Gao Restaurant

All the critical ingredients ranging from old-school pho shop decor, pho pictures on menu, beef soup saturating the air, to a sundry of high-expectation pictures loaded on Yelp and GoogleMap, is setting up Gao to possibly be a great pho restaurant offering deep-flavored pho boals. Long story short, the pho broth was not clear, was murky, overall bowl and ingredients didn't compare well to other pho places we go. The other item, bun bo hue (spicy beef noodle soup), is not flavorful with stale-tasting beef broth & cube cut pieces of beef that ad zero marbling or fat making the beef dry to the chew. Additionally, both the siracha and hoisin sauces are refilled in their custom decor containers but the siracha sauce tasted watered down. We were hungry so we also ordered summer rolls and a bahn mi sandwich which was disapointingly bland - the ingredients seemed and tasted fresh but when eat together as a sandwich, none of the flavors or ingredients worked and there was very litte chicken liver pate flavor which is what makes bahn mi a bahn mi. The staff is very nice, but this review is about the food and the two soup noodle bowls are unexpectedly mediocre; too bad, I'm sad.

Having been to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, I would like to say that I am infinitely impressed with GAO. Firstly, not many Vietnamese restaurants here serve crepes. Other than in Vietnam, the last time we had a crepe was in Montreal's Chinatown area. The spring roll was so crispy! And plenty of accompanying veggies/herbs. These guys make sure you are full! GAO's crepe had that delicate crispiness, while being stuffed with goodness. The flavor is satisfyingly light and delicious. I had the Bun Bo Hue (another thing hard to find, but hidden as "Spicy Beef Pho" at other restaurants). GAO was accommodating to my 'no noodles' request (due to bariatric surgery). And their tendon was perfectly chopped and plentiful. I love the melting chewiness of tendon. I also love spiciness and GAO staff provided their best sate chili oil. This pho was perfection! The broth was flavorful and refreshing. It challenges and beats even my favorite Vietnamese restaurant's pho broth. GAO's staff was attentive and remarkable. I appreciate the accommodations and details in the service. They made the meal and experience I cannot wait to revisit. PROS: Price Plenty of parking Cleanliness Staff Flavor CONS: Shopping Center location OVERALL: For the price, this is a worthwhile Vietnamese restaurant that shouldn't be overlooked. The food is really good. The staff is gracious and just purely awesome. I cannot recommend this place enough. Pho is wonderful comfort food and GAO delivers a mighty Pho packed with a personal love of Vietnamese tradition.

It had been several years since my last visit, and I was eager to indulge in some Pho. I decided to try the Viet Special Spicy Beef Noodle Soup, which resembled Bun Bo Hue. The dish was generously topped with chili oil and had a flavorful initial taste. However, as I continued eating, I noticed a tingly and slightly numbing sensation that I attributed to a higher-than-expected amount of MSG, which isn't quite my preference. The Shrimp Egg Rolls were decent, but they didn't stand out. The service was satisfactory, although I found some language barriers with the server that made communication challenging. The restaurant's atmosphere was spacious and clean, but I believe there’s potential for further enhancement to create a more inviting ambiance.

Gao Kitchen is a childhood spot for me and since they rebranded the food only got better! Love this special I bought.

Phenomenal Pho. 10/10, highly recommend. Food hit the spot perfectly and the Vietnamese coffee was awesome. The people here are great too!

Food quality has deteriorated over the past few months. They started good but pho broth has turned from bold and full of flavor to no flavor at all. I have a put a so much hoisin sauce to add flavor. I ordered their friend rolls and they weren’t even crispy at all. We were regulars at this restaurant but I think it’s time to find a new place.

Vietnamese noodles -Pho, pronounced like the end of sofu (in Asian countries). But here in the US go ahead and call it "Foe". Because in the US we might require a spin on the originals but I love how we have changed the pronunciation and added a plate full of sprouts, slices of jalapenos, (that special basil is still there), and a good old fashioned lime wedge. I think everything else about the soup is very traditional. Virginia and Maryland (DC area) really do have some of the best Vietnamese noodles in the world! This restaurant helps that claim. I also enjoyed how attentive they were.

