99999 Restaurant – Pho Ut No

99999 Restaurant’s name is almost impossible to miss when driving down Garden Grove’s Westminster Avenue – a tall silver-white sign in front of the building announces digits, and if you look over to another sign, “Phở Út Nô.” Inside this large, reception-ready restaurant with its own parking lot, you’ll find several huge television screens and plenty of tables, as well as a menu packed with Vietnamese favorites: beef and chicken pho soups, mi and hu tieu noodles, banh mi chao sizzling platters, rice and rice noodle dishes, plus entrees featuring beef, chicken, pork, shrimp, squid, goat, quail, fish, and snails.

Some of the items we ordered were particularly compelling: the tender filet mignon and star anise-soy flavor of the banh mi chao came together with pillowy bread for a spectacular combination of yielding textures and lightly sweetened umami; similarly, a house special pho with filet, brisket, flank, fatty flank, tendon, tripe, and meatballs was loaded with meat, thin rice noodles, and an outstanding broth that wasn’t too hot to start enjoying right away.