Bolsa Vietnamese Restaurant

All these photos......sheesh...... After looking through them, and realizing that many had been languishing for months, I thought that I'd better get my act together and post now, or not at all. Bolsa had been recommended to me several times by various people, so I thought I'd better give it a try. Located in a strip mall(what else) on Mira Mesa Boulevard, Bolsa has been around for quite a few years.

The menu at Bolsa is quite large......120+ items! Talk about Vietnamese menu overload! At least the folks here have always been pretty nice to us, and it's not the "dump the menu on the table, and stand right in front of you with pencil at the ready" type of place. The menu has everything from Banh Xeo(Vietnamese Crepe) to Rice Dishes(Com Dia) to Porridge (Chao) to Egg Noodle(Mi) dishes. And of course there Pho' which I had on one of my visits, (Pho Bo Dac Biet - the special, $5.95):

The garnishes were very fresh, but on the skimpy side.

One person I know describes this Pho as "fresh", in fact I've heard many people describe their Pho of choice as being fresh...sorry, but if you want your Pho really fresh, drop some beef bones into water, and go at it. I'll take mine simmered for hours. This broth was light, low oil, and pretty middle of the road as flavor goes....nothing really stood out. What did stand out was the amount of meat I was given:

By far the most meat I've ever had in a bowl of Pho. The rare steak was okay, and not too tough, the best by far was the brisket, which was moist, tender, and had decent beef flavor.

One this visit, the "appetizer sin" occurred...that is, my Pho arrived before the Goi Cuon(spring rolls - $3.75) arrived:

Which I thought was odd, since the wrappers were on the dry and tough side. No wonder they provide a serrated knife. Other than wrappers, this was fine, decent amount of herbs in addition to the standard lettuce, and the Bi(pork skin) had nice flavor.

On another occasion I tried the Bun Thit Nuong, the Cold Vermicelli with Grilled Pork($5.95):

The char grilled pork looked lovely, the flavor wasn't bad, a mild sweet-salty, it was tough as heck though. I enjoyed the addition of Bi(pork skin), in the bowl, especially since it wasn't listed as part of the dish on the menu. As a whole a decent amount of food, fairly refreshing, and nothing to really complain about.

On a recent visit, the Missus was driven to analysis paralysis by all the items on the menu, so She asked the Owner what to order. She recommended the Pho Ga (Chicken rice noodle soup - $6.25), telling us "everybody come here to eat my chicken soup":

This time they were generous with the garnishes...I guess they liked the Missus!

The soup was nothing special, lots of onion flavor, but the Missus said, "you can do way better at home...." There was a good amount of chicken, all white meat, very moist, very tender, though quite bland.

I decided to just order the Bun Cha Hanoi($6.95):

Our wonderful experiences with Bun Cha Hanoi has been covered before both here and on other food blogs. And things did look right, lots of veggies, grilled meatballs, grilled pork, bun, and so forth.

But the devil was in the details...the bun was too soft and mushy, the meatballs too lean, and not well marinated, the nuoc mam cham too mild for my taste. The grilled pork was exactly the same as what was on the Bun dish I had on a previous visit, and though really chewy, tasted fine...I had a feeling that those meatballs pulled at least "double duty" and was used for other dishes as well.

The Missus thought it was pretty good, I thought it to be mediocre.....but I had expected mediocre so you could say I wasn't disappointed. It did fill me up, but didn't do much for my Bun Cha Hanoi craving.

You could spend a few months working through the menu at Bolsa, and you may find a few gems....if you do, let me know!

Bolsa Vietnamese Restaurant
9225 Mira Mesa Blvd
San Diego, CA 92126

Open 9am - 9pm Daily

Comments

[White On Rice Couple]

Reading through post and looking at the close ups of your food make us hungry and more interested in trying out Viet food down south! You're expectations of Bun Cha Hanoi are like ours- noodles must be plump, meat must have fat in it and the sauce should be flavorful. But everything else looked good...thanks for a great meal!

