PhoHolic

We’d passed by the Rodeo 39 Public Market location of PhoHolic a half-dozen times in favor of other options inside Stanton’s must-visit food hall, and hadn’t stopped in: Most of Rodeo’s other, smaller restaurants offered dishes that were harder to find locally than Vietnamese pho soup.

Originally opened in 2015, PhoHolic started with one restaurant in Westminster and now operates several locations in Orange County, including a unique South Coast Plaza space with semi-private counter seating. Its Rodeo 39 space is outside the main hall, and quite large, including its own indoor and outdoor seating areas. These days, PhoHolic is regularly filling those tables, with long waiting lines for both pho and seats during peak hours, especially weekends.

That’s because its broth is excellent and rich with beef flavor – at least on par with and probably better than the more storied Pho 79’s. Their selection of 16 pho types offers ample if not particularly distinctive options: they’re all variant mixes of steak, brisket, tripe, meatballs, tendon, flank, oxtail, and shank. The meat portions and quality are reasonable for the prices, though the noodles aren’t as generously portioned as one might expect. There are no additional appetizers or other menu items besides drinks, so you won’t find egg rolls, spring rolls, or banh mi here, just pho.