Pho Tre Bien Cafe — Restaurant in El Paso

Oye, what happened to this place? I understand the pandemic has an affect on things, but we have eaten here many, many times since my last update, and so many things have changed with the food. I would be more specific, but I’m not sure if the changes are due to the pandemic or just a lack of investment in this location. Either way, I’m super disappointed. Although it’s nearby, we likely won’t be back. ———————— UPDATE as of 8/26/18 4.5 stars! I tried this place again today for lunch, and it was a totally different experience. The Vietnamese coffee is on point, the baguette is proper, the pâté in my Special Banh Mi is SO flavorful, and the broth in pho is a complete 180 from what I had on Monday. I can actually taste the spices! No need for any additional sauces this time!

Also, a special thanks and great appreciation goes to the owners of this restaurant for taking my initial review as constructive criticism and working to improve everything! It is working, and I am super happy this is not far from my house. My husband and I are honestly looking forward to trying more things from your menu! ——————————————————— 8/20/2018 I stopped by during their “soft opening” today, and I did take that into consideration when I gave my review. I hope the owner/manager is reading this so that when they do open for real, they fix some of these issues.

There were no napkins or chopsticks in the table. I had to ask for them two separate times, which was a minor thing, but not when you have lime juice on your fingers or pho broth on your chin. My waitress was attentive and very nice.

It took me 45 minutes to receive an “egg coffee”, which I was comped for. While it was a nice gesture, it didn’t make up for the fact that the barista or whoever made the “egg coffee” did not cut it with water. It was like drinking super concentrated bitter espresso and condensed milk/sugar. Talk about an assault on my taste buds. In my picture, it was legit only about 1/3c of liquid total which is definitely not how I remember it. I took it home and added about 2/3c more water to it, and it was much better. Perhaps this is the way it’s actually made and I have just been drinking a different country’s version this whole time? The foam on top was good, though, so they had the right idea.

The pho I had was good, but not great. The meatballs were great, but the broth lacked depth and tasted really flat, almost as if it was watered down? I was missing the charred onion and ginger flavor and all the aromatics that are typically found in pho broth. When a broth is good, there’s no sauces needed, so I had to add some sauces. The sauces found on the table need to be labeled for customers who have no idea what the sauces are based on color/look alone. I can easily spot the difference, but the average person who isn’t too familiar with Asian cuisine may not be able to.

The basil I had to ask for was a little old and already wilted, so I had to put a lot of it in my pho to get any flavor out of it.

My husband has yet to try his “pho dip sandwich”, but I will be sure to update this review...

I made a big purchase for a total of 5 people. I ordered online for pickup. Since the order was big, there were several plastic bags and so many small containers to check if the order was correct. My wife asked the individual who handed her the food if the order was correct because we don't want to call or comeback if anything is missing. Sure enough, a spicy beef soup broth is missing. We contacted the restaurant and the individual on the phone basically called us liars. He wanted for us to only take the broths to confirm that there were all normal or spicy broths. We told him all the broths were rhe same. There was only one meal that consisted of any spicy broth. We had to take the broth in an hour because the manager was not at the restaurant. So, no manager on duty and the employee wanting for us to take the broth in an hour. That is ridiculous! The only individual who can check the cameras is the owner. Do yourself a favor, please, do not eat at this establishment. There is definitely a lack of professionalism and if you are not given the correct broth, you're basically considered a liar and are only wanting free food. Advise to the owner, let the manager on duty check the cameras to see confirm that an employee messed up before they label any customer a liar because of their mistake. We never bothered to call back or got to the restaurant in an hour. How do they possibly think we are going to wait for an hour, drive to the restaurant to only show them that every broth is all the same broth and that the only spicy beef broth is missing. Common sense is not common. We placed an order to eat immediately upon pick up. We did not place an order to wait to eat whenever the manager decides to do their job to manage the restaurant. Pathetic management and training for this restaurant. Please, spend your money and time somewhere else to avoid a headache and your heart rate to increase from all the frustration they cause. Zero stars if the option...

Well where do I start with this review, 20 minutes to get seated, 1 server on duty and a manager that would rather live out his bartending fantasy or something, they had one big top and and maybe another couple eating, there was so many dirty tables and the manager wasn’t helping the poor server on duty, she was everywhere and he was just flirting with some ladies and making drinks, now before you come after me for calling out the manager I’ll say this, I used to be the ASM at the Sunny’s right behind them so I know what a real rush looks like and how to schedule people, this guy not management material by no means he not even once checked on us, it wasn’t until a table next to us told him to check on us, mind you he did it very hastily and I had already asked him for a to go container about 10 minutes earlier, to which he gave me an attitude filled look because I asked him while he was making sake bombs for what I would assume were his buddies, he passed by our table multiple times and nothing so reasonably so I got a bit agitated, now I treat people how I’m treated, so when he was told by the other table to check on us and he hastily did I gave him cold attitude filled directions, the priority is cleaning tables and having seating available so people can sit and prepare their orders so the server doesn’t have to be stressed as much but there’s no direction because he rather flirt with ladies way older than him and make drinks with for his buddies, yeah the food was great but the food alone can’t mask the real issue at hand with management, will I come back to this location probably not, am I going to recommend this location HELL NO! That’s...