's easy to be a bit more generous. The service isn't always the greatest but the place is small enough that you can flag someone down. It's hard to knock true Asian places on service as standards tend to be quite a bit lower there. Finally, the price here is awesome, but bring cash as they don't take card.

Noodles sounded good so we gave this one a try. Place was open, airy, wall of windows to enjoy the sunshine. Pho Bac seems to be new or recently remodeled...clean. Noodles are good, but I enjoyed the pork sliders the most...very tasty. Broth was not the most flavorful but I had the vegetable pho. Should try the short rib pho another time to get a second example. Service could be improved. We had what seemed like a long wait between the first bowl of noodles and the remaining orders of noodles. Yes, it was lunch time, but I think we arrived just after the peak meaning the where still a lot of people in the restaurant but they were eating or there orders should have already been in the queue. We had to remind the server about our drinks. It is possible they were short staffed, had new staff, or were a bit disorganized...don’t know. I would give this one a second try, but there are so many eating options in this area that management should take another look at their staffing needs.

I thought this was worth the drive down to Seattle for some of the best pho in Seattle. This replaced the other Pho Bac shop in the same small parking lot off Boren. Come early to get a spot or else you may be parking across the street if you come later. We came for an early lunch. The chicken wings are definitely something you need to try and share with the other people at your table as these are some of the tastiest wings I have had at a Vietnamese restaurant. I opted to try the short rib pho. Honestly this was so big it’s worth sharing with someone. 3 large pieces with a big bowl of noodles and hot soup. The broth is pretty yummy as I savored every slurp on the cold day. Overall I would definitely go back and try this place out. I would try the dry pho next time or share the short rib pho.

Good restaurant. One of favorite places to go to for good chicken and rice.

This place was recommended by our airbnb host for authentic pho and we were not disappointed. It's not fancy but the pho was delicious and service prompt. I'm told the broth has to cook for 24 hours to be legitimate pho and you could tell this was good stuff. Spring rolls were also good.

I have eaten at this resturant since 1989 and it still is my go-to for Pho even though I have moved to Alaska. It's always on the list to visit when I am in Seattle. This is one of the original if not the original Pho place in town. Don't miss it. Not a lot of ambience, but you're there for the food. Eat and get on with your day.

Nice restaurant with lots of seats. Saw lots of good reviews and so decided to give it a try. We ordered the famous pho with big beef bones (3 of them), it was alright; meat weren’t tender that they were off the bones. The soup was quite salty to my palate. Perhaps that is the way this pho should be; however a bit less salty would have been perfect. We also ordered the dry noodle with prawns, the flavor was good and there were 8 pieces of prawns which I was surprised! Again, the flavor was not bad however a bit too sweet to my palate. We also ordered a pho with beef ball; nothing special about it. Lastly we had the deep fried spring rolls which were tasty with the sauce. We wanted to order the chicken wings but they were sold out. Also ordered Vietnamese coffee, it was ok, wasn’t strong enough coffee.

We felt a little rushed probably because it was less than an hour before closing. But the food was good and do flavorful. Everything was on point. We had the pho Bo with brisket and pho Tom with prawns. Also had the fresh spring rolls. It was delicious

This was our first time at this restaurant so I didn't want to order pho, since I've had that many times in the original pink "boat" restaurant owned by the parents. So I ordered the turmeric noodles with shrimp and the 3 of us ordered French fries with a lemon grass sauce to share. Everything was delicious. The fries were good on their own, but even better with the sauce. As I understand it, it wasn't as busy as usual, so service was prompt. We'll be returning.

Fantastic find a block from the Springhill Suites hotel near south Lake Union. I'm no expert on pho, but this was >the< best I have ever had. Ordered with chicken. My companion had the "Phamily Favorite" curry, which was rich and filling. Ban mi pork sandwiches really pop with grilled goodness with a little kick in the middle. I like the space - rustic interior brick "mill" walls, plenty of seating, and original art on the walls. Great staff.

If you’re in the mood for pho and kombucha, go here. Our wait wasn’t terribly long even at lunchtime on a Saturday and we were all thrilled with our soups. I ate my entire large bowl and would easily do it again.

Micro-aggression from server with hair bang who served at the bar. It’s not the same time I have experienced a different treatment from waitress from the same race. Seeing her ignoring me the whole time while smile and served a white/hispanic couple sitting next to me was an interesting experience. Ruined my Sunday mood, would not go again.

