Three restaurants, three bowls, one mission: to find the most authentic and delicious pho in Albany.
Pho is one of Vietnam’s most famous dishes. A noodle soup that originated in Northern Vietnam over 100 years ago, the once local dish has become a global comfort food. I fell in love with pho while traveling through Vietnam several years ago and since then I’ve taken every possible opportunity to indulge. But finding a good bowl of pho can often be a challenge.
Albany has quietly built a small pho scene, now home to three restaurants serving this beloved Vietnamese dish. Naturally, I had to find out which one is serving up the best pho in town— welcome to the Albany Pho Down.
For this taste test, I visited all three restaurants—Sam City Pho, Ba’s Vietnamese Comfort Food, and Pho House—and ordered a similar bowl of pho: pho bò, beef noodle soup. I rated each bowl on a scale of one to five, with five being the best, in the following categories:
- Broth — A good pho broth should be amber in color and full of complex sweet and sour flavors, and it should be cooked for a minimum of 12 hours before serving.
- Noodles — Flat, wide, rice noodles that should be firm but not sticky, tender but strong enough to lift with chopsticks without breaking.
- Meat — The various meats should be cooked appropriately and have good flavor, texture, and quality.
- Garnish — At a minimum there should be a side of sprouts, Thai basil, jalapeños, and lime. Ideally, there will also be some house made chili oil, or other seasonings.
- Authenticity — Authentic pho should reflect traditional Vietnamese flavors and preparation and should be served with chopsticks and Asian soup spoons. Bonus points for authenticity in décor.
- Price/Value — The price should match the portion size, quality of ingredients, and overall experience.
I decided to visit the restaurants in order of age, so I started with Albany’s original pho restaurant, Sam City.
Sam City was opened in Albany 18 years ago, though it originally started in Sweet Home 26 years ago. Sam Kim, the owner and founder, is from Korea and said she opened the restaurant because she was tired of driving to Portland whenever she wanted her favorite dish.
The restaurant claims to be the “Pho Kind of Albany,” so let’s see if that holds true.
The menu contained several options for beef pho. I opted for Kim’s recommendation, the Pho Tai Nam which is served with rice noodles, eye of round steak and well done flank.
When Kim, who also works as the main hostess and server, brought out my bowl I was delighted to see that the broth was the perfect amber color and Kim told me that they cook their broth for a total of 16 hours. Before adding any of the garnishes, I gave the amber liquid a taste test. The complex mix of flavors was nearly perfect. Though it leaned a bit to the sweet side.
“It’s an Americanized pho,” Kim told me. “I don’t like a lot of fish sauce. I like a nice clean broth, so that’s how I designed it.”
- Fish sauce is a salty, savory seasoning that brings rich umami to Vietnamese dishes, including pho. Its absence explains the sweetness. 4.5/5
- The noodles were thin and round, which is pretty typical for pho in the U.S., but they were a bit undercooked and sticky, so they kept breaking when I tried to lift them. 3/5
- The meat was just ok. The eye of round steak was cooked well and tender but the flank steak was far too fatty and chewy. 3/5
- The garnish included all the required toppings and they were fresh and delicious. 4.5/5
- As far as authenticity goes, the noodles were a bit off and the broth leaned sweet, but overall it was close. They provided an Asian soup spoon, but the disposable chopsticks and plastic bowl were disappointing. 3.5 / 5
- Finally the value and price was good. This was my cheapest bowl of pho coming in at $14, and other than the lower quality meat, I was really happy with the value. 4/5
Sam City Score: 22.5/30
Next up was Ba’s Vietnamese Comfort Food.
Ba’s was opened by Seth and Karen Carey in 2018. Karen’s father is from southern Vietnam and her mother is from the central region. Their pho recipe was passed down from Karen’s grandmother to her father, and then to her.
Ba’s menu is simpler with only one option for beef pho, pho bo, in either a small or large portion. I ordered the small since it was closer in price to the other restaurants.
- The broth in Ba’s pho is much clearer, cleaner, and a bit less complex than my previous bowl, but still delicious. It’s cooked for a full 24 hours before serving. I suspect the difference comes down to regional styles—this recipe is from southern Vietnam, rather than the northern region where pho originated. 4/5
- Like my previous bowl, the noodles were round and thin, but here they were cooked perfectly—silky smooth and strong enough not to break when lifted from the bowl. 4.5 / 5
- The meat in this bowl included flank steak, brisket, and meatballs. The flank steak is served raw, so you push it into the broth to cook it to your preferred doneness. I’m not a huge fan of this method, but it cooked well, and all the meat was delicious and high quality. Even the meatballs had the perfect, gelatinous texture. 4.5 / 5
- The garnish was fresh and complete and they included house made chili oil. 5 / 5
- The entire experience at Ba’s felt very authentic. From the decor and presentation to the seating—small stools just like in Vietnam—and even the service items, everything felt true to the culture. They even sold my favorite Vietnamese beer, which I’ve never seen anywhere outside of Vietnam. And really, you can’t get more authentic than a Vietnamese grandma’s recipe, can you? 5 / 5
- The price here was higher than the other restaurants, $16 for a small bowl which is considerably smaller than bowls at the other restaurants, but the quality was so good I can’t really fault the price too much. 4.5 / 5
Ba’s Score: 27.5 / 30
My final stop was the newest pho restaurant in town, Pho House. Pho House opened in January of this year by Maxine and Andy Ji who are from China.
The menu offers eight variations of beef pho. I ordered the Super Bowl Meat Combo which includes beef shank, meatball, round steak and brisket.
- I’m going to just be honest, the broth here was not good. It lacked the right flavors and just tasted a bit off. The waitress told me the cooks come in early to start the broth and it is simmered for just five to six hours. 2.5 / 5
- The noodles were fine. Still thin and round, but cooked well and only broke a little when I pulled them out. Also, I ended up taking some soup home and the noodles held up overnight. 4 / 5
- The meat was all pretty good. It was cooked well, had good flavor, and the meatballs were the right texture. The quality wasn’t quite as high as Ba’s, but it was all very good, and there was a lot of it!. 4.5 / 5
- The garnish was all there and very fresh. They gave me more garnish than either of the previous restaurants, and they included a housemade Thai green chili sauce, and chili oil, which, once added to the broth, improved the flavor a hundredfold. 5 / 5
- The authenticity is a mixed bag. The decor and service items are well done, but the broth—the heart of any pho—is not authentic. Even though the Thai green chili sauce was delicious, it’s decidedly not Vietnamese. 2.5 / 5
- The prices here are very reasonable. I paid $16.50 for a very large bowl of pho, which, after adding the chili sauce, was quite good. The ingredients were high quality, so overall, I think the value is there. 4 / 5
Pho House Score: 22.5 / 30
The clear winner of the Pho Down is Ba’s Vietnamese Comfort Food. The quality, authenticity and overall experience stood heads above both Sam City and Pho House. That said, I would still return to all three restaurants because each one offers something unique. I encourage you to get out and try some pho for yourself!