Pholicious - Cupertino

We visited this establishment a couple of years ago when the name was Pho Linh. Can't tell for sure if they owner is still the same. I decided to give them another try.

I picked their special Pholiciousl bowl of pho that offered combination of beef, chicken and prawn. Hubby chose a dry vermicelli combination of egg roll, bbq prawn and pork. I noticed there was a pho challenge on their menu. They offer a special size bowl of pho that features 25 oz of meat and 25 oz of noodle. Whoever that finishes it off in 55 minutes won't have to pay $19.95 for the pho and instead gets a t-shirt. I could only imagine what the t-shirt says : I love pho ?

Our order took about 15 minutes to be ready. The restaurant wasn't busy then. Just a couple of tables occupied. But I guess hubby's bbq order took longer to prepare. He loved his vermicelli combo. His complain was only one - the size was too compact. Not enough noodle. But beware though with the bbq

shrimps. The shrimps were bbq on a bamboo stick. And either the stick broke off afterwards or they were just cut off but was not removed. I bit into the shrimp and experience a hard piece. Pulled it out and it was a piece of bamboo. Same thing also happened to hubby.

My bowl of pho was short of greens. I love my soup with full of cilantro, green onion, and celery. This one was very scarce of it. I can't blame them though because it took me years to come to like those greens. I'm pretty sure most people out there can't quite enjoy it yet. The broth was darker in color than other pho places I've been to. And it had stronger smell of star anise. But other than that it was pretty plain. There was enough slices of beef but it wasn't rare steak so it was a bit dry by the time I ate it. The chicken was tender but the shrimps were too tiny.

It's sad that so far there's no pho restaurant in Cupertino that I can call my favorite place. I guess if I lived in this area I would have to drive to either Sunnyvale (Pho Nam) or all the way to San Jose.

Pholicious - 21271 Stevens Creek Blvd #410, Cupertino, CA 95014  (408) 777-8850