Orange County pho is not a countywide hunt. It is a Little Saigon hunt, which means Westminster, Garden Grove, and the Fountain Valley edge of that same corridor, the largest Vietnamese community outside Vietnam.
Bolsa, Bushard, and Garden Grove Boulevard still set the standard for what a bowl should taste like in Southern California. This is breakfast soup, late-night soup, and the bowl you send out-of-towners to when they think pho is a mall chain.
I ranked eight shops by volume-weighted Google and Yelp ratings, plus the critical nods that actually mean something here: James Beard, Michelin, Eater, Infatuation. A 4.6 with thousands of reviews beats a 4.9 with a hundred, and a packed 10 a.m. room beats a pretty storefront.
If you only go to one place, make it Pho 79. That is the bowl I send people to, not because a ratings bot said so, but because the Tran family has been simmering oxtail broth in this neighborhood since 1982 and it still tastes deeper than almost anything else in Southern California.
Phoholic is the late-night bone-in shop, Pho REDBO is the Wagyu and halal lane, and Pho 45 is the filet-mignon crowd-pleaser. Pho 101 is the easier Tran-family room, Kim Quy is the old-school xi quach stop, Thanh is the 24-hour Bolsa workhorse, and Dakao is the chicken bowl.
Pair this list with our best Korean BBQ, best tacos, best fish tacos, and best steakhouses guides when you want a full OC food weekend.
Pho 79 (Westminster)
Pho 79 is the county institution, and it earned that the slow way. Thọ Trần and Liễu Trần opened it in 1982 after arriving as boat people, with family matriarch Nguyen Thi Dao pushing the doors open in a Garden Grove neighborhood that was just becoming Little Saigon.
They named it for pho and for 1979, the year most of the family made it to the United States from Saigon. Gustavo Arellano has called it one of the first Vietnamese restaurants in the country, and the New York Times later treated it as a pillar of the neighborhood.
In 2019 the James Beard Foundation named it an America’s Classic, the first Beard honor for an Orange County restaurant. Michelin added a Bib Gourmand in 2021 for high-quality food at a real-people price.
When Beard called, the owners were not sure what the award was. That is the kind of shop this still is: a family broth house that happened to become national, not a concept built for awards.
Hours, the menu, and move notes live on pho79.com. Confirm before you drive, because the website has lagged the address change.
In May 2026 the family left the 3,000-square-foot Hazard Avenue room in Garden Grove for the former Grand Garden, a 6,450-square-foot space at 8894 Bolsa Ave in Westminster. It is still Little Saigon, just a bigger dining room, with chandeliers that surprise people who only knew the old strip-mall fluorescent glow.
Some regulars are still adjusting. The broth is the same argument: oxtail simmered for hours with star anise, the bowl Infatuation called deeper than any other pho in Southern California, the one the Los Angeles Times said was famously rich in oxtail essence.
I order the oxtail, or I go straight to the 79 Super Bowl, menu 33, when I want the full mixed plate of brisket, meatballs, and whatever the kitchen is stacking that day. Backup is a simple #22 brisket bowl if I want the broth without the production.
The herb plate is here for a reason. Squeeze lime, add basil and sprouts if you want crunch, and go easy on the hoisin.
This broth does not need to be turned into a sweet sauce.
They have long run 7 a.m. to 9 p.m., Wednesday through Monday, closed Tuesday. The Hazard shop was cash only, so bring bills until you see a card terminal with your own eyes.
Find the new room at 8894 Bolsa Ave, Westminster. Yelp still sits around 4.2 from nearly 3,900 Hazard-era reviews, and this remains the one I send visitors to.
Phoholic (Westminster)
Gordon Pham opened Phoholic on Bushard in 2015 with a family recipe and a problem: Little Saigon already had more pho shops than any neighborhood in America. His parents still run the kitchens, breaking down beef bones in-house and cooking a 14-hour broth with fish sauce and spices they source to taste like home.
The Westminster original is the one that earned the Michelin Plate, including back-to-back recognition in 2024 and 2025. Sister rooms followed at Rodeo 39 in Stanton, where Eater reported a thousand bowls on an average day, and later at South Coast Plaza.
