Simply It

so this place is THE BOMB. can i give it a special award or something? here is my detailed breakdown of my experience:

1) chicago weather + amazing hot pho: WOW. my hands were frozen from the 20 degree weather and the hot broth on my hands and lips was like heaven.

2) awesome lunch specials: i am a really really indecisive person. i wanna try the soup...and the wonton..and the egg rolls...and the fried rice...and the salmon. luckily for me, simply it allows u to choose a lunch special that gives you all of that!! and all of them are under 10 bucks too. it is AWESOME.

3) great great great service. these guys are sooo nice. like...beyond nice. they were really polite and sweet while serving our meals. but what made them stand out was that they offered to keep my bags in the restaurant as we went exploring around the area and the zoo. we came back 2 hours later and the owner jumped to get us our stuff. asked me what i did, where i was from, and told me 5 times to have a great day with a huge grin on his place. if that isn't reason for a 5 star review, i dont know what is. the service made my day :)

love this place and i would highly recommend it to anyone who is around the area and craving some delicious vietnamese food!!!

Viet approved. 5 stars for what it is. A great middle of the road family owned authentic place.

Pho - I eat a lot of pho. The one here is definitely better than Tank's. Same price too and better location. My pho ranking would be 1) Simply It  2) Tank 3) Hai Yen and 777.  Since they're family run and not a pho only place, it can be inconsistent at times. So if it wasn't good the first time, give it another shot.

All the other dishes are very authentic. I like the clay pot fish dishes, the pho, the noodle dishes, and don't forget about their Simply It beef--it's great. There are a few mediocre dishes though but most of them are good.

If you like Banh Mi sandwiches, this place has better ones than Ba Le--imo--and again, at the same price. I like their duck Banh Mi sandwich and their pork belly but they're all good. Great for lunches. This place is also BYOB which is a nice bonus.

More of a 3.5. Had the pho bo with well done flank for dinner. In other places, I had the option of having the meat rare or on the side to put it in the hot broth to semi-cook it. Not bad. Definitely not as flavorful as Argyle per se, but I was content. Also a little pricier than it should have been for Viet food, but it is in LP. Service was great. Very friendly. Complimentary hot ginger tea and unlike other places, they gave us the pot of tea so we could refill it ourselves. They also gave us individual plates of fresh fruit at the end. Atmosphere was also nice. Had a slight intimate feel with dimmed lights for dinner and a candle at the tables, along with a cute flowery centerpiece.