pho lien hoa

absolutely loved this place. never triedvietnamesecuisine before and based on this restaurant alone i am now a fan. even my picky eater of a 9 year old loved his meal. will most definitely go back.

when i travel to oklahoma city, my boyfriend and i dine here. the service is great and the food comes out fast and fresh. the food is delicious. there is such a large selection ofvietnameseentrees. it was always packed when i come, but you can literally see all the hardworking waitresses and waiters running around to ensure that everyone has a great dining experience. 

unfortunately, it is always busy here. we seat ourselves after we walk through the door to friendly faces ready to take your order. this place is probably the hot-spot of oklahoma city and i know for sure people drive out at least 30 minutes to dine here from other cities (friends and family).

best way to cure a cold!. there is something special about a steaming hot bowl ofvietnamesechicken soup, also known as the p6 at pho hoa. they truly have their broth down. there are several other pho restraunts in the area but their broth seems to be a bit too greasy for me. not to mention that pho hoa puts the delicious quail eggs in theirs. yum!

i haven't found better pho...yet. perhaps i have a soft spot for this place as it was my first taste of this addictivevietnamesenoodle soup, but i find the flavors here pretty much perfect. portions are (comically) larger than most other places around town, so order small. i promise you will not leave hungry!

food was good...not great. went here because it was voted #1vietnameserestaurant by a local paper. make sure you take cash, they do not take cards...but they do own and atm machine you may use for a $2.50 fee. i'll eat here again, but i wouldn't make a special trip and i will definately have cash.

rip off alert!. this restaurant has averagevietnamesefood. the issue is they don't take credit cards but do not post the information on the door or entrance. i found out when i tried to pay. interestingly, however, they have an atm that charges $2.35 payable to the restaurant. there are plenty of good, honest pho restaurants in the asian district. avoid this rip off joint.

great place to eat. having lived and worked in saigon, viet nam for 15+ years, i can say without qualification that the phở liên hoa restaurant on nw 23rd serves as good or better phở and/or hủ tiếu as any noodle enterprise in saigon or viet nam. it is a completevietnameseexperience to dine there.

pho lien hoa... ...again.... i asked myvietnameseco-workers which pho restaurant they recommended as an alternative to pho lien hoa. they promptly recommended another establishment which my wife and i visited in short order... i can't recall the name of this second eatery (se corner of classen and 30th) , however it wasn't far from our usual..

the bottom line is that we both feel that pho lien hoa is still the best that we have experienced thus far.

i've been told to try the #1 from the menu. i always get my #14 (rare brisket & steak), however will try the alternate suggestion next visit..

go pho lien hoa !


-----01 jul, 2011-----

my favorite -bar none-. i get the # 14, which is the rare steak and brisket soup. using plenty of the the dark beef sauce , and just a touch of the hot sauce ( sri racha ), this is the best soup around. i cram as many of the sprouts into the bowl as possible along with a few squeezes of fresh lime. dont forget about the leafy greens that need to be in your bowl as well. stir it all together for a few minutes and ~ voila ~ ..this soup cant be beat. the noodles are always top notch as well, not overcooked. i eat here as often as possible, escaping full each time for right around $7.00 at lunch. also, i feel very good for a day or two after eating here. its not only good but good for the bod. .. enjoy..

awesome food, but one concern. i love, love, love pho lien hoa. i would even venture to say they have the bestvietnamesefood in town. however there is one caveat. i am 99.9% sure that they re-use the bean sprouts, herbs, and limes that they serve with the pho and soup dishes. the same ones that have been on diners tables throuought their meals. i say this because the busboys have a special bus tub on their cart where they only put these items. and oftentimes, my greens arrive at the table wet, as though they had been just rinsed. other than that, good.

september 22, 2011 by colleen i got sent to lawton, oklahoma for work for three weeks. it's been…a culture shock. things didn't start out so well: i ran over an armadillo, a large bird splattered on my windshield, i was doing all of my shopping at the walmart supercenter, and i had to do my half-marathon training in 105 degree heat. both my rental car and i were rough shape. things got better when matt arrived for the weekend. we thought it would be interesting to spend a weekend in oklahoma city - a place we would probably never go otherwise - instead of me flying home to boston for a day and a half. it wasn't a spectacular weekend food-wise, but there were a few highlights. as unlikely as it sounds, oklahoma city has a "little saigon" with some fantasticvietnamesefood. we were really craving some vegetables by saturday night after a day of bad, greasy bar food. we decided on lido restaurant. i had thevietnamesespecial thin vermicelli & vegetable platter with charbroiled beef .

