Pho Reviews 

On Friday, September 6th, around 2:00 PM, I visited the Pho Café in Islington for the first time. Unfortunately, this visit turned into a deeply traumatising experience. Moments after my food had been served, a typically East European man (who looked like a Romanian gypsy, you know, the ones who beg and leave things on the tube) – tall, big, broad-shouldered, round-faced – approached me. He was uncomfortably too close and silently placed a piece of paper with writing on my iPhone beside me on the table (which I was unaware of then). His demeanour immediately made me uneasy. He didn’t speak, but evil stared at me with an unsettling, almost predatory gaze. I politely told him I had no cash and asked if he could leave. The situation felt wrong from the start. His paper even touched my food, further adding to the discomfort.
Immediately after this man left, I realised my iPhone 15 Pro Max was missing. The theif had used the paper as a distraction tactic to steal it. I was in a state of shock and panic, searching for him, but he had disappeared without a trace. The feeling of violation was profound, and even now, I feel uneasy about eating out at restaurants.
This incident highlights a serious lack of security and customer care at Pho Café. Despite this apparently being a known issue in the area, the staff failed to warn me or other customers of the potential for phone theft. The absence of proactive measures or warnings is a serious concern and needs to be addressed immediately. Had I been made aware of the risks, I would have been more cautious and put my phone away. Instead, I was left vulnerable.
It is deeply troubling that the restaurant prioritises avoiding negative publicity over the safety of its customers. The absence of proactive measures or warnings is telling. I have decided never to return to Pho Café, and I strongly advise others to exercise extreme caution if they choose to visit. This restaurant is not a safe environment, and dining there means risking your meal and your valuable personal belongings.

I recently visited the Pho restaurant in Canary Wharf with my 4-month-old baby in a pushchair and my wife. Despite half of the tables being empty, we were told by the waitress that we could not sit at certain tables due to company policy. Later, I politely asked another customer if they would mind switching seats with us, and they kindly agreed.

Immediately after, the manager, Tom, approached us and warned that we are not allowed to ask other customers to change seats. I explained politely that we had already spoken to a team member and had simply asked for a change. Tom then "politely" asked us to leave the store. I felt threatened by his words and attitude, so we left. This behavior is unacceptable under any conditions.

Following this incident, I contacted senior management about the unacceptable behavior and the unsatisfactory explanation I received. No one, including the general manager, has apologized for this horrible experience. Instead, it seems they are implying that I am the one who behaved inappropriately.

I was expecting someone from Pho to give me a simple phone call to apologize to me and my family. Clearly, that is not part of their company's practices. Even the way they handle emails is unprofessional, which perhaps explains why store managers feel justified in attacking clients.

I will never visit a Pho restaurant again and will ensure that this behavior and the company policy of intimidating clients are made known to the public. I want others to be aware of how poorly we were treated so that they do not become victims like my family and me.

Ibrahim

We were staying at Cardiff city centre and ordered dinner from Pho via deliveroo. The order came sealed but to our utter surprise it had only one order and was missing the other order plus cutlery. On calling the restaurant they were very unapologetic and said ithey can't do anything and we can contact deliveroo. On going on deliveroo app there was no option to ask restaurant to send missing item and was just a refund they offered . It's the restaurant fault I would say as the order package came sealed so they should have made sure they dispatched the full order ! We were left with one of us hungry , irritated and had to reorder from a diff restaurant. V bad experience with Pho restaurant Cardiff City Centre

My favourite restaurant! I’ve been several times to the Manchester one and today dined at the Liverpool Castle street one. Every time I’m delighted, the food is amazing. I’m gluten free and I love that I can have anything on the menu (with only one exception and there is an alternative for that) Service is always quick, food is delicious, portion size is good, price is good, service charge is pointed out as optional but it’s not silly like some places so I always pay it as the staff are great. I love the decor I even love the quirky trek to the loo. I think they’re competing with spoons for the longest journey to toilets

Delicious food, fantastic, knowledgeable staff and at a reasonable price. What's not to like?

I used to really enjoy Pho and bought into the fact it seems 'healthy', and it may be. I have asked on multiple occasions in person and via email for them to provide sodium content of their dishes. This has been met with a resounding deafness of silence so loud that my mind can only think they are hiding something. In person, if the staff is unaware they happily say ' I'll find out' they return and say something sheepishly along the lines of 'we don't have that information'. I can no longer support Pho and it's claims of being healthy if they can't simply publish all of their nutrition instead of just the topics they want to showcase.
Now that I've looked at their product from a viewpoint of this company just wants to make money, I realize their portions seem huge, mostly salt water while any protein is very small. Just not worth it, make it at home since it's super simple!

Would liked to have tried but they said no table available, we counted at least 8 empty tables, they don’t want business so I wouldn’t bother plenty good restaurants around the area

If I could do a 0.5 review I would. £13 for a curry which is cheap. But not when the rice is burnt and the curry tastes horrid. Chicken was so plain I thought it was killed and thrown on the plate instantly. I swallowed something sour in the curry which after that I refused to eat anymore. I was then vomiting at the next place I went to and 3 hours later have a distinctive taste in my throat. I’m calling it the house of throat as the only thing that had excitement and joy was my tonsils getting blasted from reverse distinctive

Visited the Edinburgh branch today and had the best meal I’ve had in a long time. Loved the atmosphere and the look of the place and the smell as you walk in assures you of great things happening in the kitchen.
Hoang who served us was friendly and smiley. The food itself tasted so fresh and was full of flavour. We loved all the additional ingredients that you could add into your dish as well. Overall we were delighted- will definitely be back!

Pho Bournemouth was incredible. My partner and I enjoyed our meals and even ordered pudding.
Ivy our waitress was absolutely lovely and very helpful with our order. Good service and brilliant food, will be returning again.

