Hot Pho — Restaurant in Hickory

Came in during the soft opening really wanting to love this place, but unfortunately, the experience was disappointing from start to finish. I will admit the interior is beautiful, bright, clean, and well designed. But that’s where the positives end.

We ordered egg rolls, spring rolls, and two pho tais. The appetizers came out in a reasonable time. The pho took noticeably longer, but we were patient. Even after the initial rush died down and we could hear staff laughing and chatting in the kitchen, we still waited another 10+ minutes. Still, we waited without complaint. When the pho finally arrived, I noticed my bowl was clearly smaller than my boyfriend’s. I mentioned it to the server, who checked with the kitchen and came back stating: “The bowls come from different suppliers, but the portions are the same.” That was it. No apology (from the owner), no offer to double check, no accountability, nothing.

At that point, my boyfriend had eaten about a third of his pho, and I hadn’t touched mine. We took both phos home, and yes, I weighed them. His almost half eaten bowl still weighed more than my full one!

I get that this is a soft opening, and minor hiccups are expected. But brushing off a valid concern and refusing to even consider that a mistake might’ve been made? That's a red flag. Soft openings are supposed to be about learning and improving. If you're not willing to listen to feedback now, what does that say about future service? I wish your business luck, but I hope you take this as a reminder: great service and experience isn’t just about how a place looks, it’s about how customers are treated and how...

Tried out Hot Pho the Monday after their grand opening, around 11am and were able to get in before the lunch rush.

We ordered the Crab Pillows, Pho Dac Biet, one of the rice dishes, and Ca Phe Sua Da.

The Crab Pillows were good. They came with 6pcs and were fried well, not greasy, and stayed crispy. The filling had more crab than cream cheese, so it's definitely more worthwhile.

My parents ordered the rice dish. They said it was good but they preferred other places in town.

The Pho was good and the portion was a decent size. You can see broth has some fat from the beef to it which provides a good flavor, but if you prefer a leaner broth it may not be for you. I dont mind it so much and thought it was well-balanced.

The Ca Phe Sua Da was good as well. I was worried because it came pre-mixed, since most Vietnamese restaurants will provide you the drip coffee and allow you to mix the iced coffee with the condensed milk yourself. Regardless, it ended up being strong and creamy and met my expectations.

You pay at the register once you get your check. For 2 Pho Dac Biet, 1 com tam dish, 1 appetizer, and 2 ca phe we spent about $70 not including tip. We also paid cash to avoid the 3% card transaction fee.

I would return to Hot Pho. The facility is clean (I didnt check out the bathroom), the service was good, and the food was decent. I think going forward, as long as they can be consistent about the quality of their food, then it'd be a solid addition to the Hickory...

Unfortunately, this place is not going to make it. It’s really sad that we came in this evening and there were only people seated at three tables yet they told us it was going to be a 15 to 20 minute wait and then after 15 minutes they came and said it was gonna be another 20 to 25 minutes and I asked why because almost every table in the restaurant was empty and they said “we’re short staffed”, even though there was several people standing around back, not doing anything and then the host made a snippy comment to me about us going somewhere else. And during the 15 minutes we waited, as a white couple, several Vietnamese people walked in and they were greeted and seated. To be honest with you, there were only Vietnamese people seated in the restaurant, so I don’t know if we were being discriminated against and they did not want to seat us so they were just making us stand there and wait and then kept putting us off but seating other people, but I felt as though they definitely did not appreciate our business and did not care if we stayed or left. Sadly, this place is already getting a lot...