Phodega

TLDR: So. Much. Yes. Nice warm hug in my belly. I've been meaning to try this place for several years and finally convinced my bf to come with me. He was so not in the mood for pho but quickly changed his mind after a couple of bites of the Pho Bo. Love the generous portions of bean sprouts and cilantro they gave us. The soft crunch of the bean sprouts adds such a lovely texture. The pho comes out in a big bowl--but I still managed to eat it all... bc I couldn't stop myself. Don't snooze on the spring rolls either! They were super crispy and cronchy. Definitely fried to perfection! We loved it here so much that we ordered a Fried Chicken Rice and a Chicken Rice to go! (It was for dinner, I swear!) I'd 100% come back to try their other pho and the wings! Tip: Seating is limited so come early!

A small store with a good amount of outdoor seating, some uncovered, and some covered by umbrellas! You order on your phone and they deliver the food to you! Remember to bring bug spray as in the summer, there are small mosquitos that might try to bite! This place is known for their pho, but I ordered a Hainanese chicken rice plate. The soup it came with was quite salty, and the chicken was often a bit dry. However, the flavors were still great. My friend got the pho and it was much better!

"Surely they'll have AC in there, right?" Wrong.Maybe it was a bad choice to go for pho on a sweltering day, but sometimes the urge for comforting noodle soup cannot be ignored. Somehow, it was even muggier on the inside of Phodega than it was outside, without a trace of AC (fine). The fans installed around the restaurants weren't blowing (not fine). At least there was a nice self-serve station for water that I could cool myself down with...except there was barely any water left...to the point where the container needed to be tilted for the rest to come out. To be fair, it was less than an hour before closing, yet...they were still open.It's a smaller restaurant, one where you might expect to find the menu hung high on the wall somewhere, but the only easily available menu sat taped to the countertop where you order. To my surprise, there were fries on the menu. Fries at a pho place? It is called Phodega...so I suppose that's not too odd after all. Fries: Delicious! Came out hot, crispy, and with an interesting hint of sweetness.Pho Ga: I got this because it's my go-to pho and a great way to assess pho quality. When the broth did not assault me with a salty flavor, I was impressed! That is, until I realized there was not much flavor to the broth at all. The veggie sides were given in a pre-wrapped plastic bag. I understand the efficiency of prepping the right portions of everything beforehand, but at least remove them from the bag before giving them to a dine-in customer. Bottles of hoisin sauce and *sriracha are available on the counter for customers to grab. *I think it was sriracha. It came in the classic sriracha bottle, but the coloring seemed a bit off. The restaurant itself had a certain lighting that could be attributed to the off-red color, but not the off-sriracha taste. Our server was super great! She was wearing gloves, which I haven't seen done by a server before, and was helpful to grab to-go containers for us (located in the self-serve area, which I didn't notice). However, though the restaurant closes at 9, vacuuming began around 8:45pm. I've worked as a server myself for 2 years and understand the desire to wrap up at the end of a sweaty day, but it's courteous to at least wait for 9:00pm on the dot rather than rush people out with the whirrrr of a vacuum.

Phodega has my ultimate comfort food: Hainan chicken, fried chicken, white rice cooked in chicken fat, and beef pho. I usually like scallion-ginger oil over my Hainan chicken, but Phodega uses a ginger-garlic sauce. The fried chicken is very crispy. The white rice is so flavorful after being cooked in chicken fat; whoever thought of this idea is a genius. The beef pho comes with both sliced ribeye and beef meatballs. The portions are big. I was definitely full afterwards.They also have Asian sodas...the ones that are full of high frustose corn syrup and artificial flavors...but those are still considered comfort food in my book.

Wow! This place has been on my list for awhile now, and I'm bummed I didn't try it out sooner! Super cute place, they have a variety of snacks for sale (must get the strawberry KitKats) I placed an order for pickup and it was ready within 15 minutes. Staff was super friendly!I got the phodega fries to start, these are amazing, cilantro, onion, jalapeño and brisket, the perfect combo. So refreshing! For my main I got the pho bo. Huge portions. The meatballs are soooo good! So much bright, refreshing flavors! I'm already thinking about my next time here!

Have you ever gotten food-high? I have. From Phodega. The Viet Dip deserves every accolade. It evoked the same primal, emotional response as a gorgeous bowl of pho - which Phodega also does extremely well.

I've been twice now and everything I've gotten has been so good. The first time, I got the phodega fries and the gravy it came with was to die for. This time around I chose the viet dip because just the thought of pho in sandwich form really intrigued me. Also I highly recommend their fries because they are so crispy! I want to try every menu item at this point!The vibes inside are chill. They also sell limited asian snacks and candy as well as merch. Service was quick when I went too. Overall great food and vibes and worth checking out!

Hip spot for some pho, among other things. Order at the counter and grab a seat, but they do get busy so don't be surprised if you have to put your name down for a table. The food comes out quickly so you won't be waiting too long though. Decent pricing with large portions. Happy to have a great pho spot not by Argyle.

Slightly overpriced food and quality was good but not amazing. You scan the QR code which brings you to their online menu and you check out online. Service was relatively fast. I got the pho bo which was good but not amazing. I didn't like how the noodles were still stuck together. I also got a ioten green tea bottle drink which was very overpriced at $4.50. Not sure if I would come again.

Best pho in Chicago by a very long shot. Some of the best pho I've had across the states. All of the meat cuts were on point and tender. The broth was quality and not watered down like a lot of pho places do these days. The viet iced coffee is delish. Super efficient staff. They have lots of cool and extremely delish appetizers and dishes on the menu. So good