Carolyn B.
Yelp
TL;DR. We waited about 45 min for our food to be served and almost got smoked out in the meantime.
Tried this place as it was the only pho open in the vicinity after 9pm on a Sunday. We were seated promptly after arriving at 9:10. The restaurant was pretty full. One server brought menus and, before we even picked them up, asked "Drink?" I would have liked a sec to look at the menu and see what my drink options were, but my partner just said "Hot Tea, I guess?" Then I said, "Oh, sure that sounds good, I'll have tea, too." "Two hot teas?" Without thinking that sounded strange, since we're two people who both just ordered tea, we said yes. Moments later, out come two full sized pots of tea filled to the brim (enough for 4-6 people). I felt like that was a little silly; any common sense server would bring one pot and two cups. Oh well. We later joked they brought us all that tea to keep us busy while we waited for our food.
We placed our food order around 9:17pm. Two bowls of beef pho and a fresh shrimp spring roll appetizer. My partner asked the second server if they by any chance have beef tendon, as he didn't see it on the menu. She didn't understand. He repeated it. She said, yes it has beef. I repeated it. She still didn't understand. Oh well.
About 5 min later all our pho fixings (sprouts, basil, lime, jalapeรฑos) arrive. Then that's it. For 45 minutes, we wait, hungry. We eat all our raw bean sprouts. We watch them place about 10 take-out orders out for pickup, most before the customers arrive. Seems they should try and prioritize dine-in tickets a little better. We watch three tables slowly get served--all arrived before us. Seems they were backed up.
By the way, the kitchen ventilation is horrible. One table ordered several sautรฉed dishes, and the entire restaurant became smoky from the cooking fumes. Like visibly. My throat started getting itchy and irritated from the smoke.
Finally, after all that time, my partner approaches the counter to ask where our food is. They never came to check on us. Seems they lost our order. They made it a priority. Finally, at a few minutes to 10pm (closing time), we are served. The food itself was decent. The broth had good flavor, but the veggies didn't taste quite right. Probably a 3 star meal that could be bumped up to 4 if the service experience and atmosphere were good.
They didn't deduct anything off the bill for losing our ticket and making us wait forever. Not even one of the extra teas. Doubt we'll return.
