Pho Real — Restaurant in Breckenridge

I normally do not write reviews, but felt the need to on this restaurant as a service to future visitors with a craving for pho. If you have that craving in Breckenridge, just wait til you get home.

A little background: I’m a Viet banana, and have eaten pho all over the world. This experience ranked as the 3rd worst, the other two being in Dublin, Ireland, and Abu Dhabi, UAE. Those two cities aren’t known for Vietnamese cuisine so slack is given. I can’t give this place the same courtesy.

So after spending a week here, I was craving pho. I read all the reviews and noticed it was mixed, mostly negative from “asian-centric” reviewers. But curiosity got the best of me and the craving was too much.

Stepping into the restaurant, a red flag popped up. First, there was no fragrances of anise star in the restaurant. With pho, anise star is a key ingredient. Once it was my turn, I ordered the regular pho beef broth with rare beef and a coke. Total bill was $26.03. Regular sized pho $16.50 and $3.75 for the Coke. Automatic gratuity was added, which I totally forgot after reading the reviews, and I added more gratuity with the stupid prompts after you tap your card. Not a big deal, since we are in a resort area and i expect to pay.

The pho came and first thing any self respecting pho phan does is smell the broth to breathe in the fragrances. OMG. Let’s just say that instead of anise star, it smelled like I was in a barn full of old leather. No exaggeration.

On the verge of losing my appetite, I tried the broth. Thankfully, it didn’t have any aftertaste of old leather. In fact, there wasn’t any taste at all, except salt.

I almost gave up right there. But the garnishes that usually accompanies pho was there and legit, so I put that in, along with a healthy amount of sriracha and hoisin, hoping to salvage my meal. I stirred up my pho, took a bite, and the aftertaste of the leathery “rare” beef was just too overwhelming and I gave up. I walked.

Spending my time to write this review is my way of helping others to not feel ripped off, like I felt. I didn’t expect “authentic” pho, but at least make it somewhat close, especially if you’re selling Vietnamese food and your name is Pho Real. As one of my wise nephew once said, the best thing about this restaurant...

Be aware of your receipt and service charge added to the bill and prompt for tip at the end! If you are craving pho this is the only place in Breckenridge and it will do. The portion was a lot more rice noodles than I am use to having. Very slim on the protein. For it to be $15-18 per bowl I was definitely expecting more than a spoonful of protein. We asked for the veggies to be put on the side and they ended up putting everything (including jalapeños) in both bowls making the broth spicy. We ordered one bowl for our kids to split so you can imagine how uncomfortable that was for them. The spring rolls and fried rice was good. It is set up as quick service. You order at the counter and then they bring it to you. There are about 5 tables on the inside probably because the food comes out so quick so they probably turn it quick. I despise places that make you tip while ordering the food because it is so forced. Why do you tip before you experience the service? If it is expected you will get the basic service. There is nothing to do to make sure the experience will be worth a good tip. I wish I would have read the other reviews before coming here. I see that someone wrote that there was a 15% service charge already added to the bill and you are prompted to add a tip at the end. This is so deceiving! So you end up tipping at least 30-45% of the total bill. This is not okay. This makes so much sense because after I selected the tip she closed the transaction so quick without allowing an option for a receipt. I typically trust that I am not going to be taken advantage of when supporting a small business....

Jan 20, 2022 review. Generally we try to visit when in Breck. Something odd happened on our most recent visit. When the lady was ringing me up she added an automatic service charge of almost $5, which was about 20 to 25% of our meal cost. I asked her what was the reason for the service charge, and is it an optional gratuity? She said to me "I can remove it if you like", and I said yes please do because I prefer to decide on the gratuity amount myself. I then ate my meal at the table near the register and watched her ring out a 1/2 dozen or more other people and none of them were being charged the "optional" service charge. In fact, one of the local guys who came through got a discounted price for his meal because he was a local. Why did she single me out to add a service charge? I do not know why! I was very courteous to them and generally I am usually fairly generous with my tips. Not this time, though. Then I asked about using the restroom, and there was a lady behind the counter sitting on a stool looking at her phone and she glanced up and said I don't work here. So I had to wait for the lady who was preparing all the food to bring me the restroom key, and she handed it to me, still wearing the sanitary gloves that she uses to make food. OK, some negative stuff here, but what can I say it really happened. And despite all this, we'll probably be back because my wife really likes the food here ! Jan 2020: My wife loves it and she...