Pho Viet Anh

This place has the potential to be good but it falls very short. The phở was okay but the trimmings they give you to put in it are scarce and not fresh. You can see the bean sprouts turning brown and we didn’t get any herbs to put in the soup. The porkchop rice dish was disappointing. We got 2 small pieces of meat and the rest was a whole lot of rice, cucumbers, but mostly romaine lettuce. Small serving sizes and unattentive service. We won’t be back.

First time here, and I really love how they present the food and bring it in a timely manner! I had the BBQ Pork and egg patty and it was pretty good. The only downside was the service could have been better. Waitress was sitting at a vacant table listening to music with one ear bud in and looking over phone and books. Not very professional and I had to wave and call at her twice for water. I hope it was only like that because it wasn’t busy when we dined there, but service needs to be improved.

Amazing phở and fresh spring rolls with delicious peanut sauce. The only complaint is that they sometimes burn what smells like incense, which makes me want to eat really fast and get out of there.

Upon walking in I noticed it was empty, which is fine I never judge that as any reason to not go here. I realize it may have been because it was Lunch Time and the patrons who did walk in were lunch goers.
My waitress was sweet, but got a little lost while I was eating. The first thing I noticed was the she brought me a half filled cup of water that had finger prints at the top, almost making me not want to eat here. However I stayed an ordered the raved about Avocado Smoothie — which was quite delicious and creamy. I wasn’t entirely sure how I would like it, since to me avocado is generally an add on and not the main focus. If you’re looking for more flavor you won’t like this, but it was true to taste, not refreshing but maybe if you wanted a dessert without getting an actual dessert.
I order my usual Shrimp Phở (this will be the 3^rd place I’ve reviewed) and found it to be smaller than most places or not as filled I suppose. They also used egg and rice noodles, though I found the egg noodles very yellow and more akin to ramen style. It was definitely something I wasn’t used to but decent. I don’t think I will come back here only based solely on the water glass, and it taking forever to get the waitresses attention for more napkins (the place had two other customers) should not be that hard.
Great place for lunch if you’re on the go, maybe I’ll come back to try again. Maybe.

My wife and I finally tried this place last night after passing it tons of times on our way into Edison. Upon parking, the first thing we realized is how empty it was at dinner time — not a good sign, but you can’t judge a book by its cover. We get inside, were seated, got our menus and waters, and the waitress was friendly — not a bad start.
We get our appetizers — Vietnamese egg rolls and the bo luc lac (beef cubes sautéed with soy sauce). The egg rolls were good, but I wish it had come with mint leaves in addition to the few pieces of lettuce it was bedded on. The bo luc lac was cooked fine, but there was no soy sauce. I even confirmed when I saw under the lettuce bed that it was just oil/​grease — disgusting. Not too bad overall, but I was turned off by the beef.
Our entrees finally come out after 30 minutes (maybe the phở is worth the wait?). My wife gets the phở with brisket and I get the phở with sliced chicken and I decided to also get the grilled pork and egg over rice. First thing we noticed is that the noodles were still clumped together inside the soup and it was still HARD! We tasted the broth and it was not good. It lacked flavor and my wife believes that it was a broth made with powder, which we could have made at home. She only had a handful of pieces of brisket in her soup and I counted a whopping 5 small pieces of sliced chicken in mine. All of this food for $ 7.50? Hmm. The grilled pork was alright, but the rice was too dry (maybe old?) so I left it alone.
The service was non existent after we got our waters and placed our orders. Our young waitress could be seen across the room playing on her phone as we tried to catch her attention. If we needed anything we had to get up and ask her. Our waters were never refilled and we were never asked if we needed anything. When we got the bill we noticed that our food cost us $ 39 bucks, but the total was $ 49? Wow. Looks like they add 20% tip to all of their bills automatically. No wonder they didn’t care to serve us.
So at the end of the day, my wife and I leave Phở Viet Ahn with a bad taste in our mouths. It could be due to the «blah» food, the lack of service that we had to pay for, or both. But regardless, I don’t think we’ll be coming back here in the foreseeable future. Thanks, but no thanks.

What happened to this place?! Many fond memories of the food and service here back in 2011 – 2012 but it appears things have gone downhill with my most recent visit.
Came with a friend and ordered the phở, and the first few spoonfuls of broth were delicious but as I kept eating it lacked the depth of flavor that I came for. :(
«uninterested young girl» was our waitress — I think the only thing she did was take our order. No refilling of water or checking in, had to be cued by the owners to take a break from playing on her phone the entire time to come get us the bill. Which had a hidden 18% «service charge»…
So long, Phở Viet Ahn. You will remain a relic of my past with your sketchy business practices and now mediocre phở.

