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Phő Nomenal Vietnamese Noodle House

7504 N. May Ave.
Oklahoma City, OK
(405) 608-4151

Pho' Nomenal Restaurant

Pho' Nomenal Vietnamese Noodle House is aware of the fact that many people in northwest Oklahoma City like to eat Vietnamese soup and noodles, but it is not always convenient to travel to Classen Boulevard where the majority of pho restaurants are located. Pho' Nomenal is a little more expensive than most of the Vietnamese restaurants in the Asian District, but not when the extra gas and travel expenses are factored in. I am one of the ones who benefit from having Pho' Nomenal closer to me than the Asian District restaurants, and I am very glad it has opened.

Pho' Nomenal is located next door to a Japanese restaurant on May Avenue south of Wilshire, and the two restaurants are connected by what seems to be a common kitchen (and I have heard the two restaurants have the same owner). Both of these restaurants have upscale interior, and seem to be following the trend of most Asian restaurants that have opened recently to have a nicer decor and to be somewhat more expensive than the small neighborhood "hole in the wall" restaurants. In the case of Pho' Nomenal I found the high prices to be mainly on the drinks rather than the food. Regardless of how they do it, though, I end up having to pay more than in the typical Asian District restaurant.

Many consider Pho' Nomenal to be the first pho restaurant in far northwest Oklahoma City, but I have actually been ordering pho at Kim Wah, about a mile to the north on May Aveune, for quite some time. Kim Wah has a giant Chinese buffet so their Vietnamese food tends to get overlooked, but my feeling is that it is probably better than Pho' Nomenal (although this is relative, since both are very good). The problem with Kim Wah is that they only sell one kind of pho, while Pho' Nomenal has a large variety of beef and chicken soup, as well as rice and bún noodle dishes (although Kim Wah also has several varieties of bún).

Chicken & rice noodle soup
Chicken & rice noodle soup

When I visited Pho' Nomenal for the first time I took advantage of the fact that it serves soup other than beef by getting the Hu Tieu Ga (chicken and rice noodle soup). This is in addition to the chicken soup with egg noodles, and other types of meat that are served in a chicken broth. This soup was not bad compared to other Vietnamese chicken soups I have tried. I did not consider it to have a rich flavor, but it had a good one. The vegetables were fresh, and the seasonings were good.

The best feature of the soup was the quality of the chicken, which tasted fresh and had a good flavor. I will say that this chicken was better than the one I sampled at Pho Hoa in the Asian District (which I consider to be the city's best pho restaurant), although the broth tasted better at Pho Hoa. It seems that at most Asian restaurants that serve noodle soup I have to judge the different components separately, and as a rule no restaurant excels in all of them. At Pho' Nomenal the best part of the soup seems to be the meat they use.

Missing from my order was a garnish of Thai basil that I have found to be normally served with Vietnamese soup. The fact that Kim Wah includes a large amount of fresh leaves to put into the soup would make it my preference except for the fact that they only serve beef pho. In this case I think each restaurant has advantages and disadvantages.

Pho' Nomenal has choices for a main dish other than soup, and one I tried was the Grilled Chicken Vermicelli Noodles dish, or bún ga nuong. This was a good dish with a lot of mint and other flavoring, although I did not think it had as much flavor as the one at Kim Wah. Pho' Nomenal, though, had very good meat, and I would say better than most others I have tried.

One disadvantage of Pho' Nomenal is that the hot tea is quite expensive and they only supply one tea bag (which to me is not enough). For the price I think it would be just about as good to order Thai tea or a fruit drink.

If I could get over wanting reasonably priced hot jasmine tea with my meal I think Pho' Nomenal would be one of my regular stops, but unfortunately I look for more than just good food. I did enjoy both of the meals I ordered, however.

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RESTAURANT DETAILS

RATING: 21

Cuisine: Vietnamese
Cost: $$
Hours: Open Daily
Accessible: Yes
Tea: Jasmine (bags)
MSG: Yes
Smoking: No Smoking
Alcohol: No
Buffet: No

Most Recent Visit
Sep. 3, 2009

Number of Visits: 2

Best Items
Rice Noodle Soup, Vermicelli with Chicken

Special Ratings
Chicken & Rice Noodle Soup:
Vermicelli with Chicken:



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