Karen S.
Yelp
I only pho once a year, so I wish I'd been blown away. Pho Dien is still the best I've ever had, but they have weird hours, long lines, and sell out regularly.
One of my best friends is obsessed with pho. Naturally, I hit her up when I had a rare craving. The MOMENT I sat down at the table, our server (older Viet lady) came by to take our order. My friend was ready with her usual choice, but I asked for a few minutes. The server just stared at me and didn't say anything, so I asked her if she would recommend something. Again, no response. Then she quickly pointed at something on the menu which I didn't quite catch in time, so I asked her to repeat it. Again, nothing. I think we were both exasperated by the language barrier at this point, because she left to go get someone else to come over- a male, English-speaking server. He helped clear up my confusion over "cow tails" (it's oxtail), so I got the young calf and oxtail pho.
Our food came out rather quickly. The rare calf meat was served on the side, and after cooking it in the broth, I dipped it in the most delicious ginger sauce. I'm not the biggest fan of ginger, so thankfully this was pretty mild. The broth was tasty, but I could clearly taste the MSG. After my meal, I was SUPER THIRSTY (no dirty jokes, please).
We walked up to the counter to pay, and of course it was the Viet lady again. As I tried to hand over my cash, she literally started a FaceTime call with someone. We stood around waiting, unable to contain our laughter at the weirdness of the situation. After a few minutes, she hung up and rang us up.