It’s been difficult to find decent Vietnamese restaurants in general in NYC. A lot of them just don’t get the broth in pho right. This one seemed like a more upscale version of general Vietnamese cuisine, and I saw it open less than a year ago on Yelp. It was tough at first to walk in a few times, so fortunately the hype subsided, and I was able to get an easy reservation on Friday at 5:30 PM for 2 people.

I work around the Rockafeller area, and I had to walk towards the Midtown West for an errand during lunch. Near the area that I was in, I noticed this Vietnamese pho restaurant that didn’t have many people. Since it was cold outside and before I head back, I decided to check this out for lunch, considering it had some basic pho options. When I walked in, there were some solo diners who were scarfing their noodles fast, so I felt at ease that this was would be a quick lunch spot.

Carla is a local neighborhood restaurant close to Long Island City and Queensboro Plaza. At first glance, the restaurant’s menu seems very basic, but sometimes I think this could be misleading. I had been periodically glancing at the menu, and I noticed it changing every so slightly on a monthly basis. Since we had a lazy Saturday, we decided to try this place out. The restaurant’s motto is all about good vibes.

I haven’t frequent the heart of the East Village for quite some time. Walking through St. Marks, it’s pleasant to see that the city is slowly coming back alive. People still walk around with masks for the most part, and some restaurants have closed. Despite all this, the energy is slowly coming back alive. Since we were in this area and because now everyone is out and about, it’s getting difficult to do walk-in dinings.

Even though there had been a large number of Asian restaurants in the Long Island City and Astoria vicinity, vietnamese restaurants are still fairly limited. I was kind of craving for some pho since it’s been a few years, and this one was within walkable distance. The city recently allowed 25% dine in, and the reviews for this restaurant seemed fairly decent. The interior was decorated pretty homely, and the tables were spaced decently apart with screen separators.

As usual, the North Williamsburg area is a pretty hot spot for restaurants to eat at. I had lived in this area for about 2 years, but I still come back time to time to get a haircut. Usually after the haircut, I’ll check out something. I’ve been looking for a decent pho place that is close enough to me such that I don’t have to travel to Flushing.

Pho vietnamese restaurants are generally pretty scarce in the city compared to Los Angeles. If you do find one, they usually don’t give you all the fixins and are timid about their offerings. In Los Angeles, I used to go to a restaurant called Phorage pretty frequently where their broth was very rich, and their meats were rare but tender. So how would this compare? We started off with thai tea and matcha thai.

The pho was ok, and so was the dried vermicelli. It’s a bit expensive for what you get, but also not bad. I probably would still prefer to go to other Vietnamese places, though good Vietnamese places are hard to find in Manhattan. The decor is nice, but food wise - if anyone likes this place, I don’t trust their palette.

Best banh mi I’ve had so far in New York. Cheap too. But this place is CLOSED.

Their pho + banhmi combo $12.50 is OK for lunch.