David R.
Yelp
After leaving BSO with a friend, we decided to get a bite to eat, and decided upon Pho Basil. It was a little bit of a pain because you had to be added to the waiting list via a scan on your phone. I would much rather be able to walk inside and put my name on a list rather than having to stand outside in the cold and try to scan askew so I can get on a waiting list. Anyways, my friend was very interested in eating here so we put ourselves on the list. Once inside, it was extremely tight we were against the wall at a two seater with about 10 inches between the tables where people had a squished through, including the servers. I understand about optimizing your space but maybe they should think about a different seating arrangement as it was extremely uncomfortable as I'm a 275 pound guy my left arm was pressed against the wall the entire meal. And I kept getting touched by the service as they were bringing over food to our table and two other tables.
The food came out all at once rather than the appetizers, and then the mains, which is not really a bad thing as I like a full table but unfortunately, all of these plates and bowls did not fit on the table and it was just so crowded that it impeded my happiness of eating anything.
Now that I vented about my seating experience, I would like to say that the staff was very friendly and helpful, as well as knowledgeable and very polite .
So now onto the orders for appetizers, we ordered the fried Gyoza I believe there were eight Gyoza on the plate with a small piece of iceberg lettuce, and some pickled radish carrot on top. The Gyoza was cooked correctly with a small amount of stuffing not really anything special. I would rate it as 2 stars, dish was priced at $8.50.
We also ordered the wings. I forget how many were, maybe six or eight. They were supposed to be cooked with a special Thai herb. However, I did not taste any type of spicing. However, they were delicious, fried perfectly, and extremely tasty. They also came with the same little piece of iceberg lettuce and pickled radish carrots on the side with a little bit of dipping sauce. Wings are at 5 stars. Price $8.95, possibly the best value on the menu.
For a couple of the mains we ordered Pad See You, which is basically a stirfried noodle with some broccoli, carrot, Chinese broccoli, egg and some beef. This dish was the best thing on the table. I would give this a 4 star rating as there was very little beef. Price $16.96.
And lastly, we ordered the Dac Biet, which is Pho. The bowl was the size of the medium at most pho restaurants , however,Ph Basil only had one size. The Dac Biet comes with rare steak, well-done flank, tendon and tripe. We ordered ours without the tripe. I did ask the waitress if there was a good amount of meat or if I could possibly order extra meat, she said there was a lot of meat. I'd say it was on the lite side and would've liked and appreciated if I could have ordered extra meat. I would've had no problem paying extra for it as I do it most places. Unfortunately it was not even an option. All in all the Pho was pretty average as you'd find well outside the city. The broth was a tad on the salty side. I would put it in the middle maybe a 2 1/2 stars for the Pho.
No, as everyone knows on mass Avenue basically there's no parking if you're lucky enough to get a meter the parking guards I'll looking down on you.
I did not happen to view the restrooms, so I cannot state the cleanliness as I cannot for the kitchen. If you are downtown, it's a very pleasant place to go as long as it's not cold outside as they make you wait outside not in the restaurant.