The round eye beef steak is amazing. Me and my sister are here almost every week and they never fail to amaze us. The environment is very peaceful and the workers are very friendly. We haven’t tried anything else from there besides the phở and like I said before, it’s pretty amazing.

Main Tip: PLEASE DO NOT COME HERE!
First off, I would like to start off by commending everything about Phở Viet Anh when it first opened. Food was great, especially the phở, prices were fair, and service was friendly. It was as if this restaurant was going to soar till its closing.
Sadly, I watched this phở restaurant deteriorate in all aspects. Recently, I visited Viet Anh with my family, and we were extremely upset with the food, price, service, and overall «craftiness» and aura!
The food was terrible. I don’t want to seem like a hater and a party-​pooper, but I’m simply speaking the truth:
— We ordered Vietnamese Ice Coffee; the coffee was extremely bland and unflavorful, as if it was purchased from McDonalds and left untouched for a week. Also, very little coffee was given for a price of about $ 4.
–We ordered the spring rolls as appetizers, remembering the fact that they were really good in the past. Maybe they are good now? No. Firstly, it took probably 15 – 20 minutes for the spring rolls to arrive at our table. I must not forget to mention that our waiter was an «uninterested young girl» who didn’t really seem to care about her current position. The spring rolls tasted old, probably fried in old oil. They were crunchy, but had that «lame crunch» when you bite into it. The filling consisted of unknown things, and flavor was lacking.
If a Vietnamese restaurant messes up its Vietnamese spring rolls, then I’m sorry, but, it’s isn’t a true, authentic Viet Restaurant
— 2 people in my party ordered phở as their main course. One ordered Phở Bo Vien (phở with beef balls) and the other ordered Phở Tai Gan (phở with meat and tendon). The chef scrimped on the meat. Within the Bo Vien phở, there were simply 8 pieces of beef ball cut from merely 2 balls. In the Tai Gan phở, there was extremely little tendon and meat. The phở noodles were clumpy, «dry» (yes! It tasted «dry» in the soup”), and definitely not fresh; there was not much of it. The soup base was extremely greasy and tasted as if the restaurant used a phở powder that you can easily use at home. Also, I noticed that the soup remained extremely hot for a long time, signifying that they must of microwaved it (heat is retained for a longer duration with foods that are microwaved). Additionally, the bowl of phở should’ve costed us $ 3 for its quality and content, but in reality, we payed $ 8+ per small bowl.
— 3 people at the table, including me, ordered rice with grilled pork. The rice was really old (dry and had that old taste), and there was so little meat on the plate. Two pieces of pork the size of a dollar bill ripped in half and had a the thickness of 5 papers stacked were provided on each plate. The tomato was not red; it was whitish-​pink. The fish sauce was too sweet and had a funny taste. Overall, the portions were small. I did not enjoy this dish, same with the two others. What happened Phở Viet Anh?!
— During my dining experience at Viet Anh, I (sarcastically) loved how just a young girl was given the duty to run the restaurant while 4 men, presumably the workers and owner of the restaurant, were sitting in a corner table drinking beer, staring at customers, and watching the TV in the restaurant. The only «productive» thing that one of them did was to get up and handle the bills and money. ***** I should not forget to remind whoever plans to go to this restaurant that WATCH FOR UNNECESSARY CHARGES. They may add an unnecessary 18% extra service charge (denoted «SC» on the bill) even if there are less than 6 people in your party. Please, please be careful ***** Oh, and don’t fall for them up selling too.
— A pot of tea is $ 5.00. How is that justifiable? Just wanted to get that out. (If you want tea, bring your own tea bag/​leaves and ask for hot water. These guys are rip offs :()
Overall, this restaurant should be avoided. As someone who has eaten many better Vietnamese restaurants, try other Viet restaurants in Edison (there are plenty). I guarantee you’ll have a more enjoyable experience.
Be safe!
~ Strict Critic

I came here for dinner by myself. Its located somewhere in the middle of nowhere to me. Inside is really dim, quiet and awkward.
I got the mung bean shake and a beef stew noodle soup. It was just ok.
I would not go out of my way to dine here.

