I came, I ate, and now I can write about this joint. As many have said this place has been around for awhile, practically a staple for pho for the Richmond folk, and it seems like this place has not changed in decor over time as walking in here it does feel a little old. The lighting, let alone the color of the furniture in here makes it feel like a 'hole-in-the-wall' which is always a welcome sight to me, as usually all the effort is in the food product coming out that has kept these places alive. Coming back here I had to see if things have changed in terms of perspective, and now I can finally throw my 2 cents in.
I remember coming here and this place used to be packed, used to be, maybe it was a Wednesday night, or maybe they have been affected by the recent moving of Pho An Nam that is literally just down the block from them now. I came with a friend as it was his suggestion, and he told me while we were walking in that his son doesn't like to come here cause it smells like an old furniture store. This place definitely needs a facelift, like a true renovation to if not get rid of the smell of old furniture, to really brighten this place up. There is no tv here, so no sports for you, and it's cash only, talk about barebones restaurant.
We both decided on the Pho Lan special pho (no.7 if you must know) on the menu, and order of pork spring roll, and a shrimp salad roll. The first thing that came was the shrimp salad roll, which was very plump and big in size (as the order on the menu is per roll). It came with their house peanut sauce and cut up for easy sharing, if your not that hungry, really one roll is pretty big, buyer beware! Next up was the spring roll, originally, based on presentation alone, I think they need to clean the oil, as these things looked dark, one side burst out a little due to breakage of the wrapping. I can say after eating the fried spring roll, this sucker was evil good, something very meaty and tasty... and did I say.... it's FRIED! Then came the bowl of pho.. the main star. Before I go on about the pho I will say this... this is the first place where I have ever seen a S, M, and L size, aren't there usually only 2 sizes? It's not the cheapest either, as it starts at $7 and goes $8 then $9, and you charge tax, and you are cash only... hmmm.
I ordered a medium, and it eventually came, with a big dish of bean sprouts, a lime wedge, then a lemon wedge (what happened, they run out of the green fruit?). I can say that they don't cheap you out on the meat, as when I was almost done the noodles there was still lot's of meat floating around in the ocean bowl! The description is no lie, rare steak, well done flank, tendon (big piece at that), tripe, and a good few pieces of beef meatball. I now have a thing where I try the broth before poisoning it with bean sprouts, lime squeeze and dosing Sriracha sauce on it, and it didn't have that sweetness that some others had, a little on the oily side, nothing too special, till after I ate this whole bowl. The noodles were cooked pretty good, not al dente, but very close to it. While getting to the end of the bowl is where I starting to drink lots of tea, and realized this thing was laced with MSG, the one where it gives you the mild hangover headache which I really wasn't asking for.
This place definitely has it's followings as they I see they acknowledge returning customers, as I noticed one guy walking in, and the server and person from the kitchen came out to greet him and saying, "you have returned!" But with all the competition of pho places in Richmond this place has been affected by change and not being able to change with the times. Parking in the back of the place, located right across from city hall, it just feels a little bit more costly for what this place is. read more