My wife and I like Pho and have the beef noodle soap once in a while. We went to Gao yesterday. I ordered P1 beef noodle soap. It had much less beef than I used to get. There are plenty of pho restaurants around Fairfax. I will try others next time.

Come to this place, GAO!!! The food was awesome and the service was very accommodating ! (I eat w two elderly men in their late 80s) food came out hot and fast! Easy cc payment! everything was awesome!!!

They keep the sane soup base from the previous Pho Thang Long. But that's all they keep, the pho noodles are over cooked. For their pho noodles, the GAO special has everything, but all others only has one type of beef. If you want different parts of beef, it's $4 extra, and they don't have tripes, which is the favorite part. I tried their beef stew and it was okay not very impressive. Beef isn't as tender as I expected, flavor is just okay. They have a bigger menu than their predecessor. But everything else is not as good.

I visited Gao for lunch today - it's located in the Pan Am Shopping Center retail complex. The space it occupies formerly was occupied by Pho Thang Long. Not sure when it closed and transitioned to "Gao." I was promptly seated and ordered the Number 6: Pho Ga, Large, with white meat. Overall, the menu selection is rather small. The Pho came out in just a few minutes, steaming away. It smelled awesome! The plate of aromatics was fresh and in fine fettle! I sampled the broth first - it was rich and delicious! I added all of the aromatics and then dug in! The chicken was very tender, the bowl could have used just a bit more chicken - it felt like they skimped a bit on the chicken quantity. But overall, very tasty bowl of Pho Ga! Service was good, paid with Apple Pay! #Gao

We love this place and my mom requested to go there for Mother's Day! The owners and staff are very attentive; the social food have a spacial flair which bring a smell to the dinners looking for culinary adventure!

I wanted to give a 3 but thought there are enough things to like about the restaurant. We ordered chicken wings and hanoi-style grilled pork. The chicken wings were great: crispy skin and juicy meat. I just wish they were a bit more salty. The Hanoi-style grilled pork with vermicelli was alright. Things that I liked: the dipping sauce, flavors of the meat. Things that I didn't like: the grilled meat was too tough and dry, not enough pickled veggie. Also I would like them to serve the meat and sauce in a bigger bowl, so that it's easier to dip the noodle and veggie in the bowl. Quick services, clean restaurant. They take credit cards. I will come back and try other dishes.

My family is a true believer that any day is a pho day so we order takeout from Gao a lot. Our go to is pho and egg rolls but we have also dabbled in their banh mi and vermicelli dishes as well. It's a tasty meal and is on par with many other pho restaurants in the area + they take credit card/Apple Pay which is amazing. To take this spot from local neighborhood takeout joint to a destination dining, I would recommend the restaurant work on getting better quality cuts of meat in their grilled meat + pho dishes (cuts are very gristly or as my daughter says "gloopy") and use a true baguette in their Banh Mi -- currently they use something equivalent to a Safeway sandwich roll and it doesn't hit quite as hard. That being said, we are thankful to have them in the neighborhood! The servers are super friendly and I can often order takeout with a maximum fifteen minute wait time.

It's our fav to-go to pho/viet place since it's so convenient and close by. I tried the vermicelli noodles for the first time, and I loved the sauce. I just wish there were more veggies and less beansprouts.

I was super hungry and craving a bahnmi. I happened to be in a shopping plaza for other things and stumbled upon this place. I ordered a side order of just the broth and a bahnmi. The bahnmi was MUCH smaller than expected and the broth wasn't particularly as good as I had wanted. It was too greasy and the scent of the star anise was a bit overpowering. The one thing I appreciated was the service. The guy at the front was very friendly and took my order with such a nice smile!

Pho Thang Long was bad...this is disappointingly even worse. Thanks to new management for cleaning up the place but the food is not good. We ordered numerous apps to share - all bad. Spring rolls and shrimp rolls were over-fried. Shrimp rolls also looked/tasted like they were from frozen. Summer rolls were dry..like they were rolled days ago - the rice paper had hardened. The pho is even more bland than before and now there's also less noodle quantity. The bun bo hue tastes nothing like BBH.

