Phở Zen — Restaurant in Happy Valley

My experience of Pho Zen was the highest and the lowest... that only lasted one and a half month. Based on my friends strong recommendation regarding to an amazing vegetarian pho, my husband and I went and tried the vegetarian pho and we both loved it. Ever since then, we have been there almost every other week (we don't go out so much. So this means basically 100% whenever we went out, we went to pho zen.) till last Monday, 8/7/2017. That day, I convinced my husband to go out and eat at pho zen again. I finished the whole big bowl and almost end of the bowl, I had a bite of a chicken. I have been vegetarian since 2005, and it was very unpleasant. I called the waiter who served us, and explained calmly, and he said something like, 'no chicken, no chicken.. did you?' Like... I was explaining I didn't want chicken in my soup and there was. He awkwardly said something like 'call.. and ask..' pointing finger to the kitchen area. So I assumed that he was going to talk to a manager or a chef or something and come back and talk to us. I want to emphasize that there was no apology ever till this moment. And then, next 10 mins...while my husband and I were waiting till he come back to us, he was passing by our table to serve the table behind us, and never looked at us. We were keep trying to look at him so he would talk to us some sort of resolution, but he avoided eye contact and kept passing by our table. Soon later, a lady came by and cleaned out our table. I thought she was coming to explain or talk to us about a piece of chicken I had in my soup, but NOWhen I was paying, I explained to him that I thought it might have been a mistake, just a piece of meat fell into my soup, it could happen and I could understand. However, how the waiter and waitress reacted afterwards, that I can't understand. No apology till I demand, no compensation was offered.. Even though the food is great, just hope that they do not make a mistake preparing your meal because they will not do anything about it. For example, putting meat in a vegetarian pho soup. I am not sure who is a manager of that place, but both servers were emphasizing 'no manager no manger' 'no contact' ... like he or she can't be reached?? or he or she doesn't care about customers?? or he or she is very scary person to call and ask about this kind of things.... I know that the manager needs to train their servers better. The way the waiter reacted was totally unprofessional, and it ruined my favorite restaurant. I will never go back to that place. And I will spread my experience...

This place is located close to our home near New Seasons Market. I went here during lunch time, which was not busy or crowded. The designs were bright, clean, and very nicely decorated. The waitress was quick to getting myself and my friend seated with a menu. Their menu has many varieties of noodles and rice dishes. They even have a page in the back for some Chinese dishes and Thai food options?

I ordered a vermicelli sausage and grilled pork dish as my friend got a zen pho bowl. Price were more on the higher end and taste wise the zen pho bowl was bland and not too special. My bowl of vermicelli was very basic like any Vietnamese veggie bowl with meat and noodles. Overall, it was okay, but did lack a wow factor that makes them stand out from their competitors.

As for service, there could be more engaging conversations with the customers as all 3 waitresses and waiters were very shy. One guy made eye contact eith us but did not seat us immediately and left to the back. Two waitresses just gave us our food and never came back to ask for anything else, how's the food, everything okay, or we wanted to-go boxes. She came with the check and then we paid and left. Customer interaction was very little here. I think i figure a pretty place like this could improve on that part. I worked as a waitress before and was...

I had the veggie salad rolls with peanut sauce (the sauce was sweeter than expected. Not bad, but not quite what I was expecting. I added some spicy sauce to it and it was perfect). I also ordered the Chicken Pad Thai (with tofu not chicken) and I'd say it was about average. I had a sip of my friend's Vietnamese iced coffee and it was very good! Strong coffee flavor but still a nice sweetness.

Loved the decor and ambiance. Full five stars there!

Very clean and tidy. Love a clean restaurant!

Service was so-so. I had to seek out a few things, but they also seemed a bit short staffed for a Friday evening. The waiter wasn't very friendly and seemed annoyed he was there. But it definitely wasn't the worst service given this is Portland.

I liked it but we don't eat out often enough for me to seek it out. Why go out of your way for a good restaurant vs a great one or a new one that's reviewed well. I would recommend it to anyone who lives in the area, needs an inexpensive, and nice place...