Pho Cali

For those of you who have not been initiated to the Cult of Pho, pho is rice noodles in a flavoured soup (sweet yet sour, also spicey) with slices of beef, beef tendon, or seafood. It is usually served with a side dish of cilantro, bean sprouts, sliced peppers, lime, and you season it to your tasting using chili sauce, hoisin sauce, or fish sauce. It is GOOD, and this restaurant, Pho Cali, makes it. The menu boasts a wide variety of noodle dishes to suit any tastes (including vegetarian and those not ready to eat tendon). Don't miss out on trying the bubble tea (once you've tried it, you're hooked) or the coffee, usually flavoured with condensed milk. It's quite unusual that such a decent Vietnamese restaurant could be found in Raleigh. Median price per person is under $10, so take advantage of it and feed your stomach! PS: Pho is also good "hangover" food =) more

I agree with the previous reviewer's comments in general. This is the most authentic Vietnamese food in the Triangle outside of home cooking. Recommended entrées are the noodle soups (pho), and the cold rice noodle dishes (bun). I'd also recommend the iced drinks and desserts. Price is very reasonable with most entrées less than 8 dollars. Downsides are the location in a somewhat run down strip mall, and the occasional smell of smoke wafting into the nonsmoking section. more

Whenever I go to an "ethnic" restaurant for the first time, two very promising signs are a) that it's located in an unassuming strip mall or shopping center (less money and time on impressive location and decor=lower prices and more focus on food) and b) that whenever you enter the restaurant, it's full of people who share the same cultural origin as the food you're about to eat (and if they're even speaking a different language, you know you've won). This describes Pho Cali perfectly. Situated in an odd little clump of shops just of Capital Boulevard, when you walk into the restaurant, it's almost always populated by people speaking Vietnamese, and usually watching Vietnamese satellite television. The menu is in both Vietnamese and English, and offers many different noodle soups (delicious, and served in huge, steaming bowls), chicken, beef, and fish dishes, appetizers (spring rolls, fresh or fried, also delicious), beverages like iced coffees and bubble teas, and many other things that you've never heard of but will be tempted to try. The table service isn't assiduous as you might expect from a more mainstream eatery but is unfailingly polite, and food is served quickly. more