Menus and locations are on phoholic.com. Rank this Bushard shop, not the mall counter.
The room is a tight Little Saigon storefront that smells like beef the second you hit the door. It packs from breakfast through midnight, metal bowls that stay scorching, tables that turn fast, and a parking lot that is too small for the demand.
There is street parking and overflow by the school a block over. Morning at open is the easy window.
Weekend lunch is a line.
The Holic bowl is the Instagram one: bone-in beef shank, sometimes with oxtail, the caveman look Michelin diners photograph before they taste it. Gordon has said the Everything bowl is the actual best-seller, steak and brisket and the rest of the mix, and that he prefers chopped meat with tender brisket.
I order the Holic when I want the bone. I order a tai-and-brisket bowl when I want to drink the 14-hour broth without wrestling a shank.
There are about 16 pho combinations and not much else, so this is not an egg-roll stop.
They typically run 8 a.m. to midnight, seven days. Pay at the front, cards are fine, and the kitchen aims to get a bowl out in five minutes.
The original is at 14932 Bushard St, Westminster. Google sits around 4.4 from more than 2,000 reviews, which is the honest score for a shop that stays busy that late.
Pho REDBO (Garden Grove)
Pho REDBO is the premium lane, opened in 2021 by James Bui and Quyen Tonnu as a Wagyu pho shop in a cleaner, warmer modern room than the classic strip-mall counters. Think wood, softer light, and a dining room built for a date or a halal family dinner, not a 1982 breakfast rush.
Every bowl starts with bone broth simmered 24 hours from Wagyu bones. The beef comes through a SICHMA-certified halal supply chain from Stanbroke in Australia, which is why the LA Times put them on its 22 Essential Halal Restaurants in Southern California list.
Eater LA called the beef pho an overall favorite. That is the reputation they are actually defending, not the truffle-fry photos.
The full menu, hours, and the halal exceptions live on phoredbo.com. The whole menu is halal except meatball pho, rib-cube pho, and shrimp, so ask if that is why you came.
I order the rare Wagyu steak pho, then add the flaming Wagyu carpaccio if the table wants a show. They torch ultra-thin American Wagyu tableside, dine-in only, and it is the backup dish that makes this feel like a different restaurant from Pho 79.
Vietnamese iced coffee is the right drink with a bowl this rich. Golden truffle fries exist if someone at the table does not want soup, and oxtail pho is a limited add when they have it.
Garden Grove hours are 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. weekdays. Weekends they break from 3 to 5:30 p.m., which has burned people who treat this like a 24-hour pho shop.
There is a second OC room at 16334 Beach Blvd in Westminster. Rank the Garden Grove original first.
Start at 7725 Garden Grove Blvd, Garden Grove. Yelp is about 4.5 from roughly 1,250 reviews, and Google lands around 4.6.
Pho 45 (Garden Grove)
Pho 45 is the approachable heavyweight, a small Garden Grove shop that has been packing a plaza suite since the late 2000s. Manager Jason Pham and family still run it, and the name is a longevity play: 4 plus 5 equals 9, a lucky number if you grew up in this corridor.
Infatuation put it on the Little Saigon short list for a reason. The broth is darker, meatier, and less perfume-forward than the star-anise bombs, which is exactly why a lot of locals prefer it on a cold day.
The filet mignon pho is the order. Tender steak, a ridiculous amount of meat even in a small, and a bowl The Infatuation still talks about as the one they hunch over when OC dips below 65.
Hours, the second shop, and parking notes are on pho45restaurant.com. The Garden Grove room is the ranking.
It sits in a shared plaza with Pick Me Up Teahouse, plenty of lot parking, a sign-in sheet, and a dining room sized for four-tops. Expect a wait at lunch and dinner.
I have seen the line before 8 a.m. on weekends.
Ask for thin or wide noodles. Ask whether you want the sprouts steamed or raw.
If you want heat, the chili oil on the table is the move, and pickled onions sit there for the steak.
Backup is the dac biet combination if you want brisket, flank, and tendon in one bowl, or a Vietnamese iced coffee if you are turning this into a full Little Saigon stop. They take cards, usually with a small minimum.
