Pho Saigon — Restaurant in Houston

Let me start off by saying that I am a server. I have been in the food industry for the past 3 years, so I am very critical when it comes to getting great service or at least good service, you know, if things are really really busy and hard to handle. However, until coming to this place I have not received such an unsatisfactory experience in a long time. First off, when I walked through the door nobody greeted me or smiled at me or said hello. A lady picked up the menu and asked me table for one. She then just dropped the menu down at the nearest table without asking me anything of where I wanted to sit or if this was okay and walked off as she tossed the menu down. I picked up the menu and I moved then I went to the restroom I came out the restroom and sat and looked at my menu for over 5 minutes. There was a big top that came in after me, the lady went and took their order and I was getting impatient because I was on lunch and I had to go back to work. Shen then came over to me in a very cautious manner without making me feel welcome or asking me how I was or anything like that then she took my order and I have no idea how but that big top that she took the order from earlier they got their food before me also like I said I was just one person none of the staff asked me even once how I was doing or how the food tasted or if I needed anything or if I liked anything and when somebody came and gave me my food I asked them if they had hot chili oil he walked away and when he came back with my bowl of noodles he brought black pepper and left right off. I had to get up twice to get something that I needed or to talk to somebody and no one checked on me not once and then even when I went to go pay out nobody asked me how anything was and I had a lot of complaints. NOBODY smiled at me or nothing no one said thank you no one said come again but all of the staffs was laughing in the back so I thought at first maybe they're just really rude or just you know very standoffish but they can smile and have fun and all of that I will never be coming back I've worked at a Thai restaurant with Thai people that service was beyond sub-par I am a server myself that is beyond subpar and the only thing that I like out of my beef stew and my egg rolls was my egg rolls but of course I couldn't tell nobody that because no one asked me. I will literally never be coming back I don't see why they have such good...

To have seen this was rated one of the best Vietnamese spots in Houston.. I was highly disappointed in my experience.

I ordered two things, the egg rolls and a basic 11 (steak strip pho bowl), something I always get to test the waters at any pho spot and I wasn’t satisfied. I waited 15-20 minutes for my egg rolls to come out and they were lukewarm as if the staff was too busy LAUGHING and having SIDE conversations and forgot my food was sitting and waiting to be served. Though the flavor was good, it still wasn’t very pleasant for me as an experienced.

Twenty five minutes later and I’m still waiting on my pho bowl. Something that usually doesn’t takes that long is taking forever. I’ve seen multiple people get serviced before me and it wasn’t even that busy. I started looking so irritated the waiter finally said something to me after bringing my all my fix-ins for a bowl that has yet to come to ensure me that it was still on the way.

The bowl finally comes but it was given to me by somebody from the back instead of a waiter and tbh he look like he was rushing to do it. Hear me out, just because my experience here was bad doesn’t mean I’m going to give the food an (non-honest) rating because to-be-honest that broth was probably some of the best I ever tasted. But, my bowl was lacking in meat (I even ordered the largest size bowl available) and my noodles were already mushy within the first 2 minutes.. the quality just wasn’t there for me.

What honestly pissed me off was the last 5 minutes of my experience.. seeing this man come in and was able to get his pho bowl in less than 5 minutes and his water refilled…. The waiter looked at me with the water pitcher in his hand.. looked at my almost empty water cup and went on his merry way……

Smh. The broth is not that good enough to make me endure that type of mess again. I’m not even going to say it’s racism… but tbh could’ve been a great example…

(Ps: this review probably has some grammatical errors, that I will fix later but I’m so raw with emotion and passion behind this review I don’t care...

It breaks my heart to write this review.

I have been coming here longer than I could tell you. Years. This was the best pho in Houston. I have so many fond memories of this place. I remember it being the last restaurant I visited before lockdown in 2020 and the first restaurant I chose to dine in after I received my vaccinations. It held a very special place in my heart.

Not anymore. I have no idea what happened, but I never would have believed the pho I got this past Sunday(12-11-2022) was from Pho Saigon. I knew something was amis almost immediately when I went to pick my order up because the woman handling the flow was not someone I recognized, nor were any of the staff. It has been some time since I last ate here, but not THAT long of a time where the staff would be completely changed out. It also smelled very differently than before(and not in a good way). I am beyond thankful that I had this as a to-go order because I ended up having to add my own seasonings to the pho to make it have even a dash of flavoring when I got home. I have had better soup stocks from grocery stores than the pho I received. Instead of the pho embracing me like a warm hug and giving me the happiness I have known well, it filled me with depression and dispare.

What happened to this place? I drive out of my way to support Pho Saigon every chance I could get but this is not at all the same Pho Saigon as before. I am not sure if the owners changed, the chefs, or what. But there is no way I could recommend this place. Part of me once to try one last time to ensure I did not go on an off-day. But the pho was so bad this time, I might just keep my heart as broken as it is instead of having the last remaining pieces shattered by being served the pho I had last time again....