Pho-Astoria Bistro — Restaurant in Budapest

Edit - Reply to Restaurant answer:

Considering that I have wrongly seen the opening hours and went after opening hours and still was served - I'm adjusting the review score to 4/5.

I still stand by that the soup was too salty.

Also, it's true (as the restaurant said) that my girlfriend really liked the appetisers. I wasn't so excited myself and the review reflect my opinion, not hers :)

I'm sure she would have given the place 4/5 or 5/5 score.

Excited to visit the place again sometime in the future, and maybe give a 5/5 score, let's see ;)

Old review:

We were excited to eat at this place due to the nice reviews. The food was extremely salty, especially the soup. The appetizers were ok - nothing that would be "wow" or special.

As we arrived 30-60 min before closure, still we were informed that no more main meals are served. After some back and forth we were allowed to have the appetizers there but the uneatable soup we needed to bring with ourselves.

Then why not just one star but two? The service was very nice. It was 5/5, so that made one additional star.

We will need to go there once again as I'm not sure where the 5* reviews come from and opposed to my experience. As soon as I visit again, I'll...

The restaurant is small in size but it is highly popular with young couples, especially at dinner time, when its table candle lights are on. The restaurants have relatively simple menu of a few Vietnamese soup noodle, friend spring roll, or cold spring rolls, fried noodle with shrimp, chicken, etc. The restaurant also serves drinks, soda, juice, etc.

I went there a few times for trying to have simple dinner, but to have a table there at dinner time really needs to wait for more than 10 minutes. Thus, I do try to meal there at lunch, and I have No trouble to have table and meal served.

Most of the meals at this restaurant would come with chopped red pepper, cilantro, and minced garlic, and they are authentic Vietnamese meal styles.

The owner of the restaurant is a young Vietnamese immigrant, and he is very friendly and often carrying a smiling face and has no trouble to chat with foreign tourists in English.

Per dish entry at the restaurant is...

The owner was very nice and service was great. The serving sizes were a bit small, but the prices are quite low (esp considering they plate nicely here), so I guess this just means you can try more items~ Personally, I felt the dishes lacked vegetables -- the owner explained to us that in Northern Vietnamese cuisine, e.g. pho is not served with beansprouts. 🤔 What they do provide, they do quite well with attention to detail -- e.g. the pho comes with both fresh/quality lemon and lime and the chicken breast is generous and plated nicely; the bbq pork in the banh mi has a more unique spice mix; the bun cha had little pickled carrots/daikon in the sauce and the more fragrant garnishes (mint, basil, etc.). The owner brought us extra pickled veggies when we asked, but the lack of lettuce / cucumber / beansprouts is a deal breaker for me. My boyfriend liked our meal though, and in any case, they seem to really value and prioritize the customer...