CA, Simi Valley, Pho So 1

Pho So 1
2837 Cochran Street, Ste E, Simi Valley, CA 93065 phone:( 805) 306-1868

Just off the Ronald Reagan Freeway at the eastern end of Simi Valley is a Vietnamese restaurant serving excellent bowls of noodles. I have not eaten a lot of Vietnamese food before, in fact my only experience was from a lunchtime eatery on the edge of Market Square in Houston. A place I’d visited two or three times before it closed.

Pho So 1 is bright and clean and airy. A fairly large place in the corner of a strip center. We arrived at 12;30 pm and were seated straight away and within five minutes orders had been placed and water delivered to the table. I relied on my companion diner to order and ended up with a large bowl of soft noodles, with rare sliced beef, flank steak and tripe. She had a small bowl of soft noodles with prawns which looked much better. We also had two side plates one of crispy noodles and sprigs of mint and the second with egg rolls stuffed with meat and vegetables.

The noodles and broth were excellent, the lean beef was very good but the fatty flank steak and tripe were not to my liking. The crispy noodles were also good when added to the broth. The egg rolls were thick and packed full of indeterminate filling, but the taste was OK, especially when dipped in sweet sauce.

I need to return to the restaurant to check out other items on the menu. I think if I studied the menu a little more and chose more wisely, then I would enjoy the broth fillings a little more.

The meal was good value. $22.15 for two including a 15% tip.