Typical hours are 8 a.m. to 9 p.m., later on weekends. There is a La Mirada location if you are north of the 5, but this list is the Garden Grove original.
You will find it at 9240 Garden Grove Blvd Ste 19, Garden Grove. Yelp is 4.2 from more than 2,000 reviews, which is a lot of people agreeing this is the generous entry bowl.
Pho 101 (Westminster)
Pho 101 is the Tran family’s second act, opened in April 2017 by Christopher Tran after the same grandmother-and-uncles story that built Pho 79 in 1982. The name is a joke on a 101 class: they wanted a modern room where first-timers could order without a language barrier, and where the staff could actually explain the bowl.
The family recipe is the point. Broth still gets made by family members, in large bowls that locals treat as a medium anywhere else, in a dining room with real space between tables instead of the old Hazard squeeze.
Story, hours, and the weird parking note live at pho101oc.com. Read the parking paragraph before you GPS it.
The shop sits at 8031 Edinger, in a center you can only enter from one direction. If you come in the wrong way, you pass the plaza, hop the freeway, and U-turn at the next light.
That is not me being cute. That is their own directions.
Closed Tuesday, open 9 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. the rest of the week. Pay at the front, remember your table number, and come early if you want oxtail, because it runs out.
I order a large with rare beef, brisket, tendon, and tripe when I am feeding two, or a straight rare-steak bowl when I want the cleanest read on the broth. Crispy egg rolls are the backup, meat-filled, not a vegetable afterthought.
This is the room I send people to when Pho 79 has a line and they still want Tran-family broth without the pilgrimage energy. It is not a copy.
It is the same family, a clearer menu, and a much easier sit.
Map it at 8031 Edinger Ave, Westminster. Yelp holds around 4.3 from nearly 1,000 reviews.
Pho Kim Quy (Fountain Valley)
Pho Kim Quy is the Fountain Valley classic locals defend even when Yelp looks salty. It is a family shop that has sat in the same Stater Bros plaza on Warner, across from Mile Square Park, for more than 20 years, which is a long time to keep a breakfast pho crowd in a grocery center.
Some directories have flagged the door as closed, so confirm Google before you drive. If the lights are on, this is still the xi quach shop.
There is no real official website worth trusting. The room is old-school fluorescent, early, and built for people who eat pho at 9 a.m. on a weekday, not for a lighting package.
The move is to order a beef bowl, then add xi quach on the side: beef rib bones that have been simmering in the stock for 4 to 6 hours. You reunite the meat with the noodles and suddenly the bowl has the heft the regular cuts do not give you.
I get rare beef and brisket in the soup, xi quach on the side, and wide noodles if they offer the choice. Backup is a ribeye pho if you want a steakier bowl without the bones.
Hours have long been daytime, roughly 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., closed Tuesday. That is breakfast-and-lunch pho culture, not a dinner date.
Parking in the grocery plaza is easy. They have taken cards in recent years, which used to be the question.
The address is 11035 Warner Ave, Fountain Valley. Ratings wander from the high 3s on Yelp to about 4.1 on Google, which is why this is a local habit and not a trophy listing.
Pho Thanh (Westminster)
Pho Thanh is the Bolsa Avenue workhorse, the shop you actually find open when a concert lets out or a graveyard shift ends. Listings bounce between 24 hours and last call around 1 a.m., so check Google, then go.
I have always treated it as the late-night bowl.
It is a big, relatively modern corner room, louder after midnight, with enough tables that you are not hovering over someone else’s steam. Parking in the lot is fine until the night rush fills it.
No official site. The phone is (714) 839-9882 if you want a human to tell you they are open.
Bring cash. They are cash only, there is an ATM by the register, and that ATM charges a fee, which is the Little Saigon tax on being unprepared.
I order oxtail pho here, not because it beats Pho 79’s legendary version, but because it is the honest late-night bowl and it still has collagen and beef in it at 2 a.m. A classic tai nam or a straight rare-steak pho is the backup when oxtail is not what you want.
Herb plate, lime, chili. Do not lecture yourself.
You are here because everything else is closed.
Bo kho and the sizzling beef platters have fans too, and a salted plum drink shows up in enough reviews that I will mention it. The pho is still why it is on this list.
