So excited that we have several choices in the area now for Vietnamese cuisine, specifically Pho. If you've read any of my reviews then you know I'm a fool for Pho (pun intended).
Chopstix is brand new here in town. Located on Lee Hwy next to Champy's. It's a cute little spot. I've seen the sign saying "coming soon" for months now and thought it would be a generic Chinese fast casual type place but was very pleasantly surprised when I passed by last week and the final sign was up, with the name, "Chopstix Viet Bistro". YES!!!
I stopped in the other night, excited to try their pho. The space is bigger than it appears from the outside and it's decorated very elegantly. Dark wood colors with teals, green, blue accents.
I sat in the main dining area where there are some booths and tables. There was one other couple in there and then later a group of people came in.
The menu has a good selection of some popular Vietnamese dishes, but of course I was interested in the pho. Was a little surprised that they only had 3 choices, beef, seafood and chicken. I hope at some point they expand upon the different types they offer. I chose the beef pho and also the winter rolls.
The rolls came out quickly and they looked nice. I was happy they had the peanut dipping sauce. A couple of observations, the rolls weren't cold, sort of room temp, which with it having shrimp, they should be cold. Also, they were loosely packed and had a lot of lettuce in them as a filler. When I took a bite, they sort of fell apart. They weren't bad, but I've had much better.
The pho came and the bowl was HUGE!!! This had the sliced beef and Vietnamese meatballs in them. The broth had a light beef flavor to it. Very clean and refreshing, more like a chicken broth. I would like it to be a bit more beefy. I should have asked if they had the beef paste to add to it. I added my choice condiments of hoisin and sirracha, as well as the bean sprouts. I tend to make my flavors a tad sweet and spicy. I was pleasantly surprised to see that they had culantro and well as cilantro. Culantro is a long, narrow green leaf that adds another nice herbal element to pho.
The beef slices were a bit tough and pieces were inconsistently sized. Some were very small and some were very big. Also, the meatballs were a tad dense and chewy. Overall those are just minor observations on my part as a Pho snob and did not take away from my experience of the soup. It was still really good and I couldn't finish it all it is so big!
I will definitely go back and try their other two pho selections as well as other dishes.
Oh, they also serve the Vietnamese coffee, hot or iced. Oh my!!!
Again, I'm so happy to have more than one choice for Pho. Thanks for coming to town, Chopstix. read more