Battle of the Pho Trucks: Pho Junkies vs Pho Wheels

In honor of the freezing weather how about a pho truck battle? There are a handful of pho trucks in the DC area but I’ve only tried 2 so far. I tried Pho Wheels for the first time last summer at Taste of DC and it was pretty amazing…I would say it’s on par if not better than some actual brick and mortar pho restaurants. That being said, Pho Junkies had high expectations to live up to when I tried it last month. I ordered the meatball pho at Pho Wheels and chicken pho at Pho Junkies. Both trucks provided siracha and hoison sauce as well as the usual onions, cilantro, and limes.

Pho Junkies Truck

Broth: The Pho Wheels broth was more flavorful (this could’ve been because of the beef flavoring instead of the chicken I ordered from Pho Junkies?) Pho Wheels > Pho Junkies but only by a little.

Meat: I didn’t eat any meatballs from Pho Wheels so I can’t really critique it lol but the chicken from Pho Junkies was average; Draw.

Noodles: Both had decent noodles; they weren’t over/under cooked. My only complaint was that Pho Junkies had smaller, broken up noodles, which made it hard to eat. It could’ve been because I got the end of a batch or something, but regardless it made the noodles really hard to eat. Pho Wheels > Pho Junkies.

Price: Pho Wheels costs $9 for a meat of your choice (steak, meatballs, or chicken); Pho Junkies costs $10 for chicken and $12 for all the meats. Pho Wheels > Pho Junkies depending on what meat you get.

Packaging: Now this seems like a pretty random category but it makes a big difference in the food truck industry. Pho Wheels actually packages the pho in a bowl-like container, which makes it very easy to eat. They also give you a heavy duty fork-chopstick contraption (see photo below) that is very useful and pretty nifty haha Pho Junkies, on the other hand, needs to work on their packaging. Their pho comes in a tall cylindrical container that makes it incredibly hard to eat. It’s really awkward trying to fish out the noodles and drink the soup with a spoon from a container that tall. Pho Junkies needs to change their container ASAP. Pho Wheels > Pho Junkies.

Pho Wheels - Meatball Pho; I couldn't capture a good photo of the Pho Junkies dish 

(poor picture quality = my pre-iPhone days :P)

And the winner is…PHO WHEELS! Pho Junkies is by no means a bad pho truck; it’s very tasty and I would buy from them again but against Pho Wheels, I would pick Pho Wheels. All this pho talk is making me crave! Pho anyone? :P