PHO ZONE — Restaurant in Grande Prairie

This is the third resurrection of this Vietnamese Phở noodlehouse. The Original Phở One was actually pretty good, but eating in was essential (Phở does not taste the same when reheated).

The second owner did not seem to care about the quality of the food or service, so there was a little hesitancy in trying again with the new owner.

Not much has changed inside decor wise, but there's still plenty of seating. There was only about a half dozen people, but it seemed like there were only two staff working. That said seating is wherever you like, but attentiveness of the staff was excellent.....tea was immediately brought to the table without asking.

If you choose to dine, you HAVE to order the "spring rolls"...... they are deep fried crispiness and are about 3 times the size of what you would think is spring roll sized.

Naturally, Phở was ordered. There's not a remarkable difference in size or price between large and medium. The test of any Phở is the broth.....which in this case, was delightful......fragrant & tasty without too much saltiness. Seating-to-eating time ~15 minutes

The side of fresh jalapeños, bean sprouts & lime was only missing the fresh basil that usually accompanies the dish.

The waiter was a little hesitant to bring their hottest hot sauce to the table (we're used to having chili oil as a table condiment that wasn't there) so, he brought us 3 small dishes of their #1, #2, and #3 hot sauces (the chili sauce being the "hottest").

They make a homemade Nước chấm.....not really a favorite, but their #2 Hotness (I think) Tương ớt was excellent! We wanted to take a bottle home.

Full stomachs for about $25/per person with tip.

Definitely will be eating...

I stopped in today for lunch. Living in Northern Alberta (I live two hours north of Grande Prairie) We tend to miss out on authentic worldly cuisines and I must say, this was by far the best bowl of pho I’ve tasted in the entire province! I hail from southwestern ontario where pho spots are a dime a dozen and it even out those to shame in some heavily viet influenced communities. The owners were very attentive and made small conversation post meal enjoyment. I will gladly go back again when in town. Ask about their pho challenge size bowl! He showed me the size and considering how delicious it was, I may be able to conquer it myself....

The service wasn't great - had to get our own menus and they got my order wrong the first time. They were also playing deep house covers of popular music at 1pm on a Sunday with the bass turned up - interesting choice. However, I was pleasantly surprised with the nuoc mam. It wasn't too mild and had a bit of a kick with a decent balance of flavours. I got the lemongrass bowl and the portion size was large. They put in enough lemongrass as well. Definitely got my vegetable serving for the day.

The pho bowl was good. Only complaint is it did not...