[South El Monte] [Vietnamese] Pho Filet

Pho Filet
9463 E Garvey Ave #A
South El Monte, CA 91733
(626) 453-8911

There were too many pho restaurants to choose from on Garvey Ave in the city of South El Monte.  The reason that makes Pho Filet different from the rest of them is that they use filet mignon instead of your standard beef in their pho.  Sounds good, right?  Well, our visit wasn't that good.



The restaurant is located in a small shopping plaza near Rosemead Blvd.




Inside of the restaurant is bigger than it looks from the outside.



Their Pho Bac was made with filet mignon.  Dad ordered a large one and mom ordered a small one.  Since mom likes her beef well done, we requested to have the beef in the small order to be cooked.



I saw #38 Com Bo Luc-Lac on the menu.  It is also made with filet mignon.  I was decided between the pho and this rice dish.  I was so glad I got the rice dish instead of the pho.

(BAD #1) Because sister wanted us to bring some food http://www.eileenlikestoeat.com for her, we ordered an extra dish and planned to take the leftover http://www.eileenlikestoeat.com.  The waiter was really confused at this point.  After I place the order....

Waiter:  "o....k.... so you want 2 phos, 1 beef rice, 1 curry chicken noodle?  So you want everything together?  I don't understand."
Me:  "yes, we want to order 4 dishes.  And whatever we can't finish, we can take http://www.eileenlikestoeat.com."
Waiter:  "you mean, beef rice and curry chicken noodle together?  To go now?"
Me:  "no, we want to order 4 dishes right now.  We will eat here, then take whatever we can't finish to go after we eat here."
Waiter:  "okok, 3 people 4 orders.  It doesn't matter."

Then he walked away.  Huh?  Now I am confused.


Ca-Phe Sua Da Nong ($2.00)
Vietnamese Cofee with Condensed Milk

(BAD #2) Dad ordered a hot Vietnamese coffee with condensed milk.

Dad:  "I want to order a HOT coffee."
Waiter:  "ok, one ICED coffee."
Dad: "No, HOT coffee with milk."
Waiter: "ok, ICED coffee with milk."
Dad: "NO, HOT coffee with NO ice. HOT!"
Waiter: "ok, ICED coffee but HOT with no ice."

(BAD #3) Yes, dad did got a cup of hot coffee in a Styrofoam cup.  Usually when we order Vietnamese coffee in a restaurant, they let you drip the coffee at the table.  But here they pre-made theirs.  Dad said the coffee was way too sweet and he didn't like it.



A plate of basil and bean sprout to go with the pho.  Guess what else we found in the plate?  (BAD #4) We found some hair and some lints tangle up together mixing with the bean sprout.  So no, we didn't add any in our pho.


Pho Bac (small $5.50) (large $6.00)
Fillet Mignon with Thick Fresh Rice Noodle

(BAD #5)  We specifically asked to have the large one with raw sliced filet mignon and the small one to be cooked.  But what did we get?  Two bowls of cooked beef pho.



(BAD #6)  So I asked for a small bowl for the pho.  Our waiter said ok and never brought the bowl back.  I had to go up to the kitchen area to ask him again because that was where he was the whole time I was waiting.  (BAD #7) Ginger?  Who adds ginger to pho?  I couldn't taste the broth at all.  All I tasted was ginger ginger ginger.  Were they trying to use the ginger flavor to cover up some other flavor that they didn't want us to taste?  The noodle was overcooked and soggy.  Dad didn't even finish half of his bowl.  He just said he didn't want to come back here again.



I will be fair and talk about the good things, too. (GOOD #1)  The beef was really tender.  Much tenderer than your standard pho beef.


Com Bo Luc Lac ($6.75)
Diced Filet Mignon with Steam Rice/Fried Rice + $0.50

(GOOD #2)  This was the dish that we all liked.  Com Bo Luc Lac came with tasty tender little cubes of filet mignon.



(GOOD #3)  The red rice that came with the cubed beef was pretty good, too.



It also came with a bowl of MSG soup.


Bun Ca Ri Ga ($5.50)
Curry Chicken with Vermicelli

I wasn't sure if the Bun Ca Ri Ga was good or bad.  The soup definitely lacked flavor.  What kind of flavor?  I wasn't sure.  It just tasted like it was missing something, somthing major.  Bay leaf?  Lemongrass?  Just something wasn't there.  Instead of regular potato, they used sweet potato.  It was strange, but since I like sweet potato, I didn't think it was bad, just strange.  Instead of chicken leg meat, they used chicken wings.  But again, I like wings, so I didn't think that was bad.  But I still couldn't say I like the curry chicken with vermicelli.



(BAD #8)  We asked the waiter for to-go boxes for the cubed beef, the rice, and the curry chicken noodle soup.  So he brought us 1 box.  Yes, just 1 box for everything.  We had to ask again for a soup container and one more box.

So 8 bad's and 3 good's = 5 bad's.  Still bad.  So disappointed.  Nope, we will never go back to Pho Filet again.

And as if that wasn't bad enough, my camera decided not to turn on anymore after I took this last picture of the bill.... *sign*

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