I had always enjoyed the food of this chain in some of its London Branches a few years ago. I was looking forward to trying it again in Bournemouth. I ordered the 3 mushroom pho soup and rather than being packed with mushrooms like in all my previous visits it had about 6 in. The flavour was good but the content not enough. I would have said to the waitress but thought there might be more at the bottom when I'd got through the noodles but there wasn't. And after that I just wanted to get out. That brings me to paying. Was told at the end it was card only. That isn't good enough as we weren't told that at the start. If I hadn't been with others I would have refused to pay by card and offered cash which I reckon faced with no alternative they would have taken. However now I know I won't be going again, even if the food had been better. Shame as it used to be so good. Music was obtrusive too. Need to choose music with mass appeal to all ages

This is not authentic Vietnamese food. The pho is 75% water 20% noodle and you guessed it 5% chicken. The little chicken I did get was so dry it was impossible to eat it. I mentioned this to the waitress and she didn’t take my complaint seriously. Please avoid the Canary Wharf branch as you will be very disappointed.

One of the worst experiences I've had visiting a restaurant for a very long time.

I love Vietnamese food but hadn't tried Pho so I thought I'd take the family for a Christmas treat to the Pho restaurant in Guildford. I booked a table for 5 well in advance and looked forward to the evening with my family. I got a confirmation text to check we were still coming and said yes to that. We were all set to go.

Then it all went horribly wrong.

I was called mid afternoon on the day we had booked and told there would be no wok based meals available as something was wrong in the kitchen. Slightly annoying but there was plenty else on the meal for all us to enjoy so I wasn’t too bothered. I should have asked exactly what the issue was though as I might have saved my time later on…. but more on that below.

After attending an event earlier in the evening we arrived at 8.30pm for our booking. At the door we were greeted by a member of staff who told us the restaurant would be closed at 9pm due to, I think she said, staffing issues. We would have less than 30 minutes to select our food and eat it. Obviously not enough time.

I asked why I wasn't called and told the situation so we could have picked another restaurant in Guildford or not travelled (30 mins for us) and wasted a journey. The staff member told me it was 'hectic', too hectic to spend 30 seconds on the phone or send a text? Really? But they called me earlier to tell me the wok problem. It would have been nice to at least have been given more details or, perhaps, the truth.

We tried to find another place to eat but it was getting late and as it was the week before Christmas everywhere was busy and full. We ended up heading home extremely disappointed.

I expected a call or message from the restaurant next day to apologise and perhaps offer some kind of discount should we wish to return. As you might have guessed I got nothing. Three days later though I did get two different emails from Pho - one to tell me 'Thank you for dining with us!' and the second 'We would appreciate your feedback about your experience at Pho Guildford.'
Brilliant! Their dysfunctional customer communications actually made me and the family laugh. Joking aside though it’s kind of pathetic. Actually it’s really pathetic.

My advice to you, don’t bother with Pho, they’re a mess.

And to anyone from Pho if you are reading this this? Please don’t bother apologising or trying to offer me any kind of discounted meal, I won’t be coming back and nor will any of my friends and family. If your treat your staff like you treat your customers I’m not surprised you have staffing issues. Spend your time fixing the shambles you have in your restaurant and with your staff so you don’t disappoint any more families or customers around especially around Christmas.

The dishes are absolutely not authentic; the cooking methods for pork, beef, and chicken are far from what Vietnamese cuisine should be. Even the basic elements are lacking. The texture of noodles and rice doesn't meet the standard for Vietnamese cuisine. When settling the bill, they included a 12.5% voluntary service charge. However, the waiter presented the receipt with this service charge already added, using a questionable approach. It's either voluntary or assumed? The customer's willingness to pay voluntarily is their right; the restaurant shouldn't assume and forcefully include it in the bill without consent. Ridiculous!

It has been over three years since I last visited this pho restaurant. Unfortunately, the food quality has significantly declined. But what was even more concerning was when a man came out of the restroom and loudly informed the server that the chef had not washed his hands after using the toilet. He repeated it three times, causing shock among the customers, but the staff seemed unfazed. The Balham Pho restaurant is not a place I will ever choose to dine at again, I may never eat at any of them again. Shocking!!!🤮

Unfortunately food served at Pho in Oxford has nothing to do with a real taste of Vietnam.
Pho broth is full of warming spices, cinnamon, star anise etc, the one served at PHO has no taste and it was full of froth, thinly sliced steak turned out being super chunky and chewy.
As PHO is a chain restaurant I would recommend passing this feedback to your Chef Executive. Please review your recipes and add a bit of real Vietnamese flavour ;)
Service was very good though.

Terrible, rude, unprofessional customer service. Will never step foot back in any of Pho’s restaurants.

The staff here treated me appallingly. I visited Pho on Thursday 16 November at around 7.30pm at the Cambridge branch. When I arrived, we were shown to a table that was right under a loud speaker blaring out music. Due to being partly deaf and wearing hearing aids, I asked the staff member to turn down the music. I also pointed directly at my hearing aids, to indicate that I was partly deaf.

She immediately refused, saying that she wasn’t allowed to. She didn’t offer to get a manager who presumably would’ve been able to help. Instead she moved us to another table where the music was just as loud. As a result, I struggled to hear what was being said by the people with me due to the waitress’s refusal to turn down the music.

There was absolutely no sense of empathy, and her general demeanour throughout the night felt bad, including leaving customers stood at the open door in the cold, and generally coming across as unfriendly.

Although the food was ok, I’m shocked that in the 21st century restaurants still think that treating people with disabilities with contempt is acceptable, no less in such a liberal place. I don’t recommend this place at all and I’ve never experienced anything like it in my life.