Nguyen’s Pho House — Restaurant in Vienna

The worst dining experience so far in Vienna in our several years of living here. I had reserved this place for a girls’ night for my 10 friends. Three of us arrived five minutes early and instead of a greeting, the first question was that where are the rest of the people and that they wouldn’t seat us until everyone arrived. Fine; although other restaurants in Vienna and around the world do not expect the entire group to arrive at the very same moment so I am not sure why they expected that from us (did they think we were one big family arriving in a family van?) After we were finally seated, they rushed us to order drinks and food and were extremely rude throughout. The gentleman with the ponytail yelled at us while we were trying to split the bill. In addition we overheard them saying not to worry about our complaints because we were students (we are not students but I don’t see how that is even relevant). The tall lady with dark hair said that we would have to leave the table even when a few of us were still finishing up our food and drinks. One girl cancelled at the last moment (leaving us with 9 instead of 10), but I do not believe that is an excuse for the poor service. The tall gentleman with dark brown hair blamed me for not informing him of the single missing guest and would not accept my explanation that the cancellation was late and out of my control. Throughout the evening he treated us girls with utmost disrespect. Writing this review in calm reflection the following day, I find it incredible that all the three waiting staff we interacted with were so explicitly dismissive. We wanted to have a nice and relaxing evening but experienced just the opposite.

I have been to many restaurants in Vienna with large groups but had never experienced such hostile behavior from the staff. Their only saving grace is the chef and if not for the fantastic food, the staff would have single handedly shut the place down with their bad attitude. Instead of the waiter retorting to us on our way out, the energy would have been better invested in providing a normal service. It is safe to say that we are never going back...

Be warned: do not attempt to eat here if they are busy! We arrived with a reservation on a Sunday night after passing several other Vietnamese places that were not busy so we assumed that this place must be delicious. After being sat we waited, and waited, and waited. Finally after 35 minutes someone took our order. Then we waited, and waited. Eventually the dishes started to arrive, one about every ten minutes (so do not plan to eat all together.) We were a party of 4 so not too many but still we saw other tables getting their food a little at a time so we were ok with that. The final dish to arrive was a Banh Xeo (“pancake”) and it was completely cold. And completely oily. And flavorless. After about 10 minutes of trying to wave down a staff person I was told that being served lukewarm/cold is the traditional way it is eaten in Vietnam. They did take it away and we were not charged (which was greatly appreciated) but of course I spent this morning googling the correct way to serve the dish and it’s hot. Not to mention I traveled the entire country of Vietnam twice and got that dish, always served hot. Ok fine, moving on. My dish was vegetarian Pho, was told it was vegan even (I am a vegetarian and do not eat any meat). I got to the bottom of my dish to find a piece of chicken. Boo. My mom only got appetizers and a side of rice and the rice never arrived. All in all we were there 2 hours and I was grateful that the unsatisfactory dishes were taken off the bill, but this place clearly struggles to keep up with pace at which they seat their customers. We left feeling anxious and that rarely happens to me at any restaurants. I almost gave only 1 star but the dishes were very good for the most part and the staff were doing the best they could considering the volume. Definitely try eating here, just not...

My wife and I wanted to spend a nice evening out and we had heard great reviews of Nguyen's Pho House. However, after eating at many restaurants in Vienna, this was one of the worst experiences we have had yet.

To begin with the positive, the food was okay. I have had much better Pho before but this was average. It would have probably improved the experience if they had not sat us in a side room where 6 out of the 8 light bulbs were burnt out, zero music, and 4 white plain walls. They put zero effort into decorating this place. After being ignored by the waiters and not even offered drinks, they basically threw our food on the table and then forgot about us for the rest of the evening. I have been to enough restaurants in Vienna and Europe to know that service is not the same as compared to North American standards, but this was some of the worst service I have experienced yet. They treated us with zero respect and then mocked us when I refused to give them any tip. The owner of this establishment should be ashamed of his employees.

Overall, I am extremely surprised by the number of highly rated reviews this restaurant has received. This restaurant is HIGHLY overrated. As others have mentioned the staff is terrible and rude and there is no effort put into providing any sort of ambiance.

AVOID...