Phở Ca Dao & Grill

Pho Ca Dao is a great place for Vietnamese food in Escondido. Atmosphere is clean and modern. Service is good and high tech. You are waited on and a robot brings your food. Food taste fresh and clean. Prices are very reasonable in this day and age. Hasn't gone up much in last several years. Great place for one or for a group. Menu is extensive giving choices for special diets.

Our food, the service and restaurant cleanliness was impecable. We really enjoyed having the "N14" seafood pho/shrimp.

This place is so cute and just waiting to serve more customers. My husband and I came here for dinner before a movie and the vibe is amazing. The staff were very attentive and accommodating to our requests. The food is amazing. They even have a cool robot delivery service that was pretty futuristic. I highly recommend stopping by for a bahn mi sandwich (mine was bbq pork and my husband got lemongrass beef).

Surprisingly the food portions and quality are great. The House Special Pho with everything and I like the rare steaks the most which are so tender. The egg rolls are fresh and crispy that dip the fish sauce enhance the flavor. However the BBQ steak and shrimp spring rolls are tasty but the rice paper is too dried and too chewy. The pan fried rice sticks with seafood is good to try. Of course, add some fish sauce enhanced the seafood flavor as well. Also, so Happy. Love the Vietnamese style dripping coffee. Nowadays, not many Vietnamese restaurants has the dripping style but the instant coffee instead.

I’ve been in search of the best banh mi in Escondido and this place was definitely the best so far. The bread was perfect, there was so much meat I had take some off to put the vegetables in. Flavor was great. Will definitely go again. Man at the register was super nice.

Came in for a pickup order, not greeted at door and left standing around for 15+ mins, when I was finally approached I learned that my order had been ready and sitting off to the side the whole time. Enjoying some cold Pho right now, food and service here has gone down.

We were happy to come and try this location as it just opened not too long ago. We tried a few pho restaurants in the north county area, but have never been happy or impressed with the food. I grew up eating at Pho Hoa on El Cajon Blvd, which I feel is the most authentic. Since I have moved many times I have not been there in years, but crave to find that 1 restaurant. This is better than any of the other restaurants I have found in North County. This is part of a chain, so the food is comparable to the other locations. The food seems to be a bigger portion, but the price also reflects that. I don't think I have ever paid so much for a plate at any pho restaurant. Maybe due to COVID? Anyway, it ranges from $13 - $15 a plate without the cost of add ons. The inside of this location does not match the outside. The inside is very clean and with modern decoration. The outside location is run down and there were homeless on sitting at the other end of the building. As far as service, it is the traditional pho restaurant service. They do not engage in small talk, just want to get your order and get you in and out. Think of it as a fast-food restaurant with a restaurant setting. Then you won't be disappointed in the service because your expectations will be different.

Ignored for a full hour waiting on a single rare steak pho. Food is good, but won’t be coming back until they fix their staffing issues. Horribly understaffed.

Excellent food! Went here with my date in the Summer of 2025 after navigating to the wrong Pho Ca Dao, but this is a wonderful spot and just as good as my regular one. Not especially busy around the lunchtime we went to. The service is good and not especially notable. As with a lot of Asian places, the service is not the standout but rather the food. This is a great pho place, and I highly recommend the PCD calamari as an appetizer for whatever you're going to get. I got a BBQ pork banh mi, and my date got a beef pho. Both were great.

I've come to learn that every single Pho Ca Dao is different in their flavors. I've been to some that are great and I would say this one is average. Not bad by any means, but nothing that impressed me. The prices are hard to beat, most dinner items average about $13. Pretty good deal. I door dashed the classic spring rolls and the Vietnamese coconut chicken curry. I'm kicking myself for not ordering the grilled shrimp spring rolls as I imagine they would be better. The meat in the classic ones wasn't to my liking. Bland and overcooked. The shrimp, mint and peanut sauce was nice. As for the curry, it's decent, I've definitely had far better so to me this is about a 6/10. Personally, I probably won't go back to this location because this is now my second "meh" experience here. If you're looking for cost friendly, go here. If you're looking for better flavor try the spot down the street.

