Pho Vinh visit...

Finally ate at that Vietnamese place in west Chula Vista, Pho Vinh, next to the tattoo parlor. Went with a couple of friends after a book project meeting this morning.

Verdict: It's alright but there's better places than this.

Bowls of pho are $4.75. I had the pho with brisket and flank. The soup tasted pretty good. The noodles were not clumpy and the meat had very little fat, which was good. My main complaint about this place is that they were stingy with the garnishes. We ordered the fried spring roll appetizer. There were six small rolls and the garnish plate came with TWO lettuce leaves and ONE measly sprig of mint. A glaring faux pas for me was the lack of cilantro! No cilantro!!!That SUX the big hairy one with throbbing veins! We had to divide the lettuce leaves in thirds so we could each have two pieces to go with our rolls. There was hardly enough mint to go around. There were two saucers of nuoc cham (fish sauce); one saucer was full yet the other seemed like an half-ass afterthought, because it was only 1/4 full. The lack of cilantro to me spoke of cheapness.

Also, our pho came with only ONE small plate of garnish for all three of us which included: bean sprouts, several halves of limes (which I liked rather than lemons), and two lonely small sprigs of basil, plus six slices of jalapeno peppers. It was okay, but most places (at least up in the City Heights or Kearny Mesa area) give you more shit to put in your soup than that. Man, I couldn't believe we only had one plate of garnish for all three of us. Anyways, this place was worth checking out since it's probably the only Vietnamese place in Chula Vista, but I would rather drive up to Convoy or Balboa to get better pho with better garnishes for the same price.