Pho D'lite — Restaurant in Bowie

I just want to start off by saying that this review is ONLY for the Pho D'Lite on Race Track Rd. in Bowie, MD. This review is NOT for the Pho D'Lite in College Park, MD. I have never had an issue with them. I also want to state the fact that I am vegan, and Pho D'Lite has advised before that they do have vegan-friendly options.

I'll start with about a month or so ago, then I'll get to the other day [05/20/18]. A month or so ago, I placed a pick-up order with the Pho D'Lite in Bowie, and advised that I am vegan, and that I wanted a veggie Pho dish with VEGGIE BROTH. I went and picked up my food, got home and noticed a few things. The broth did not smell like nor look like their veggie broth normally does, and had fat floating around in the top, like a meat-based broth typically does. I took a sip and it did not taste like veggie broth, either. I held up the container and looked at it from the bottom and it looked like there was other things floating in the broth other than seasoning. It looked like fat and possibly meat chunks. Then I saw a hair in the broth. I immediately called up there and spoke with Tatjana - the host who took and packed my order. She advised that she would gladly replace the broth. When I drove ALL THE WAY back up there, I asked if it was veggie broth. Let me again note that I AM VEGAN. So when I asked if it was veggie broth because it did not look, taste or smell like veggie broth, she confirmed that no, this was not veggie broth. "But I don't understand how this could happen because I personally packed your food myself" Tatjana says. Hmmm okay.. She did NOT refund me my money, but she switched my broth and gave me a free appetizer; veggie summer rolls.

So that was my first bad experience at this Pho. I had not been back since that disaster, but the other day, I decided to give them another chance. I soon learned this would be their LAST chance. I was at the MOM's up there and decided to place a phone order and order the same thing - Veggie Pho with Veggie broth, advising I'm vegan and an order of veggie summer rolls.

I sat outside the restaurant, waiting on my order and then went inside to pay and pick up my order. When I went in Tatjana was there and advised SHE HERSELF was packing my order up. When she brought it out, I have a feeling she recognized me, and asked if I wanted to check everything over - I should have known better than to trust her and her cooks again. I did a cursory look of everything, but primarily just checked on the broth because that was what I had had issues with previously. This was my mistake.

I got home and sat down to eat my food. Almost everything is packed separately, so nothing is pre-mixed and you can see what you're about to eat. With veggie Pho, you typically get extra veggies in the form of bok choy and some tofu. I immediately noted that my bok choy was brown, yellow and had clearly gone bad BEFORE they cooked it. I have included photos of said bad bok choy. I set it aside and was going to just not eat it. However, when I opened the noodles there were hardly any in the box [little red Chinese carry-out container], and upon a closer look, I noticed there was seafood [looked like shredded crab or something] and a shellfish leg in my noodles - RIGHT on top! Let me iterate again - I am vegan, and Pho D'Lite did advise that they do have vegan-friendly options at their restaurants.

I immediately called back and advised about what I saw and went back up there. Tatjana tried to blame me for the seafood and leg and bad bok choy. She asked if I had cooked the bok choy even more when I got home and I told her no, it clearly had gone bad BEFORE it was cooked. She also said she didn't know what I did to the food when I got home and would not give me a refund. When I got home with the "fresh" bok choy she gave me, it had brown and yellow spots and seafood on it!

I will NEVER step foot in this location again and I suggest vegans and people allergic to shellfish should also beware because there is clear cross-contamination in their food. Photos of everything...

I was very disappointed in going to this establishment today.

Upon walking in there is a sign that says “please wait to be seated,” so I patiently waited. I was not acknowledged for at least several minutes.

There was an older lady working as hostess who clearly was new, ok not a big deal but they definitely should have trained her more before putting her on the floor independently.

The manager (at least I believe he was the manager) was clearly overwhelmed because he sprinted....and when I mean sprint, he was legit running back and forth to and from the kitchen like he was running track and field.

The very overwhelmed manager came up to my table approximately 10 minutes later asking me what I wanted so I told him, then he sprinted to the register. Then 5 minutes later the older lady came and asked what I wanted to order so clearly they were not communicating with each other regarding which tables they were covering.

I ordered a Thai iced tea and when the manager brought it to me, I noticed the tip of the straw was wet as if he touched it with wet hands. So I asked the older hostess for a new straw when she walked by....she said ok but never brought one. 5 minutes went by before I saw the manager so I asked him for a new straw. He brought me another straw with his BARE hands, mind you these were straws that were not wrapped with paper. That straw looked filthy so I asked him to just take my Thai tea back since I couldn’t get a clean straw. He looked puzzled and walked away but then brought back the whole case of straws where I grabbed my own.

So the food comes out, I didn’t have any issues with the food in particular but just watching how the manager was running around like a chicken with his head cut off literally made me just want to leave.

There were two other costumers who had come in and had issues with being seated/being served as well. They need to hire more people because the service sucks.

When I finished eating I asked the older hostess for my check. She went to the register and clearly had no idea what to do. So I watched to see if she would ask for help and she just sat there. So a younger gentlemen came out and I thought she was asking him for help with my check but I thought wrong. 10 minutes had went by and I saw the younger gentleman walking by and at this point I was very irritated and told him I needed my check because I needed to pick up my son from school. He handled it but I definitely didn’t leave any tip.

There is a sign on the front that says “under new management” but clearly they need to go back to the old management because now the service is horrible! I definitely won’t be going back to that location...

Visited this little restaraunt after the gym during the happy hour. I'm constantly getting coupons in the mail for this place so I was hoping it was going to be a new favorite hot spot, but unfortunately, it just really missed the bar. The decor of the restaraunt is quite nice, but the carnival music could probably really be ditched. Our waitress never asked us what we'd like to drink nor did she ever serve us any beverage at all during our entire stay. The service was terribly slow and our total dine time clocked at 1.2 hours for something that was supposed to be a quick bite. I ordered Panang Chicken Curry and the menu stated that Chinese broccoli was apart of the dish, but that was not included when it was brought out. Instead, the curry dish was served with a mountain of Romaine Lettuce. The curry did not taste like curry, but rather back blend of curry spice mixed with peanutbutter. My partner ordered the Pho D'Lite soup that was brought out 25 minutes after my dish... By the time he got his food, mine was cold. The server never brought out the sprouts, jalapenos, or mint that accompany the soup. Unfortunately, the rice noodles were severly overcooked and it just ended up being a noodle brick you could cut with a knife.One positive thing that I can add is that the soup broth did have a robust flavor. Also, if ask for table salt or soy sauce you will be advised that they do not offer such. Lastly, we requested our check and mentioned we'd like to be sure it included our happy hour pricing ($5 for soup instead of $9). When the check was brought out, it was still incorrect. There was only four other customers eating at the same time as us, but three tables were still piled high was dirty dishes. Overall, will not be back to this restaraunt and would not recommend. Hopefully management can pull this place together...