Pho 888

In my Pho Hiep and Grill post, "Joe" mentioned another Pho restaurant in Chula Vista named Pho 888. I'd had another email mentioning the restaurant back in January, so on the weekend before our Vegas trip, I took the drive down the I-5...took the H street exit, turned right on Broadway, there I was. 

   

The interior belies the strange "giardi-ish green" color of the exterior. It is large and fairly clean.

 

In addition to the Pho at '888', both Joe and the email mentioned the Cha Gio (eggrolls), so I decided to get 3 pieces ($3.75, 5 pieces are $5.75). Man, Cha Gio ain't cheap eats no more, are they?

 

When these arrived I wasn't too thrilled. I prefer my Cha Gio to have the crisp and thin rice paper wrappers. The Nuoc Mam Cham (dipping sauce), though a tad on the sweet side was adequate, and provided a bit of heat. Not expecting much, I bit into one, and was pleasantly surprised....these weren't over-wrapped, and had a light, pleasant crunch to them. The filling wasn't too dense, and was moist and tender. Lot's of cloud ear fungus, and some, but not too much filler.

 

I was very pleasantly surprised, and couldn't wait for my bowl Pho (combination - small, $5.75) to arrive.

 

First things first. The garnishes were routine, fresh basil, limes, jalapenos, and bean sprouts. When I asked if they have Ngò gai, I was given a bit of a weird look, and the really nice young man told me they don't carry it. As much as the Cha Gio was a pleasant suprise, the Pho was a bit of a disappointment. It wasn't bad, the broth was much too "salty", and just a bit more beefy than the version at Pho La Jolla. This was a very "middle of the road" bowl of Pho, and the broth lacked any nuance.

The noodles were done right, not too mushy.

   

The meat was the biggest disappointment. I'm used to really dry Tai (rare beef) which this was, but the rest of it was dry and tasteless as well.

 

Too bad. I really like the Cha Gio, and the service was very friendly, the young man was quite nice. So perhaps this was an off day? I understand that the place will undergo a name change soon, I was told that it'll probably be called Pho Kim. Having the egg rolls made this visit "a wash", and I also found another place close by that I'll post on later.

Pho 888
635 Broadway St
Chula Vista, CA 91910

(619) 585-0886

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Comments

[kat]

too bad the meal was a disappointment.

[Janfrederick]

Thanks for the inspiration. What with this cold weather and all....soup weather!

[Michelle]

Oh dear, I can even feel the "dryness" of those beef slices from just looking at your picture!

[caninecologne]

hi kirk
hey, you beat me to it! i was going to blog pho 888 last october. i had one of those buy one get one free coupons in october. my gay boyfriend and i were going to go eat there, but the restaurant wasn't even opened yet, even though the coupon said 'Grand Opening on October whatever, 2008'. WTF, right?

We were kind of bummed, so we ate at Pho Vinh instead, which is down the street, next to sleazy hotel 7 and a tatoo parlor.

by the way, if you recall, pho 888 is the former site of the Argentinian place Tango Grille (which you blogged awhile back) which went under about a year or so ago. it then became a mediterranean food place, then that folded. lastly, it was a generic mexican place before morphing into pho 888.

that beef looked pretty bad. thanks for taking this one so i wouldn't have to! spring rolls alone won't justify a visit for me.

[Kirk]

Hi Kat - This place had really nice service, and good Cha Gio...but too bad the Pho didn't deliver.

Hi Jan - Yes Pho...or even better good Bun Bo Hue sound great.

Hi Michelle - The beef was unusually dry....

Hi CC - Funny thing, this is the second set of owners...they took over in January. You know, I'm getting old and can't remember stuff as well. Pho Hiep is much better.