I love their ban mi--great sandwich with a lovely sauteed pork, cold and marinated veggies, a crisp French roll. Lovely combination of tastes and textures. Pho is standard--I'm not much of a judge of pho--it all tastes the same to me. I asked if they had a salad, since I couldn't find one on the menu, and they made one for me. Really nice people. Nice place. A welcome addition to Mercer Island restaurants.
Review Source:Phobulous has a great ambiance that many other pho restaurants does not have. I have been here dozens of times and have never been disappointed because the food is consistently delicious and generous, and the restaurant itself is kept cool and clean. Staff is SUPER friendly as well!!!!
Review Source:It's been about 3~4 months since I had gone back to Phobulous. I was so excited, and to be honest, I left disappointed. Â
Today, I chose their grilled pork with rice and a fresh spring roll filled with shrimp & pork as appetizer. Â The spring roll, no problem, tasted just like other Vietnamese restaurants' and hard to make it wrong. Â I just wasn't a fan of the peanut sauce at Phobulous. Â It's more creamy but too sweet. Â What knocked a star was the grilled pork. Â I hate to see restaurants serve big plates but small portion, and thought this is enough for a meal unless you were in a French restaurant. Â The meal came with a side salad topped with really sweet dressing. Â Grilled pork didn't taste too special especially with the amount served, I finished it in less than 7 minutes even when I tried to eat slow.
Service also has gone mediocre.  They used to be so friendly and checked on you between meals.  Anyway, don't let Phobulous not be Phobulous.  Also, with similar prices at  I Luv Pho, I always get full, but as in my last review, their portions just don't match the prices.  Now I'm home writing the review & eating my leftover pho from I Luv Pho from last night.
I went with a friend for a New Year's Day Lunch and it was my first time. I was disappointed. I ordered a spring roll and Vegetable Fried Rice. My friend ordered a salad spring roll and one of their pho dishes.
The waitress brought my friend's salad spring roll for my friend and about 3 minutes later my Vegetable Fried Rice. I was confused because they missed my appetizer. I decided to tell them, "No to need fix the spring rolls" because the fried rice dish was a lot! Therefore the took it off the order.
We ate our lunch and got our check. There wasn't much flavor to the lunch either. I noticed the check said Fried Rice, chicken $9.95. I spoke with the waitress and she pointed to a 3 letter word means "no chicken" she explained "Our system doesn't have veggie fried rice" I said "I don't understand because it says $9.95 for chicken fried rice and $9.50 for veggie fried rice" Another employee said she would take care of it. I also insisted, "Split checks" They finally resolved the problem.
Overall, the dish lack flavor, my appetizer (spring roll) was not made, and they charged me too much!
There can never be enough Pho restaurants. This place is quite different from I Love Pho on MI.
Pro: clean, relaxing, classy looking. Staff is uber friendly, unlike I Love Pho. Yes, I'm talking to you!
Con: pho is good but not great. The price is well, not cheap, but hey it's Mercer Island. What do you expect?
I will take this place any day over I Love Pho.
Phobolous, the second Pho joint to land on Mercer Island, is a welcome addition to a municipality with few restaurants to serve its 23,000 residents.
Pho-B Â has a different look/feel than the other one, I Luv Pho...or Pho-Luv. Pho-B is nestled right in the corner of the Rite Aid complex. It's a bit of a weird spot because it has little window space, but it's nice to have a different ambiance from Pho-Luv. Pho-B is a little dark inside at night, but again, options are good. Staff is very friendly and helpful and I have experienced fast service.
I'm a fan of standard Pho Ga. The Pho Ga at Pho-B has a sweeter broth with less onion than Pho-Luv. For a guy with a big beard, it's nice not to smell onion broth all day. The chicken was a bit dry, which was disappointing.
I will say that on one particular night there was a guy in the back of the restaurant playing songs on an electric keyboard. Interesting. I'm undecided if this would be annoying or not while dining-in.
Overall, Pho-B is a great option for your Pho appetite.
Great veggie broth, not bland like a lot of Pho places.  Tofu was a little old, but still nice and crispy.  Veggies are included in the soup which is great!  Good prices and a  big selection. Â
The service is friendly but not too attentive. Â Very slow to ask for our order (even though we were clearly ready and the employees were chatting at the table next to us and it was dead in there), didn't ask if we wanted more beers, didn't check on us during the meal. Â But the food is good and I will definitely be back. Â Glad to have another Pho place on the east side!
Full of flavor without the MSG! My wife and I tried phobulous for the first time tonight. We found the food really tasty, perfect sized portions at a reasonable price and fast and attentive service. Â The ambiance is casual with a focus on food rather than ambiance: I personally appreciate that.
At the end of the night, the owner/ cook came out to scan the restaurant: you could tell how much she cared that people were enjoying themselves and her food. Â She had the biggest, most genuine smile when we told her we loved it. Â We'll be back again soon....
