Rob Photons — Restaurant in Hachinohe

This place had been touted by people from around the base as the best place for Pho in this area. This place is NOT the best...or even good. I ordered beef pho with meatballs added and a coke. When we got our food my coke was opened and a straw inserted and carried it to my table where it promptly tipped over and fell, because having open containers of tall skinny items is a good idea. I admit I am not the most coordinated individual so I can take some ownership of it tipping over. Next after my wife and I cleaned up half of my coke on the floor/table I began to dig in...there was no flavor, zilch, nada, zero. The beef slices tasted like they had been boiled in a separate thing of water and then added to the broth as it lacked any flavor. The meatballs were more akin to Italian meatballs than what you'd expect from a Vietnamese restaurant but those too...bland. the broth itself tasted like it was cooked in the building next to a instant pho plant and caught a hint of the aroma from it and that was the "pho". 0 onions even offered let alone in the soup. 500 yen for a ketchup cups size of cilantro extra...the atmosphere was okay, no major complaint about that. This place for what it is...is overpriced. I will not...

I came here for lunch last month on a Saturday. Pretty slow day, because when I walked in, there were only two other guests there.

That afternoon, there was only one person working there; she was in charge of cooking all the food, cleaning up and everything. Which I thought was very strange. Like, if I placed an order for the food I wanted, how long is this gonna take??

Sure enough, I placed my order and the lady acknowledged my order. And the wait began. 20-25 minutes later, my order finally arrived. For such a long wait, the pho was quite disappointing.

The dead-ringer for a good pho is an excellent broth. If the broth sucks, then, chances are the rest of the dish is gonna suck as well. This broth wasn't flavorful at all. Overall, the dish wasn't even hot.

The saving grace for this experience was the quality of service. Even though this lady was by herself, she was still trying to push out the food and drinks from the kitchen as best she could. I'll give her that credit.

Otherwise, I wasn't impressed with Rob Photon's. The food was mediocre, and only having one staff member running the whole place during lunch on a...

After cycling for 8 days, over 800+km, I wanted to eat something different than combini food and bananas. I left 大間町 in the morning rain, I got to 八戸 tired, sweaty, and just feeling like dirt waiting to check-in at my hotel. After a much needed shower, I looked around to see what's around...then I found this little gem. Modest yet delicious food, but most importantly, genuine-friendly smiles from the folks working. Definitely raised my spirits, definitely romanticized about living up here.

Don't take it from me tho. I'm nobody, but another looking for answers.

Siempre por la calle. Andamos y nada más. Los perros callejeros de...