Really bad experience for me overall. Rude wait staff and the worst pho I've ever eaten. I'm a bit spoiled coming from an area which has excellent Vietnamese food, but even with that qualifier it was still poor.
Started off on a bad note. I ordered a pho bo and was brought a coke. The waiter was rather rude when I explained that he must have misheard (I actually don't even drink soda so I know I did not misspeak). In the end, I told him I would pay for the misunderstanding and that he could go ahead and take the coke away.
The pho comes out quickly, but several things were different from what I would consider normal. No hoisin sauce (though this was solved by requesting it from the waiter), some mix of very small red peppers (not a big difference from the larger green peppers I'm used to), no lime (lemon instead bizarrely), and the cilantro was on the side plate and not in the broth. The noodles were wide (think linguine) instead of thin rice noodles. This made the noodles great at first though they eventually became soggy. There was not a lot of beef though it was good and cut into very small chunks. The broth was very poor. Very light, nearly tasteless. It tasted like severely watered down pho broth. In the end, however, even the worst pho I've ever had (which this no doubt was) is still pho and therefore decent after some considerable additions. If things ended here, this would have been a two or three star review...
Nearly halfway through my pho I made a quick stop to the washroom. Upon returning, I noticed they had taken my pho. After several minutes a different waiter came to ask how my meal was. I told him I was still eating and when I was in the middle of telling him they took my pho away too soon he turned and walked away. Not commenting in anyway. No apology. Nothing.
Though I'm certain this was an off night for them, I will not be returning to find out. read more