A real "hole in the wall" located in a Mercer Island "strip mall" recently moved from Kent to the old Haruko restaurant location after the old owner retired--definitely worth the trip-- and was decorated by the owner's daughter's--14 and 17 years old--try the spring rolls @ $2.50 with peanut sauce and of course "what the pho"-- try them too @ $7.35  for the small--a bargain and taste great too--has  beer and wine and bubble tea now too--but stick with the Pho and the force with be with you--al
Review Source:Absolutely the best Pho I've ever had. I'll admit that I have been a die hard I Love Pho fan for years as my go to pho place, especially on the island. However, that has changed. Phobulous is clean, the staff is friendly, and the food is impeccable. Everything was so fresh and flavorful and they have a great menu.
Review Source:I'm such a picky Vietnamese food fan. It's only because my mom makes the best. Yes, somewhat biased but I'm willing to put anything up against my mom's food.
I wouldn't say Phobulous beats out my mom's food. But damn, they are pretty good for Mercer Island (out of all the gin joints in the world, it's tucked away in the Rite Aid plaza on the north end of Mercer Island AND in a corner spot as well).
This restaurant is new. We most likely dined here within their first month of opening. Walked in and it's not a giant restaurant but it's not tiny either. It can definitely fit up to 60 people max n the dining room and then there's a cute register area that has an eating bar that can seat up to 6 people.
We got lucky when we arrived. Sat down in seconds. While looking over the menu and 15 minutes of sitting there, there were parties of 8+ coming in taking over all the tables available. It must be spreading like wildfire if people are coming here to eat! It got busy really quickly.
Service wasn't too bad. They had 2 servers running the show and the rest were kitchen staff. I'd say that is pretty typical for a small-ish Vietnamese restaurant. Their bathroom is pretty darn clean and decent looking as well. You can tell the place had a remodel.
Ordered the beef short ribs with rice and my fiance ordered the flank steak pho. The pho broth is good. I have to say it had a nice "clean" taste to it. It didn't look too greasy as some pho restaurants make their broth. Their beef short ribs was tasty! Meat was falling off the bones- it was very tender!
I'd come back again, I'll drive out to this little nook area of Mercer Island to get some Vietnamese food. It's not too shabby. Granted there are a few other Vietnamese places around but this place seems to shine well from it's little corner.
I tried this restaurant for the first time with my family on a Saturday night. Â We decided to eat an early dinner at Phobulous after hearing about the new place from a couple friends. Â
The atmosphere of this restaurant is kinda dark, a bit romantic, and a good place for a summer lunch or dinner. Â The menu was on the smaller side, and mostly contained pho options. Â I decided on the grilled pork with rice noodles. Â My mom and dad chose two different phos. Â Our waitress was very nice, and the food came quick.
I tried my mom's broth, and it was decent, but under-seasoned. Â My grilled pork was a bit dry, but I digged the smoky flavor. Â The noodles were cooked fine, and the veggies that the noodle bowl came in were generous. Â Veggies included: bean sprouts, carrots, and lettuce. Â I liked the addition of chopped peanuts on top. Â I'm not the biggest fan of fish sauce, but Phobulous' tasted like every other one I've had. Â I barely made a dent in my meal, and was already full. Â I had plenty to take home as leftovers. Â
Overall, an pretty okay experience, but probably will not be back soon.
This place has been open for about a month now (8/13 was the opening date). Â Don't believe the "Grand Opening" sign, asian people leave that up for at least half a year hehe. Â I went there for the first time tonight which is pretty bad since it's about 2 blocks away from home. Â I'm glad I made the trip though!
It's nice to have a good pho place on the island. Â I Love Pho was the go-to place before, but I think there's a new sheriff in town. Â Phobulous has amazing pho! Â I'm not even a super fan of pho, but I may be a fan now if it's always as good as it was tonight!
I normally drown my pho in Hoisin sauce & Sriracha, but I put no sauce on the pho tonight, it was that tasty. Â I'm one of those people that sauce up my food, so it's saying a lot that I had my pho naked tonight (the pho, not me!).
As others have said, it's a clean place taking the spot next to the Rite-Aid where the Japanese restaurant used to be. Â Nice job on the decor! Â Another plus for them is the customer service. Â They were supposed to close at 8pm as indicated by their hours here on Yelp, but they said it was okay if I put an order in and come in to eat. Â Not only did they stay open for me, but 3-4 other groups of people came in after me and they were happy to let them in to eat. Â Thanks guys!
I gave them 4 out of 5 stars cause I tried the banh mi and it wasn't that great. Â The place is called Phobulous though, not Banh Mibulous, so if you stick to their bread & butter you won't be sorry! Â If you have a banh mi craving, head over to Yeh Yeh's, but if pho is what you're after, this is the place pho you!
Lots of places have come & went in that location over the years, but I have a feeling there's a new M.I. institution here. Â Welcome to the island Phobulous, I'm looking forward to having you guys around a very long time!
I love this hidden gem on Mercer Island.
I used to go to I Love Pho, but I have found that I love this place so much more.
The feel of the restaurant is nice, clean, and quiet.
My food was awesome, more authentic than I expected. Â
Customer service was great. Â I will be going back over and over.
By the way, I had the grill pork with noodles and extra fish sauce [^_^]
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