Pho Cao Van - Richmond

As most of my friends know, I'm kind of a ramen kind of guy - a nice, rich bowl of miso ramen with extra fat and extra chashu.  But on occasion, I find myself craving something a bit lighter, and that's usually Pho. 

                            

What do I like about Pho Cao Van?  I'll say it's the broth.  Is it really good, or just have lots of MSG in it, I have no idea, but I usually drink it up.   In comparision to say Pho Viet, I'd say Pho Cao Van has a better tasting broth.  This is item #1 on the menu, house special.  It comes with meatballs, rare beef, beef brisket, some tripe and tendon.  I like all that stuff, so if there's a special on the menu, it usually comes with all those goodies.  Some places don't include the meatballs in their house specials. 

My friend had the grilled chicken.

Anyway, I don't have pho very often, so I can't say I know what really good pho tastes like. My only experiences with pho are with Pho Viet (used to be behind Chapters, near Nando's Chicken in Richmond), this other place across from Richmond City Hall and a couple of other places in Vancouver.  In the end though, I usually find myself coming back to Pho Cao Van.  Pho Cao Van has pretty fast service (like most pho places I've been to), the staff are generally friendly, and the food tastes good.  The places is ALOT cleaner than the old Pho Viet (before they moved - no idea what it's like now), so that's a huge plus for me.

Pho Cao Van has pretty bad ratings on Urban Spoon, so that tells me that either a lot of people don't like this place, or I just have really bad taste....haha, a lot of people would probably say the latter!