This place is just a block from the Escondido Center for the Arts. We were hungry after performing, and looking for a place close by. My daughter order a pork and rice dish, and my husband and I ordered pho. Plus some appetizers- chicken wings, and spring rolls. Like at the other Pho Cau Do restaurants, we were not disappointed. Food was good and comforting. Glad there was one so close by.

Pho Ca Dao is mouthwateringly amazing and delicious! Whether we dine out or order in, the meal is always phenomenal. The attention to detail is unmatched! Unpackaging a delivery order from here feels like Christmas morning, I swear, LOL! I forgot to take a photo of my pho delivery, BUT each item comes separately, which I appreciate immensely. Raw steak in a baggie, fresh veg in another baggie, noodles and green onion in another container, and hot broth in the styrofoam soup container. It's truly a treat, and nothing arrives soggy or overcooked! Service and ambiance are lovely when we dine in, as well.

Have been going to this restaurant off and on ever since it opened. Today I had to leave before ordering because the music was uncomfortably loud hard rock music. It was inappropriate and blaring for dining in, especially at 5pm on a Saturday. It actually blared into the parking lot. The young men (teens? College age) working there were oblivious to it, maybe enjoying it. There may have been 1 or 2 other people eating in. When my husband asked about the music & the volume, he received blank stares. I hope the owner realizes that his workers may be driving his customers away. They definitely drive me out. It has never been this way. I guess they want take out customers only. No longer a nice, family restaurant.

Came here 7.28.25 aprox 3pm. Ordered Grilled Salmon w Rice Vermecelli noodles cuz im on a diet. Salmon came out FRIED! I didnt wana be that pain in the "A" customer so didnt complain but now I feel the owner needs to know to better his restaurant. So here is a picture of proof. Get it right dude! Now u broke my diet and was working on my abs. Correct this and I wil give u 5 STARS.

Went here because we were craving something brothy.. what better was than to have pho.. so we decided to come here.. it wasnt too busy when we got here.. we got seated right away.. they have have a robot that serves the food, which is nice to watch.. we wanted to try something a little different so we ordered the "Pho" with bone marrow.. its a must try for us

Updated: This is the 3rd time we try to dine in, they close at 9 and last seating is 8:30. At 8:12 pm they told us they couldn't sit us and that it was to go already. They look like high school kids looking back at each other and deciding to sit us or not. They said no because kitchen closes at 8:30 p.m.

I ordered via DoorDash & the pork banh mi was the best I've had in a long time. The meat was tender & seasoned perfectly, the baguette was crispy on the outside & soft on the inside just as it should be. I will definitely be ordering it again. They also included a side of their pho broth with pieces of meatball in it & it was so flavorful & amazing! It was also still piping hot! I'm ordering their pho next time & I can't wait.

The restaurant itself is super tidy, loved the decor and the fish tank in the center. The service was very slow for a Sunday morning, I am going to assume they were just understaffed because the restaurant wasn't full but I saw the staff running around and being diligent. We ordered a bowl of pho with rare steak and flank but it was served without the flank and it got served to us separately in a second bowl. We were served our salted lemonade soda before our waters and had to order our water half way through our meal. Noodles were a tad over done and were stuck together while eating it or too soft and fell apart. For convenience and location I say this place is SOLID for the area, and I will be back.

Food here is good. I order here frequently for togo. Dining in is not often since customer service is a hit or missed. My usual order: spring rolls, egg rolls perfectly crunchy, banh mi is the best here, pho has good broth flavor and they supply it a LIME slice as it should be. Not a lemon slice, places that serve lemon with Pho- That is just wrong-yuck!!

worse pho EVER. the broth was crystal water clear and had no flavor whatsoever. i've never had pho i didn't love but this place proved me wrong. very disappointing.

