Pho Crystal — Restaurant in Fairview

2 stars for delicious food and (relatively) fast service.

FUNCTIONALITY OF SPACE:

This place is not designed for bigger people to walk through, or for more than 1 person really. It's a tiny, one-person "walk way", so when other people need to get through, you are sticking your butt in their peoples faces, backs and tables. Don't believe me? Look at their review pictures, there are only 24" (two 12 × 12 ceramic tiles) to come in, or go out through, it feels more narrow than an airplane or bus. Let's not forget this place is very popular, so it's usually crowded, so you have 24" of space for families to walk in, walk out, get up, waitresses bring drinks, etc. Since they are always so busy, they need to upgrade to a bigger building that doesn't feel so tight and claustrophobic, but that would cost more money, so forget it. If you dont mind your table being 4 inches away from the next table, then eat here. (Look at the review pictures of the tables on the west wall and how close they are to the middle aisle of tables) Otherwise, call ahead and get it to go. (I have not ever personally attempted to call ahead, so I have no feedback for that method). When you come in to pick up your food, you will still have to walk through a very narrow awkward space, all the way to the very back end of the store to get in another tight constricted line, to wait to pay. They need to rearrange their "waiting area" AKA a hallway that was initially meant for 2 people to pass through, that they put seats in, so only 1 person at a time can enter/exit. I wonder if the fire Marshall approves. I am not a tiny little vietnamese person.

EXPERIENCE:

I was going to order there, so we sat down and decided to get it to go because it was so packed we felt like sardines and it was HOT and their ceilings fans weren't even on! So as soon as we said we were getting it to go, she told another group of people they could sit there & booted us off the table and told us to go wait in the back. Talk about a cluster! Now you have 5 people trying to reverse and move without knocking into other peoples or tables, just uncomfortable! She asked me why I wouldn't eat there I said it was too hot in there! That is not enjoyable to me to be so tightly jam packed, but she did offer water. But I found her inconsiderate to immediately kick us out of our table, as if we were inconveniencing her and not equally paying customers!!

THE AFTERMATH:

Everytime after I ate there I would get an "upset stomach". The food is really good though, so it's a shame. I hope it's up to code for health inspections. Both times I ate there, their broth for the pho wasnt piping hot, it was just kind of hot, so that may be why I was having stomach issues with raw meat not being fully "cooked" by the...

My husband and I visited your restaurant today with the hope of enjoying a nice meal. Unfortunately, our experience was very disappointing due to both the quality of the food and the way we were treated. My husband ordered the beef pho, and I ordered the seafood noodle soup. Upon tasting my soup before adding any vegetables or bean sprouts, I noticed that it was cold. I calmly mentioned this to the owner and asked if it could be reheated. Rather than simply addressing the issue, she made a comment implying that the bean sprouts had caused the soup to cool down. I explained that I had not yet added them and that the soup was already cold. A few minutes later, the reheated soup was brought back and was at a proper temperature, which I appreciated. However, shortly after, the cook came out and began speaking to a group seated in the corner in Vietnamese. The owner then loudly said in English, “Heat again! Heat again!” followed by loud laughter and chuckling from the group. It was disruptive and clearly directed at our situation, which felt unprofessional and disrespectful. My husband eventually said something to express our discomfort. The owner gave a half-hearted apology and brushed it off by saying they were just family joking around. She even said that if we didn’t like it, we didn’t have to come back. We found this attitude unacceptable. The food itself was average, but the service and the way we were treated were extremely poor. What could have been a small issue was made much worse by the owner's and staff's behavior. We felt uncomfortable...

Dear owner of the business, I understand that your business is profitable enough and will always have people coming because they love the taste of your pho! But I wanted to bring to your attention that you’re loosing possibly a loooot of money because your employees either don’t want to or physically can’t pick up the phone. I’ve been trying to reach them from work so that the order would’ve been ready by the time I got there to pick it up. But the whole 30 minutes I was trying to reach them and no one picked up. I came up to the counter while calling them and asked if the phone was working, the lady at the counter pointed at it and said “yes it’s working, it’s right here”, but it was silent, so clearly it was muted. I asked her why she muted the phone, she pointed at the line of people waiting to be seated and said that they’re too busy. So I asked her if they even accept take out orders on Fridays coz they’re so busy, she said they still do take out. So does everyone need to come to the restaurant to order take out? I’m confused. Now I’m standing outside, because inside it’s inhumanely packed (is it even legal to have that many people in that space?!), waiting for 15 minutes, hangry. You gotta either hire extra help for the weekend or make your current employees pick up the phone, because idk on how many more thousands of dollars you’re gonna loose because people can’t reach the restaurant...