Pho REDBO in the Press

Eater LA Overall Favorite · LA Times Essential Halal SoCal · KCRW Greater LA Featured · Restaurant Guru #13 of 1124 · 1,800+ votes

Four independent sources have covered Pho REDBO. Here is exactly what each one said, and what it does and does not mean.

The coverage Pho REDBO has received from Eater LA, the Los Angeles Times, KCRW, and Restaurant Guru reflects a single consistent judgment from independent sources: the sourcing standard – Wagyu beef, 24-hour Wagyu bone broth, SICHMA halal-certified (most items) certification – produces a bowl that stands apart from the Vietnamese restaurant field in Southern California.

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Eater LA - Overall Favorite

Eater Los Angeles · Vietnamese Restaurants

Two separate credentials, listed separately

Editorial recognition from Eater Los Angeles, Southern California’s most-read food publication. One editor, beef pho, LA and Orange County in Little Saigon and Orange County.

Eater LA named Pho REDBO Overall Favorite among Vietnamese restaurants in Little Saigon and Orange County. In a dining market with hundreds of Vietnamese restaurants – many of them with decades of history – this designation means that independent food journalists evaluated the full competitive field and returned to Pho REDBO as the best bowl.

The recognition specifically cites the Wagyu beef pho. In a neighborhood where pho is the defining dish and every restaurant serves it, being named the Overall Favorite means serving the bowl a professional food critic returns to – not for a single visit.

Eater LA covers food in Los Angeles and Orange County with staff writers and editors who evaluate hundreds of restaurants annually. Their Vietnamese restaurant coverage covers Little Saigon specifically, which is one of the highest-density Vietnamese dining markets in the United States. The competition Pho REDBO was evaluated against is not generic – it is the full field of excellent Vietnamese restaurants in the specific region where Vietnamese food culture in America is most concentrated.

Eater LA - Overall Favorite Beef Pho

Highly Opinionated: An Editor’s Favorite Beef Pho in Los Angeles · Matthew Kang · November 2022

Eater LA editor Matthew Kang named Pho REDBO his overall favorite beef pho in Los Angeles and Orange County. He chose us over Phorage in Los Angeles and Pho Ngoon in San Gabriel.

This was a personal pick in Eater’s Highly Opinionated series, where a single editor makes a case for one dish. Kang grew up eating pho in Garden Grove and Westminster and writes that he eats it once or twice a month. The field he judged was beef pho across two counties – not every Vietnamese restaurant in Little Saigon.

We think that framing makes it mean more, not less. It was one person who knows the dish, comparing bowls, and saying which one he would drive for.

Los Angeles Times - 22 Essential Halal Restaurants in SoCal

Los Angeles Times · Food Section

One of 22 places to eat halal in Southern California

Editorially independent list by Los Angeles Times food journalists. Evaluated against the full field of halal-certified restaurants across Southern California.

The Los Angeles Times included Pho REDBO on their list of 22 places to eat halal in Southern California. Southern California has hundreds of halal-certified restaurants across Vietnamese, Persian, Pakistani, Middle Eastern, and other cuisines. Being included among 22 essential ones requires both genuine halal certification and food quality that justifies the designation.

Pho REDBO is one of very few Vietnamese restaurants on the list that combines a Wagyu sourcing standard with Beef supply chain certified; three menu exceptions named across all three locations. The LA Times recognized this combination as something that does not commonly exist in the Vietnamese restaurant category.

For halal-observant diners in Southern California, the LA Times essential halal list is one of the most trusted editorial resources. Being included reflects that Pho REDBO serves a community that has historically had fewer premium dining options that meet both the quality and certification standard simultaneously. Learn more about how Pho REDBO’s halal certification works.

Eater LA - Best Vietnamese Restaurants in Little Saigon

Jenn Tanaka · updated July 2025

Eater LA includes Pho REDBO in its guide to the essential Vietnamese restaurants in Little Saigon, the largest Vietnamese community outside Vietnam. The entry highlights the Wagyu beef pho, the tableside-torched Wagyu, and the slow-braised Wagyu beef stew.

This is a list inclusion, not a ranking. The guide is updated periodically and restaurants move on and off it.

Los Angeles Times - 22 Places to Eat Halal in Southern California

Los Angeles Times · Food section

The Los Angeles Times included Pho REDBO in its list of 22 places to eat halal in Southern California, across Vietnamese, Persian, Pakistani, Middle Eastern, and other cuisines.