Hubby and I have been looking for a Phô place for a while. I know there are many around, but this one fit the bill for us on flavor, portion size, and price. Husband ordered an eye round large soup, and a lemongrass grilled chicken plate. I got a kids size phô which is the one in the picture (with the veggies from my husband's soup, kids size doesn't bring the veggies), and a grilled chicken Bahn Mi for later. Boy I loved it all, the freshness of the ingredients, the flavor of the broth, the care put into the packaging. You may ask where did you go then? Well the place is called Gao, and it's located where Pho Thang Long was in PanAm shopping center. I am unsure if they just replaced the sign, or if this restaurant is under new hands (I hadn't tried it before), but I just wanted to share my experience with you. All in we spent about $50 plus tax and such. But boy I wasn't even able to finish the kid's size bowl

Okay, after another visit to this "under new ownership" restaurant that went from Pho Thang Long to now Gao, I'm upping my rating by one star to 4 Stars. This follow-up visit, I noticed the menu had changed slightly, adding some of the old Pho Thang Long favorites that we enjoyed coming to the restaurant to have (which Gao didn't have when we first visited). In particular was the G2 Beef Stew $14.95 which I had with egg noodles (THE best!)! Sooooo happy to see it added to Gao's menu because it was truly a well made specialty of the old shop - and I'm happy to report that the taste, quality and portion size stayed the same as we remembered it under the old shop name. Big chunks of soft pull-apart-with-your-fork stewed beef, rich flavorful broth, chewy egg noodles and stewed carrots. Truly a meal in a soup. THE BEEF STEW IS A REAL TREAT AND WORTH THE VISIT! They also added D2 Chicken Fried Rice back on the menu too. At $15.95, it's a bit overpriced for a fried rice dish even with the meat - but it was delicious, brightly colored with lots of fresh veggies, flavorful and served piping hot out of the kitchen. The Beef Pho continued to be a hit with my colleagues. As I said before, the cook appears to have stayed on with the new ownership so that was a good sign. But based on our previous visit, we still won't be ordering the P4 Pho Beef Meatball - very rubbery, tasteless meatballs. And we will try again with the crispy spring rolls which were not the same crispy crunchy deep fried treats from the previous place. Hopefully Gao will fix this. :) Gao is still feeling it's way since ownership has changed hands but slowly but surely, they seem to be getting there. Still, I recommend this place for good quality, fresh ingredients, delicious pho stock, offerings at a decent price point, friendly service and a clean, pleasant (no frills) dining experience.

We tried GAO twice within a 24-hour period: once for dinner and once for a late lunch. Dinner was ok and we were treated ok. When we returned for lunch to order the same sandwich we had ordered the evening before, customer service was not good at all. And the sandwiches are just ok-- I just wanted to support this business as it's Vietnamese, fairly close to my house, and I used to come often when it existed as a pho place (Pho Thang Long). When we asked for a shrimp banh mi without pork paté, we were questioned why we didn't want the paté (we don't eat it, that's why). Then, the gentleman seemed to get upset that we ordered more than one drink, to go (strange, I assumed he was confused as to why we wanted only 1 sandwich, but 2 drinks). What made me most annoyed is when I asked if they accept Apple Pay. That question was met with the answer, "You're making this so complicated". Never again. So sad as I wanted to love and support this newly-established Vietnamese restaurant cafe. To management: be civil (I don't even expect "nice"). Apple Pay is a normal form of payment in this century. Wrap your sandwiches in paper instead of foil. Other banh mi establishments figured this out for you long ago. The baguette becomes chewy from the foil trapping in steam. We will not return, but this will help your future customers.

Food is fresh, service is great. It's just good authentic amazing food. The pho is great but the bread on the bahn mi is... perfection. Get it.

Pho Thang Long was my favorite pho place- I was sad to hear it closed as it had my favorite soup and the peanut sauce for the rolls were to die for. I heard this place opened up/the bought the business, so I wasn't sure what to expect since the menu did shift a bit- things are for sure different, but that doesn't mean it's bad. The summer rolls have no bean sprouts and are thin but much longer, and the peanut sauce is still very good! I didn't love the spring rolls as much since the skin wasn't as light and crispy as before, but they are bigger. The pho is still fantastic, and I enjoyed my meal! The service was great as well, extremely fast and friendly, and food came out super quick. No complaints there either!

