Pho Oceanside - Oceanside, CA

Though I know I snark a lot on the relative lack of food scene here in Oceanside, one thing that's nice about living in underdeveloped food country is the potential of it all. Not to mention how it almost forces you to shed some of your cynicism and reframe your expectations so you can be ready and open to being pleasantly surprised, and more easily pleased.

Not that you want to lower standards, necessarily. But when you've lived in and/or have been exposed to more sophisticated or developed food destinations, it's easy to be jaded and underwhelmed and become one of those annoying ubersnarky yelp hipsters in your mind. 

And when you're an almost 40 year old woman, that vintage outfit doesn't look so flattering on you...

Which is why, after about 9 months of living here, I found myself pretty darned excited when I saw that a Vietnamese restaurant was opening up within a 5 minute walk from our house. And driving past it week after week, I crossed my fingers that it would be good. That there would be just one more restaurant in our very small rotation of local restaurants that I could feel good about sending a friend to. Not good for Oceanside, but just good.

And we happily discovered today that Pho Oceanside is indeed good. 

Unless there's some specific reason to, I'm no longer as given to waxing on about the preparation of the food, or to describe it to any appreciable length as I used to be. Usually it just boils down to balance, general execution, freshness of ingredients, service, and general atmosphere anymore. And if I find that all the food ordered was generally well executed, I'm not going to nitpick on the one dish that was underseasoned. If the service was generally friendly, attentive, and accommodating, you're not going to hear about how they forgot the extra bowl of lime wedges I had to order twice. (But hopefully, I'll remember to tell you when something is exceptional and excellent!)

But there weren't even those minimal issues to report today. Everything we ordered today - the pho, goi cuon, cha gio, banh xeo - was good. The service was great, the place was nice and clean, they serve beer and wine, and I detected absolutely none of that MSG ickiness I have just resolved to accept as a fact of life when dining at a new Vietnamese place.

shinae

Pho Oceanside
518 Oceanside Blvd.
Suite 107-108
Oceanside, CA 92054
760.754.2828