Phở 86 Restaurant

Very traditional & established. Great solid clean flavors, & arguably best in town, holding true to family standards.

Super fast, very nice staff. Even taking the food to go home was good the day after!

I was a regular here for years when I first moved to California in 2006. Haven’t been back for 15 years because we moved away. We just moved back and as soon as I taste the soup again the other day all the memories came back. Love the flavor so much. Also a big plus the owner and team here is so nice. Ps must try their chen tiet. 😅

I recently visited Pho 86 and ordered the combination pho. The dish was excellent, with a rich and flavorful broth that perfectly complemented the tender meats and fresh herbs. Although the serving size is a bit smaller compared to Pho 79, the quality more than makes up for it. Additionally, Pho 86’s acceptance of cards adds to the convenience, making it a great choice for a satisfying meal.

I've hit the Pho goldmine. I picked the house special Pho. The broth is at the peak of perfection, perfectly seasoned, with hints of spices. Its served at the perfect temperature with the right amount of raw and a variety of delicious cooked beef. Pho 86 Restaurant is a MUST stop when you're in the mood for Pho.

As the name suggests, this place focuses on Pho. Overall, they are pretty good. They have a good variety of customization options for your bowl, as well as a pretty decent drink menu that includes nuoc mia. If you come during their busy time, you may have to wait for a table. However, once seated, their service is fast. Remixed Vietnamese music and some traditional decor make this a destination for the local Vietnamese community. They have outdoor seating available. They also accept cards.

Cheap, authentic, flavorful. If you happen to get a recommendation to come here, you’ve come to the right place. Located adjacent to the stater brothers, this place doesn’t look too special from the outside —until you see they start serving at 5am. What makes this place special compared to other restaurants I’ve been to is the beautiful beef tendon you can order. They serve huge beef bones with the tendon and the fat ready to rip right off. This is a true delicacy. The tendon is so juicy, savory, and fatty you can taste the umami bursting from the gelatinous goodness. Not to mention after your meal you are left with huge bones you can feed to your dog after. People tell me the tendon is good for your joints, but hey, I’m here for the food. The health benefit is a side effect. They serve the pho with the usual trimmings, but order the oxtail-pho while you are here. Also get a thai tea. Its not too sweet but very creamy. I would advise you to communicate clearly with the server. My family and I don’t speak Vietnamese but we were able to fare ok.

People are so nice and sweet and they accept card!!! You can see that there is a huge pot of broth boiling with meat in it. Portion size is not too big which I appreciate. No wasting food nor over eating. I want to come back with my family for lunch next time. Thank you!

The most authentic phở around! It's been a family favorite since I was born, and it hasn't changed (other than its appearance). This location's specialty is beef, so I'd recommend something with that in it. Phở 86 is also English-friendly for the most part. This is my top pick for phở anyday.

Pretty good phở for a place that opens at 530a! The chicken rice was also good despite the rice being a bit dry

Friendly service and super giant size of tendon if you like tendon def go here and get some!

After 3 + decades this lovely Lady who owns this shop still serves the most authentic delicious tasting Pho in Little Saigon 😋

Kim Nguyen

I was a regular here for years when I first moved to California in 2006. Haven’t been back for 15 years because we moved away. We just moved back and as soon as I taste the soup again the other day all the memories came back. Love the flavor so much. Also a big plus the owner and team here is so nice. Ps must try their chen tiet. 😅

Alex C

I recently visited Pho 86 and ordered the combination pho. The dish was excellent, with a rich and flavorful broth that perfectly complemented the tender meats and fresh herbs. Although the serving size is a bit smaller compared to Pho 79, the quality more than makes up for it. Additionally, Pho 86’s acceptance of cards adds to the convenience, making it a great choice for a satisfying meal.

Armando Garcia

I've hit the Pho goldmine. I picked the house special Pho. The broth is at the peak of perfection, perfectly seasoned, with hints of spices. Its served at the perfect temperature with the right amount of raw and a variety of delicious cooked beef. Pho 86 Restaurant is a MUST stop when you're in the mood for Pho.

