Pho Tic Tac

Address: 208 N 85th St Seattle, WA 98103

Phone: (206) 783-4381

Price:
Small - 4.5
Large - 5.25
Extra Large - 6.25

Rating: 3.5


Pho Tic Tac is located in the Greenwood neighborhood on 85th St. It’s easy to find due to the large clock painted on the front window. The restaurant is a little run down and could use a remodel, but it is obvious that they are doing every little thing with out spending a lot of money to make you feel welcome. The staff is friendly and attentive. Under the glass of every table are little notes and jokes such as how to call into work when you’re not sick, or a note from a previous customer talking up the virtues of Pho Tic Tac, which I found to be both entertaining and cheesy at the same time.

I ordered a large bowl with all the beef products that they offer. The food came very quickly and looked great but as I took my first bite I realized that the noodles were over cooked and a little mushy. Otherwise it was a great bowl of pho. One of the best parts is how thin they sliced their meat and jalapeño. I am sure that they must have a cook in the back with missing finger tips from mastering the slice so well. Even though they slice the meat so thin they do not try to skimp on the meat. The Tic Tac Pho broth is also excellent – it is light in color and cloudy, and it has a great beefy flavor.

I would recommend Tic Tac Pho overall. The prices are real cheap and the food was decent. If it wasn't for the over cooked noodles I would have given at least a 4. I have eaten here previously and the noodles were cooked better but it took a long time to receive my food. So obviously consistency is a big issue here, but for the price a little inconsistency is worth the risk.

Green Leaf Vietnamese

Address: 418 8th Ave S, Seattle, WA 98104

Phone: (206) 340-1388

Price: 6.95

Rating: 4.0

One of many Vietnamese restaurants in the International District, Green Leaf Vietnamese is the first I have personally tried. As you walk up to the store front you notice a large green leaf sign. From the front door the restaurant looks like a dingy worn down hole-in-the-wall, but to my pleasant surprise the inside was stylish and eloquent. As we walked in I noticed that the place was packed with people and started to worry that we would have to wait to be seated, but we were escorted to the second story that was small but not cramped. The tables and chairs are made of thick stained wood and many framed newspaper articles decorate the walls.

The menu was a full Vietnamese menu, not just pho. All of the food looked very reasonable in price - I didn't notice anything above $10 except a few seafood specials. All of the pho was priced the same amount and had all of the normal fairs with different varieties of beef, veggies, and chicken. I ordered the option that offered the full gambit of beef from meatballs to tripe. Even thought the place was packed the food came quickly.

The condiments looked fresh. The pho was good but was not the best I have ever had. The meat was the highlight - it tasted very good and was definitely quality meat. The meatballs had a good flavor and I doubt they were frozen. The tripe came in a large chunk which I am usually a little weary of but it taste very fresh and not over powering. The broth was what kept this soup from being a truly fantastic bowl of pho. It was thick and dark and it was a little too strong and tasted too much like cinnamon. I enjoy a little bit of a cinnamon taste but it was just a little too much this time. That's not to say that I would not recommend the pho it is probably the freshest I have rated yet, and the broth was only a minor downfall.

My girlfriend, who ate with me, ordered the spicy lemon grass chicken. It was a little too spicy for her taste but I tasted it and would have been happy if I had ordered it myself.

As we walked out I kept looking at other people's dishes and thought to myself, "Man that looks really good. I wonder what it is." I will be going back in the future to find out.

Pho 900

Adress: 216 Broadway E, Seattle, WA 98102

Phone: (206) 568-3599

Price:
Small - 6.40
Large - 7.40

Rating: 3.0

Pho 900 is located in Capitol Hill on Broadway. The interior was probably the nicest of any Seattle pho restaurant that I have been to yet. The menu was much larger then just pho – they also served Vietnamese rice dishes and stir fry dishes. I was surprised by the fact that their pho menu itself was actually a little limited: chicken, chicken with veggies, vegetarian, beef, rare beef, beef with rare beef, and what I ordered - beef, rare beef, meatballs, and tripe. They also offer seafood but it was too expensive to even contemplate at $8.95 for a small and $9.95 for a large.

