le Pho — Restaurant in Vienna

Never been more humiliated as a guest

I was a regular customer until recently. My latest dinner, however, turned out to be a nightmare.

This used to be one of my favorite places to get affordable Vietnamese food. And since their interior design makeover it even became bearable to sit there.

When I went there recently it was somewhat crowded and we were happy to be able to still get a seat. As I am allergic to soy, we ordered all our dishes without the soy sprouts. We wrote it on the order and also told the waitress.

However, once the food arrived we were baffled to find soy sprouts in all of our dishes. It was ok for the starter and one soup since they were on the side. But for one of the main dishes the soy sprouts were also mixed in with the noodles.

When we told the older waitress, she reacted annoyed and told us that they were “only on the side”, when I had just picked out ten soy sprouts that were cooked with and mixed in with the noodles. Upon pointing that out she took the plate back in a very angry manner and came back after a while. It was the same plate minus the soy sprouts on the side. She impatiently repeated that there were no soy sprouts in the dish. However, there obviously were more which I continued to pick out and put on the side. We could not believe what had just happened.

I wasn’t even able to eat my dish and felt helpless. When we told another (younger) waitress, what had happened and that I was allergic to soy, she started screaming at us. She insisted that there were no soy sprouts in the food. She then went on to yell at us that she could not do anything since she was not the one who took the order. Then she took off. And we were left confused. When we stopped another waitress, the one who took the order, she took the plate back, without saying anything.

A little later, I finally got a new dish, which however appeared to be another dish. Instead of chicken and shrimp, there was only chicken. In addition, it was the same younger waitress who had screamed at us earlier who brought us the plate. She merely stood there with the plate uttering a sarcastic “uh sorry?!” like it was our responsibility to serve the food.

While I tried to eat some of the food, my companion had completely lost his appetite. And we left early. They tried to charge us 90 cents for tap water which my friend protested against. However, there was no empathy from the waitress at all. She did not even look at us. Let alone apologize. When we were leaving, there was another waiter jumping in and finally admitting that they got something mixed up.

However, it does not make up for the verbal abuse (and the attempted food poisoning) that we had to go through. Needless to say, our evening was ruined. I am very disappointed and wonder why someone with so little empathy for their guests and such an ‘f * off- attitude’ would want to run...

I used to go once a week pre Covid, and since then less often but still often enough. My last few dining experiences were awful, but the last three especially! The staff was very unfriendly, terrible customer service, and getting the wrong order (with no acknowledgement on their part). Last time, which was my last straw, my friend and I basically got kicked out after being there for 2 hours even though I had reserved and there was not time limit. There was just another reso and we had to leave. Not only that, my fried rice had egg in it even though I asked for none, which normally I would think - it happens, but then the waitress took my meal away to double check (she didn't believe me that there was rice in there!! even though it was clear!), and didn't come back with my new bowl of rice for 10mins. No apology, no nothing! And this time my rice had no mushrooms in it. I paid for them, but they weren't in there! Anyhow, three final strikes and I'm out! It's too bad cause the food is great, but the service and staff are terrible (except for one guy with glasses who is sooo friendly and great!) it is just not a pleasant atmosphere to enjoy a nice meal it, and to be treated like that especially since I used to be there on...

Pro: Ambience. Refurbished very tastefully in August 2017. This earned them the two stars. Con: Everything else.

We got there in the early afternoon, the place was half-full, enough to make Service very, very slow. We ordered soup with pho and Vietnamese omlet. After a very long waiting period, we were being served a normal omlet and soup with vermicelli. Upon complaining about the wrong type of noodles, the waitress explained that they had run out of pho and it would take a while to make more. We accepted and she took the soup back. After 15 minutes, a different waitress served the soup with ordinary rice noodles (the thin, broad variety); so we complained again. The waitress first insisted that this type of noodles is what goes as "pho" at this place and then started acting like she didn't understand us. So we gave up; unfortunately, the food was also very bland and poor, fully lacking the fragrance of Vietnamese cuisine. You will find much better Vietnamese food in the same Price range elsewhere in Vienna. Not to mention...