Pho Ao Sen

My, how this Vietnamese restaurant has grown up: Once a tiny shop just outside downtown Oakland, it's now serving noodles and rice plates in much grander surroundings. Often, scaling up signifies a quality drop, but not here. The flavor of the pho broth is just as deep and clear as it ever was, and the bun cha ha noi is a DIY spectacle, calling for you to assemble meatballs, rice noodles, lettuce leaves and heaps of Vietnamese herbs.