We love this place. We are literally here twice a week!
1. It’s quiet and private. No one bothers you while you are eating and we love that.
2. Food is really good here and portion sizes are perfect.
3. Feels like home. :)

Had the spring rolls /​phở here, and the food was quite gross. As for the spring rolls, there were many mystery ingredients inside of them, though they tasted fine. Then, the phở came out, and it was grrooossss. The vermicelli was fine but the broth was a terrible mixture of greasy and salty. Would never eat here again, but I guess if you’re dying for phở like I was it’s a good pit stop.

At $ 8/​bowl the phở is cheap. Serving size is reasonable but the broth is very greasy and on the blander side. Service is non-​existent. I got 1 glass of water and 1 napkin. Have you ever eaten phở with just 1 napkin? It’s impossible. There are too many Vietnamese places in this area for this to be worth a trip.

Okay food and fast service. An average place to go if you want something quick like rice noodle and finish it and go back to work.

My boyfriend and I love this place! It’s the first restaurant on our list every time we want to go out. They have really good food and the serving is huge for the price! We love their spring rolls especially the peanut sauce. They have good ban-​mi, phở, soups and my boyfriend loves their pork chop and egg patty. Don’t forget to try the 3-​colored drink (?forgot the full name)… it’s a drink with crushed ice, jelly and beans. The place is spacious, clean and quiet. It doesn’t get too crowded. The young girl who serves us is really nice. We see her all the time but I’m always shy to ask her name.

The phở here is fine, but the service is virtually non-​existent. The restaurant was mostly empty but the food took awhile to come out. No one came to check up on us or refill our waters even once. No one was even around for us to flag down. We had to go up to the counter to request our check.
I know who exactly another reviewer meant by «young uninterested girl.» She took orders and sat unhelpfully in a corner on her phone for the rest of the time.

Very clean place. Confused by bad reviews. Owners are always very friendly and the food is really delicious.

On principle alone, I do not recommend this place. Average Vietnamese fare, but more importantly, the owner is a snake with lousy business practices. I have been here 5 times out of convenience but my most recent visit will also be my last. Service is below average and I was usually waited on by an uninterested young girl. I ordered a dish and a lemonade which was 10.90 plus tax equaling 11.66. I usually get the same thing and know what to expect. This time, I get the bill and I’m charged 13.75. I ask the girl why so much this time and she mumbled «my boss told me to add 18% service». I laughed and asked that he come out. I said «I never been charged this before, and I always tip, why be so sneaky about it?» Other things were said that I’ll leave out in this review. Maybe they weren’t happy with a 1.50−2 tip on a 10 – 11 dollar meal? He said «it’s the way we do it», to which I responded «first time in 5 visits. Keep your extra .55 cents, I will never be back. Good job». It’s not the money, it’s the principle.
On a prior visit, when I ordered my lemonade, the young uninterested girl asked me if I wanted club soda with my lemonade instead. I thought to myself, «sure that does sound good, lemonade and bubbles, great! Of course she conveniently forgot to tell me about the $ 2 up charge. Owner snake taught her well. Again I don’t care about a few bucks, I just don’t want to business with people like that

I’ve been here a couple times for the past few years but never reviewed before. I remember that it was really good when it first openned, but lately I’ve found other viet places in the area that are better in terms of flavor and portion.
The atmosphere is family-​owned. People are generally nice but service can be slow, and you can see an uninterested youngster serving from time to time.
Today I decided to order the vermicelli noodles with spring rolls and BBQ pork. The portion of the noodle and veggies were huge. But there must have only been 1 or ½ of a springroll cut up, and the pork cuts were mostly fatty and uneatable. The flavor was decent, but I remembered the bbq being m ore tasteful. And I’d had a more flavorful springroll 2 days ago somewhere else.
I also had the $ 3 young coconut drink. Definately fresh with large pieces of coconut meat, not artificial. The smoothies are also good here.

DELICIOUS!
Great portions and pricing. Will be back here most certainly!!!
I got the large combination (biet) and the spring rolls. Spring rolls were huge! The phở was excellent. Just enough meat and noodles – perfect.
My boyfriend got the pork chop and it was so delicious. Smoky, charred and slightly tangy.
This place gets an A+

So this restaurant doesn’t have the most welcoming environment. Once you enter, the place is very dim, awkwardly quiet, BUT I don’t care! I find myself time after time returning back to this place for the BEST phở dac biet ever! EVER! The broth is like a godsend, pack full of the right aromatics and is just beautifully seasoned! I hate when I get phở and they add too little or too much salt, but everything was matched to perfection. Trust me on this, you will absolutely ignore all the flaws once you have a taste of this broth! Hidden gem!
By the way, bring cash or order $ 15 worth of food (which I don’t see it being too difficult to do ;))!