Food that we got mid. We got the shrimp spring rolls, Saigon steamed buns with beef, lemongrass beef pho and Shaken beef with garlic rice. The only thing we enjoyed were the spring rolls and Saigon buns.

My boyfriend and I had come here shortly after we had gotten together, and it was delicious! I think this is a new pho restaurant in Escondido, so I encourage you to visit and drum up business for a new Asian restaurant in NCSD. I normally score pho places by their tendon and tripe, as well as if they have che ba mau as a dessert option - which in this restaurants case, has very thick jelly-like tendon and deliciously made che ba mau. The servings were an excellent size and with a good helping of meat with the standard chili, mung bean sprouts, and lime delivered with our order free of charge without having to ask. My boyfriend got basic pho and ate it with a fork, so I had to shun him, but he was also very happy with his food and left sated. To add to the cutesy vibe, there was a little robot that brought our order that had cute faces, but the staff did come over to unload to our table and ask if everything was going okay.

This is my go-to pho place in North County SD! I love all the Pho Ca Dao locations, and since my last review for the RB location; they seem to finally get their customer service up to par. Right when we entered, the establishment was very clean and I like the way the interior is decorated at this location. There's not a lot of parking for this location since it's off to the side of N Escondido Blvd in a small plaza, so be mindful of that when visiting. The host was quick to greet us and get our orders quickly. They served our food quickly and checked up on us pretty often. I got something different than what I usually do, which was the N10 Oxtail & Sliced Eye Round Steak Pho, and my fiancé got the N11 which is my usual. The oxtail was beautifully cooked and tender, it made the flavor of the broth delightful that I hardly had to add any of my usual sriracha and hoisin sauce! We always get a banh mi to share so that we could dip it in our soup. So the BBQ Pork it is! It was a perfect addition to our cold day and hit the spot for feeling under the weather.

Not sure what's happening with this location because things change A LOT. Each time we go, there are a whole new set of workers. We don't see the original owner/manager anymore. And recently there's been a pretty big menu change. The special pho we get every time used to be $10.50 and has just increased +$3.25 to $13+ dollars. As well as a whole new set of employees and uniforms. We will continue to come here because their broth is our favorite in town, but the menu change is pretty drastic.

The place has a very clean look on the outside and the inside. When I entered my eyes were drawn to a beautiful fish tank. The food is good. We got egg rolls, pho, and a beef dish. Food comes out quick. Service is very friendly and the place is clean. My kids are 9 & 10, they got a kick out of the robot that delivers food to the table.

Special oil chili pepper best with pho on the side. Always ask for rare steak on the side or not either way the thin slice of beef can't go wrong.

Food great service is getting worse. I come here often minimally once a month. Today I couldn't make it to the location so I called in and asked my spouse to pick up my order. Maybe they aren't the correct demographic for their restaurant, but my spouse was treated poorly, on the phone I was quoted ten minutes and we waited closer to twenty to be dismissed, dirty looked and force to wait another twenty three mins. It was a one soup order today I don't understand what we did to disrespect anyone but I don't think we will be back any time soon. Completely has made me feel a certain way about how we are treated.

Very nice, modern and clean wirh top notch service. The food was good nice and comforting. I had coconut rice wirh shrimp. It cane with salad and a very tasty onion broth. Either to pour on or sip, if this us the broth for their soup its veey good. My husband had pork wirh a shrimp paste which was an interesting tasty texture. We had the Vietnamese wings which was not a big deal. Every server must have come by at least two times each to check on us. The robot server was cute but nessasary? Maybe for the giant bowls of steaming pho. This was our firstin person visit to this location will visit again.