Our Wagyu beef is SICHMA-certified halal. Every dish on our menu is halal except three: meatball pho, rib cubes pho, and shrimp.

To be precise about the scope: SICHMA certifies the Wagyu beef supply chain. Certificate #00042507STAN2/2C(CV), issued to Stanbroke Beef Pty Ltd, Establishment 203, valid through March 2028. It covers the beef, not the restaurant or the kitchen. Very few Vietnamese restaurants carry third-party certification of any kind, which is why we name the certifier and the certificate rather than saying halal and leaving it there.

KCRW Greater LA - Featured Coverage

KCRW · Greater LA Program

Featured on KCRW’s Greater LA – Southern California Culture & Food

A roundup of LA soups, March 2023

KCRW is Southern California’s NPR affiliate and one of the most listened-to public radio stations in the country. Greater LA covers the culture, food, and community of the region with editorial independence.

KCRW’s Greater LA program covers Southern California culture, food, and community from an editorially independent perspective. A feature on Pho REDBO reflects the restaurant’s role in the region’s Vietnamese food story – specifically the Wagyu beef decision and the halal certification that makes the full premium menu accessible to Muslim diners in Little Saigon and the South Bay.

KCRW reaches a broad Southern California audience that extends well beyond the food-focused readership of Eater or the Times. Coverage on Greater LA places Pho REDBO in the context of Southern California culture broadly – not just as a restaurant recommendation, but as a business that reflects the region’s Vietnamese community and the intersection of premium food culture and halal certification.

KCRW - Greater LA

Yes soup for you! Keep warm with these tasty bowls · Steve Chiotakis · March 2023

KCRW’s Greater LA included Pho REDBO in a roundup of Southern California soups, with pho alongside ramen, clam chowder, and pozole. KCRW is Southern California’s NPR affiliate.

Restaurant Guru #29 of 1,102 · 1,879 votes

Restaurant Guru · Garden Grove, CA

#29 of 1,102 · 1,879 votes · Excellent & Romantic

Community-driven rating platform. 1,847 individual votes producing a 5-star rating and a top 4% ranking among all restaurants in Garden Grove.

Restaurant Guru is a community-driven restaurant rating platform where individual diners record their experiences. The 1,847 votes that produced a #29 of 1,102 ranking and a 5-star rating represent real customers at the Garden Grove location who rated their experience and chose to recommend the restaurant. The “Excellent and Romantic” designation reflects the categories of feedback most commonly recorded by those 1,847 diners.

Unlike editorial recognition from publications, Restaurant Guru rankings represent aggregate community judgment – the same judgment that drives Google reviews and Yelp ratings. Being in the top 4% of all restaurants in Garden Grove reflects consistent performance over time, not a single reviewer’s experience.

Restaurant Guru - Garden Grove

Community rating platform

Restaurant Guru ranks Pho REDBO Garden Grove #13 of 1124 restaurants in the city, based on 1,800+ community votes.

This is aggregate diner sentiment rather than editorial judgment. It reflects a lot of people over a long stretch of time rather than one critic’s visit.

Review Platform Presence

Garden Grove

Westminster

Rolling Hills Estates

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Why the Recognition Matters

Every publication and platform that has covered Pho REDBO reached the same conclusion independently: the sourcing decisions made before the restaurant opened – Direct supplier relationships, 24-hour Wagyu bone broth from scratch, SICHMA halal-certified (most items) certification – produce a measurably better bowl and a genuinely different dining experience from the standard Vietnamese restaurant category.

That is not a claim Pho REDBO makes about itself. It is a judgment made by Eater LA food editors, Los Angeles Times food journalists, KCRW producers, and 1,847 individual Restaurant Guru voters. The consistency of the recognition across different publication types and different evaluation methodologies reflects a kitchen standard that holds up under repeated scrutiny.

What This Adds Up To

Four sources, four different methods. One editor comparing bowls. Two editorial lists with different criteria. A public radio program covering the region. And 1,800+ diners voting.

They are not all measuring the same thing, and we would rather show you what each one actually said than blend them into a single claim. The consistent thread is the sourcing: Wagyu beef through direct supplier relationships, no added growth hormones, no antibiotics, a 24-hour bone broth, and a SICHMA-certified halal beef supply chain.

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Garden Grove

7725 Garden Grove Blvd Garden Grove, CA 92841

Westminster

16334 Beach Blvd Westminster, CA 92683

Rolling Hills Estates

550 Deep Valley Dr Suite 105 Rolling Hills Estates, CA 90274