Pho-raging on Miramar Road: Vietnamese Cuisine and Seafood Island

*** Both of these restaurants have closed

There's an unwritten "law of Pho" that I've heard more than a few times, "one should never have said bowl of beef noodle soup, in a restaurant without Pho in it's name." It's an edict that I've kinda bought into, but still there's that small grain of doubt, that perhaps the saying isn't true, and I could be missing out on a great bowl of Pho.... in a restaurant without Pho in it's name. Really now, I've had terrible bowls in restaurants with Pho clearly written in it's name and flashing in neon lights....

Well, this Urban, or perhaps un-urbane legend was put to the test over the last couple of weeks as I had had a couple of bowls at two shops without Pho in their name. Coincidentally, both shops were on the same street.... Miramar Road.

First, it's Vietnamese Cuisine:

Yes, really, that's the name of the place Vietnamese Cuisine.

 

For a place with a name that covers a lot of territory, Vietnam is 127,244 square miles, the menu, not surprisingly consists of the usual suspects; Pho, Bun, Spring Rolls... the rice dishes include the basic grilled pork, grilled chicken, etc, etc....

If anything, the interior is even more generic.... I'm sure this was some kind of steam table fast food joint in it's past.

 

As I walked up to the counter to order, the young lady sitting there was engrossed in that task which separates us from those like Sammy and Frankie, who have no thumbs.... she was busy texting. I managed to get her attention, and placed my order.

Which ended up being the Pho Dac Biet ($6.25).

 

The woman who brought out the very fresh bean sprouts and basil was very nice. I rarely order rare steak, mainly for the reason I didn't like it here. Tough, and basically dry. The other cuts of meat were pretty scarce as well. The noodles were in the standard issue clump, but weren't overcooked. The broth was pretty weak and cloudy.... no scent of anise, cloves, or even beef in this one.

 

In the end, I was glad I didn't order a large bowl.

Vietnamese Cuisine
6780 Miramar Rd #104
San Diego, CA 92121

Then it's Seafood Island:

Which I've posted on before. Recently though, a food FOY (Friend of Yoso) who shall go unnamed, said he really enjoyed the Pho at SI, and said I should try it. Which is how I ended up at the restaurant staring at the colorful "Lunch Specials "menu.

 

In my meals at Seafood Island after my post, I've just kinda decided that SI pretty much specializes in serving cheap food to the masses. And boy was I looking at some pretty low prices on this menu. Even though the young lady kept pushing the rare beef, I ended up with flank and brisket.... they didn't have tendon on this day.

The lunch special comes with two Cha Gio, egg rolls, which arrived very quickly.

 

The lettuce and other veggies were quite good, but the inside of the Cha Gio were barely room temperature.

 

This had been cooked up earlier and been lying around for a while.

Soon enough my bowl of Pho arrived, which gave me pause.....

 

It was darker than the Bun Mam I'd had recently! It was also very scummy, and quite cloudy. And there was an even larger problem.....

Notice my bowl sitting solo........ is something(s) missing?

 

Did you figure it out? Well first, there was no plate with herbs, bean spouts, and lime. Second, where's my soup spoon? I felt like I was back in Hangzhou where they expected you to drink your soup from the bowl! The funny thing was, I thought that those items were going to arrive soon..... but I waited... and waited. Which gave me time to check out the flank, which had some really tough looking fat and gristle.

I gave it ten minutes, at which time I went into the kitchen looking for the young lady whom I could hear talking to the cooks, but was nowhere to be found on the floor. This is something I could understand if the place was totally smashed, but that wasn't quite the situation here.

 

When I asked for a spoon and my plate of herbs and veggies, the young lady gave me a look  like I was asking for the moon which was very strange because everyone here has always been very nice.

Eventually my spoon and garnishes made it to the table.

 

In all honesty, I should have just cut my losses, paid my six bucks, and left.......

This is a case in where photos don't lie.

 

I really don't know where to start..... the noodles might have been perfect at one point; but having to sit while I mistakenly thought my spoon and garnishes would arrive at any time probably killed that. The broth was scummy and unpleasant.......

The fact is, I feel guilty about leaving food uneaten; and I've never left this much Pho before....

 

Just as I did with that bowl of soup, I'll step away from this post, and leave it as is.....

Seafood Island Restaurant
7580 Miramar Road
San Diego, CA 92126

I still don't truly believe in that "law of Pho", but this sure does support that argument, doesn't it?

