Nam-Viet Pho 79

Nam-Viet Pho 79 Restaurant Review:

One of Arlington’s---and the area’s---first Vietnamese restaurants, this old-timer still has plenty of popular appeal. You won’t find anything particularly trendy, but you will find a complete assortment of the standards, from caramel pork with black pepper to crispy spring rolls, shrimp barbecued on sugar cane and grilled pork on rice vermicelli. Some dishes, such as the orange beef or chicken and the chicken with cashews, don’t sound particularly traditional, and may be the chef’s fancy. We’ve enjoyed the garden rolls and the refreshing shredded green papaya salad with shrimp, but could spend the whole evening mixing and matching items from the menu. The pho, though, the famed noodle soup, did not please us; we’ve had better in many other restaurants. However, even with all the Vietnamese competition, this place still holds its own.