Dominic Slauson

As the name suggests, this place focuses on Pho. Overall, they are pretty good. They have a good variety of customization options for your bowl, as well as a pretty decent drink menu that includes nuoc mia. If you come during their busy time, you may have to wait for a table. However, once seated, their service is fast. Remixed Vietnamese music and some traditional decor make this a destination for the local Vietnamese community. They have outdoor seating available. They also accept cards.

Kevin Casasola

Cheap, authentic, flavorful. If you happen to get a recommendation to come here, you’ve come to the right place. Located adjacent to the stater brothers, this place doesn’t look too special from the outside —until you see they start serving at 5am. What makes this place special compared to other restaurants I’ve been to is the beautiful beef tendon you can order. They serve huge beef bones with the tendon and the fat ready to rip right off. This is a true delicacy. The tendon is so juicy, savory, and fatty you can taste the umami bursting from the gelatinous goodness. Not to mention after your meal you are left with huge bones you can feed to your dog after. People tell me the tendon is good for your joints, but hey, I’m here for the food. The health benefit is a side effect. They serve the pho with the usual trimmings, but order the oxtail-pho while you are here. Also get a thai tea. Its not too sweet but very creamy. I would advise you to communicate clearly with the server. My family and I don’t speak Vietnamese but we were able to fare ok.

yeonjin Hur

People are so nice and sweet and they accept card!!! You can see that there is a huge pot of broth boiling with meat in it. Portion size is not too big which I appreciate. No wasting food nor over eating. I want to come back with my family for lunch next time. Thank you!

Rebecca Gloyer

The most authentic phở around! It's been a family favorite since I was born, and it hasn't changed (other than its appearance). This location's specialty is beef, so I'd recommend something with that in it. Phở 86 is also English-friendly for the most part. This is my top pick for phở anyday.

Cali Native V

Pretty good phở for a place that opens at 530a! The chicken rice was also good despite the rice being a bit dry

Sung Cho

Friendly service and super giant size of tendon if you like tendon def go here and get some!

vinh Nguyen

After 3 + decades this lovely Lady who owns this shop still serves the most authentic delicious tasting Pho in Little Saigon 😋

This is the place to go. The food is delicious and the price is great not too expensive. The customer service is amazing we have become regulars and they noticed. I will drive 20 minutes just to eat here. It's kid friendly and my kids always ask to come and eat here.

Open super early, great place for breakfast. Great food👍

Jessica Cruz

This is the place to go. The food is delicious and the price is great not too expensive. The customer service is amazing we have become regulars and they noticed. I will drive 20 minutes just to eat here. It's kid friendly and my kids always ask to come and eat here.

Not the best, but good enough for very early breakfast. This place is open at 5:30am and we had to be at the airport very early. The wait lady was quick and the food came out super quick. If you need to have a quick pho early in the morning, this is the place.

Great broth, great tendon! But the broth used to be so good, now it seems completely fatless and oil-less ...Which may be the trend towards “healthy” eating or whatever, which means flavor will inadvertently be sacrificed. But oh well, still one of the best phos in town. Wish they closed later though. I think they do accept debit card, not just cash only.

Solid Vietnamese food, but like many other good Vietnamese restaurant their service is a bit to be desired. The moment you sit down, they rush you to order (even asked us before giving us menus), and rushed to make decisions for us on what to eat. Good food nevertheless.

One of my favorite place for Vietnam beef noodle soup or Pho as they call it in Vietnamese. The soup base is what makes this place one of my favorite place to eat pho. Very favorable and on cold day will warm up that tummy for sure.

