The take out menu says the restaurant is in Chelmsford while the City of Lowell's website says it's just within its city limits. Ultimately though if you tell a local that it's on Drum Hill, a strip of retail lots stretching from Exit 32 to the Merrimack River along Route 4, they'll know what you're talking about.
Traffic and limited parking are probably the only negatives about this place. Pho 88 shares what looks like a 1940s mini-tenement turned into a strip mall with a few other businesses, including two inferior eateries.
The interior is casual but formal, comfortable and trendy at the same time, and in addition to Vietnamese fare, they have Shabu Shabu (if you've never heard of it, think fondue plus ramen soup) tables.
Today's meal was Goi Ga, which is basically a big plate of spicy cole slaw with chicken strips and chopped peanuts in a chili vinagrette. The same dish can come with shrimp or tofu in the place of chicken, or as a combination salad with chicken and shrimp.
I don't know what I can add that the photo above doesn't already say. This dish is at once piquant and flavorful yet hearty and filling. And all for slightly more than what you'd spend on a high end value meal at McDonald's or Burger King.
And while I didn't ask the waitress, I can't imagine that there are alot of calories in something that seems to be primarily cabbage, carrots, mint, basil and onions yet tastes like a marriage between cole slaw and kimchi with Southeast Asian flavors thrown in.
It's worth the drive for those living near the F.E Everett Turnpike here in the Granite State as well as anyone who happens to be travelling through Massachusetts' fourth largest city.
Meal: Goi Ga with Da Chanh (Vietnamese Limeade)
Price: $8.25 (not including the Limeade)
Time of Meal: 1:30 PM
Duration of Time in Restaurant: 30 minutes
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