I'd like to start this with an appology: to the person who asked me last week where she could find good pho in Bartlett, I'm sorry I didn't know about Noodle Star yet. I would like to go back in time and recommend them for all of your suburban pho needs.

Noodle Star Sushi Bar combines two great food generes, Vietnamese and Japanese, into one medium-sized storefront in Bartlett.

Compared to a lot of Memphis' Vietnamese restaurants, the pho selection is a little limited (it's all beef-based), but there were a lot of other choices - tempura, vermicelli, stir fry, sushi, massive $55 hot pots. Since it's getting cold out (and I'm getting a cold), I ordered the sliced steak pho ($7.50). My intrepid friend John ordered a chicken and udon noodle stir fry.

Before our food came out, our server presented us with a large assortment of eating utensils.

It almost took longer to choose the right silverware than it took to get our food. They were super fast; the pho came out in about five minutes, the stir fry in about ten.

The pho broth was delicious, but pretty standard. It came with cilantro, green onions and white rice noodles, but they'll give you a little plate of basil, bean sprouts, jalepenos and limes to add as you please. At first, I was a little bummed that they didn't have chicken pho, but I'm now a sliced steak conver. That steak was paper-thin slices of tender, juicy happiness.

Even though my pho was awesome, I spent a lot of the meal staring at (and occasionally stealing from) John's stir fry.

The stir fry comes with your choice of meat (chicken, steak, shrimp, calamari, etc.), your choice of noodle (soba, udon, etc.), and tons of fresh zucchini, celery, carrots, onions and bean sprouts.

Noodle Star isn't fancy, but it's good and it's cheap (our combined total was less than $20). They're open daily for lunch and dinner and are completely kid and vegetarian friendly.

Go there:

Noodle Star Sushi Bar