Restaurant Review: Pho Point Loma & Grill

“Pho Point Loma & Grill”
2788 Midway Drive
San Diego, CA 92110
619-226-6502
www.phopointlomagrill.com

After a day that became more stressful hour by hour, I decided that I did not want to cook dinner for my one remaining student – Monica – and suggested that we have a meal out. The physical therapists at the office I go to three times a week had talked about “Pho Point Loma” yesterday, and, knowing that Monica likes pho food, thought it would be a fun experience for both of us.

I used to go to the restaurant when it served Chinese food and always marveled at how large it is. There is the regular dining room; a huge dining room in the back part of the restaurant, and a smaller, more cozy room to the side as you come into the building. It should be noted that there were patrons in all of the rooms and for a Wednesday night they were doing a thriving business.

I had eaten there when it first became a Vietnamese restaurant but I am not sure if these are the same owners as earlier. It hardly makes a difference.

There is a very extensive menu with selections from eleven different types of food; additionally there is a drink menu; a dessert menu; and a party tray menu. The prices are varied, depending on what you order.

The service was very fast; we were seated by the host – who could benefit from my expertise of working with foreign language students. He had difficulty understanding what I was asking for – hot mustard, a take-out menu, etc.

Almost immediately we were given water by a waiter, and asked if we were ready to order, even though we had not been in the restaurant a total of 5 minutes. We said we were not ready and then he asked if we wanted to order a beverage. Monica ordered a coke; I order hot Jasmine tea that was very tasty. (The teabag was from the Stassen Company, and was pure Ceylon jasmine green tea.)

Monica ordered a #18 – Pho Tom, which was a Rice Noodle Soup with Shrimp. The small size was $6.75 and the large size was $7.75. She said it was very good, but declined to take home what was left. When I pressed her for an answer she said that even though it was good, she had had better in Hillcrest and didn’t want any more of it.

I ordered a #CC3 off of the Fried Rice Menu. The name was “Com Chien XA Xiu” which translated into fried rice with BBQ Pork. The cost was $7.75. The rice was a little dry and I asked the waiter if they had any hot mustard. It took awhile for him to understand what I wanted, and even then I am not sure if he did understand me. He finally said “no” and I let it go at that. It should be noted that even though the rice was dry, it was very tasty.

We were not asked if everything was all right; we were not asked if we wanted anything else. When we got home and we looked at the menu we saw that there was a Vietnamese flan and Monica said that if she knew that was on the menu she would have ordered it. It wasn’t until just before the bill was presented to us a waiter asked if everything was ok. We said it was and asked for two boxes to take home the leftovers. It took almost 5 minutes before they were brought to us, but, interestingly enough the payment for the meal ($22.41 without a tip) was picked up almost immediately.

Would we go back? Hard to say. There are now many Pho restaurants in San Diego besides the ones we frequented on Convoy Street. If someone asked us to go there with them we would probably say “yes” but if someone asked us if there was another Pho restaurant we wanted to try we would say “yes” to that also.

The one question I ask over and over again, and never get an answer, is why restaurants always have to have a television – in this case 3 of them – on, playing different programs? I remember when we used to go out for dinner and talk to each other. Is this now passé?