I very much enjoyed the food. I had the Beef rib pho. My husband had the Bone Marrow with Oxtail Pho. I gave it 5 stars because the broth is second to none in Calgary and may be comparable to the real good Pho restaurants in Seattle, LA, and Vietnam. However, the chef needs to understand that oxtail needs to be cooked longer. It must be fall off the bone to indicate you know how to cook ox tail. The beef balls are not soft enough so please work on that. Otherwise, excellent. Mimosa and coffee were excellent.
The worst part of our experience is the customer service. I think Pho An A could be significantly more popular and successful if they train their staff better. The servers do not look around as they serve, costing them time to have to return back multiple times and missing out on opportunities to demonstrate exceptional customer service. The wait to order, to get food, to ask for extra things, to ask for another Mimosa that required a 30 minute wait to get, and the communication skills of the staff was a complete turn off. The staff behind the bar should look around and walk around and talk to customers and help out.
I would recommend this restaurant but please make sure you come with a lot of patience. And perhaps, the staff may need teaching moments in order to improve if the owner does not do anything to improve. Otherwise, the truth is, poor customer service can make for a poor food experience and may not be worth it.
I will visit again in a month and will write another review if there is any improvement. I will be looking for improved cooking skills from the chef with the oxtail and improved customer service. I am really hoping to write an amazing review next time. Pho An An, I am vouching for you because truly, your broth moved my...
Read moreMy wife and I accidentally found this hidden gem when she had an appointment at the nearby Lasik center. We regularly stop by whenever we are driving through Calgary now.
The atmosphere is light and quiet, the host is as nice as you could hope for. My experience is that he knows how often to stop by the table, coming neither too often nor too infrequently (a rare skill for servers and hosts these days).
If you like a smooth spicy experience, I cannot recommend the Curry Soup highly enough (#27 and pictured below) with chicken. Easily the best Curry soup I've ever had, it has become a constant when we order food.
Another amazing dish is the Vietnamese salad (#5 and pictured below). It is a nice moderate to light dish while you are waiting for your main dish.
All in all I encourage everyone to give this hidden gem of a restaurant a chance. I will continue to on my trips through Calgary.
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Read moreFood was amazing, but I couldn't eat all my chicken curry soup, so I asked them to put it into a take away. He came back with a takeout like won ton soup. My bowl was full, had loads of chicken and vermicelli. Then I opened the take out styrofoam thing and there is no chicken or vermicelli, just strained the soup, kept the vermicelli and chicken and I got nothing but bits that fell through the strainer. So I guess the next person who has curry chicken soup will get my chicken and vermicelli. I took pictures of the size of bowl I had left over and the bowl I received. T bad I can't add these photos on here but I will try to add them on the main picture area. Never ever agian. I'm not even sure if it was fresh or strained the soup I got...
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