02 - the Pho King - East Oakland

the Pho King - 638 International Blvd, Oakland, CA 94606, (510) 444-0448

Date of Visit: June 15th, 2008

Going to the Pho King gave me the motivation to blog about food. No not because of it's exquisite stature in the world of Vietnamese eateries, but instead just the shear number of Pho noodle houses in Oakland creates a need for people to recommend them. Ahh, the smell of beef boiling.

I went to the Pho King for lunch for the first time today. Yes, I've drove past it thousands of times, but never stepped in until today. It's really small! I think it had about 12 tables, but people were lined up out the door. They also had a really quick turnover. People came, ate, and left. It was a very homie place. The kitchen was in the back and they were not shy about showing it to you. You saw the staff preparing the beef and soups. Not a bad deal.

For pho' places I like to make judging plain and easy, if it's clean and it's fast, it's good. I really don't think there's a bad way to make pho if you follow those rules. They fulfilled those requirements, so they are on my good-list. I got their large beef noodle soup, I didn't want to get the XL, which would've been a cauldron of food. We ordered Drip-style coffees that got me wired for the rest of the day; but I 'm an addict for those.

They have a specialty there that's pho noodles with spicy pigs feet (or knuckles). I'll have to try that next time.

Yelp's two cents.