Pho @ NoDa — Restaurant in Charlotte

The food was delicious. The reason for the lower rating is the service. Love the decor, but the tables had been cleaned with a dirty towel and left a sour smell. The two waitress seemed like they didn't want to serve us even though there was no one else in the restaurant when we came in. The food took surprisingly long for the four of us being the only customers at the time. The customers that came after us even got their appetizers before we did.

I got the Pho Dac Biet. The broth has great depth of flavors, but still a little sweeter than I'd prefer. Good portion of meats, but I wish I had gotten more tendons. I think I got 2 or 3 small pieces only, which is disappointing. I wish it had just a little less sweetness and just a little bit more of the spices used, to come through.

Condiments were; sriracha, hoisin, chili oil, basil, bean sprouts, lime, which is great, but a nice touch would have also been to include a little cilantro and/or culantro. The Thai tea was great with not too much ice and good balance of cream. The chili oil was pretty spicy just the way I like it.

When I finally went up to pay the other waiter had just finished helping another customer with their payment and instead of taking my payment as well, walked away without a word. Our waiter had already said before she left the counter that the other waiter would help us, but she had to come back to take my payment. This was our first visit and I'm not sure what's going on here, but the food was on point. May be they were just having a bad day or the waitresses just needs more training. We will try this place again in the future, hopefully we'll get a better experience.

Update Oct 12, 2024: We visited again and was a much better experience. They were super busy and service was a little slow, but they were busting their butts doing the best they could. They were apologetic for the wait and tried there best to help everyone in a timely fashion. They're going to need more help, which is a great problem to have. 4.5/5

The wife and I got the Pho Dac Biet and shrimp/pork spring rolls. It was delicious with the both in the spring roll. Love the fresh rolls. The exterior was soft and chewy (ideal) with great texture of all the noodles and herbs in every bite. Sauce deliciously with a balanced amount of sweetness. 5/5

The Pho Dac Biet came with side of condiments; sweet basil, bean sprouts, lime, hoisin, sriracha, and asked for the chili oil sauce (spicy the way I'd expect it to be). Broth had a beautiful flavor. I love the amount of fat that was in the broth. It gives sooo much more flavor. I prefer a darker color broth, but it was very deliciously herby. I'm in love with the herby taste that comes off on the end. The fat with the herb flavor is so good. I could eat it without an extra condiments but it all just enhances the delicious broth more. We got a generous amount of meats, tendons and tripe. I looooove tendons and these portions were much, much better then the last time we came. Keep up the great work Chef it is amazing and I will be preparing to come back again really soon. 5/5 I would give Higher if I could. I think this is currently the best Pho in Charlotte....

Pros: good Pho broth with a generous portion for the price, especially when considering the location good drinks

Cons: long wait time for food poor quality (flimsy, disposable) chopsticks

For drinks, we ordered the Vietnamese Iced Coffee and the Salty Lemonade. Pho Noda used a different brand of coffee than the one commonly used (Cafe Du Monde) at other Vietnamese restaurants. So this was a nice surprise and it was also delicious. The Salty Lemonade was a good combination of salty and sweet. It could've been better if it was made with a little bit more juice to make it slightly more salty, but this is just my personal preference.

For the appetizer, we ordered the Bao Bun. I forgot the actual name...mostly because it was a forgettable dish. This is the usual hipster open faced Bao with stuffed Vietnamese grilled pork, cucumber, carrots, and onions. While the pork was edible, it could've been better if it had spent a little bit more time on the grill to give it more taste and crispness.

For the entree, we got Pho Do Bien (seafood) and Pho Ga (chicken). If you ask any Vietnamese person what is the best part about a Pho dish and the answer would probably be the broth, and Pho Noda did a good job with their broth. It was delicious. The portions were generous and came with a lot of meat.

What killed the experience for me, though, is that Pho Noda used the flimsy disposable chopsticks. I'm Vietnamese, knows how to use chopsticks, and this chopsticks bothered me so much when I ate the Pho. They probably opted for the least expensive option when it came to this utensil, but this came at a price of this review (which probably doesn't mean jack to others...anyways...).

Another factor that distracted me from a good experience was the wait time. The wait staff was fine, but the kitchen was another story. We got here around noon, there were maybe 3 tables total, and our 2 Pho took a while (probably 15-20 minutes) to come out. There was a mention of a soft opening in another review before this one, but I think that's just a lazy excuse. If you are going to open a restaurant, you need to try your best to be ready for anything. As previously mentioned, we only had 3 tables when we visited and the food took a while to come out. I wouldn't want to be here when it's busy.

All in all, Pho Noda was a decent experience. Price and food were good, but got heavily overshadowed by the negative aspects from...

Truly terrible experience all round! Do not order from this place it’s really disappointing! My husband and I ordered food at the counter inside the restaurant at around 845pm last night. We paid $50 for our order and asked if we could enjoy our meal in the restaurant’s outside seating area. The server explained that the restaurant would close at 9:30pm but that it would be fine. After waiting very very patiently for an hour for our food it became apparent that it was not going to arrive. I asked the server what was happening with the order and she realized it had been sitting on the back in two bags wrapped up! It was cold and the restaurant was closing so we was told to take it home as a take out order without offering any compensation for the inconvenience. The worst part is that the container lids were not even placed securely on the containers of liquid on our Pho orders which meant the entire 1 liter of bone broth spilled all over the inside of out car! We tried to salvage what we could of what was edible from our expensive order but in my experience (we eat regularly at Vietnamese restaurants) the food here was truly terrible! I have since called the restaurant and asked to speak to the manager but have only been dismissed and was directed to a phony telephone number to call. I have yet to receive any form of apology / compensation or even communication in return! In my opinion this business is not worth the money or worth...