Pho King Is Pretty Good, But Not My Favorite
	Reviewed By howie	Feb 09, 2008
Tags: pho

I asked my friend if she wanted to try Pho King this afternoon, and she seemed hesitant. But after telling her that I would pay for it, she said OK. I had been meaning to try Pho King for a while, but just never got around to it, so I was psyched.

We started with Shrimp And Sugar Cane Wrapped w/ Rice Paper. It's kind of like a make-your-own spring roll. The Pho King waiter gave us a bunch of hard rice paper wrappers, a bowl of warm water, and plates with shrimp, noodles, lettuce, bean sprouts, mint, jalapeno. Then you dip the wrappers in the water to soften them, put the ingredients of your choice inside, roll them up, dunk them in the sweet fish sauce dip, and eat them.

I really liked this dish. It's very fresh and light with all the veggies and mint. Plus making your own rolls is kind of fun. It harkens back to childhood when it was OK to play with your food.

My friend ordered the pho with brisket. I tried some of it, and I thought the broth had a little too much cinnamon and clove. It was also a bit sweet for my taste, but not terribly so. The meat had decent texture. It wasn't fall-apart tender like the best versions, but it wasn't what I would call tough.

I had the Grilled Pork Rice Dish. The char-grilled marinated pork had a decent slightly sweet flavor, but again it wasn't as tender as other versions I've had. The little bowl of broth they give you on the side was again a bit too heavy on the cloves and cinnamon.

All-in-all it was a positive experience. While not everything was stellar, I would give Pho King another shot.