[nhbilly]

After having bun cha hanoi so much it's hard not to be to critical, like what WORC said I agree.

[janfrederick]

Thanks for the post. I've been here a couple times and wasn't blown away. I prefer Viet Cali to the west. Although Viet Cali's dac biet has meatballs. I am not a huge fan. And I think they skimped on the tendon last time (I'm tempted to get tendon only sometimes).

[Sandy]

I think the best item at Bolsa is the pho ga - BUT - you have to ask for dark meat chicken. Did the Missus get the bowl of sauce with the pho ga?

I haven't been impressed with Bolsa lately, but I can't remember what I actually ordered. I think the beef pho is better at Lucky Seafood or Ca Dao, which are close by.

A friend likes the catfish soup at Bolsa.

[caninecologne]

we were at bolsa last month. i really liked their chargrilled beef with rice dish. it was way better than the version i had today at the newly opened pho hiep grill (they opened 3 weeks ago, according to their owner) on telegraph. we liked the service at bolsa. my husband had the chicken pho and thought it was just okay - nothing great.

we ended up going to bolsa because the wait was too long at pho hoa calli across the street.

[yummieyummy]

I remember when I was in college their Pho Ga used to be good. I don't know what went wrong after a while =( One of the best Pho Ga that I've ate from them was when they still have their store on University, near Cafe Dore.

[Kirk]

Hi WORC - I love that monniker BTW. For bun cha, you need to get all the components just right!

Hi Billy - Ditto!

Hi Jan - After trying the Dac Biet, I usually know what kind of meat any Pho place does well. How much does a bowl cost at Viet Cali, now?

Hi Sandy - My favorite in the area is Lucky! The Missus didn't receive any sauce with her Pho Ga...service was quite nice though.

Hi CC - I look forward to reading about Pho Hoa Hiep on Telegraph Canyon.....

Hi YY - Wow, I didn't know they had a shop on University...I know about the Convoy location...which I know you're very familiar with.

[yummieyummy]

=)Yes they had one on University and it got burned down =( The one on Convoy I only went there when they first open for a few times. I didn't order Pho. I have my special Pho place so I rarely order Pho any where else. I order "chow-fun" and I thought it was a little bit sweet for me. I also had their "canh bun," I don't know how to translate it. It almost like "bun rieu" the crab based vermicelli soup. The first time was good, then a few other visits it got saltier. I think if they didn't have "employee" issue at the Convoy location then their food can be better.

[janfrederick]

$6.45 large. But my number 3 (no meatballs) is $6.10 for a large.

Man, in college (I went to San Jose State), what was it? $3 to $3.50 for pho and .99 for Banh Mi?

[Kirk]

Hi Jan - You won't believe this, but people in Hawaii sometimes pay like $4 for a Banh Mi.....

Hi YY - On the visit to Bolsaa, I got major sodium overload from the Pho......

[Nicole]

Hi Kirk,
Just want to comment on Bolssa. Many years ago, when they first opened, I took my mom there since we live in the area. I had the pho and mom ordered fried rice (I think it was the combination one.) I remembered it the fried rice being good. It came out hot off the wok, smelled good and just the right taste. Not sure if it is still the same.
By the way, haven't you and the missus tried the Sichuan place next to Bolssa?

[Kirk]

Hi Nicole - You mean China Chef, correct? Here's my post.

http://mmm-yoso.typepad.com/mmmyoso/2006/11/china_chef.html

On of the former cooks from Dede's - if you enjoyed Dede's, you'll enjoy China Chef - don't forget the Cumin Lamb.

[geekyfoodie]

Hey Kirk... your Missus is right about making your own pho ga. We tried our own and while it didn't match my mother's, it turned out ok. It was also really easy to make. I almost never have it at restos b/c I worry about being disappointed.

[Kirk]

Hi GF - I hear ya'....which is exactly why we don't usually order Pho Ga...but the Owner told us, it was the specialty of the house.