Pho Hong Thom — Restaurant in Bridgeport

I am an owner of a Thai restaurant in NYC and am always hunting for quality Asian food. Just like in NYC Chinatown, Vietnamese restaurants tend to crop together. This is true of this area of Bridgeport. There is at least one other Vietnamese restaurant within spitting distance from Pho Hong. I have tried them all and will only return to Pho Hong Thom.

What I like about Pho Hong Thom is:

Service. The servers are extremely friendly and are good conversationalists. This is in contrast to most Asian restaurants (including my own) where the servers believe that they are there to take an order and bring out the food as quickly as possible with as little conversation as possible. David definitely deserves kudos and remembered my first ever order and either asked if I wanted the same or whether I would be open to recommendations.

Speed. I do not believe I have ever waited more than 15 minutes for an order. The first time I ordered, the turnaround was so quick that I wondered if part of it was from another order. The second time I watched the cooks prepare my food. It was amazing how quickly they attack the preparation of the food. It's a bit of a symphony with no wasted motion.

Food. The food is tasty. I have been to Vietnam and wish that they had other dishes or would have a special where you can try something off menu. Specifically I would love if they would add a pork chop to the menu and curry chicken with French baguette. Nevertheless, Pho Hong are the only place I am aware of in Bridgeport where you can get Vietnamese sandwiches.

Affordability. You can easily get away with a filling meal for around $10.00, although my average is $60 to feed a family of four which includes appetizers, entree, and of course the above mentioned Vietnamese sandwiches.

I have been dozens of times and will...

I came here for my Pho fix and walked out shamed. The soup was fine enough for the price but the service was sad. I came in there is a good mood ready to give this business my appetite and the guy that took my order looked to be not having a good day . He served me my order and I expected graciously and with a smile (through my mask) before leaving I saw the pretty plastic chopsticks on the table and was helping myself to one. Little did I know those were ONLY for dine in customers and I didn’t think they would be reusing. The guy then came out yelled at me to put those back. After I quickly put the two chopsticks back when I was surprised, he snatched up all of the chopsticks and through them in a sink or garbage. He then advised me that there were chopsticks in my bag. First of all, the sticks were layer out on the table. Anyone could grab. 2nd of all if he through those in a sink to wash that me they are being reused! Plastic chopsticks! In the day and age! Reused! And if he through them all away why not let me keep them and tell those are for dine in customers only but since you touched those you can keep it but next time do not take any unless you are staying to eat. The whole thing embarrassed me in front of the customer that were there. One guys was even like “Jeeze wow”! I will never return to this place and will definitely share my experience with others. 2 stars for the soup...

POSSIBLY A SANITARY / FOOD SAFETY ISSUE HERE: My gf and I visited for dinner and ordered two different Pho plus one sandwich and one coffee. Our first impressions were stellar, however at the time our server packaged our leftover Phos in the kitchen and returned them to us, we began to become suspicious of questionable practices by the staff. First, why were the leftover sprouts not included in our take-out bag? It makes no sense that the server threw them out instead of packaging them up for us together with our other items. Also, both Phos had plenty of noodles remaining in the bowls at the time of server packaging the leftovers, yet we discovered the next day that one of the Phos was missing all of the noodles. Why were the noodles not included in one of our Pho at the time of packaging? We are not making any accusations, but we just wonder what happened to the remaining sprouts, etc., and noodles? Is it possible the sprouts are being recycled and served to the next patrons? We will not be returning to Pho Hong Thom for...