The Pho 6 222 East 51st Street New York, NY 10022 (Closed August 2020)/The Pho 2 273 Eighth Avenue New York, NY 10011

The Pho 6 (Closed August 2020)/The Pho 2

222 East 51st Street/273 Eighth Avenue

New York, NY 10022/New York, NY  10011

(917)261-5050/(917) 261-7592

https://menupages.com/the-pho/127-e-23th-st-new-york/https://www.thepho2.com/

Open: (Pho 2) Sunday 12:00pm-9:00pm/Monday-Friday 11:30am-9:00pm/Saturday 12:00pm-9:00pm

My review on TripAdvisor (The Pho 6):

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g60763-d17307202-Reviews-The_Pho_6-New_York_City_New_York.html?m=19905

My review on TripAdvisor (The Pho 2):

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g60763-d13166614-Reviews-The_Pho_2-New_York_City_New_York.html?m=19905

The Pho 6:

I came across this wonderful little Vietnamese restaurant when I was walking the Turtle Bay neighborhood for my blog, “MywalkinManhattan.com” and was looking for a reasonable meal that evening. I was pleasantly surprised. The food and service were very good and the I had a nice time talking to other guests.

The space for the restaurant is quite tight and it is a long narrow space done in all woods along the walls and in the seating. The kitchen is in the front as you walk in but you can’t see where the cooking is being done. As I walked in at 5:00pm, I must have thrown the staff off as they were eating their lunch when I walked through the door. It was funny because not even five minutes later two other parties followed me into the restaurant.

The inside of Pho 6 at 222 East 51st Street

The service was very pleasant and the food came out in a timely basis. I started the meal with the pork filled Spring Rolls ($6.00) which were filled with well spiced ground pork and fresh vegetables and cooked to a golden brown. They had a nice crunch with every bite and with the accompanying sauce plus some hot sauce really brought out the flavor of the pork. A little different from their Chinese counterparts.

The Pho 6 Spring Rolls a very crisp and golden brown

For the main meal, I had the Vermicelli Noodles with Grilled Shrimp ($10.00). Most of the time I avoid grilled anything in restaurants because it always tastes dry. Not here as the shrimp was grilled to perfection. The outside was nicely marked but the inside was moist and sweet. The noodles were smooth and cooked to tenderness that were topped with fresh greens and carrots which made the dish sweet and crunchy with the ginger sauce that was served on the side.

Their Vermicelli Noodle dishes are delicious

The menu also contains lots of different items from Banh Mi sandwiches ($7.50) to Rice Dishes ($10.00), Vietnamese Tacos ($8.00) and Pho Noodle Soups ($11.00) so there is a lot to choose from.

The whole meal was enjoyable from the food to the service to the ladies and their little baby sitting next to me that I talked to through my meal. It is a very engaging restaurant with good quality food, nice size portions, friendly service and very fair prices.

It is nice to discover these little neighborhood gems.

*Author’s Note: the restaurant closed during the COVID-19 pandemic but Pho 5 is in Murray Hill and Pho 4 is in the Garment District to enjoy.

The Pho 2:

Pho 2 at 273 Eighth Avenue

I really miss the Pho 6 but recently discovered that there is a branch of the restaurant around the corner from where I work on Eighth Avenue and I decided to try it for lunch. I was very impressed by this branch as well.

The Classic Banh Mi Special Sandwich

I had a Banh Mi Special sandwich, which is ham, sliced pork, pate, cilantro, carrots, daikon,  and lettuce on a toasted baguette. The sandwich was excellent. All the meats were so fresh and the vegetables were so crispy.

The Banh Mi Special sandwich was delicious

The baguette was toasted perfectly and the sandwich was nicely accompanied by both Plum Sauce and Hot Sauce that you could add on top from the bottles on the table. The sandwich was really reasonable at $9.00.

The Classic Banh Mi sandwich is excellent at Pho 2

The service was quick and very pleasant. The food came out quickly. The quality of the food is excellent.

The inside of the restaurant is bright and cheery.

The next time K ate at the Chelsea branch, I wanted to try a different sandwich and choose the Grilled Chicken and it was delicious. Thinly sliced pieces of grilled chicken marinated and perfectly grilled with lots of fresh vegetables on top on a chewy role is excellent.

The Grilled Chicken sandwich.

The food here is always consistent and fresh.

The chicken sandwich is wonderful.

I always enjoy eating here.

The Grilled Chicken sandwich was excellent.

Grilled Chicken House 270 West 36th Street New York, NY 10018 (Closed September 2022)

Grilled Chicken House (Closed September 2022)

270 West 36th Street

New York, NY  10018

(212) 695-3493

https://www.allmenus.com/ny/new-york/358002-chicken-house/menu/

Open: Monday-Friday-8:30am-6:00pm/Saturday-10:00am-3:30pm/Sunday-Closed

My review on TripAdvisor:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g60763-d3601233-Reviews-Grilled_Chicken_House-New_York_City_New_York.html?m=19905

*Blogger Note: I wanted to let readers know that I just passed the restaurant, and everything was shut down. Another Garment District restaurant gone.

The Grilled Chicken House (or Chicken House in some reviews) is a tiny hole in the wall sandwich and fried chicken restaurant in the heart of the Garment District. The menu has many more food items on it but fried chicken reigns supreme here. It is freshly cooked and placed in the window as the customers walk in.

It does have a diverse menu of fried chicken, grilled chicken, fried crab sticks, fried shrimp all served either with rice, French fries or/and rice and beans. The restaurant even has a selection of Vietnamese Banh Mi sandwiches to cater to the growing population of Vietnamese garment workers in the area.

I tried the Fried Shrimp with rice ($6.00) with a Coke ($1.00) the first time I ate there and it was delicious. The shrimp is fresh, plump and lightly breaded and fried so you taste the sweetness of the shrimp. A far cry from some of the frozen shrimp that some restaurants serve in the City. The restaurant serves a nice size portion of freshly cooked rice which is popular with not just the Chinese, Vietnamese and Spanish customers that I saw walking in the door but with the local businessmen who gravitate to the restaurant was well.

The Fried Shrimp here is delicious

The platter has a nice size portion of shrimp, rice and salad. For $6.50, it is a very reasonable and filling lunch. When you order the meal with French fries ($6.00), they give you a decent size portion of freshly cooked fries.

The second time I visited the restaurant, I had one of the Vietnamese Banh Mi sandwiches with Fried Shrimp and a mild hot sauce. You can get the hot sauce in mild or really hot and if you are a first timer, stick with the mild.

This large and delicious Vietnamese Banh Ma sandwich ($7.00) is loaded with a nice portion of lightly fried shrimp and cold fresh shredded carrots, cucumbers, lettuce and onions with a large smear of hot sauce in a soft chewy bun. The sandwich is large enough to be shared. With a beverage, it is a very reasonable meal that will tide you over for the day.

The men that work behind the counter seem to really enjoy what they do and always have a smile on their faces. They are very welcoming and get through the orders quickly as most people take their food out. There are some stools to eat there, which I did once but it can get crowded here. It attracts one of the most democratic group of customers from the garment workers to the office workers crowding around the front door just trying to get in and out.

There is plenty of outside seating down the block on West 34th Street by Penn Station in the outdoor mall. It is another gem in the Garment District.