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| - Small location in the corner of an unassuming strip mall, big on flavor.
With so many (so many) different places to get pho in LV one can be overwhelmed. Or severely underwhelmed if you are from the CA area, where they have so many more (so many more) pho places to eat. There are a few top choices on Yelp LV for pho, thankfully Pho Kinh Do is up there.
Upon arriving to the restaurant you can barely tell it's there especially in the daytime with the windows all being near black from the tint. Get inside and it's a little quaint eatery. Hole-in-the-wall does apply. We came here for a later dinner since the wifey was working overtime and didn't get off until near 8 PM. It was a bit chilly and we were in the mood for soup, and pho just sounded like it would hit the spot. My only problem? Salt. MSG. Sometimes pho just sets off these headaches that just kill my day. Oh well, no risk, no reward right? Off we went on a Yelp adventure thanks to my slow@$$ Android phone (will need a new one soon).
Get into Pho Kinh Do and for a Saturday night it was damn near DEAD. Hmm...ominous? There was one other table with patrons eating. But what they were eating looked delicious. We were greeted warmly by the hostess/waitress and got a table. Menu was similar to what you see in many Vietnamese restaurants here in LV. Got your appetizers, soups, noodle dishes, and rice dishes. Thankfully, Pho Kinh Do has a sandwich section on the menu as well. I love me some banh mi!
Went straight to ordering. We both got the pho combo with rare steak, flank, tendon, and tripe. Oh yeah! My mini-homage to Andrew Zimmern of Bizzare Foods did not disappoint. Less than 15 minutes later our bowls of hot pho came out, along with a plate of bean sprouts, cilantro, jalapenos, and basil for tasty good measure. And already on the table? Necessary condiments of chili sauce, and hoisin! The pho was intoxicating, the simmering broth with it's lovely aroma of beef and star anise, little glistening droplets of fat on top, and the warmth of the steam. Gave it a mix and a healthy portion of rice noodles, steak, flank, tendon, and tripe emerged. This was a pretty big bowl of pho for one person! Not shabby at all.
Taste? Tasty! Broth for us wasn't overly salty, and has lots of complex flavor. The noodles had a bit of bite left on them ('al dente' in Italian terms), and the lovely bits of steak, flank, tendon, and tripe were just barely cooked from the hot broth. No soggy here folks! Was actually a very good bowl of pho. The wifey and I were both quite content.
Not to be outdone by pho, I also ordered a banh mi just to make sure my tummy got full! Got the required house special banh mi, which includes an assortment of Vietnamese cured meats such as pate, head cheese, and pork product of some sort (sounds scary but actually yummy). The banh mi came to the table right after the pho, and it was a pretty good size. About a 8-9 inch sub. But it was loaded! Not skimpy in the least. Lots of meat, and a good serving of pickled carrots and radish, cucumber, cilantro, and jalapeno.
Bahn mi? Tasty as well! This was actually one of the much better banh mi I've had here in LV. Really! The bread was soft and crusty but not hard, there was a generous slather of mayo (and possibly Maggi) that kept the bread moist. The meats were good and not dried out, and the veggies were fresh. A slather of hoisin and the eating was right! Oh so right! Finishing off that bahn mi totally put my tummy on lock down. Fullness ensued. I almost debated on ordering another banh mi to take home.
Nice thing about eating in a non-fancy restaurant! The savings! Each bowl of our excellent pho was less than $8 each! A good bit less than other eateries in the area. Lots of value there since the portion is big for the price, the wifey could only finish half her bowl, the rest we took home. And the banh mi? Little over $3, very competitive with other sandwiches in the area.
Service was almost non-existent but that was only because of one waitress for the entire restaurant. Almost immediately after we sat down two or three more parties showed up to eat. When our waitress did see us she was very pleasant, kept our water glasses full, and actually talked to us about our meal. Nice lady!
Good eats. I will be here for takeout of banh mi at the very least. Just wish they had the program where you buy 5, you get 1 free. 'Mi' would be all on that!
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