The GOOD: same quantity food priced 25-30% less than their main Escondido competitor, Pho Saigon. Staff is uncommonly cordial, even offering ice water if you're waiting for takeout. The BAD: broth base of their Pho Ga was undeniably bland and tasteless. The purported "peanut sauce" for their Classic Vietnamese spring rolls - which one expects to be mildly sweet, supremely nutty, moderately thick concoction - was instead water thin and vinegar sour, without so much as a hint of sweet, peanutty goodness. Bottom line: while I so wanted to like this place due to the lower prices, multiple visits have now proven you're better off paying more at the consistently excellent Pho Saigon a block away.

Food (4/5 stars): This was some good, bang for your buck pho. Only $10.50! The highlight was the broth, but the meat wasn't as tender as I would've liked. The noodles were also not as soft Experience (5/5 stars): * Price: very reasonable * Wait Time: minimal for a party of 3 during Sunday lunch * Service: very good and friendly. I was surprised by the machine that brought us our food! * Parking: there's a parking lot * Ambiance: it's a nice, modern looking restaurant

I typically prefer to avoid coming to this chain but it was raining and this was close to the area that are we are staying at. The menu is very straightforward, all in English. I like that they kept it simple. I went with my usual pho chin which is the thin steak but cooker. I don't like to get the rare version. But my husband did. The pho broth was actually good and had a strong flavor profile. It came with the standard vegetables, bean sprouts, limes and Thai basil. Overall good pho.

It was my first time here because my baby brother recommended it. We got seated right away and our waitress took our order. The food took about 5 mins to come out! Now that's service! And the food was delish! I highly recommend this place if you ever want Vietnamese!

Came in at 8:34pm and I wanted to place a to go order. Staff told me they close at 8:30pm. Google and their front door says they close at 9:00pm. That is very misleading. It's unfortunate because I actually enjoy their food

The food was really good and a lot of it. The small pho was quite large. We ordered egg rolls and shrimp paste rolls, which were good, but slowed down the pho. Just keep that in mind if you are in a hurry. Everyone who came after us who got pho only got served before us which made my mother in law very anxious. My kid loved the cat robot. It only delivered pho and utensils when we were there. Definitely a fun and delicious place to check out.

Food is absolutely delicious! I ordered 5 or 6 items on the menu and still plan to come back and try more food! The taste is fresh and rich on every meal. They can use a lot of room for improvement in efficiency, structure, and customer service. My experience from walking in the door to paying my bill took well over 1.5 hours. So don't come here if you're in a rush. You will have a terrible experience. But if you're relaxing and want some bomb food, this place is great!

Holy shit I forgot how good pho is from pho ca dao. I ordered online to go and expected to wait but it was ready when I arrived. The place is clean and the service is friendly. This is the second time this week I came here. I will be coming back pho sure.

Will never understand how theres bad reviews on this place. Come here religiously 1-2 times a week naturally became a usual customer. Lemongrass beef pho , egg rolls & chicken pho is our go to everytime. Food always has awesome flavor and service is always welcoming and anything asked for is delivered. Will continue coming here!

I have ordered from the place multiple times. This time, however, my delivery contained a large piece of plastic from a prep bag. There needs to be better quality control in the restaurant. I hope management/owners take note, as the food is generally good, and I'd love to continue patronizing the establishment.

We bring the kids here a lot just because of the cute kitty cat robots. Some how that makes the experience even better. My husband and I used to go to the Mira Mesa location for years when we lived down in Mira Mesa so we were really happy when we learned the same team was going to open up in Escondido. The place is really nice and almost feels sports bar-y when it's a Pho place. The bar is huge and has quite a few TV which makes it easy to ignore your spouse who is always on their phone anyways. :D The service can be a hit or miss sometimes, but in general they do their best not to forget folks. I really like the menu at this location. It's very fusion - with the new and old. My go-to dishes are always the classic spring rolls and the chicken boa buns that look like tacos. I went out on a limb and tried the calamari appetizer and it was surprisingly really good! Whatever spice they use is good and the breading reminds me of the batter they use on the chicken wings. As for the kids dishes, they know kids. The pho is tasty without veggies, which is a hit with my kids. The portions are huge, which is great for anyone besides my kids because my kids eat like nothing. We'll be back!