NGL the line at phoholic was too long, so I went to the nearest pho joint. It happened to be Pho 86, which is diagonally across the street. There was plenty of parking. The parking lot is huge. (Iykyk phoholic has like no parking) I saw signs that said pho ga hai nam, so I decided to try it. It came with a garlic sauce and a small bowl of hot broth, which was delicious. The rice was on the dry side, so I wouldn't order this again. The pho dac biet was satisfying. You can get a large size of this for $0.50 more. I think they forgot to be diligent with removing fatty parts. There was literally two chunks of inedible yellow fat. I ordered an appetizer of egg rolls (4). This was pretty good! I wish it came with more greens other than lettuce. I would get it again. The garlic sauce from my rice was good with the egg rolls too. Service was good. There weren't too many patrons, so I felt they were very attentive. There was one lady who spoke English well, but everyone else said very little. Credit card is accepted, but there is a fee, maybe $0.50, to use it. They also charge $0.50 to take out orders.

It was ok the food was great but they gave little for the actual pho. The broth was goood

Shmiley C

NGL the line at phoholic was too long, so I went to the nearest pho joint. It happened to be Pho 86, which is diagonally across the street. There was plenty of parking. The parking lot is huge. (Iykyk phoholic has like no parking) I saw signs that said pho ga hai nam, so I decided to try it. It came with a garlic sauce and a small bowl of hot broth, which was delicious. The rice was on the dry side, so I wouldn't order this again. The pho dac biet was satisfying. You can get a large size of this for $0.50 more. I think they forgot to be diligent with removing fatty parts. There was literally two chunks of inedible yellow fat. I ordered an appetizer of egg rolls (4). This was pretty good! I wish it came with more greens other than lettuce. I would get it again. The garlic sauce from my rice was good with the egg rolls too. Service was good. There weren't too many patrons, so I felt they were very attentive. There was one lady who spoke English well, but everyone else said very little. Credit card is accepted, but there is a fee, maybe $0.50, to use it. They also charge $0.50 to take out orders.

Kevin Luu

It was ok the food was great but they gave little for the actual pho. The broth was goood

Services was fast. Got there before closing. The chicken noodle soup was flavored correctly and delicious. My Pho Nam Gau soup was good. Got a lot of brisket meats and not enough gau but the soup was good although it was the last bit of that night. Would come back again.

MC

Services was fast. Got there before closing. The chicken noodle soup was flavored correctly and delicious. My Pho Nam Gau soup was good. Got a lot of brisket meats and not enough gau but the soup was good although it was the last bit of that night. Would come back again.

Everything was really soft tendon was very soft, the tribe has no texture and the the meat just melts in your mouth. The broth was good. The herbs was very fresh. And the service was fast. $$

I went here once over ten years ago. This place is better than what it used to be, but still not very impressive. Other than the "new" decor, expansion, and improvement in food, the service is kind off iffy. It went pretty well at first, but when one of the servers gave us our drinks and left for straws, she never came back with them - we ended up having to ask for cups and straws to go (they didn't even seem that busy either since only about two other tables had customers). It's a minor complaint though, but I'm still not sure if I'll be back again.

Somewhat expensive for a bowl of Pho. It was really good, but I personally thought it didn't match the price. They charge you $0.75 if you use a credit card, correct me if I'm wrong. Fairly large parking lot and friendly staff though.

The pho broth was mediocre and the service was Mom and Pop style. But the worst is that they reuse their vegetables, disgusting, not coming back ever!

Broth tasted kind of weak, maybe because it was early in the morning? The meat was bland too, and not as much as what you get at pho 79. The oxtail was the best thing we got, rich flavorful tender, would get that again. The egg rolls were huge but sadly not great in taste. Not sure if I'd go back here.

Broth is not that solid as it could be. Kinda water down. I give it 3.5. The bone on the side is a bit over cooked so it tasted kinda jelly and cold with no soup to help the flavor.

Pho is okay, you can tell they take short cuts for their broth. Satisfies the craving though.

Pho was good, the egg rolls were edible, the service was meh and the price was too much. $23 for a small bowl of pho with fatty brisket and meatballs, order of 4 egg rolls and an iced tea.

