Pho N Roll — Restaurant in Folsom

I was super excited to try out this new Vietnamese restaurant. Especially since Folsom doesn't have a lot of ethnic Asian diversity in its food scene. But my first experience was not great. The customer service was disjointed and unresponsive. Giving off unwelcoming vibes.

I ordered for food at the register. I sat at the counter, about six feet directly to the right from the register , to wait. I waited. As I waited, I saw folks come in to pick up their food at the register. They were handed their orders. I noticed the server (that rang up my order) put a bag next to the register. After a while, I asked the other server if my order was still being worked on. He asked if that bag was it. I asked if it's practice that I ( the customer) should touch the bags and check the tags and just walk off with it. He said he usually hands the customers their order, but not sure why the other server that took my order just left it by the register instead of handing it to me or telling me.

If you do take out, be aware that your bag of food most likely was handled by various customers or worse yet can be intentionally or unintentionally taken, since the customers are to search for their orders that are left by the register.

Plus for dine in customers, they will be charged an automatic gratuity of 18% for a party of 4 or more. The menu states five or more. Since I was sitting near the register just waiting for my order, I heard a customer point out the menu statement (about five people" ) to the cashier as he was paying. The cashier (which was a different person from the two I dealt with) stated " we haven't updated our menu yet, but that's the new policy". The customer told her that he is a regular and comes often. He said had no problem with paying the gratuity but questioned why wasn't he told. Does that scenario sound familiar?

I left with my order. But totally not digging the vibes of this place. They need to communicate with the customers. Especially about policies. We are not mind readers. Such as hand the orders to the customers versus placing them on a pile. And if they do, they have to tell the customers. Plus if prices or tip gratuity info changed from the printed menu, they need to tell the customers. Better yet don't enforce until menus...

Went here for take out this evening. First off, huge congrats to the new owners for the job they did renovating this place. It is bright, modern and definitely lends itself to a better dine in experience. We were greeted with a smile and they were able to answer any questions we had about the menu. Speaking of the menu, it is full and complete. Any combo of appetizers, pho, vermicelli, rice plates, and more you could want they probably have. Given that they are a new restaurant, it would have been nice to see some photos of the dishes in the menu, but other than that, no complaints. Now to the food, it was definitely good and much better than what we were previously getting with the previous owners when this place was known as Pho Mimi(a). Never understood why they added the letter A at the end. Pho was tasty and we got a perfect portion of rare steak to eat. The grilled pork chop rice plate was HUGE, with two chops and plenty of rice to go with it. It said it also came with a salad and side of soup on the menu, but we noticed it was not included in our to-go bag when we got home. Not sure if you don't receive the sides if you order to-go. That should be clarified or fixed on their end. We also ordered the spring rolls and pepper salted chicken wings. Both were good, but the peanut sauce for the spring rolls, while tasty, was very watery (we like our peanut sauce much thicker). Overall, I am glad the new owners 1. renovated and 2. kept it a Pho restaurant and 3. gave it a new name. Will definitely be back to try the rest of the menu items over time. Congrats again to the new owners and wish them nothing but future success. Glad to have a second option for Pho in Folsom/EDH other...

I can be very critical of Vietnamese cuisine because I am raised with Vietnamese food. 1 their fried egg rolls are not authentic. Authentic Vietnamese egg roll is wrapped with rice wrap, size is smaller. Theirs are more Chinese, thicker wrap , bigger size and the hardened filling 2 their spring rolls are too loose! I do a better job myself. 3 their Pho broth base is not authentic either, lacks some aromatic spices. The side veggies are a stingy portion for 3 orders, the mint leaves are missing, the basil leaves aren’t fresh. 4 their salted pepper fried calamari, I would do a better job too. #5 the chow mein also exposed the lack of skill of the cook. I usually spot the level of a cook just by looking at and tasting their chow fun or chow mein. This looked simple dish required a solid basic skill of a cook. The only thing that gets my point is the generous portion. In conclusion, this is not an authentic Vietnamese restaurant. PS: it happened that my mother’s family is from Hanoi (North) and my father’s family is from Saigon (South), therefore I grew up eating both North and South styles Viet cuisine. So the South - North argument to explain doesn’t...