This is by far one of the best pho I've ever had before. The broth was unreal and the beef was unreal. I highly recommend checking this place out, the noodles were so soft and delicious. I can't wait to come back again next time I'm in Seattle.

We had dinner here while in Seattle. The service was good and the food was good. In addition, we found the prices to be very reasonable. If you want good Vietnamese food in Seattle, this is worth trying

I eat here 1-2 times a month with friends. We enjoy the food, but this place is too busy for it's own good. There is little to no table service, and last time it took 15 minutes to get eating utensils for my friend. The rest of the table had finished before he could really start. That shouldn't have taken 15 minutes during a lunch hour, but sadly has become a normal experience for us when dining in during lunch or dinner.

The Vietnamese beef pho here is very delicious. The beef is very tender and the broth is clear yet flavorful. A side of the dough bread is an excellent complement. When you dip the bread in the broth, it soaks up the soup and the combination is heavenly. The decoration place is very simple. Simply a no fuss place for a hearty meal.

Ummm, can this place be any shadier?! Walking over, I felt the need to keep looking over my shoulder, then I near the end of the block and had to do a double take. This red shack-ish looking place was where I intended to go. I'm a firm Yelp believer though so there had to have been a reason why folks have raved about this place and I've come all this way to turn back. I walked in and was taken aback by the smell - gee-bus - someone really needs to take care of that, I can't even put it into words. But people were in there eating away, so I decided to suck it up and give it a chance and I was not ready to walk back outside and look for another place. Pho is the only thing on the menu and you can mix and match your meat. The price wasn't terrible either. The food was good, but not amazing. Had high hopes, but the pho was run of the mill. Couple that with the filthiness of the shop and the smell, gotta take off another star.

There was a time (mid-80s) this place really was pretty much frequented by the Asian community only. I'd come in and be the only Caucasian in the place. Happily, this kind of stuff has caught on over the years and is pretty mainstream now...happier still - these guys are still around. It was a dive then and it still is, but the food was great then and it still is, too. The food is about as authentic as it gets this side of DaNang. Great pho. Simple menu. and great prices - still. While I'm a dac biet sort of guy, really for the simpler approach, pho with flank is a good way to go. Do I recommend it? U betcha. May not be for everyone as the whole decor/ambiance thing I suppose can be off-putting to some, but I'll take flavor over decor every day

I was a bit dubious at first--the place could use a good cleaning. But the pho was outstanding. I had the small sized beef brisket. The broth was better than any other I've had in Seattle. I'll be going back

Family has been going here for over a decade and the place is still our favorite. Great pho tai-chin with hefty portions. The pork vermicelli bowl is our go-to. The staff is friendly and service is quick. Cash only!

After a long day of climbing Seattles many hills we were looking for something tasty and filling. Pho Boc hit the spot. No pretenses. Its a simple place--formica tables worn llenoleum tiled floors. I always judge cleanliness by the condition of the bathroon and the bathroom was very clean and well stocked with soap and paper. They only serve Vietnamese noodle soups (regular and large sized) and the meat choices are listed with prices. Grandma is cooking in a tiny open kitchen while her grandson takes orders. Service was fast and friendly. The soup was great. The basil, beanspouts and hot peppers were fresh and tasty as were the full array of condiments. The price was about $7. I can't wait to get back to Seattle for another bowl.

In all fairness I have to rate Pho Bac right-down-the-middle-of-the-road average. We got three large bowls of their Pho Tai a dish that I am used to calling Raw Beef Noodle in other Vietnamese Restaurants. The serving certainly was large and the soup was certainly acceptable. The server was polite but certainly not overly attentive to our needs. After asking for straws with no results I finally went to the front and waited until we received straws. I did NOT tip the server. All in all we will not plan to return here. The good news: We did not get sick or ill.

My understanding is that this place has great Pho. After trying the pho here it convinced me I am not a pho person. I’ve had pho where the beef is raw and you dip it in the hot broth to cook it. That is not the case here. All the ingredients are put in the bowl – except for the sprouts and basil. It was okay. Do not trust my judgement on pho, it is not for me. The banh mi sandwiches are good. I recommend them. Add an over-easy egg for $1. They take credit cards swiped right on an I-pad. So that is a plus. So why three stars? We arrived about 8:20 pm and they close at 9pm. The guy working there said sorry, only takeout orders because they were closing soon. What? Okay. You don’t order Pho to go, so we ordered a couple banh mi’s. We ate them in our hotel room rather than the ample seating at the restaurant. The next day we had lunch and they forgot to put the egg on my banh mi (they did not charge for it though.)