Our old hunt Pho Tang Long is no more. It used to be the place every time we flew back from a vacation or on rainy days we wanted pho. We were loyal to our pho place any time we wanted it, and never pho-ed others. The old menu had a feature that allowed me to pick 5 toppings and customize my pho: half the noodles, extra cilantro and my choice of brisket, tripes and tendons. On the new menu, the #1 item has 2 toppings I wanted among the 5, which I asked to replace the steak with tendons instead. Waiter first said no, you have to pay $4 extra for the tendons. Then went to the front desk and came back to say it's ok to substitute. However, tendons never came in my bowl. And the soup wasn't piping hot. I told him after we were finished, and another guy came out offered to bring me a little bowl of tendons. I declined but thanked them for being nice. At the checkout, I asked the young guy at the front desk to please have the choice of meat back. I will give them another try when the weather calls for pho again...

This is the second time coming here. The first time we came in for my regular meal and realized this is a new restaurant. The service is great. Food is delicious my go-to meal is beef stew with egg noodles. Plenty of beef, large chunks of careers. Very tasty. Had an order of chicken wings, crispy spring rolls, and fresh spring rolls. We also had a lemongrass chicken bahn. Everything is tasty. The cafe su da iced coffee was spot on. This review is a 4.5-star review. This is a casual relaxed restaurant. We will be back. This is the second time coming here. The first time we came in for my regular meal and realized this is a new restaurant. The service is great. Food is delicious my go-to meal is beef stew with egg noodles. Plenty of beef, large chunks of careers. Very tasty. Had an order of chicken wings, crispy spring rolls, and fresh spring rolls. We also had a lemongrass chicken bahn. Everything is tasty. The cafe su da iced coffee was spot on. This review is a 4.5-star review. This is a casual relaxed restaurant. We will be back.

Seat yourself. Nice menu variety. Large pho is 1$ extra so it's a no brainer! Plenty of meat. Good rolls. Staff is on top of water refills. Very attentive. Bathroom is clean. Tv has decent programs. Will have to try more things when the weather is warmer.

My family loves this establishment and wishes to spread the word! My husband is Vietnamese and he and his family all approve of this place, including my father-in-law who is seriously picky with his food. We ordered a variety of dishes--everyone, including my toddlers, loved their choices. I even love their iced coffee. The service, especially Marco, is courteous, friendly, and efficient. The ambiance is a bit dreary, but we don't care. This has become our go-to Vietnamese restaurant and we wish it continued success.

Beef stew back on the menu, yay ! I've been a regular for years, and have been going since they changed to the new Gao name, I'm 100% thrilled to find Bo kho - Beef stew officially on the menu again, it's my favorite of their specialities. I haven't gone beyond the new Pho menu yet, I plan to as I like what I'm seeing.

Food was very good. Portions were excellent. We got there just before they closed, not realizing that. The front employee/server was relaxed and told us not to worry and to take our time. I recommend them for a delicious meal.

This restaurant recently changed ownership and got a new name. I was a frequent customer of Pho Thang Long for 15+ years. I would often visit 2-3 times per week because the amazing broth was what would keep me coming back. The recipe has changed along with the menu and I have come several times and have been disappointed. Maybe we were just spoiled with the previous owners. The soup is good but not what it used to be. I will still come back but it won't be the top of mind restaurant that it once was. The soup is on par with the other restaurants in the area but not the "blow you away" flavor that it once was.

So I came back and tried different Pho topping other than the meat balls which is really good to me. After trying other appetizers (only the grilled pork bánh mì stand out so far - I only wish it were bigger). This place seems to specialized in Pho and it's my new favorite to-go place to satisfy my cravings - good quality meat and flavorful broth. Thank you to Uber for the promotion to try this place out. Besides the Pho, we like all the dishes with grilled lemongrass pork and the beef stew so far.