Comments

[janfrederick]

Well, if you want to go for three strikes, check out the new pho place in the Vien Hung grocery store. I'd wager it is worse. The broth was insipid and the cuts of meat were thick. In fact, some were almost stew cuts (rectangular). And the cash only sign was not obvious (should have been on the door), which caused a panicked run across the lot to the gas station.

To be fair, my wife had the banh cuon(sp?) - rice noodle rolls - were decent. But I think they offered pho because they thought they had to.

[Sandy]

Hmmm ... three more places to avoid for pho (two from Kirk, one from Jan).

The restaurant on Kearny Villa Rd/Clairemont Mesa/163 doesn't look like it will be opening soon. In fact, it's hard to tell if the remodelling has made any progress.

[kirbie]

OMG, I can't believe those pho pictures from SI! I've never seen pho like that. I haven't been back to SI since shortly after it opened. I haven't had much luck in general with restaurants on Miramar road.

[liz]

That's unfortunate with the pho :(

[Kirk]

Hi Jan - I've yet to check that palce out, though some friends of mine told me not to waste my time.... still, I'll get there sooner or later.

Hi Sandy - Those two places really aren't very good IMO.

Hi Kirbie - It was disturbingly dark and scummy..... not very good eats.

Hi Liz - Yes, very unfortunate....

[SK]

That is one ominous-looking bowl of pho.

[Whammy!]

You're right about this place being a steam table fast food. It was a Chinese take out place in years past that actually got decent reviews on the likes of Yelp and other. I hated it so much.

The real treasure of this strip mall is the Chicago dog place.
Viva Chicago. They've got Italian Beefs and Vienna products. Better than (the now defunct) Chicago on a bun.

[bill]

That's horrible Kirk swing by my place and I'll make sure you have a bowl of Pho to remember for a life time; it could even be worst than the shop ;-) LOL

[Dennis]

Hi Kirk, aside from the dark soup the meats look like what I had at Pho Point Loma.. Anyway I was wondering if you thought the small soup they give you with com tam dishes could be a good indicator of what the Pho might taste like? Curious what you thought. Anyway I had a com tam plate here and it was decent. The side soup was suuper salty though!

[kat]

bad pho, not good :(

[Darwin]

Wow. Just wow on that bowl of Pho! Some new pho place on Convoy opened up called Mignon Pho + Grill, Ive yet to try it but the name seems promising. Filet Mignon in Pho!?

[Food detective]

WOW. What were they thinking? Would they eat dark and scummy pho?
I don't know why but my friends often ask me to go eat at these places and supposedly good and cheap. Yuck!
Strike one for bun bo if you want to try, Song Huong. I think the have another one in Miramar. Could be in the same are as SI.

[Kirk]

Hi SK - Yes it is.....

Hi Whammy - Are they still there? I thought they had been replaced with something else the last time I was around. Anyway, I wasn't too impressed with Viva Chicago Dogs..... stale roll, not enough celery salt, dog had no "snap".

Hi Billy - You better watch out.... I may just take you up on that! ;o)

Hi Dennis - Not really, because most of the time it's a pork based soup.

Not good at all Kat.

Hi Darwin - I haven't tried Mignon yet. I have had filet mignon Pho.... which is the reason I don't do rare steak in San Diego....

Hi FD (TC?) - That was pretty horrid stuff.

[Joe]

I had Pho at Song Huong today, it was pretty decent, clear both, nice, tender meat, perfect cooked noodles, and they have filet mignon for additional $.50, not bad. I guess they have different cooks now. I heard ppl say they fired the chef bcuz the pho was bad or something, but my wife always had Banh Cuon Dac biet here, and she loved it.

[Kirk]

Hi Joe - Thanks for the heads up...... I've got to make it up there soon. Just a quick question; have you ever eaten at the original Song Huong on CB?

[Joe]

Hi Kirk,

I thought they're not related because the menu is different, but I always had coffee and sandwich at the ECB location, and once in awhile, i take my wife and kids there for banh xeo, vietnamese crepes, it smells good with coconut cream flavor and really crispy. Have you tried it? Now that I mention it, we may go there for banh xeo tonight. Care to join? *smile*
Hey, I read many of your posts and seems like you know every restaurant in San Diego, yeah?

[Kirk]

Hi Joe - Actually they are related.... I'll make sure to check things out soon.