Perched next to "The Dome" in Three Rivers, California, was Lotus Blossom Vietnamese Cuisine. This pop-up of sorts had just a couple menu items to choose from and seating in the great outdoors.



I ordered the lemongrass chicken with noodles, salad and eggrolls. This dish delivers a beautifully balanced combination of freshness and texture. The lemongrass chicken is the star — tender, juicy, and marinated just right with that citrusy, fragrant punch lemongrass is known for. It's savory with a touch of sweetness and just enough char from the grill or pan to add depth.



The noodles serve as a great base, light and slightly chewy, soaking up the flavors of the chicken and sauce. They’re not heavy, which helps keep the dish feeling fresh rather than weighed down.

The salad adds a refreshing crunch — with carrots and herbs — and when paired with the nuoc cham (a classic Vietnamese dipping sauce), it cuts through the richness of the meat and noodles perfectly. The eggrolls round out the meal with a satisfying crispiness on the outside and a savory, well-seasoned filling inside. They're a welcome contrast to the rest of the plate and bring that comforting, indulgent element.



Grade: A

Hello Vietnam is a locally owned restaurant in Bridgeport that highlights pho and banh mi.



The small restaurant has minimal seating, so I placed an order to go.



Instead of pho or banh mi, though, I went with something different.



Bun Thit Nuong - or vermicelli bowl - consists of rice noodles, grilled pork, vegetables, shrimp and pickles.



I love noodles in every cuisine. And here, they are served in the light, vinegary way. The dish eats very clean and fresh. Absolutely delightful.



Grade: A

I was surprised and excited to see a Vietnamese restaurant in Weirton.

Pho Ha Nam is located where the old Walmart used to be (Weirton looks so different to me now!).

They primarily have pho and banh mi, but I saw pad thai on the menu - which is one of my all-time favorites. So I went with that and a strawberry smoothie boba.

Both are so tasty!

In Huntington, there's a pho war of sorts.

And by that, I mean there are two pho restaurants right across the street from one another.

And recently I visited them both.

First, I went to Pho Noodle House, and then I went to Pho U & Mi.

The latter is the more recent restaurant, I gather.

I started with an order of crab rangoons (because of course), and then for my entree I tried banh mi: bbq pork.

Banh mi was sounding more exciting to me on this day than pho. But I do enjoy both! Which one of these restaurants do you favor?

Food trucks are always super exciting to me, and a new one serving up pho and banh mi has entered the Morgantown scene.

3-0-PHO to Go is such a clever name, and they are finding their way all over town.

The combos are a good way to try a few different items. I ordered "The Pho Sho," which is half a banh mi and a small pho plus a water.

It gets all packaged up and ready to go. Pho plus sauces & lime.


And banh mi!



Have you tried it?

It's strange how trends work in Morgantown. We will go years without having a particular type of cuisine, then all of a sudden, we get inundated with it. It happened with BBQ, and now, it's happening with pho.

You see, six months ago, Morgantown had zero pho joints. And now, we have two. We talked recently about Pho Hung, and now, there's Saigon Pho Kitchen.


In all fairness, Saigon Pho Kitchen had been in the works for some time, and it comes to us from the same owners of Chaang Thai. Raj's wife is of Vietnamese heritage, and her family worked to fine-tune the recipes.

Saigon Pho Kitchen is located along University Avenue near Black Bear Evansdale/Mario's Fishbowl Evansdale in a small plaza. The ordering process is a little different, so read on:

1. When you walk inside, choose a table you'd like first. Then, flip the number upside down.
2. Then, go to a kiosk near the doors to the right. Input your items. Input your table number in the "call number" space.
3. Get your fountain drink/water. If you ordered a specialty beverage, you actually pick it up at that counter.
4. Otherwise, head back to your table and await your food.

It might be a little confusing because as soon as you walk in, you'd expect to go directly to the counter. And, the kiosks are on the backside wall. And, there's not necessarily one central area to look for directions - instead, it's in various ways in a bunch of different places. The kiosk system is very easy, though, and there's no miscommunication.

The interior is kinda cool - a bit modern with some more inspired pieces.

First off, Will got this coffee, which he seemed to like. I think.

After a very short wait, our appetizers were brought out - summer rolls were good; always love that peanut butter sauce.

The potstickers were tasty, too. Crispy outside, soft inside.

For my main meal, I actually opted against pho (next time!), and went for the banh mi because this is the ONLY place in the area that has it!