Service was great, the waitress was very attentive. The place got busier little after we got there and she made every effort to check in on us. The place was clean. The portions were abundant and tasty. Our appetizers and soup was out in quick. The prices are very reasonable. I think I found my new pho place. Thank you for the great service.

Excellent service and delicious Vietnamese cuisine with a robot bringing your food to your table then a waitress or waiter serves it to you. Inside and outside seating is such a nice ambiance.

Our new favorite Pho restaurant. Clean restaurant Excellent service Reasonably priced menu items Good portion size Delicious food I have no complaints, we throughly enjoyed our dinner here and will be back.

First time going to this location. The decor was great! One would expect to hear soft asian instrumental music playing. Instead, we were greeted by classic 70s and 80s rock music. It was great! It was not the dinner hour, therefore not busy. We were seated quickly and water was brought to us without asking. That was a plus. Prices are about 1 to 2 dollars above what other Pho places we've been too charge. The portions are more than other Pho places also. Definitely worth the 2 bucks more, as I had leftovers for the first time. An autobot is used to bring out one's meals. A server follows the automotive to serve your dishes. The food was excellent. We don't drink, therefore did not partake in any of the drinks offered. There appears to be a wide selection. We will definitely e going back.

A place you need to go and stop. Customer service was great and the food yummy. The indoor is a calm and relax atmosphere with a nice soft relax sound of music.

I got it delivered, so I'm not factoring that in , in terms of freshness. The food was ok. Nothing I would rave about. Heat level was a 1-2, which is unusual for a Vietnamese restaurant. I hoped for more spice and really a lot more flavor. Not met, folks. Sorry. Stop catering to the US palate and serve what you consider authentic food of your country. I'd like to taste that.

The food here is great. It taste good and the portions are abundant. The service is great as it is accommodating and fast. The ambiance is clean including their bathroom. I would highly recommend this place to anyone looking for a good Vietnamese place. They also have vegan options and lots of side orders you can do.

I've always enjoyed the rancho Bernardo location and this location has the same quality. Nice staff that is helpful and accurate.

Placed a one item order to go at 12:47pm it is currently 1:25pm and I have been waiting for my food with no sign of it coming out. They told me 20 minutes over the phone, I come In, the restaurant is empty and.my food is not done after waiting an additional 20 minutes inside the restaurant, I can clearly hear them talking in the back. Guess customer service is not a priority.

Picked up order, left great tip, . Got home and they out no condiments or any sauces for my food. Not happy

Me and my coworker got lunch here on Sunday 8/11 and from Monday until now have had the worst food poisoning ever. I ordered the chicken vermicelli bowl and she ordered the chicken pho, both of us have had to check into the ER for bad food poisoning. Have missed work for 4 days now, never again.

I ordered off grub hub and I ordered sliced rare steak pho but EXTRA LARGE. I'm not blaming my driver I wouldn't know the difference between xl and regular unless I ate there myself and who knows if she has or has not tried it. I usually have my husband pick up my order and I order the same thing I've always gotten way more with my pickup order VS my grub hub delivery order. They gave me a regular price pho w rare steak instead of what I paid extra for. I guess I will just have to go back to ordering from pho Saigon since they are consistent

I had to do a double take at the price bc damn inflation hasn't hit pho ca dao yet :) the portion was so big that i felt as if it was a never ending pho bowl. I liked how they gave chili oil to eat with pho. I never ate it with pho before so it was different. The employees were nice and the restrooms were clean.

