Pho Tre Bien Express — Restaurant in El Paso

Yesterday I went in for done in. I am plantbased/vegan and live on the northeast side. We don't have many options on this side of town and although I enjoy the dishes this location lacks customer service. However I was crunched on time and needed somewhere to eat, they were down the street from running my errands.

There was a young white male that assisted me at the counter. He was polite and so was the lady who seemed to be training him, her name is Roxy. I ordered my meal and my oldest son's boba tea who also wanted tapioca pearls with his taro drink. We sat and waited.

Then the place started to have more people trickle in, it got full with people coming to dine and pick up orders. Five minutes passed and he informs me they ran out of pearls and will be making more. If I wanted my drink now and he'll bring the pearls when they're ready. Seriously? They didn't know they were out and my drink that was already made has to sit until then? I never made tapioca pearls before but I could of swore it took time but I gave them the benefit of the doubt and assumed they were already in the process of making it. So I said I'll wait, thank you.

I proceeded to continue waiting with my sons'. Everyone was pretty much just looking around at each other as people picking up their take out order started to line up against the stool tables against the mirrored walls. Many seemed frustrated because experiencing myself previously they always give 30-45 for pick up window with your order. Having to stand and wait an additional 30 minutes plus was unforseen for a service made to be convenient. The place is small and all the tables were filled too.

25 minutes after waiting for my food and drink the young man then brings my drink without the pearls saying sorry she said it was being made but I don't know what happened. She said they won't be having anymore served today??? I mean on top of not keeping track of your supply and demand to efficiently serve what you offer on the menu, you have me wait almost half an hour for a drink that should be made in less than five minutes. I was irritated.

I got my food about 15 minutes later, meaning I waited for almost an hour to eat. I only ordered the tofu cubes and vegetables. I was annoyed too because I barely got any tofu and most of it was cabbage and carrots with rice.

Then all of a sudden the place got smokey. I don't know what happened in the kitchen, if the cook was feeling the pressure but something burned. So much it got like foggy in there. I told my son to open the door because I had my 8 month old son in there, there was another customer with an even younger baby girl and senior woman. There are no windows to open in the facility and it being packed already made it worse with the door being the only way to ventilate the smoke. A few people started to cough and luckily my husband was meeting us there I told my son to take his baby brother with him to wait in the car while I finished.

I was shocked because the workers seemed embarrassed at the same time but avoided the whole experience!! No one announced an apology or took the initiative to apologize for the wait, the smoke filling the whole room experience, everyone was pretty much avoiding a disaster.

It was ridiculous. If you can't handle the heat, stay out of the kitchen or the restaurant business. Customer service can be the reason a good quality food restaurant fails. This is the case for this express location. I tried giving them another chance and this was like the cherry on top.

I am from California, particularly the bay area. The bay area is a very diverse area and I grew up eating Vietnamese pho food. Even going to a pho restaurant and not being able to eat pho is sad because they don't serve vegetable broth at this location. I also know great customer service being from a very diverse environment. This location needs retraining from the back kitchen to the front...

WORST DINING EXPERIENCE EVER! PLEASE DO NOT GO HERE. I had an awful experience at Pho Tre Bien Express. I called at approximately 7:40pm to check what time this place closed and the lady (who I am guessing is the "manager") said that they close at 9:00pm, but stop letting people in at 8:30pm. After she told me that, I quickly drove over to this restaurant and got there by 7:55pm. After my family and I placed our orders, we sat around waiting for our food for a LONG TIME. By now, it was already 8:30pm. The food took forever to come out. Three of my family members (including myself) ordered pho and asked for extra limes. When the server came back, he only gave us exactly three limes. Since this was not enough, my daughter politely asked the server for some more limes. Shortly after, the manager angrily approached our table and said "He already gave you extra limes. Was that not enough?" We said no and stated (again) that we would like some more. She then proceeded to say "Okay, but there is going to be a charge for that." We said that wasn't a problem and then she decided to just walk away. She never brought us any limes!!!! By this point, it was 8:40pm (or somewhere around there). Still not closing time, I may add. However, the manager decided it was closing time already! She started brooming, putting up the chairs, and turning off the lights. Basically... she was kicking us out while we were still eating and it was still not 9:00pm yet!!! After I almost choked on the pho, I decided to get some water by the refreshment area. Once I poured some ice into my cup, I realized the she had taken some parts out of the soda machine and I could no longer get water!!! She had shut off the machine!!!! She rudely asked me if she wanted me to put back the parts but I told her no because, by this point, all I wanted to do was leave this restaurant. We ended up leaving at about 8:50pm after we basically had to swallow our food because she wanted us out of there WAY BEFORE CLOSING TIME. I will never, never, NEVER go back to Pho Tre Bien Express! Please consider new management! Also, your food isn't that great and limes aren't that expensive. If you can't afford to bring customers what they ask for, maybe you shouldn't own...

I had pretty good expectations when I walked in the door due to the fact that The restaurant looks very modern and already had a few patrons eating lunch in the establishment when I arrived. I love pho and I always order the well done brisket with rare steak and hot tea wherever the location may be since its my favorite. After ordering the cashier gave me a cup that I assume was for water but I did not get any due to the cup being greasy and had a piece of a lemon seed stuck to the bottom on the inside of the cup. I received my order and later received my tea. The tea had a ton of jasmine leaves in it and my cup ended up having more leaves then tea every time I filled my cup. The tea pot leaked from everywhere when I poured myself more tea and the tea was super strong it tasted like eating a boquet of flowers. The bowl of pho I ordered was pretty bland I had to put a plentiful amount of hosin sauce and siracha to make it flavorful and on top of that it was a tiny bowl that I couldn't even add my condiments and stir it without spilling the broth out the sides. I received a small amount of bean sprouts one slice of lime 3 pieces of jalapeño and a pinch cilantro and I couldn't even add it to my food as I mentioned because of the portion size of the bowl. Halfway through my meal I noticed out of a crack in the caulking of the tabletop along the wall where I sat a roach peeked out and went back in. I got my car key and poked in the hole and 3 more came out! I immediately got up and informed the cashier who killed one roach where I sat as the others scurried away. I told the cashier I will not be finishing my meal and asked for a refund. I paid for the tea which wasn't even drinkable and received my money back for the pho. First and last time I will be eating at this establishment...