Michael M

Broth is not that solid as it could be. Kinda water down. I give it 3.5. The bone on the side is a bit over cooked so it tasted kinda jelly and cold with no soup to help the flavor.

Christopher

Pho is okay, you can tell they take short cuts for their broth. Satisfies the craving though.

Mickey Blu Eyes

Pho was good, the egg rolls were edible, the service was meh and the price was too much. $23 for a small bowl of pho with fatty brisket and meatballs, order of 4 egg rolls and an iced tea.

Rude owner n just a rip off ..I would never come back..

We just ate here last month. The portion and the taste was decent even though they raised the price. Today, my husband and I came back and we ordered the same thing. They really scale back the portion. The amount of noodles is not even half of the last time. Tiny little meat and taste like I just ate raw MSG. The broth is dark and disgusting. Would never come back again. GROSS!!! What a ripoff.

Bad taste Pho (chicken) no flavor and expensive, $18(tax incl) for a small size bowl.

Stopped by to order a large chicken pho to go. Inconsistent on pricing. The cashier said $15. The older lady (probably the owner) said $14 so the cashier ended up charge $14.50. When they gave me my order, I looked at the broth in the small container, it was about half full not enough for a large bowl of pho. I asked the cashier to give me more broth she hesitated and said next time I have to pay more for the broth. That is ridiculous they didn't give me enough broth in the first place. I just walked out and said there is no next time around here. On top of all this I find out when got home the portion is very small. The chicken is mostly bone, no meat. Terrible customer service. Don't go to this place.

EBT charged extra 50cents which is ridiculous. Thr broth is full of msg. Service is pretty bad

I used to like this place but my most recent experience here 2 days ago makes me not want to go back. The broth lost its pho taste and just became salt water while I was eating it, and staff was very rude when we asked them to explain our bill since it seemed higher than usual. They told us that they are the cheapest/best in the city and that nowhere else can compete. We disagree. There are better and cheaper places, especially ones where they don't charge us for pickled onions, extra bean sprout plates, 1 extra small tea pot, and other miscellaneous things that are not worth charging.

Pho was okay, done in big portion with a lot of noodles. But the cashier charged us a lot more of money than we were supposed to pay. When my friend asked her what was wrong, the cashier started bad mouthing about her. "Unbelievable!" She proclaimed. And then she told us if we didn't like the place just leave it. When my brother came over to see what the problem was, she denied it. So yeah, I won't recommend a place like this to whoever doesn't like bratty employees bad mouthing about you or your close friends.

Taste not good and expensive for a bowl of pho.

Bad service, bad food, & charges for things that doesn’t make sense. I shouldn’t be charged for meat being cooked more. The meat wasn’t even appetizing. The spring rolls don’t even taste like how they are supposed to be. Unprofessional service and behavior. Not satisfied at all. They should also give warning about food being very hot or you will burn your tongue. Don’t go here if you don’t want a stomachache and a trip to the emergency room. I’ve been to many Vietnamese restaurants and this is the worst one ever. This place shouldn’t even be open. Save your money and stomach. Go somewhere else that is better.

I don't understand why this restaurant is such popular, the Pho broth is one of thé worst I ve ever tasted. There was no flavour of Pho, just tasted like boiled meat and bone broth. Otherwise there is enough meat and noodles, just thé broth was very bad

No complaints about the food. But saw flies inside the fishsause bottle gave it to the owner daughter. She just grabbed the bottle and walked away said nothing else. Won't be coming back

GNG

I don't understand why this restaurant is such popular, the Pho broth is one of thé worst I ve ever tasted. There was no flavour of Pho, just tasted like boiled meat and bone broth. Otherwise there is enough meat and noodles, just thé broth was very bad

Jose Rodriguez

No complaints about the food. But saw flies inside the fishsause bottle gave it to the owner daughter. She just grabbed the bottle and walked away said nothing else. Won't be coming back

jeff tan

Taste not good and expensive for a bowl of pho.