Just Pho...and more — Restaurant in Athens-Clarke County Unified Government

Worst dining experience EVER. My husband and I were not allowed to be seated and look at a menu bc we didn’t have masks with us, but they wouldn’t provide one either. We had to pay before receiving any food. The first impression was horrible, but we decided to stay. Bad mistake. We had to get our food from the back of the restaurant ourselves - it was never served. We had about two little cups of sauce and were refused any extra sauces. The guy was super rude and having such a nasty attitude when all we wanted was to enjoy a nice meal. After that experience, we decided not to touch our food - we wanted to just get our money back and leave, but they refused to refund us. So not to throw away our money, we stayed and ate. The pho wasn’t terrible, but not the best that we’ve had by any means. After this whole awkward ordeal, the owner comes in and we hear the guy complaining about us in the back to the owner - we heard every word. The owner then comes to us and apologizes for our bad experience and “tried to make things right” but all she did was lecture us as to why they don’t serve food anymore and why they only give so much sauce. I was then guilt-tripped for not finishing all of my broth...we will definitely never be coming back here and although other pho places in Athens are a tad more pricey, I’d rather pay more and have decent service than what I experienced here. So sad and unfortunate we had the experience that we did, but we learned our lesson. Stick with your gut, and if something...

Some information about myself; huge foodie, and ethnic background is Vietnamese. With that out of the way I’d have to say that I think that the restaurant needs to revisit their recipes. 1) the Cà phê sữa đá was bland like it was an ice American latte. Authentic Vietnamese coffee has a very dark deep flavor that’s offset by the sweetness of the condensed milk. Primarily the blend that you’d see comes from the robusta type from which Vietnamese coffee is known for. The coffee I bought was really bland otherwise you’d take it for packet or instant. Try getting the Vietnamese French press. Takes longer but you get guaranteed flavor. 2) The pho I got was good, comparing it to award winning pho that I’ve had before in other states I’d say that it was a 6.5 which isn’t bad at all. I’d say the Filet mignon was good but the meat balls were on the blander side and kinda small. 3) the Bánh mì Thịt nướng was super bland. I ate half of it and threw the rest away because it just lacked any flavor from the pork. The sandwich itself was on the sour side which was super odd. I’ve never had that type of flavoring before alongside the awfully small bread. Quite literally if you go to any Vietnamese place over in Norcross Georgia the sandwiches there are huge for the value . The workers were really nice 10/10 especially the girl working...

I love their food so much. Just FYI, though, the tips don't go to servers. They get paid the same amount no matter what (which is often minimum wage, although you can get pay-raises there). You're already paying for your meal! Don't bother tipping. All parties are fine if you don't tip: Mr. Chingh makes a boat load, and the survers make their pay ($8+). So don't worry about it! If you want to tip because you particularly liked your meal, do it! But if you're trying to comend your server, it would be better if you told the management staff how well they're doing (almost always college kids, then they could get a raise!). So. To summarize, the food is great, tips never go to staff, if you want to tip the service- tell a manager or Mr./Mrs. Chingh instead, and also, don't feel obligated to tip unless you want to support the Chinghs (who provide delicious, authenic food). I think this restaurant is great and deserves our patronage, but I wanna be transparent about what tipping/not tipping means. The Pho is delicious! I've gone there for 5 years+, but I don't give extra money unless I think the business provided more than what I paid for. The food and service are great, but the profit margins are high- here's to knowing what...