Pho Dinh Restaurant — Restaurant in Des Moines

Not a good experience. First red flag... When we walked in, the front door was covered in plywood on the outside because it had been shattered but ok, things happen so I let that pass. Once inside, the glass in the door was still exposed so if you were leaving, you had to be careful where you pushed on the door. Then the hostess just pointed to a booth from across the dining area without so much as a hello, and then disappeared into the back. It took several minutes to even receive a menu. When we did, she placed them on the table with 2 glasses of room temperature tap water (no ice) and asked if we were ready to order even though she had just brought us the menus! If that wasn't enough of a red flag, there were several chop sticks, forks and spoons sitting exposed in a glass jar on the table and when I went to grab one, it was impossible not to touch the others, making me wonder who else had touched my fork before me. After another 10 minutes, the waitress came to our table and just stood there staring at us without saying a word, apparently waiting for our order so after a few seconds of uncomfortable staring, we ordered. I thought it might have been an issue of a language or cultural barrier but a few minutes later, I heard the waitress speaking in perfect, unaccented English so I don't think that was the problem. After nearly 25 minutes the food arrived. My beef spare ribs were seasoned well but were so tough they almost couldn't be chewed. My wife ordered soup with rice noodles and it appeared that the noodles had been put into her bowl in a cold clump and then hot broth poured over them. When she tried to stir the soup, the entire clump of noodles stayed stuck together and she actually had to use a fork and spoon to separate them into smaller clumps in order to eat. Halfway through the meal, she started getting a scratchy mouth and throat and her face became flushed so she stopped eating. At that point I did too. We normally like to leave a tip even if the waitress is appearing to have a bad day but unfortunately today, the experience was bad enough that we didn't. After we left, my wife started feeling worse and I started feeling unwell also so we both took benadryl and instantly our symptoms began to improve. All in all, not a good dining experience. I would not recommend and will not...

February 9, 2024 a Friday eve out with grandbabies who were hungry for bubble tea. I'm not sure if the female that was working this evening had a bad day or what but dang please greet your cusotmers well upon entering and no judgements. I am hard at hearing, so she said something and she repeated it but I couldn't hear her with my hand over .my ear to listen but it did not register. She said can you sign with a attitude so I gave it forward with a tone, which one there are 3 , she said the long one, ughhhh. I ordered 4 bubble teas which took long too make, 2 tables with cusotmers enjoying their meal. Another cusotmer came in and sat and was served meanwhile I am still waiting for 4 bubble teas. Finally, I see all 4 customers enjoyi g there meals, got the bubble tea and left to the car. The taro bubbe tea didnt look so purple, the strawberry too fushia and vanilla was bleached white. In the car, grandbabies were like what the heck is that? Gamma! This does NOT taste like a bubble tea it is too watery, too overly sugared and it soo yucky!! All 4 bubble teas trashed. Attitude and service adds to bad and...

So me and my friend were starving. Famished. Couldn’t think of anything that we wanted to eat, and nothing sounded good. We ended up finding this little Pho place on google and thought we’d give it a try.

So here’s the thing, we’re vegans. Didn’t call ahead, didn’t know the menu at all. When we walk in, we’re immediately greeted and had our temperatures taken for COVID safety. When we explained our diet, we were guided through the entire menu and it’s different vegan accommodations. The woman who helped us was extremely knowledgeable on the menu and also about veganism, which made the experience swift and enjoyable.

When our food was ready, she gave us homemade hot sauce, 2 fortune cookies, 2 kiwi hi-chews, and 2 caramel apple lollipops. Hello??? Talk about excellent customer service. They were so excited to help and be kind, I highly recommend. We left the restaurant feeling rejuvenated and eager to pass on the kindness that we were just given.

I haven’t eaten the food yet because we’re still driving home but it doesn’t matter. The food could be bad, but this place is still a 5/5, and I would go...