Mai Pho Restaurant — Restaurant in Cedar Rapids

I’d been really excited to try this place, but was really disappointed. Service was absolutely AWFUL. I sat and waited 15 minutes before anyone took my drink order, then waited another 15 before having to ask for my drink to be brought out. The waiter was in no way apologetic but instead acted inconvenienced that I had the AUDACITY to ask for a drink. And then, after taking one sip of tea, I had the taste of dish soap in my mouth, which was absolutely disgusting. I’d be understanding about slow service if it was busy or understaffed, but it was neither. Further, having a flippant waiter soured the experience. Then, I waited another 20 minutes after getting my drink for my pho, at which point I found a hair in it. I pointed this out to the waiter and yet again he seemed unfazed and upset with me for bringing the mistake to his attention. I split some of the pho from another member of my party, and it was pretty good but not good enough to excuse the horrendous service. Then, as though the service couldn’t get any worse, we asked for a to-go container to take home the leftover pho. The waiter brought out a plastic container with HUGE crack at the bottom that would undoubtedly leak any liquid put in it. This was a thoroughly awful experience. I will not be returning to Pho Mai any time...

Absolutely amazing food. I have never had such bursts of flavor. It was thoroughly enjoyable. On top of the delicious food...(My husband and I had the #1 spring rolls, #4 egg rolls with pork - super crunchy and carrots were the seriously eye-rollingly good, #9 crab rangoon - my husband immediately declared it was the best he has ever had and I was thrilled to agree, #13 combination pho - so satisfying, #45 Bun Bo Hue - so much flavor)... The server was incredible! Super polite, attentive, educated us excitedly and respectfully on how to consume the appetizers (we were trying to scoop the peanut sauce goodness with the spring rolls and he helped us grab the black chopsticks and showed us how to dip the roll into the sauce with one hand and then grab the yummy sauce ingredients with the chopsticks and put on the roll with the other hand), the mango boba tea with crystal topping (leave on the little lid it comes with and poke your straw through it), and the entree's (put in the greens into the soup little at a time and use the wooden chopsticks to pick up the food). We had an incredible experience with the staff, atmosphere, and the food!...

Horrible experience. I ordered seafood Pho. I should have known better seeing that one of the ingredients is imitation crab meat, but I can handle it in small doses. The pho was overcooked and mushy except the calamari. Mushy noodles mushy shrimp, and mushy fake crab meat which is not even required to be cooked! When I informed the server of the issue he questioned me far too much and when I asked to get something different he had to ask the "manager". He got the OK and came back. I got some egg rolls to go as I was already running late due to the slow service. When I got the bill he he explained to me that his "manager" would only allow him to give me a 25% discount on the crappy Pho and that I would be charged the full price for the egg rolls so that I would essentially be only paying 50 cents for the egg rolls. I said thats fine and informed him that I would not be coming back. I paid the bill left a decent tip at the assumption that he was under the mercy of his "manager" and exited the...