A review of the new pho restaurant in Galesburg

On a sweet, sunny afternoon this weekend, I ate at Pho Lover, a new restaurant in Galesburg that’s been drumming up some buzz across Knox College’s campus. 

Pho Lover is located at 1349 N Henderson St in Galesburg, IL, situated across from Culver’s and just down the street from Orange Cup Java Station. The restaurant does not draw your eye at first glance. However, the small parking lot was packed with cars when I arrived at 6:15pm, and many other customers entered while I was there, hinting at the popularity of the new restaurant. 

While you can walk in, they do take reservations for those looking to eat with a bigger group, like I was. 

I would argue that their evident popularity is well earned. The building itself was clean and well maintained, if a little warm from being packed with so many people. The furniture was nice, with booths on the walls for small groups and tables in the middle for bigger ones.

I took particular note of the funky water cups, which had a bumpy texture and the look of frosted glass. 

For dinner, I ordered pho nam and coffee milk tea with tapioca pearls, which cost about $21 dollars. I also tried my friend’s taro milk tea, and some edamame was ordered for the table. 

I love edamame, but theirs was not my favorite. I would’ve liked a little more salt, although it was very well cooked.

The drinks were delicious. While I hadn’t heard amazing things from others about the boba drinks, they gave us generous amounts of boba compared to other places I’ve been. Both the coffee milk tea and the taro were not as sweet as other boba teas I’ve had, which I preferred, especially with my savory dinner. 

The pho nam was good as well, although I think I would order the pho tai next time. The pho nam is made with well done beef slices, and I’d like to try something a little closer to medium well. Even as a picky eater, I found that the pho was very delicious and I was glad that it did not contain anything I wanted to avoid.

I could not finish my whole bowl of pho by any stretch, although the soup did make for amazing leftovers. 

I am also severely allergic to peanuts and nuts, but did not have any issues here. Just be sure to make sure your server is aware!

Overall, I would highly recommend checking this place out! Plenty of delicious, filling food for an affordable price.