cash only!. the first time i ate here i was luckily warned this was a cash-only restaurant, and with the amount of ocu college kids eating here at any given time, i don't blame them for going this route!

on to the food, which was great; i split an order of spring rolls and found these to be very fresh, lightly seasoned, and a perfect starter while waiting for my pho. i then moved on to the large p6 (mistake! too much food!) which is the rare steak, flank, and tendon. i piled on thevietnameseherbs and sprouts, gave a hefty squeeze of lime and stirred in a little sriracha (red chili paste). next time, i would definitely go for the small and leave out the tendon. i'm just too americanized for the texture, though i'm glad i tried it. i also had a strawberry sinh to (fruit smoothie) and added tapioca pearls to it. next time, i'll be more adventerous and go the avocado route as i've heard raves about it. i won't go for the durian as even andrew zimmern can't handle that one. i go as often as i can whenever i'm in the area - usually shopping at super cao!

cheap and delicious. good pho! myvietnamesefriends thinks it's just alright but i think it's pretty amazing. here, they don't skimp you with adding an obscene amount of broth with hardly any noodles and meat. they give you a lot (i can hardly finish a small!) and the largest size is the size of a boat.

pho 101 - the suzuki method. when i walk in pho hoa, i have flashbacks of college. i see four of us poor college students huddled around an extra large bowl of pho that cost around $7. i don't think i could not have survived college without pho.

if you have never experienced pho, avietnamesesoup with beef broth, rice noodles, and vegetables, pho hoa is a great place for you to start.

it can be intimidating to take the plunge and order your first bowl, especially if you are unfamiliar with se asian cuisine. part of the problem is all the questions that come to mind: what am i supposed to do with these bean sprouts, jalapenos, watercress, wedges of lime, and chinese basil? how am i supposed to pick them up with chopsticks? heck, how am i supposed to eat soup with chopsticks? what do i order? what is hoisen sauce, or this bottle of orange/red stuff? what is chinese basil anyway? why am i here?

a lot of these questions i never had to wrestle with, because in college the seniors would show the freshmen the ropes. perhaps you don't have avietnamesefriend to teach you. perhaps you don't have any friends who eat pho. no worries. pho hoa to the rescue.

the best part of this place is that it is full of natives, especially at lunch. spend 10 minutes watching folks eat. you will learn a lot. there are as many ways to eat a bowl of pho as there are bowls of pho. some piano teachers use the suzuki method in teaching, a method whereby the students mimic what the teacher does. this is what pho hoa provides. you can people watch and learn a lot.

a lot of americans are hesitant about tripe and tendon. that's ok. the p8 or p11 is a good place to start then, as rare steak, flank, and brisket are familiar to the usamerican palette.

the joy of pho hoa is the variety of their menu. in addition to their pho (beef rice noodle soup), they also offer pork clear noodle soup (hu tien), an egg noodle soup called mi (which i have never been a fan of), and also a pork udon noodle soup, which is excellent. when you start adding shrimp, squid, mussels, or bbq pork, the whole experience changes! it can be quite an adventure! the key is to have courage, step out, and experience the variety pho hoa offers.

cash only!

the best pho!. i love this restaurant for so many reasons. first, this is the best pho that i have had anywhere in okc. they are generous with portions and the food is always prepared just right. this has become my new comfort food. also, this is a gathering place for neighborhood locals from the arts district and forvietnamesewho live in large numbers close by. i get the feeling each time that i'm there that i'm in a truly warm, good neighborhood place where everyone who eats there feels very much at home. i love the customers and staff as much as the food. last, contrary to some of the reviews here, the service is very good if you understand that a restaurant that is this good and this busy will have busy waitstaff who are to-the-point. i ask questions quite a bit when i am trying something new and have received helpful treatment each time. also, if you have not been before be sure to bring cash (no credit cards). also, you pay by going to the checkout and telling them your table number. took me a while to figure that out.

this spot is medicinal for me. my fav is the chicken pho and icedvietnamesecoffee. lunch is super busy, but has a quick turnover. very inexpensive, and yet amazing. im getting hungry just thinking about it!