Pho Ha #7: What’s Vegetarian Editorial Review

Pho Ha #7 is a family-owned Vietnamese restaurant on University Avenue in Riverside. It runs something most pho shops skip: a full Món Chay section, a separate vegetarian menu numbered apart from the regular dishes, not a single asterisk buried in the soup list. That’s the clearest kind of labeling a vegetarian can ask for.

Nine dishes deep, the Chay lineup covers more ground than a token tofu stir-fry. Cơm Chay Lúc Lắc puts tofu and vegetables over rice in the style of the restaurant’s beef “shaking” dish. Bún Tàu Hủ Xào is fried tofu over vermicelli, a lighter order if you want something that isn’t swimming in broth. Mì Xào Mềm Thập Cẩm Chay and Mì Xào Dòn Thập Cẩm Chay give you the same stir-fried egg noodles the kitchen makes for everyone else, soft or crispy, just built vegetarian. Cơm Chiên Chay covers vegetarian fried rice if you want something familiar and filling.

One dish needs a second look. Phở Rau Cải, the vegetable noodle soup, comes with a choice of chicken, beef, or vegetable broth, so the base isn’t automatically meatless. Say “vegetable broth” when you order, every time. The default at many Vietnamese kitchens is whatever stock is already simmering. Everything else in the Chay section reads as vegetarian straight off the menu, tofu-forward and dairy-light, though nothing here is advertised as vegan and the kitchen isn’t a dedicated vegetarian operation.

Start with the Gỏi Cuốn Chay, vegetarian spring rolls wrapped cold with tofu, or the Chả Giò Chay, the fried version with tofu and vegetables packed inside. Either one tests whether the kitchen’s vegetarian cooking is an afterthought or something it actually cares about. Nine Chay dishes on a menu this size says the latter.

This is a full-service restaurant, not a fast-casual counter, sitting in a small plaza at 1820 University Avenue. Prices land in the mid-teens for Chay entrees, in line with the rest of the menu and typical for sit-down Vietnamese food in the Inland Empire. It’s run at this location since 2017 and keeps busy hours, open daily from 9:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. Walk-in is normal here, and the place doesn’t list a reservation policy. Takeout and delivery are both available.

Gluten-free isn’t addressed on the menu. Rice noodles and rice dishes are naturally gluten-free, but soy sauce and some stir-fry bases often aren’t, so ask before ordering if that’s a concern. Call (951) 680-0790 to check current Chay offerings before a group trip, since specials rotate seasonally at most pho shops this size.

Beef pho, grilled pork, and seafood noodle bowls fill out the rest of the menu, the usual Vietnamese spread, which is worth knowing if you’re bringing a mixed group. Nobody at the table has to compromise. Many pho shops expect the one vegetarian in the group to pick around a shared broth pot. This one doesn’t.

For a vegetarian tired of being handed a single veggie spring roll and told to make do, this is the opposite experience. Order off the Chay menu like it’s the main menu, because here, it basically is.