If you look at the review, it's better to look at the latest review instead of older reviews to see what a restaurant is like lately. I've been a frequent eater and long time patron of this restaurant's food, but I would give this a zero star if I could. Sadly this used to be my favorite restaurant in Folsom. I like Pho, and this place provides Chinese food in additional to Vietnamese food, cheap, good. But it went through a few management changes during the last several years, it gets worse every time.
First off, this is the first time I've ever complained about a restaurant. being a former waitress myself in the last century, I 'm pretty understandable and tried to be tolerant and patient if they accidentally made mistakes. But today I'm not going to just keep quiet. I noticed that the service level at Pho ABC in Folsom is way below par, if not terrible. To be fair they are nice people, they try to smile, and some of them even speak English well. They were just slow even though there were very few customers, and to make things worse, one time I clearly saw that we were served later than another table who came in much later than us. No, don't blame me for ordering fancy meals, I didn't. We just like plain noodle soup, how hard is that? It wasn't just once, and at one point, I swore never to return again. (but I did, only b/c kids liked pho, and there are no alternatives in Folsom if I needed a quick meal, but after today, i'd definitely stay away from this place. ).
Second, the restaurant is not longer clean. I found a weak fly next to my table on the window. The kids were having a great time trying to smack it with their hands while waiting for waitress to kill it. The waitress was nice enough to come back with a tissue to kill it. I let it go, it was, after all, just one fly. Not in my food. But within 10 minutes there was another fly hopping around us. I got up, went to the counter, asked for help. You'd think that this would get immediate attention. But it took a while for help to arrive (I had to get another waiter's attention). Yes I could kill the fly myself, with my bare hand perhaps, if it really bothered me. But is it what I went to the restaurant for?
Finally, the fly was killed. I had no more appetite. Who knows what happened to my food before it was served? I went to the cashier to ask for a manager. All of the waiting staff told me that there was no manager that day. So I complained, in a calm but firm manner, that it was very unacceptable to see not one but two flies around me while I ate today. They said they couldn't help it because doors open and shut, they have no control over flies. I said: Are you saying that cockroaches and flies are acceptable in a restaurant? A man's response: Cochroaches, no. But flies are ok in a restaurant b/c they had no control over it when the doors open. I don't believe it but what else can I say? I'm not a health inspector, they're not the manager or owner, they don't care about customer service or profitability. I had kids with me, I gave my speech, paid for my food, then I let it go.
I came home and went straight to Google search: IS it really OK to have flies in a restaurant? NO!
Before they fool you again next time, I want to say: It's NOT OK to have flies in the restaurant, in fact it's illegal! And it's the restaurant's responsibility to prevent the entrance and harborage of any types of vermin (flies, roaches, rats, etc). They all harbor diseases that could potentially lead to food poisoning. If it weren't for their attitude, I believe today I would've let go, just like before. I'm not a fan of complaints. I would share about my great experience at a restaurant and go through great effort to get friends to come out with me, but I don't normally persuade people to ditch a restaurant, it's just not my style. The staff at Pho ABC in Folsom made no effort to show that they care (in fact the waitress who was kind enough to kill the flies for me never apologized after I complained about the flies, let's hope it's just a language barrier), it was more like standing on the sideline watching me giving a speech. Not sure how much really sank into their head. I consider myself a very reasonable person, is it too much to ask for showing compassion and tell a customer that you're sorry that I experienced this (hopefully rare) incident, instead of pointing out the back door to rationalize why a restaurant is allowed to have flies inside? Completely unacceptable. read more