PHO 52 — Restaurant in Frederick

Even i am french, i got vietnamese origins, lived and work in vietnam for 10 years, quite lazy to cook myself pho as it take very long time to make it, i wanted today a good pho and introduce to my american friend who host me to enjoy and try vietnamese delicacy.

First thing first, i can say : food there is truely authentic, owner is a delightful vietnamese lady, was happy to talk with her a bit in vietnamese even unfortunately i understand more than i speak.

Truely authentic pho but u have to know that pho served is South vietnamese style. my family was from north and pho is a bit different on broth : south style is more sweet. beside this, i feel back to vietnam when i ate there !

The pro : The pho ! authentic national vietnamse dish, south style. I took pho dac biet , means special, u will get a bit of all meat topings from other pho style

banh mi was good, even not the best i got, but good enough

hot coffe milk , vietnamese style with sweet condensed milk

NO MSG !! in vietnam its difficult to find pho without msg, no MSG means more bones,more meat and more time to cook the broth to got the same taste. so a big hat off for onwerto make this effort and cook pho the way i will do it myself for my own family :)

The cons : honnestly not so much cons, a few word as i am really picky for food

the pho dac biet misses 2 topping i usually got : beef tendon and beef stomach, wich might be too extreme or weird or not easy to find in usa

banh mi should have beem enhanced to perfection to my taste with good crispy crunchy traditionnal french baguette.

for the hot coffee, miss the little metal device that vietnamese served on top of the coffe cup where the coffe will flow slowly in cup , just to have the authentic vietnamese milk coffee experience :)

Tested and approved,if i had time, i will go back to try different kind of soup...

EDIT: We returned for lunch and ordered a pork Bahn Mi each as well as small (not at all small!) bowls of Pho. The Bahn Mi are quite possibly the best sandwich I've ever had. They are so good I could honestly eat them every day. And the Pho is amazing, with delicious broth and generous amounts of meat.

We had the same host who remembered us (because of my British accent), and he was just as friendly and helpful as last time. A really nice chap. Unfortunately their POS system went down during the lunch rush. Thankfully we had cash, so I gave our host a generous tip to thank him for his service.

INITIAL REVIEW: My wife and I had lunch there today after reading the Google reviews and a Reddit recommendation.

I had Pho Chin (brisket) and my wife had the Pho Ga (mixed dark and white meat chicken) and we also shared a Banh Mi Heo Nuong (lemongrass flavored pork). Even though the Pho was the small size instead of the large, it was a very generous amount of food. And it was absolutely delicious, we loved it.

As nice as the Pho was, the Banh Mi was even better. The pork was succulent and full of flavor, the bread was soft on the inside with a slightly crispy crust. Mayo, cilantro and jalapeno added even more flavor. Honestly one of the best sandwiches I've ever eaten. All this delicious food cost $28.

Service from our host was friendly, polite, and courteous too. And he made a point to tell us how much he appreciated our business, which we also thought was a nice touch.

A genuine 10/10 food experience. We will definitely...

Small non-descript restaurant, simple interior with great service and pho. They had oxtail pho which I was eager to try. Unfortunately, the meat was very tough that I couldn’t bite it off the bone the way one would expect. I had intended to just separate out the oxtail and order some regular pho beef cuts to put into my soup which I had already added condiments to. But the lady (might be one of the owners) serving us insisted on getting me a fresh bowl of regular beef pho of my choice and of course apologized for the tough meat when I told her. She agreed it needs to be simmered longer. The pho broth was steaming hot with great flavor, plentiful meat and fresh sprouts and basil. Four of us all had leftovers after the small bowls we ordered. Will definitely be back for another try of...