Fresh Bowl — Restaurant in Austin

The food here is very good. I had the beef stew and pork spring rolls. The beef stew comes with 2 noodle options or bread. I ordered all 3. The bread was fresh baked about 8 inch long baguette, warm with a crispy crust and a perfect complement to the stew. You get all the normal pho ingredients separate and i dumped them all in stirring and waiting for it to cool. While I waited I tried the spring rolls. They were filled with thin rice, lettuce and strips of pork. My first bite i took plain. The egg roll has a great crunch and the pork is tender and perfectly cooked. The second bite i used the peanut sauce and wow it was amazing. The sauce enhanced and brought together the spring rolls' flavors. The peanut sauce is had left I scraped up with the bread which was a treat.

The only complaint i had about the food was the beef from the stew was Inconsistent. It included giant chunks of beef some melted like butter and others were a little tough.

The biggest weakness was the service. This is the 4th pho location I've tried in Austin and the service was the weakest by far. First I was handed a single 12 ounce bottle of water which I finished half way through and I had to go up to the counter to ask for another. No one came to check on me. The lady who brought out and served the food was delightful, she seemed really pleased with herself and for good reason, the food looked and tasted great.

The restaurant feels caught between a casual eatery and high end mid to high end quality. The inside didn't have a lot of character, the walls and decor felt like more of a diner then authentic Vietnamese cuisine. Might be a good location for a casual date but the service would have to improve. Definitely a lunch spot for professionals and small groups of friends.

You likely spend at least $25, per person including tip and i felt the value for the price...

Just came in and had to wait about 30+ mins to get my food because they messed up on my order twice in a row…. I won’t even get into the details but if you have allergies I would not come here.

Also the manager is not a very customer service oriented person and lacks the skills to convert a disgruntled customer to a happy and satisfied one. In other words she could care less about how your experience was✌🏽

Just to expand on the situation for the people wondering why the owner would say something like that… it’s because I had to literally coach them on how to handle someone’s food when they have allergies and not just once multiple times. Pretty sure they have food handling certifications for that?! Maybe they skipped that part during their training, or never had them to begin with… idk. So again read what the owner said and then think about how you would feel if you came into a restaurant with a peanut allergy or any allergies at that and they put peanuts or whatever you’re allergic to in your food twice in a row. After telling them you have an allergic reaction to them. You guys are lucky mine isn’t as severe as other people because you would have sent them to the hospital the way you handle food. That’s a whole can of worms I’m pretty sure you do not want on your plate. But good luck with that and I wish you...

We ate at Fresh Bowl last night. I have been eager to try this place as it's under new ownership. We ordered a General Tso's chicken and chicken vermicelli bowl. I asked if it was possible to do fried rice instead of the plain white rice and the person taking the order said they couldn't do that. I clarified that i am not asking for it to be free. I would like to swap it and pay for the fried rice. I was informed that if they do this for me, they have to do it for others and they were not going to give me fried rice. I said okay. I inquired about the eggroll. I asked if I could get a veggie roll instead of the one with pork one. I was told no once again.

Seems like they struggle to make accommodations. Maybe they don't know how to or don't want to. I couldn't quite tell because the responses were without any apology or warmth.

My partner said his bowl was okay but nothing to brag about. The food was quick. The Tso's chicken was very vinegary and very sweet. It was missing the fine balance of umami, sweet and savory. I know others have had wonderful experiences at this restaurants. Ours...