It’s been a really long time since we paid a visit to Mignon Pho + Grill. I had heard of some new menu items, so we decided to go check it out again with some friends.
On the table, they advertised that they now offer Happy Buddha beer. I liked the bottle.
I was most curious about the new appetizer menu. They offered many appetizers I used to enjoy at Nam An before it went downhill.
Papaya Salad
Unripe papaya is mixed with chili oil, lime, fish sauce, and some other things. This salad had a good balance of sweet, acidity and heat. My one complaint was that the strands of papaya were very long, almost like noodles, making it a little difficult to eat.
Vietnamese Beef Carpaccio (Slices of rare beef, with fresh lime juice and herbs and spices)
This is a raw beef salad, with the fresh lime juice slightly cooking the thin slices of rare beef. While I was happy to see that the beef was still quite rare (sometimes it ends up getting completely cooked), this dish had too many onions and not enough spices. The beef tasted mainly of the raw onions.
Saigon Wings
The skin of the wings were quite crispy and had a sweet glaze. I wished the wings weren’t just sweet. I recall when I previously ate these, they have some other herbs and spices like lemongrass in the seasoning.
Filet Mignon Pho
One of my friends ordered the filet mignon pho. The filet mignon meat is very tender and melts in your mouth. After eating it, it’s hard to go back to the regular rare steak that usually is served with pho which is dry and tough in comparison. I didn’t try any of the broth but it looked awfully dark.
Beef Meat Ball Pho
My other friend order the pho with beef meat balls.
Bun Rieu
One of the new noodle items is Bun Rieu. I haven’t really liked the versions of Bun Rieu I’ve had in San Diego so I decided to try Mignon’s version.
Bun Rieu is usually made with crab meat, other seafood, and tomatoes. The tomato flavor was quite a bit lighter than other versions I’ve had which I actually didn’t mind because the other versions I’ve had, I’ve found that the tomato overwhelms the crab. However, the crab flavor was pretty non-existent. They gave a choice of seafood options to add to the Bun Rieu. I chose octopus and the soup had a few baby octopi.
I didn’t think this was a good rendition of Bun Rieu, but if I pretended it wasn’t Bun Rieu, I actually enjoyed it because it reminded me a lot of the egg drop noodle soups I might make at home.
Mignon also offers an option to substitute to brown noodles and I decided to try it. They were wider, slippery, and I enjoyed them more than the regular noodles.
Cow Ate My Shrimp (Grilled shrimp and marinated rib eye steak)
The non-pho dishes had funny names like this one. This was DH’s choice. I thought the seasoning and marinade were a little too salty, but otherwise this was alright.
Overall, the food here was just average. I think I remember now why I haven’t visited in so long. I probably won’t be back again for a while. You can read my first post here.
Full menu pictures:
Mignon Pho + Grill
3860 Convoy St
San Diego, CA 92111
(858) 278-0669
The dishes look good, too bad they weren’t as good in person!
Yeah I was definitely disappointed. They did look better than they were. Oh well, lesson learned!
Hey Kirbie – I’ve never had a decent meal here. I think the restaurant is designed more for folks who like the decor and the beer and other stuff rather than the food, which is mediocre.
A lot of people dining here definitely seemed to be here for the beer and to watch the games. I was pretty disappointed though. I had been excited by the new menu items. Oh well.
EJ and I tried it a few weeks ago. I only tried a few yakitori items, decent but nothing I would seek out.
Yeah with so many other options, I wouldn’t feel the need to return here.
Hmmm, I think I need to try the filet mignon pho soon…
Just out of curiosity… what is your favorite pho place? 😀
I like that this place offers filet mignon, but that’s about it. My current favorite is Pho Cow Cali.