Pho Lantern Restaurant — Restaurant in Buffalo

In on business for the week. I honestly SOOOO wanted to like this place. I ordered the Rare Beef Pho to go because I was going back to the hotel to eat it. When I got back to the hotel room, a six minute drive, I opened the to-go bag. There was a tall plastic container full of broth and one of those three section Styrofoam containers with the noodles, basil, and other items like jalapeno slices, onion slices and green onion slices. The Rare Beef was sliced and wrapped in clear plastic on top of the noodles. The rare beef was raw, in fact, still partially frozen. I understand that's how you can shave it so thin. So, I barely could fit the rare beef in the container with the broth. at which point the broth was cool, not cold, but cool. So I put the plastic container with the beef and broth in the microwave. It, of course, boiled over in hotel room microwave. I only put it in for one minute. By the time I was done cleaning the cabinet, microwave, and counter of the Pho broth, it was cool again... I sipped enough broth off the top to add the Thai basil leaves, the two jalapeno slices, and the sliced white and green onion in. I added the Hoisin sauce and tried to add the sriracha type sauce. I couldn't open the packet with my fingers even after washing and drying the packet and my hands. So I used my teeth. I was barely able to get it torn a little. I'm trying not to have it explode all over my face and clothing. I put the packet over the container of broth start to squeeze and..... it explodes all over me, the counter, and the coffee maker.... At this point, after cleaning THAT up, the Pho is cold, and I still have no room for the noodles OR the bean sprouts. I don't even want to eat it like this, so I try the Chicken Satay app I ordered. It smelled great, I'm hungry and so I thought I could at least try that. The first bite of the large chicken piece has that feel of the chicken not being cooked all the way. I look at it and it's slightly translucent. I throw EVERYTHING away and go to the hotel's convenient store and grab a bag of chips... The nice satisfying lunch I was looking forward to. Wouldn't a paper container bowl that could hold all the stuff in the Styrofoam container AND the broth make more sense? The local Pho place where I'm from prepares it that way. After all, not everyone that orders it to-go, is going home to eat it where they have a nice large bowl to put it all into waiting...

On Sunday, I went to Pho Lantern with my boyfriend. I have never been here and was craving the comfort of Vietnamese noodle soups! Just a head's up I do not have the photo on here of the chocolate lava cake and his chicken teriyaki Banh mi

Coming: You can see all the beautiful tables that give date night vibes and decor! There are these cute lantern light chandeliers and that little serene space and I have a picture it as it is adorable and gives me the zen feels! I love it! At one of the tables, there's a little backdrop or picture on the wall of a beach and the sky. That's nice.

Staff: Staff are welcoming and respectful. They gave us our menus (which are on the electronic tablets) and also asked us when we would like our dessert that I also didn't take a photo of because we ate it up!

What we had: My boyfriend has the chicken teriyaki Banh mi with a fried egg on top and I had the Vietnamese chicken noodle soup! For dessert we had the chocolate lava cake.

His reaction to the teriyaki chicken Banh mi: He saw the sandwhich came with vegetables and saucy chicken teriyaki and he dug in. He enjoyed it and felt quite full after finishing it.

My review of the soup: This soup was really good. Chicken was soft and delicious (generous amount or portion). The broth was also good. The ingredients really give it that comforting taste and feel that makes you want to just go home and sleep or eat it while watching the moon or something. The noodles were very fine, soft, and easy to inhale. Every sip and bite was amazing. The noodles were endless too, because even though I ate alot of it, there was still alot of noodles and broth in the bowl as if I didn't eat alot lol. Great portions on that too.

Our chocolate lava cake: It came with drizzles of chocolate sauce and it tasted kind of like a brownie. It was nice and warm like hug in the winter time.

Great...

I used to come here to get my usual noodle dishes such as pho until I peeped at their seafood selections and it has been a game changer.

First, I would like to say that this restaurant has great tasting noodle dishes including their pho and bun bo hue. The bun bo hue is sometimes a miss for me because it smells too strongly of pork at times but I know I have a pretty sensitive nose so maybe it's just me. The pho is always on point though.

This was my first time ordering dozen clams with their spicy lemongrass butter and it turned out to be a great experience. If you get any of their seafood, I highly recommended getting it with this butter versus just getting it steamed plain. It mixes so well with all the seafoods! (They have other seafood options as well). The next time I came back to this restaurant, I just ordered a side of small noodles ($2-3) with my seafood dish to dip in the sauce so I can have this dish as a meal. You can also get rice or French bread and I believe they have different portion sizes too.

They also have various happy hour, weekday, and lunch deals so you can pretty much get a deal most days of the week even if you just happen to stop by randomly.

Overall I recommend this restaurant if you're in the mood for some good old pho or if you're feeling adventurous, try the Vietnamese style seafood dishes as well!

Clam with...