Source (top right photo): KQED
Source (bottom left photo): TripAdvisor
Source (bottom right photo): Yelp

For almost eight years now, Monster Pho has been my favorite restaurant because of the owner and chef, Tee Tran. He is such a kind, caring, and understanding person who always makes sure I can eat safely at his restaurant, despite my lengthy list of food allergies. For people allergic to peanuts and in need of delicious pho, Monster Pho is the place for you because it is one of few pho restaurants that is 100% peanut-free!

I had the pleasure of talking to Tee about how Monster Pho accommodates customers with food allergies like me. I learned that he takes food allergies seriously because of his personal experience. While Tee was in high school, his best friend had food allergies. When they went out to eat, Tee realized how difficult it was for his friend to eat at restaurants. Tee knew he wanted to open a Vietnamese restaurant and decided to make it 100% peanut-free to accommodate people like his friend, who have food allergies.

If you have any or all of the top nine allergens, you can eat at Monster Pho! However, for some of the items on the menu, you may have to opt-out of the add-ons to be able to eat it.

Tee recommends the following items on his menu for people with food allergies.

• You can opt-out of the sesame seeds on the potstickers and green salads.
• Both the beef and chicken pho are gluten and soy free (I love the chicken pho!)
• The shrimp spring roll with fish sauce or vinaigrette dressing is gluten free.
• Alternative milk options are available for the thai iced tea.
• You can choose the non-dairy version of the fried banana with vanilla ice cream and panda leaf coconut waffle with ice cream desserts.

Tee is also very active in the community and is genuinely a good person with a big heart.

Monster Pho has donated 28,000 meals to the community to date and 1,500,000 meals to World Central Kitchen to date to help those who suffered from natural disasters. During the pandemic, Tee maintained a community garden outside of his restaurant where anyone could take free and fresh produce, such as tomatoes. He also gave free pho to medical workers during COVID. I have witnessed him giving homeless people free pho many times pre-pandemic as well.