“ Good Vietnamese option in the fox valley area. The Pho was delicious with a generous portion of meat and was well seasoned. The pork bao was also worth trying. They also offer Bobba tea and various other drinks. Service was good and restaurant was clean. Thank you ”

“ The customer service is really good! Art I always goes above and beyond. She calls us her regulars! We always get beef pho and have zero complaints! Definitely recommend! Super clean restaurant! ”

“ Spring rolls !! That are fresh and not fried. Soup dumplings !! And Pho that is delicious. My hubby and I try to hit here a couple times a year. The pho is delicious. (I get mine without noodles because I end up bringing a lot of it home and they just soak up the broth). The spring rolls are so good. Fresh and thank the Lord not deep fried. Also tried the soup dumplings. They had a little bit of meat in them that I was not expecting but was not mad at either. They did have the yummy brothy soup as well. ”

“ UPDATE: This is more for my regular readers. If you are not one of them, this long rant is probably not worth your time. I feel like I had to write it either way to provide the sequel to my piece about Thien An Sandwiches (Houston), where I took the chance to talk about the dilemma of "authentic" Vietnamese food. I promised to talk about the "other side" of that dilemma with Phở Noodle Station in the future. That future is now. Behold: INauthentic Vietnamese food. The best Vietnamese food I've ever had in the United States. It saddens me that I still have zero information about the chef behind Phở Noodle Station. Is he even Vietnamese? (I do fleetingly remember a waitress mentioning that they were a he, at least.) Either way, in my last visit by the end of April this year, the place seemed to be crumbling down. It was emptier than I remembered (I might've just come in at a bad time, but still), the seats had more cracks on them, the service was slower and they discontinued both the crepes and the milk cap tea (though they did promise "a new dessert in the future"). The TVs that stare at you upon entrance were also eerily turned off and didn't play random karaoke clips anymore. And yet, I ordered the rice dish with lemongrass chicken - an old favorite of mine - and it was still every bit as good as I remembered. So I'm not here to talk about what Phở Noodle Station did wrong. That much is obvious enough if you consider how people generally approach this kind of food, especially the Vietnamese. The place is WAY too Americanized, and it is run by Chinese people - the arch-nemeses of Vietnamese people as a group. Most people who even come here would either not know how phở should taste like - or cannot accept that this is how phở should taste like. Thus, I want to talk more about what Phở Noodle Station did right. Well first of all, I finally managed to take a good picture of one of my favorite offerings from this place (the aforementioned rice dish), so please take a look at it. This thing beat every single Vietnamese place in the gigantic Vietnamese community of Houston. Every. Single. One of them. Why am I not talking about the phở? I can argue about how Vietnamese cuisine is more than just phở and whatnot but honestly- I just didn't have a good picture for it. Anyhow, what Phở Noodle Station did right - and what brought me the joy of being a foodie - is that they respected these Vietnamese dishes, be it phở, rice, or gỏi cuốn, *as food*, not as a Vietnamese thing. Whoever is behind this chain once tried these dishes, was impressed by them, strived to perfect them, and simply wanted to share them with the world. It didn't matter if they were selling it to Americans or Vietnamese. It didn't matter if they presented themselves as Vietnamese or Chinese. It didn't even matter if they themselves were Vietnamese. Did it work? Obviously not. But it is commendable, and too many places wouldn't even dare to do the same. All this is not to say that I like inauthentic food. I have blasted many Vietnamese places for doing just that (looking at you, Bánh Mì Barista...). This is also not to imply that I know nothing about the Vietnamese taste. I was born in Vietnam and had spent - technically - most of my life there. My Vietnamese friend agreed that this was the best phở he could find in the States. My Puerto Rican friend agreed that this was the best phở he could find in the States. The only thing Phở Noodle Station failed at is looking and feeling like a phở place. But it does make me wonder: Is authenticity really all there is to it? In terms of running a successful "ethnic" restaurant? Have a Vietnamese auntie open a shantytown place and throw some MSG into the phở before serving it with a scowl the same way we do it in Vietnam? Is that how one becomes the best Vietnamese restaurant in Aurora, Houston, or [insert city here]? Do Americans really just not know what they are eating? I hope Phở Noodle Station will stay open for at least a few more years. ”

“ This is the spot for pho in Aurora! Pho Noodle Station is located right next to Park to Shop in Pacifica Square Mall and we almost always make a grocery run after dining in here. I've only had Pho here and my favorite is the brisket with meatballs. I also enjoy their appetizers; pork egg rolls and tofu spring rolls. Sometimes we'll order a passionfruit smoothie if we're in the mood. My husband likes the grilled pork banh mi. As of June 2024, they stopped making crepes due to staff shortages, and on a Friday evening when we came to dinner in, they only had two servers handling take out and all the tables. The servers were a little frazzled (I don't blame them) but we still got our orders taken and our food served in a normal timeframe. We've been here plenty of times (pre staff shortages) where the service didn't feel as chaotic. The interior is nothing to really write home about; they have a drink station/counter near the entrance where they make the smoothies and milk teas. There are several aisles of seating, including booths on each side of the space, and tables w/chairs in the center aisles. We've dined in and had take out from pho noodle station, and I think the location is perfect to all the Park to Shop clientele to stopover before or after shopping. Grocery run or not, I always come back just for pho. ”

“ My large family visited Pho Noodle station and were immediately greeted with a smile. We decided to just do an appetizer based meal together - so I guess this isn't a review of pho, but we genuinely loved every appetizer we had - which was something like 7 or 8 different foods. It's very clean and classy looking inside too. ”