Pho Portsmouth — Restaurant in Portsmouth

We’ve eaten authentic Pho with my family before and we are very disappointed with the flavours and quality of food at this restaurant. We had great hopes because of the good reviews but the most popular Vietnamese Pho at this restaurant was terrible. We tried the beef brisket, beef combo and tofu & mushroom pho (noodle soup) and it was bland, lukewarm almost cold, noodles were hard and not blanched before serving, beef brisket was tough and dry even though it does looked slow cooked and separated like strings, don’t be fooled the brisket was so tough not tender! Totally over boiled until flavourless! I know it’s common to add fish sauce, chilli oil etc which was generously available and condiment bottles and jars were clean. But the base broth was too flavourless and not authentic at all, authentic ones are slow cooked with good quality beef blanched before cooking broth to keep it clear so you can TASTE the beef in the broth but this restaurant served lukewarm almost cold, flavourless broth. Noodles were highly disappointing as it was hard and tasted half cooked instead of blanched before serving. All Pho came with bean sprouts, mint and leaves on the side plate which is appreciated but don’t bother because the bean sprouts tasted unwashed. The only good thing was the Seafood Spring Rolls starter which tasted great with the dipping sauce but you only get 2 pieces. I understand it was busy as all tables were full in the restaurant but table service was awful and slow. It took 15 mins for drinks to be served and we could never get the attention of waiters because it was so loud and busy. Maybe they are understaffed? They couldn’t even get my second order right when my brother texted me he wanted to try the beef steak Pho too. Overall I cannot recommend this restaurant for Pho or any kind of...

Visited pho in gunwharf quays for lunch, very nicely situated on the upper level facing the harbour with a view of all the boats and especially good on a bright warm autumn day. We started with the vegetarian summer rolls with the peanut dipping sauce. The rice paper was very thick which held the filling nicely but it was doesn't have the delicate bite that is would expect, the filling is fresh, crunchy and lightly flavoured with the mint. The peanut dip adds a nice sweetness to the rolls, luckily they have the garlic vinegar condiment on the table that goes perfectly with the rolls. For the mains I went with the beef combo pho, it has a mix of thinly sliced steak, brisket and meatballs with thick rice noodles in a very flavourful, plenty of spring onions and light beef broth. A selection of fresh herbs (mint, Coriander, lime wedge and bean sprouts) plus the table condiments to customise your pho to your liking. The thinly sliced beef can be inconsistent, some are lovely thin and just barely cooked in the broth so soft and pleasing to the bite, but then you get some that are too thick and end up chewing endlessly. The brisket had a good flavour, nothing special. The meatballs were excellent, soft, bouncy and gently spiced they added to the pho experience. As a meal it was filling but left you feeling light and refreshed. The Vietnamese coffee is strong with a hint of bitterness but then rounded out by the sweetness of the condensed milk, a shot of caffeine and sugar to get you up and out into the brisk autumnal air.

Definately worth a visit, the flavours of the food transported me back to the days of sitting on little plastic chairs ordering a steaming hot bowl of pho from a random little stall at the side...

Friends highly recommended this restaurant to us, however after booking and reserving a table, my family and I were expecting a dining experience to remember. Sadly, on arrival our hopes were immediately dashed when the manager or 'Boss' as he called himself, told us that due to being very busy we would have to wait between 15-20 minutes? Point to note here, is don't bother booking a table! Not a good start to the evening.

After the 20 minutes we were told to wait, we returned to the restaurant to be told by the 'BOSS' that he thought we had left, we were told to? He then made a half hearted attempt at finding us a table, not exactly that welcome, warm and fuzzy feeling to say the least.

Running a customer facing business myself, I can guarantee if this BOSS worked for my me, he might find himself at the back of the dole queue; one self licking lollipop or what...

Maybe the actual Boss of Pho should read some of the negative reviews. Anyone in business knows that their employees should represent what you want you are trying to promote. Clearly not in this restaurant.

No apology or anything; we certainly won't be revisiting this restaurant again.

Food was circa 65% but maybe the experience tainted this... hopefully you will have a better experience than we did.

Continued: after reading the response from Phu I think they completely missed the point on what booking a table means. Surely a simple, I'm really sorry, please sit at the bar and have a drink would have sufficed.... Come on guys sort it out, own up, take responsibility...