Pho Baker street — Restaurant in London

The atmosphere was very nice however, it did have Nando’s vibes. Music was good but didn’t really make sense for the restaurant and was slightly too loud.

The service was excellent, everyone was incredibly bright and welcoming. Although, on two occasions staff have approached our table asking if the drinks they were carrying were for our table (they were not). Also, we didn’t really have a set server, a total of 5 different members of staff have assisted our table. I believe only the host actually introduced himself, rest of the staff did not. I also don’t think they wear name tags.

Now onto the food, I ordered baby squid as a starter and I was very pleased with it. It was lightly fried and tasted very fresh not rubbery at all. Probably the best baby squid I’ve had. The sauce it came with was also perfect although I did squeeze too much lime into the little pot. However, the garnish felt like it was just thrown on top of the squid. Few chillies and coriander stems (coriander was yellowing too). Just to add a note on timing, it took about 20 ish minutes to come out.

For the main, I ordered a beef combo pho. This was okay, it satisfied the craving but the broth was slightly too salty and too greasy (this might be due to the 3 different forms of beef in the soup). They were very generous with the beef. Had at least 3 meatballs, 3 portions of steak and brisket. Meatballs were very nice however, I wasn’t too keen on the steak and brisket as they were a little dry and I felt like I was chewing it for a very long time. Garnish for the pho was standard, mint, bean sprouts and coriander. This took another 20 mins to come out after we confirmed our mains. The table next to us ordered their mains after us and got their food before we did which was a bit annoying.

Drinks, not too much to say. I ordered a Saigon beer and also tried their house white wine. The beer came in its bottle, server asked if I wanted a glass. Usually, when ordering drinks that come in glass bottles come with a glass without asking. Although I didn’t really mind, it would’ve been nice if I didn’t have to ask for a glass. The white wine was quite nice, I enjoyed it.

Overall, I think it was a lovely experience and would probably...

As you see, I have not rated food the reason is I did not get to the order stage. On 1st Dec evening dinner time was ushered in the restaurant and was looking forward to a nice warm bowl of soup. Once we were seated the waitress went off and as we settled down one man came with roses and tried to sell to us. Inside the restaurant we assumed he is part of the team . Anyway we refused to buy and he went off. I realised my phone which I had kept on the table also was gone. The manager told they do not allow outside sellers to come in . However on checking cctv confirmed there was indeed a person who was on our table with roses trying to sell and had gone off. No further effort was made by them to recover the phone so I rushed back to block the phone as it had all my personal data and bank cards. Subsequently lodged a police complaint and also wrote to the restaurant . The restaurant wrote back saying there has been lapse on their part and are sorry . I requested them to at least provide me a replacement phone as I am a tourist and my cards and everything has gone with the phone - they never bothered to respond back . I had also told them to put a sign inside saying prominently that they are not responsible for any personal items of customers stolen from the restaurant. When we enter a restaurant and are securely seated by the restaurant staff we assume we are in a safe space and can open our jacket and keep our phone on the table , relax and enjoy the evening. If this is not so Pho Baker street should inform the customers - and this is very evident from what has happened. From their non response (except for one email) it does not look like they have taken any action to that effect so this post is for all those visiting to be aware and be extra careful or you can get mugged from your...

The interior atmosphere and seats were great - it felt very comfy inside! The food was fine too: warm, tasty, and quick to arrive to the table. This part of my experience was fine!

Unfortunately, I felt let down massively by the service I received. My drink was spilled on the table (and on the floor on the way over to me) by the waitress, who said absolutely nothing whilst looking at the spillage, and then silently and quickly went to the bar to retrieve paper towels. However, when she got them, she just dried her hands and put the paper towels back! I was kind of expecting a small apology or even a lighthearted joke about the spillage, which would've been fine, but the situation was soured by the waitress running away and trying to ignore the problem completely!

The spillage (a fair amount of my drink in the middle of the table) was literally ignored for the rest of the meal and felt really unprofessional. The waitress clearly knew about it because she was talking about the cup at the bar beforehand and dried her hands afterwards - but just left me with a messy table and an overflowing cup!

Overall, this let down an otherwise lovely meal. That's why I want to recommend the atmosphere (and somewhat the food), but your experience may vary wildly depending on who serves...