English can be thin at the table. Point at the menu, be polite, and you will eat.
The address is 9625 Bolsa Ave, Westminster. Google hovers near 4.1 from hundreds of reviews, which is exactly the score a 24-hour Bolsa shop should have.
Pho Dakao (Fountain Valley)
Pho Dakao is the chicken-pho specialist, named for a Saigon street-food neighborhood, and it is the bowl I send people to when they are done with beef. Eater has said for years that if you want pho ga in Little Saigon, you go to Dakao, and Gustavo Arellano spent a decade making the same argument in OC Weekly.
The current Fountain Valley shop is at 16171 Brookhurst, a strip-mall room with plaza parking and enough seats that a Saturday lunch rush does not feel like a closet. They used to be associated with a Ward Street Garden Grove address, so ignore old GPS pins.
There is no official site that matters. Hours are typically 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily, and the phone is (714) 531-2009.
The kitchen built its name on birds, historically tied to Dakao Poultry in nearby Midway City, and on a clear ginger-forward chicken broth that is saltier and lighter than the beef shops. Yellow-skin poached chicken comes off the bone with a bounce you do not get from a sad cafeteria breast.
I order pho ga with dark meat, then dunk the chicken in the ginger fish-sauce dip they put on the table. That dip is half the meal.
Lime and herbs go in the broth. The meat gets the ginger.
Backup is pho ga kho, the dry chicken noodles with a darker sauce, especially with gizzards if you eat that way. Some tables add a young chicken egg on weekends.
Ask. They run out of items later in the day.
Star averages sit mid-pack, about 3.3 on Yelp from 600-plus reviews, because this is a specialty shop people also judge like a full Vietnamese restaurant. I am ranking the chicken, not the Google blob.
Find them at 16171 Brookhurst St, Fountain Valley. This is the lighter bowl, and it is the one I want after two days of oxtail.
Honorable mention
Pho Nguyen Hue at 10487 Bolsa Ave, Westminster is the other chicken argument, a spartan shop in the back of a plaza at Bolsa and Ward. Eater liked the pho ga, and the free-range bird with ginger dip still has a following.
Typical hours are 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. Confirm they are open, then go if Dakao is slammed and you still want poultry.
Comparing your options at a glance
| Spot | City | Style / signature | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pho 79 | Westminster | Oxtail / 79 Super Bowl | The bowl I send visitors to |
| Phoholic | Westminster | Bone-in shank Holic bowls | Late night + Michelin Plate |
| Pho REDBO | Garden Grove | Wagyu / 24-hour broth | Premium + halal |
| Pho 45 | Garden Grove | Filet mignon pho | Generous entry bowl |
| Pho 101 | Westminster | Tran-family rare-beef bowls | Easier sit, huge portions |
| Pho Kim Quy | Fountain Valley | Xi quach rib bones | Old-school breakfast |
| Pho Thanh | Westminster | Oxtail + late hours | After-midnight run |
| Pho Dakao | Fountain Valley | Chicken pho ga | Lighter poultry bowl |
People Also Ask…
I send first-timers to Pho 79 in Westminster. James Beard America’s Classic, Michelin Bib, and the oxtail bowl that still sets the Little Saigon standard.
Westminster and Garden Grove, not Irvine. That is Little Saigon, the largest Vietnamese community outside Vietnam, and the shops cluster along Bolsa, Bushard, and Garden Grove Boulevard.
No, the Trans left 9941 Hazard Ave in May 2026 for a bigger room at 8894 Bolsa Ave, Westminster. Confirm hours before you drive, and bring cash the way you used to.
Phoholic on Bushard typically runs until midnight. Pho Thanh on Bolsa is the 24-hour workhorse, cash only, for the concert crowd and the 4 a.m. bowl.
Pho Dakao in Fountain Valley is the pho ga specialist, yellow-skin chicken and a ginger fish-sauce dip. Pho Nguyen Hue on Bolsa is the other chicken shop locals still argue about.
Pho REDBO in Garden Grove advertises SICHMA-certified Wagyu for most beef items. Ask which dishes are covered, because meatball pho, rib cubes, and shrimp are the exceptions.
