Super Pho gets 3 stars from me which means A-OK. This Vietnamese restaurant, which is attached to Jazen Tea next door (same owner), opened in the Satellite Shops II strip mall near Gwinnett Place Mall in May 2016.
In general, I like Super Pho's menu, their specials, great service, and fun spin they put on the traditional pho restaurant. From my experience, the pho and banh mi were decent, but the other dishes left something to be desired. If Super Pho was located in a smaller metro with less Vietnamese options, I'd probably give it 4 stars. It's above average from that perspective.
Super Pho is open early (7am) and closes late (11pm), 7 days a week. Yes, you can get breakfast here. Their early bird special is a free beignet with the purchase of a cafe drink, 8am-11am. Happy hour is 3pm-5pm where pho is buy one, get one free (BOGO). The sign on the street says you can also get BOGO pho from 9pm-11pm, but the menu and the truck outside only say 3pm-5pm. Either way, it's a great deal and the first of its kind that I've seen at any pho restaurant in metro Atlanta. The beignets are a first as well as far as pho restaurants go.
Yet another first among pho restaurants in metro Atlanta: Super Pho has an open kitchen. The restaurant has a simple, contemporary design. It's spacious and good for groups. Super Pho and Jazen Tea are connected. The backside of the Super Pho menu (food) is the Jazen Tea menu (drinks). You can order coffee, tea (including boba tea), smoothies, fruit slushies, and other beverages from Jazen Tea directly at your table at Super Pho. So conveniently, one advantage this business has is you are able to satisfy both your pho and boba tea cravings all in one spot.
Super Pho's menu consists of appetizers (e.g. egg rolls, spring rolls), bun (rice vermicelli noodles), com (rice dishes), pho (Vietnamese noodle soup), banh mi (Vietnamese baguette sandwiches), and some other dishes like bun bo (spicy noodle soup) and banh mi bo kho (beef stew with a baguette). Most items are affordably priced at under $10 each. Pho is priced at $7.55 for a "rose" bowl and $8.50 for a "super" bowl.
A couple disappointing things about the menu: There was no bun thit nuong cha gio (rice vermicelli noodles with grilled pork and fried egg rolls) nor com dac biet (special combination rice dish). Instead, there were simplified versions of these dishes. I guess I could have ordered egg rolls or extra toppings and made my own, but it's not the same.
We visited for Sunday lunch and I tried the following:
* S1. Papaya salad ($4.72) - shredded green papaya, beef jerky strips, and basil with soy-rice vinegar
* P0. Special combination pho (rose size, regularly $7.55) - steak, brisket, flank, tendon, beef ball, and tripe
* BM8. Grilled pork baguette (regularly $3.78)
* N4. Grilled pork noodles ($8.50)
* D5. Vietnamese iced cafe au lait (regularly $3.31)
The papaya salad was OK. The papaya tasted fresh. However, the salad didn't taste flavorful enough. The addition of beef jerky strips was interesting. It added a salty, savory flavor to the salad as well as a tough texture. Some added spice would have been nice. I took leftovers of this salad home and it actually tasted better later that night because the papaya had marinated in the vinegar more. There was more flavor and it was sweeter the second go-round.
Super Pho has over 10 different kinds of pho to choose from including a "pho fondue" where you dip various ingredients into a pho hot pot. A nice combo they offer is any pho (rose bowl size) + any banh mi for $9.45 ($1.88 in savings). This is what we did.
I thought the special combination pho (pho dac biet) was good. It wasn't the best in town, but it was hardly substandard either. I'd order it again. The broth was tasty enough and the quality of the meats and veggies was fine.
The grilled pork baguette (banh mi heo nuong) didn't look like much, but I thought it was actually the most delicious item of the day. I really liked their rich and buttery house mayo. Also, the bread was excellent -- crispy, but not too hard, and warm and soft.
The grilled pork noodles (bun thit nuong) were disappointing both in look and in taste. In terms of look, the noodles weren't presented as neatly or colorfully as other bowls of bun I've had around Atlanta. The grilled pork wasn't the red grilled pork was I used to seeing nor was it as tasty. Overall, the noodles just didn't have great flavor and this was after dumping the entire serving of fish sauce into the bowl.
I got the Vietnamese iced cafe au lait (ca phe sua da) for free because I brought my Super Pho glass coffee mug, which I acquired at a Yelp event at Super Pho in 2016, with me. Apparently, anyone who has one of these mugs is entitled to free coffee "for life." As soon as our server Alfred saw my mug, he brought me an iced coffee immediately. The coffee, which was made with condensed milk, was super sweet (too sweet), but I finished it anyway.
Service by Alfred was terrific! read more