PHO Belwood

Pho Belwood is a Vietnamese restaurant located in Victorville off of Bear Valley Rd. (exact address listed below). I have never tried Vietnamese cuisine before, so this was a new experience for me. The condiments seemed similar to that of a Thai restaurant: Sriracha Sauce, Soy Sauce, Hoison, various oil/red chili mixes, and random spices. The pictures on the menu reminded me of Japanese Ramen houses which basically serve you a large bowl of noodles with your choice of fillers in the soup. After reading various posts on Yelp regarding how good the spring rolls were, I decided to order those for a starter. I received 3 rolls which were basically the size of full sushi rolls. They consisted of lettuce, crispy noodles, and shrimp wrapped in spring roll paper. The rolls tasting very plain when eating them by themselves, luckily enough they came with a peanut sauce to dip them in. The peanut sauce had a mild heat to it, and basically tasted like watered down peanut butter, they sprinkle chopped peanuts on top which added a crunchy texture to the sauce. The peanut sauce definitely saved the rolls, these are best ordered with a 2nd person to share them with, by the time I got to the 3rd roll the spring paper was already beginning to dry.
Now on to the main course! I went ahead and ordered the #1 which is called the "Pho Super Bowl". The super bowl consists of a Vietnamese broth which tasted similar to chicken broth, noodles, beef strips, beef meatballs, herbs, bean sprouts, jalapenos, and lemon slices. The dish also included Tripe and Beef Tendon, but I decided that I would just stick to normal meats this time around. The waiter instructed me to add condiments to the broth to make it as spicy/salty as I would like. I went ahead and added chili sauce, sriracha, and hoison to my broth. At first bite I immediately thought of Japanese Ramen, however, the main difference was the consistency of the noodles. The noodles in this particular dish were very thin and had a little bit more crunch to them, which played off well with the tender slices of meat. The beef was a little bit fatty, but nothing to get upset over. The beef meatballs were well seasoned and provided a spongy texture to play off the crunchiness of the noodles. I basically made my broth super spicy to the point where it tasted like a spicy chicken noodle soup. I was very impressed with the Pho Super Bowl. Overall Pho Belwood impressed me with their fresh tasting ingredients, large portions, and dynamic flavors. This restaurant has now inspired me to give some of the other PHO restaurants in the HD a try. The portions were HUGE, I was unable to finish the spring rolls and soup. The order was easily enough for 2 people, and the final bill was $15 and some change. The friendly staff was also a plus, when I told the waiter that I had never eaten Vietnamese food before he explained to me how to properly combine the condiments with the broth without ruining the entire dish. Next time I will definitely try some of their stir fry dishes, I couldn't help but notice someone's seafood stir fry while I was there, it looked amazing! Pho Belwood's address is 15632 Bear Valley Rd, Victorville.