Pho My Vi – Kaneohe Bay Shopping Center

Cold and rainy weather? Hungover? Sick? Just having a bad day? I can guarantee that when you think of any of these situations, you probably also think about eating pho to lift your spirit.

A few weeks ago, my friend and I made the trip to Kaneohe Bay Shopping Center to try out Pho My Vi. She had just received her vaccine and was feeling pretty out of it, so we wanted to take a relaxing drive and eat comforting food.

Upon arrival, a sign outside of the restaurant says that they were only doing dine-in for dinner time. I’m not sure if it’s just a me thing, but I have a hard time eating anything with broth in the car and try to avoid it. My friend assured me that it was okay to eat in her car, so we entered the restaurant and started looking at the menu.

They have a lot of the usual dishes such as spring rolls, pho, and vermicelli mixed in with some egg noodles and curries. I came in thinking I was going to order pho, but decided on the shrimp dumpling egg noodle. My friend decided to get the rare round-eye and brisket pho. To share, we got two pieces of spring rolls.

Here’s what everything looked like before we got into the car:

At first glance, the bowls seemed a little small. However, once we started eating, my friend and I said we were surprised at how much food was actually inside.

First, let’s talk about the shrimp dumpling egg noodle. I enjoyed this dish so much that I wouldn’t mind driving 30 minutes for it again. The broth was simple but flavorful, and had a good amount of seasoning. I loved the black pepper and felt like it enhanced the flavor of not only the broth, but also the dumplings. This dish doesn’t come with any basil or bean sprouts to add in, but I took some of my friend’s basil and put it in my bowl for some extra oomph. Writing this makes me want to eat it again. It was so simple but incredibly well done.

Second, let’s talk about the pho. This pho had a very light colored broth, so my friend was a little skeptical about it. After her first bite, however, she said it tasted nicely seasoned and way better than it looked. The rare steak came on the side and wrapped separately from everything else, which was a nice touch. I’ve had some takeout pho where they put the rare steak in the herb bag or with something else that’s hot so it ends up cooking, but this wasn’t the case here.

Lastly, the spring rolls were okay. I liked that they were big, but I wasn’t a huge fan of how starchy the filling was. This is personal preference, so I’m sure there are people out there that like them.

All in all, my friend and I really enjoyed our takeout experience and said we would come back to try more of their specialty dishes. Service was super fast and efficient, and their takeout packing skills were on point! No spills or paranoia about anything opening up during transportation. This place gets a 4/5 in my book!