Revisits - Mignon Pho + Grill and Red Moon Noodle House

So, our office was set to move after years in the Serra/Kearny Mesa area. We'd be heading a bit North. Thus, I decided to revisit a couple of places before we left.

Mignon Pho + Grill:

Or as Calvin's wife calls it; "pho for folks who don't like pho". I dunno, it had been a couple of years, so I decided to check them out again.

I went with the "Trolley Bowl" ($10).

The noodles were decent, though in  clump, and the herbs and such were sparse though fresh. Still not sure why they serve ngo om (aka rice paddy herb), with its distinct flavor with the pho here.

The soup always seems to have kind of a bitter - tinny flavor to me. It's also quite weak and overly defatted. The proteins were tough and lacked flavor.

But, this place still seems to do good business. Perhaps it's the service which has always been friendly. Or perhaps it's the Lemongrass Fries, which is the best (only decent) thing I've had here.

Mignon Pho + Grill
3860 Convoy St
San Diego, CA 92111 

Red Moon Noodle House:

**** Red Moon has closed

Another place that I haven't been to in a while and haven't had great luck with. Though one of the folks that I used to work with really enjoyed the Singapore Noodle at Red Moon. So why not?

The really nice guy working brought me a fork to start? I had to ask for chopsticks? The dish, when it arrived, piping hot, looked quite impressive as it was topped with fried eggs.

Once you got past that though, it was a disappointment. The pork in this was really tough, almost hard.

There was way too much curry powder....it was definitely powder because it left a grainy, bitter residue on my tough. This was actually rather unpleasant to eat.

The noodles were too hard as well.

I took most of this home and had the Missus taste this......big mistake.

Folks have mentioned a "secret menu" (I've had the XLB, it's definitely bought frozen from somewhere else), but I've never received recommendations. So guess what? Singapore noodles....maybe that fork should have been a clue?

Really nice folks here too though....

Red Moon Noodle House
4646 Convoy St
San Diego, CA 92111

I really liked the folks working at both places; but man, the food really didn't and hasn't been my thing here.

Comments

[caninecologne]

:(

[kat]

:( hopefully better food in the new work area

[Jess]

Haha, I'm one of those who like the pho there and nowhere else.

Looking forward to seeing lunch posts of places North of the Convoy area.

[Kirk]

I know CC.

I'm not super hopeful Kat.

I dunno Jess......things aren't looking too great up here.

[RedDevil]

I agree the folks are nice at Red Moon :). Haven't had much luck with the food though.

[Kirk]

Totally agree RD......too bad about the food.

[alnc]

"I took most of this home and had the Missus taste this......big mistake."

After years of marriage to my wonderful wife, I still manage to roll a ball into the gutter once in a while like that. Happens to the best of us.

[Kirk]

That was a totally bad move on my part alnc....my bad....

[Jack]

With the XLB, how do you know that it's bought frozen from somewhere else?