The meal came with a good amount of the standard condiments. The soup looked great when it reached my table. The broth was interesting - it was a little sweet but good. The bowl was filled with meat; to some this would probably be a good thing but there was a little too much meat for me. The meat was a little fatty and tough but wasn't bad. The meat balls had a decent taste but were obviously pre-made and frozen. I enjoy tripe but in small portions; my order came with a heap of tripe which I ate but I felt it was too much.

Overall I thought that the pho was decent. It was not the best pho I've had but I would probably eat here again. My biggest complaint is that it is a little bit pricey. There are a few other pho places up on Capitol Hill you might want to try first.

Tony's Teriyaki

Address:
6315 15th Ave NW, Seattle, WA 98107

Phone:
(206) 706-4711

Price:
Small - 5.15
Large - 5.75

Rating: .5

This will sound dramatic but today when I went to lunch I had the worst bowl of pho in my entire life. Tony's is located on 15th Ave in Ballard, a block from Ballard High School. I drive by the restaurant a couple times a week on my way to and from work. The only reason that you would believe that they serve pho is in the front window where they have a large sign saying PHO. I have learned that it is usually best to avoid pho places that are not dedicated Vietnamese restaurants, and Tony's certainly help me cement this opinion.

When I pulled up to Tony's I was a little skeptical. The place was a total hole in the wall and there weren’t very many people in the store. Tony's only offers 5 different styles of the soup: pho with sliced beef, pho with sliced beef and meat balls, chicken pho, shrimp pho, and vegetarian. I stayed on the safe side and ordered the pho with sliced beef. On the plus side it did arrived fast and it did come with a large plate of the traditional sprouts, basil, jalapeño, lime, and the bowl of soup actually looked good. I started to feel like maybe this wasn't such a bad idea but I was quickly proven wrong as I took my first bite. The broth was completely tasteless, even though it appeared to be beef broth. The sliced beef somehow tasted like a McDonald's .99 cent hamburger. The noodles were not the traditional pho styled noodles - they tasted to me like the cheap rice noodles that you can buy at any grocery store. I rarely do not finish a meal at a restaurant, but I didn’t come close to finishing this one today. I have tried to cook pho before for myself, and it was a horrible disaster, but what I cooked tasted better then this place. DO NOT EAT HERE!

Viet Niam Pho

Address:
7640 15th Ave Seattle Wa 98103

Phone:
206-783-4310

Price:
Small - 4.35
Large - 5.15
X-Large - 6.35

Rating: 4.75

I figured that I would start with a review of my favorite Pho eatery. Viat Naim Pho is in Ballard. As far as I am concerned, this place sets the bar for Pho. The menu only consists of Pho, cream puffs, spring rolls, and drinks. I ordered a large Tai Chin Nam Gau Gan Sach, which is eye-round steak, well done flank, marble brisket, soft tendon, and tripe. This is what I normally order when I am enjoying a bowl of Pho. I know it is not very common for a "westerner" to enjoy tripe and tendon, but if you can make the tripe and tendon taste good then that is a true measure of a great bowl of Pho.

This bowl of pho was a great bowl of soup. It had the perfect balance of meat and noodles. The meat was sliced thin and was full of flavor. The tripe and tendon were also thinly sliced and the flavor did not overwhelm the rest of the meal. The condiment plate that traditionally comes with a bowl of pho was the perfect size. There was enough jalapeño, which was also sliced thin. There is nothing worse then getting big chunks of jalapeño because the flavor just over bears the soup. The broth at Viat Naim Pho is probably the best broth I have ever tasted. I always end up drinking all of it and i always get a feeling of disappointment when it is gone. At Viet Naim you are served a cream puff with every bowl of pho. Their cream puffs are great and I almost always think about buying some for later as I walk out the door. Overall, as I said at the beginning, I love this place and can't recommend it enough. If you love pho, I bet you will love this place.

Seattle Pho U

Hello

You can call me Oplin. My favorite food on earth is pho. As defined by
Wikipedia, "Phở is a traditional Vietnamese rice-noodle soup dish,and is served as a bowl of white rice noodles in clear beef broth, with thin cuts of beef (steak, fatty flank, lean flank, brisket). Variations featuring tendon, tripe, meatballs, chicken leg, chicken breast, or other chicken organs (heart, liver, etc.) are also available."

I will be reviewing Pho restaurants in and around the Seattle area and giving them a 1 to 5 rating. If you know of a restaurant and would like me to review it please let me know.