Pho Xpress gets a solid four stars out of my wife and me. In general, we thought the food was good and service by Ian was great. This is a fast-casual Vietnamese restaurant located in the Alexander Place shopping center, across the parking lot from Walmart.
Pho Xpress opened in May 2016. There are two other "Pho Xpress" restaurants in Texas, one of which also features in its logo a bowl and chopsticks to form the "X" in Xpress. I wonder if they are or were related at some point. During our visit to this Pho Xpress in Raleigh on a Thursday around 7pm, both the restaurant and shopping center were quite busy. This appears to be a popular place. We dined in. For most of the duration of our stay, the dining room was mostly at capacity. There were numerous takeout orders too, both online and walk-up.
We'd actually originally planned to go to Mekong Vietnamese restaurant in nearby Morrisville, but when Mekong was unexpectedly closed, I found Pho Xpress by doing a quick Yelp search on my phone. The two restaurants are only a couple miles (7-10 minutes) from each other. Right off the bat, by its looks, Pho Xpress struck me as a mediocre "Americanized" Vietnamese restaurant. However, I decided to go with Pho Xpress based on its four-star average Yelp rating with 271 reviews at the time. I'm happy to report Yelp didn't steer us wrong here.
As mentioned above, this is a fast-casual place where you order at the register. If dining in, you take a number and they'll bring the food to your table. They have two registers. Drinks are self-serve from a fridge behind the counter. The interior is nicely decorated in Vietnamese fashion. It's not a terribly big restaurant, but it's not tiny either. I guesstimate the dining room can seat about 40, maybe 50 customers, comfortably. There's additional seating outside too. The outdoor patio is uncovered. The atmosphere is very much casual.
There are two storefronts and entrances. It's easier to find parking on the Walmart side of the restaurant.
Pho Xpress serves all the "casual" Vietnamese staples: pho noodle soup, banh mi sandwiches, bun rice vermicelli noodle bowls, fresh spring/summer rolls, and rice plates. Expect to spend at least about $11-15 per meal here. For example, at the time of our visit, most bowls of pho were priced at $12.50 and $13.50 each, one size only. At first, my wife and I thought the banh mi prices were expensive. The prices were anywhere from $10.50 to $12.50 per sandwich. Those prices made more sense after we realized the sandwiches are big (at least the one we got) and come with a bowl of beef broth (same as the pho broth, I think) and a fried egg roll with dipping sauce. Pho Xpress also serves drinks like Vietnamese coffee ($5.25) and bubble tea (about $7 per serving, one size only).
Here's what we got:
* Pho Dac Biet / House Special Pho ($14.50) - rice noodles, bean sprouts, basil, cilantro, jalapeno, lime, onion, scallions, rare beef, meatballs, brisket, and tendon; served with Sriracha and hoisin sauces
* Banh Mi Dac Biet / House Special Banh Mi ($12.50) - mayonnaise, coconut spread, cucumber, pickled carrots and daikon radish, cilantro, jalapeno, grilled pork, fried egg, and avocado; served with a fried egg roll, dipping sauce, and a side of beef broth with scallions
* Bun Dac Biet / House Special Bun Bowl ($14.50) - grilled chicken, rice vermicelli, cucumber, bean sprouts, lettuce, purple cabbage, basil, pickled carrots and daikon, fried scallions, peanuts, shrimp, and fried egg rolls with sauce
* Fresh Spring/Summer Rolls (3 rolls for $10.95) - grilled beef, rice vermicelli, cucumber, bean sprouts, lettuce, purple cabbage, basil, and peanut sauce
Everything was tasty. I recommend all of the items listed above. With the sandwiches, vermicelli noodle bowls, and rolls, you have several protein options: pork, chicken, beef, tofu, pork belly, shrimp, and avocado. Note the pork belly isn't available for the noodle bowl.
What impressed us most about the pho was the broth. It was more flavorful and savory than I expected. I wouldn't go as far as to say that it's among the most complex pho broths I've tasted - there weren't enough floral nor herby notes for that - but it was yummy for sure. As noted above, I think the broth they served on the side with the banh mi was also pho broth. It was good. While some of my favorite, more "authentic" pho dac biet ingredients were missing (beef tripe, culantro), I thought overall, Pho Xpress' pho dac biet was delicious and satisfying. The quality of the noodles and meats was A-OK. The Sriracha and hoisin sauces were a must.
The Banh Mi Dac Biet was huge, flavorful, and filling. The sandwich was so big, it was hard to eat like a sandwich. The ingredients were on point. The Bun Dac Biet and the Fresh Rolls were similar because they shared many of the same ingredients. The fried egg rolls were crispy and terrific. I noticed the noodles in the bun were already lightly marinated, which is uncommon. read more