Banh Mi has particular ingredients that officially make up the sandwich: French baguette, jalapenos, meat (chicken, ham, meatballs are my fav), pickled carrots, cucumber, cilantro and French pate.

So, it was pretty exciting that this sandwich was the real deal. There was some nice garlicky mayo that kept it all together, and the flavors were pretty great - deep flavors from the pate and meat, some acidity from the pickled veggies, fresh cilantro and cucumber. I wouldn't mind a few more veggies and de-stemming the cilantro - but overall, I thought this was a pretty good take on it.

They're brand new, and Raj definitely wants to make sure people are receptive to the items. The banh mi is definitely a nice addition to town. I will have to go back to try the pho.

Grade: A

ATTENTION: Morgantown now has a pho restaurant. "It's about time," you and I both collectively sigh in relief.

The Vietnamese noodle soup craze has swept the country for the past few years, and Morgantown is finally joining in.


Pho Hung opened on Saturday in Westover. Located in the plaza with Big Lots, there's plenty of parking, it's easy to find, and it's not too crowded. The actual restaurant has fewer than a dozen tables, so it's fairly small.

So, I had actually tried to come on Saturday when they opened, but we were turned away because they ran out of food. So, we came back on Sunday and initially were turned away at noon because they said they needed more time to prep, but then we were waved back in. So, finally! Got to try it!

The menu has spring rolls, satay, pho, entrees, bun, some vegetarian dishes, a couple Thai dishes and kids meals. It's a fairly small menu with all the basics:

Pho is a noodle soup; bun is the same noodles from the soup but atop greens and with a meat; "com" is a rice plate + whatever meat it comes with; and Vietnamese Iced coffee is darker and thicker than most American coffee but sweetened condensed milk is pour over.

Arguably the most popular Vietnamese dish in Houston, pho -- or rice noodle soup -- is a relatively new dish by Viet standards. Believe it or not, this very Vietnamese dish has Chinese and French roots: Chinese influence in northern Vietnam brought rice noodle and the signature pho spices such as anise, ginger and cinnamon, while French occupation of what was then called "Indochina" encouraged the consumption of beef. Pho is made by boiling animal bones down into a rich stock, then adding in rice noodles, spices, meat and vegetables. Although most pho has a beef base, pho ga (chicken pho) is gaining in popularity. A bowl of pho comes with garnishes and sauces that allow you to customize it to your taste. Typical garnishes include basil, lime, cilantro, jalapeños, crunchy bean sprouts, sweet hoisin sauce and spicy Sriracha. Popular combinations like pho bo vienadd spongy beef meatballs to the soup. Pho tai adds thinly sliced rare steak which cooks in the broth and pho nam adds slices of brisket (Source).

We ordered a few different appetizers so we could try a little of everything.

Fresh Spring Rolls - fresh rice paper rolls wrapped with shrimp, lettuce, basil and vermicelli. Served with peanut sauce. These were really good. They're light, fresh and simple. The peanut sauce on the side is a little sweet and just delicious.

Fried egg rolls - minced veggie with noodles in a rice wrapped & lightly fried to a golden crisp. Served with fish sauce. These remind me of the eggrolls one of my coworkers brings in that I absolutely love. I definitely think there was pork in these, and they were absolutely delicious. Very nice and crisp with a lot of seasoning inside. The fish sauce on the side made it.

Banh He - chive cake. The photo showed more of a dumpling, and these were more like fried saucers, but not bad. Not my favorite of the group, but a decent - and vegetarian - option.

Pho Tai Bo Vien - eye of round steak and meatball noodle soup. My pho came with the steak and meatballs. Usually the steak is put in rare and cooks in the broth. Mine was pretty much already done once it arrived, but that doesn't matter to me too much. I think the broth was good - flavorful and light. The meatballs and steak were tasty. I added some hoisin and some lime to make it perfect.

Sher got just the meatball one, which you can see above. Let me be clear, the serving size of this thing is huge. You could easily get two meals out of it (and, I did). The mix-ins came out a bit later. I'm a bit picky about my sprouts, but I definitely used up the lime.

Besides the wonky service (they brought out the wrong dish and then Sher had to wait quite a while before they got the right one), the food is quite good. I am by no means an expert, but I really enjoyed each of the dishes. The pho has a great broth, and the meatballs/beef were delicious with just a touch of hoisin and sriracha. The egg rolls and spring rolls were both fantastic. I also love that this is something town has been lacking for quite some time, so it's really nice that if you're feeling a craving for a giant bowl of noodle soup, you can satisfy that easily in town - and at a pretty good place, at that.

Grade: A