It's a local Vietnamese chain that satisfies. This location is a head scratcher because it used to be a long closed-down rundown building in a bad part of town. Inside however is a totally different experience. Pho Ca Dao has a pretty standard menu and the quality was pretty good. It's a little pricy considering the location. Egg rolls and chicken are their best options. Pho was fine.. - Service has always been an issue at all of their locations. This location will bring to the table whatever dish is ready. While I do appreciate hot food, it sucks when there's a ten minute wait between the first plate to the table and the last... - Brisk takeout business..

I generally do not write a 'review' when I have not had the food at the place. While I have been to other locations which I enjoyed, this location left a sour taste in my mouth. We stopped by to grab some food and give this location a try, when we walked inside we, after a couple of minutes we were greeted and asked if we wanted to order food. I said yes, that would be great. We were then asked if it was for there, or to go. Upon stating that we would love to eat there we were told "Well then you are going to wait for a long time" While, I am more than happy to wait and by no means would I ever be demanding to be seated... the restaurant was less than half full. I understand staffing issues and other things may be the culprit behind having open tables that are not being used, and I would happily have been ok with a "Ok great, it's going to be a 30-40-minute wait, or sorry we are not seating any more tonight" "Well then you are going to wait for a long time" to me is the same as someone saying "you may as well go" it was a very unwelcoming experience, enough to want to write this, and rate this based upon the experience and not the food.

Delicious pho! Their meatballs and filet mignon were good, but the rare steak was cut too thick so it got a bit chewy. (We had it at their other location) There's only one pho restaurant in north county that we know has super thin cut rare steak And that's the only place we like so far for rare steak. The wings were a bit sad because they're dry. I could tell from the look already because they weren't plump. If there's a person who's tried wings in various random places, that would probably be me, oh maybe my son too coz he's just like his mom. Delicious crispy noodles. The gravy and topping were good and the noodles were fried well in the shape of a nest. The funny thing was the name of the dish. It's so long that our server had a hard time saying it hahaha Very Nice environment. Modern, hip, totally a cool hangout spot with a full bar. They've got interesting cocktails on the menu that look very tempting! Definitely not your old school rundown Vietnamese restaurant. Hope they'll do well in Escondido!

I finally stopped in to see what it is all about. I have seen these in various locations throughout the San Diego area. Today was cold and rainy so soup was forecast; and since my usual go-to in the area has now moved or closed, I decided to go a block or two further and try this place. Had to have my soup. Pho Ca Dao Grill was at best, ok. I got there just before the lunch crowd gathered so there was minimal waiting. The food came right out. The Pho was just below proper service temperature (@210 F) as evidenced by the slow time it took to cook the rare lean steak that is part of the PCD (Classic) Pho #1 makeup. It was almost hot enough, however not my expectation for a broth-type soup is that you should need to blow on it. No blowing needed, but it was just barely satisfactory for my desire. This location had a service robot I thought was interesting. I inquired with the (appeared to be) owner and asked if the robot has paid for itself by eliminating a server or runner. His answer was that it saves his (the owner's) back. Ok, although I saw a much, much younger server using it for carrying plates to their destination table as the machine uses domino-looking codified plaques on the ceiling to direct its course. It then returns back to its station nearby the kitchen. Hmmm, interesting; all the while the server was making herself look occupied by straightening a table or two as she monitors its course to its destination. In other words, it appears to be slower than a server would deliver. Whatever, I'm not hating . . . just observing. It could cause delays if the place ever gets really busy. My experience today was limited to sitting and trying the Pho. I didn't check out any bathrooms, patios or various menu items; I Just wanted my soup. This place was decent with no real concerns or comments other than the temperature of the soup. Pho Ca Dao Grill was nothing special and I don't know if I will be returning unless the wife wants to try it out or I am again in the area and need of my soup. Dicks

I've ordered from this restaurant numerous times through DoorDash, but today I decided to use the app to pick up my food. When I approached the register and asked how I would know when my order is ready, the male server behind the counter was incredibly rude. This will be the last time I order from here. Moving forward, I'll be supporting other Pho places in Escondido.