Pho Real Kitchen and Bar — Restaurant in Des Moines

We come to pho real regularly and historically have had an excellent experience between service and the food we are eating. In fact, I commonly would sing this restaurants praises over other options here in the Des Moines metro for those very reasons. That experience was soured today.

My wife and I came downtown for a show and afterwords decided to grab pho at our favorite place. The experience started fine in ordering appetizers where I ordered a spring roll for my wife without cilantro, due to her inability to eat it due to a food allergy. We then ordered our pho, which was eventually brought to us but had cilantro in my wife’s. We brought this to the attention of the server, who was very kind and indicated that she realized the mistake based on our first order.

When she returned to the table, it was not to bring a corrected dish or to offer a solution to make the dish edible. Instead we were offered the opportunity to buy another bowl on top of what we had already purchased in order to remedy this predicament. The solution offered was not terribly much a solution at all. Now to be fair, we could have been more explicit that this is a food allergy not a preference, but historically when we’ve gotten this exact meal it comes with onions and not cilantro as a garnish. based on the proposed remedy, my wife elected to not eat her meal and to just have it packed up so I might have it on another day. Needless to say less than a desirable dinner date. But hey, mistakes are made. We wanted to have an opportunity to talk to the manager that made the call about this policy just to say how the experience might be less than stellar when something like this happens. Our hope was that even if a retroactive solution was not offered, we might at least receive an apology and maybe an explanation to keep us coming back as customers. That is not at all what we received. Instead they we were informed that despite how we had ordered because we were not more explicit it really was our fault and not theirs. it was not a terribly productive conversation. Moreover, indicating to them that we love their restaurant and come here regularly did not sway them to even bear more sympathy to the situation. I’ve grown up with pho all my life, and I really do think the food here is good, but this experience sours its taste to a degree that I can’t bear.

In short, great pho, less great customer service,...

We went to this restaurant for Saturday lunch with our two small children. Our daughter has special dietary needs so we brought her food that she could enjoy while the other 3 of us could have Pho. The manager was extremely rude and told us that our daughter could not have her food. We explained that she has special dietary restrictions and we planned to support her business with full lunches and drinks for the rest of us. She repeated several times that no outside food was allowed, apparently not even for toddlers or babies. What a shame of an establishment that cannot cater to families. And what a hostile approach it was instead of listening to the needs of a young family who wanted to support their business.

To be clear, my husband and I had no outside food for ourselves whatsoever. We had planned to fully support this business while our daughter sat with us, eating food that is safe for her.

**Editing this review because I cannot reply to the owner's reply:

I was never ONCE asked about my daughter's dietary needs.

This is a bold lie. This is a horrible and decisive way to manage a business.

We are VEGAN. That is why we chose to dine at Pho Real. My daughter absolutely did not have a walburger's sandwich. We brought with us plain steamed rice that we never took out of the bag before this woman was up in arms. She refused to listen to me explain that it was only for my daughter so she could sit with us while we ordered. In no way did it take money from the business. If my daughter could eat what they served, we would have gave her some of the food we ordered ourselves and not purchased additional food anyways because she is 4 and barely eats as is.

The manager was so focused on my ability to read and repeatedly referring to a sign hanging somewhere.

I have never ever encountered push back for feeding my child quietly while the rest of my family enjoys the menu from any other restaurant.

We did not bring a common food allergen. This restaurant is not peanut, gluten, or dairy free, etc. This was not a health hazard or hurtful to their business. This was a horrible mismanaged attack from very poor leadership towards a family trying to provide a safe food for their child while they dined out on Saturday afternoon and supported...

I'm hardly ever downtown, but while I was in the area I stumbled upon this small family restaurant. I came Saturday during lunch with my grandpa, let me tell you it was super packed! It makes me genuinely happy seeing a small business thrive after the whole pandemic. We waited for maybe 5 minutes for a table to open up and we were seated promptly, given menus and waters right away. My grandpa does have celiac disease, we let our server know and thankfully the Pho was recommended to us. It's been so cold lately in Iowa, so thats exactly what we came for! We ordered a Pho beef, chicken wings with butter sriracha on the side(they do warn you about the wait for the wings) and Pho vegan. For drink, I got the blueberry milk with honey pearls. It had a pretty blue ombree, taste wise, it wasn't too sweet, a bit bitter (which you kinda get when you eat real blueberries), the honey pearls are my absolute favorite, they are soft but not too chewy like some of the ones you get at other places. All the food came out steaming hot after about 20 minutes of a wait and for how busy the restaurant was, I was fairly impressed. We had a plate of veggies to share and between the both of us, it was the perfect amount. I do like my food abit more spicy, so I asked if there was any chilli oil/pepper. My waitress brought me some, let me know it was super spicy(it doesn't look like much, but alittle goes along way) and on top of that they make it themselves. The experience and service all together was super good which is the whole reason I felt the need to writing a review. We never ran out of water at the table, frequently checked on, and never felt rushed. Even after I was stuffed, she offered to box up my food for me. Thanks to Amanda who took care of us! Everything was worth the wait. If i'm in the downtown area, I will definitley be back! 100%...