Phở 2000 Restaurant — Restaurant in Boston

I'd give it 5 stars except for a few minor issues, like the neighborhood, the condition, the service (variable), etc. However, the food is generally very good and even excellent at times.

The pho broth has lots of flavor, which is critical. They will give you more broth at no charge if you ask. The meat is sliced thin enough so that it seems tender, which is a lot better than thicker slices that are inedibly tough that I have had elsewhere. You get plenty of vegetables and herbs to mix in per your preference, and they will bring you more if you want.

The whole fish, perhaps a catfish, one of my favorite dishes, seems to be fried and then grilled. It is generally enough for several people, although sizes vary from about two pounds to three or even more. The fish is generally tender inside and crispy outside. They slice it every few inches before cooking it, probably to make sure that it is cooked thoroughly. You are given hard spring roll wraps to dip in hot water and soften before making a fish roll of your own design. They include noodles and large quantities of vegetables and herbs for this purpose. I believe that you can also get rice.

Their grilled pork and noodle (or rice) dish is very good - the pork is sliced about 1/4 inch thick and basted with a sweet sauce and then grilled, so it has a lot of flavor and is reasonably tender.

Their menu is pretty extensive, and they include beverages such as Vietnamese iced coffee and bubble tea as well as...

This heavy on MSG meal was a bit of a surprise to me. Not the MSG but the fact that they discriminated against me because I was "American". I ordered their number 46 which was a hot pot rice dish that included frogs legs. When I got the dish there weren't any in there. When I raised the issue with the guy who took my order he said that Americans don't eat frogs legs and they substituted with more chicken. It did not look like more chicken to me. Then the gentleman went back into the kitchen and returned to me and said we will put in frogs legs now and, by the way, the cook added more shrimp to make up for the difference. But, I did not see many shrimp in that bowl either. Let us just say my days of going to pho 2000 are over. It was my first and my last time there. Now I need to take care of my MSG headache...

For a quick weekend lunch I stopped by Pho 2000, in desperate need of noodle soup after the snow yesterday (first proper snow in in 3 years, too). I found street parking a block away, entered into a fairly empty establishment (save for the owners, probably due to aforementioned snow), ordered, and received my bowl of pho in 5 minutes.

I ordered the #16 Pho 2000. Other places call it the Pho Dac Biet; basically, it's the one with every beef thing in it. I ordered it in the large size (3 sizes available - small, large, xl) and also added beef meatballs (+$1). This came to $16 after tax.

Pho came out piping hot. Broth could have been a bit more aromatic. Portion size was decent and there was a good ratio of meat to rice noodle - didn't skimp out. Overall, a decent...