Pho Tai — Restaurant in Lacey

My boyfriend and I started going to this place a couple months ago. Its not far from where we live and we really like it. Every time we come we dine in, until today we never had a bad experience. On our last few visits we noticed the help wanted sign for all positions so today we noticed some new faces in the restaurant. We were glad to see them getting more help. We were very impressed at how well the staff was able to keep up with all dine in, to go and phone orders that were coming in. One of the new employees was pretty quick and efficient and we thought to ourselves that she was a great addition to a restaurant we really enjoy. All the positives aside when we sat down for our meal this evening we ordered a couple of Boba drinks. One arrived shortly after our appetizers, however the second one did not. After receiving our meal we asked about the drink and we were told that they were backed up on orders. We understood, they did have quite a few people in the restaurant and we've never been on a Friday evening. We waited patiently and continued with our meal. Half an hour goes by and my boyfriend finishes his meal and he still hasn't received his drink although we did notice others getting their drinks both, dine in and to-go orders that came after us. We were approached and informed by the waitress that impressed us that if we were ready to pay we could do so at the register. This is when we told her that we were still waiting on our second drink. My boyfriend told her what his drink order was and she went off to look into the matter. Moments later she walks back from the take out/to go order table they have with his drink. This drink had been sitting there for a big portion of our meal, the ice was already melting and was watering down the drink. He's had that drink several times before and it did not taste the same. The label on the drink even said it was a phone order. Seems like they mixed up and gave his drink to someone else waiting on a to go order and left this one sitting on the table. At check out we expressed this to our cashier when she asked for feedback on our meal. She apologized and was sincerely sorry about the incident. We asked nicely if the drink could be taken care of in some way since it never arrived as we were eating. She mentioned it to the waitress that had brought us the drink saying "they did get the drink, they just got it later" being very dismissive of the situation as if nothing was wrong with that. She snapped and repeated herself as a male coworker tried to intervene. I was shocked by her demeanor since throughout the service we saw her as a great worker completing tasks fast and efficiently without seeming flustered, I couldn't believe her attitude toward me and the situation. I don't see how comping one drink would have really affected her or the business since they appeared to be having a good night sales wise. Thankfully another gentleman stepped in letting us know that although he couldn't comp our drink during this meal he gave us a stamp card for our next visit to get another free drink after a purchase. Not the most ideal solution but the gesture and the attempt to solve the situation was very appreciated. In this instance the drink itself isn't the issue, it's the way that it gets resolved that really matters. I'm sure if the waitress was ever in this situation she would feel the same, hopefully she never has to...

We always order Pho here in the last four years because this is the closest Pho place by our house. We ate inside once but their tables feel sticky and nasty so we never ate inside again.

Their employees or servers are rude and dishonest! Today, I never felt so disrespected by a service. We ordered over the phone 1 large Pho and I picked it up. Upon picking it up, I went to the togo order table to see if my order was ready but I only saw one that but it does not have my name on it.

Then one of the staff asked for my name so I gave it to her and told her that I ordered a large flank and tendon Pho to be exact. So she processed the payment method, I put in my card and I even left a tip. I saw the transaction notif on my phone. Then this woman, grabbed the only bag on the table and rip off the receipt, and handed me the order. So I told her, excuse me, that did not have my name on it and the order says brisket no flank. I dont want brisket. I asked her to open the bag and check if its right. She and another woman opened it and confirmed that it was wrong so they change the order. So nice of them. Then they handed me the bag and I left.

Then as we were about to pull up at my house they called me and said I never paid! And Im like no? i paid, another lady processed my payment I even put in a tip! And she insist that I did not pay and stole the food. She literally told me “You know you did not pay for that food”.

So I decided to drive back and just return the food. And I confronted the lady who processed my payment and she said yea but It didnt go through. Im like how are you gonna fix my order and then sent me my way and tell me that it didnt go through then accused me of stealing the food! And no shit we came back home and guess what they process my refund. How are you gonna process a refund if the transaction didnt go through?

Just go somewhere else, where its clean, more affordable and servers...

Today 09/22/24, I ordered 1 mango ice cream soft serve $5.25 and 1 fresh pork spring roll to-go $3.15, my total was just under 10 dollars including tax for a snack amount of food. Service wasn't bad, but there is room for improvement(such as giving an estimate on wait time) My ice cream was good it didn't come with any lid though and the plastic spoon was a bit rough on the edges and it cut my lip:( The spring roll came in a to-go container wrapped in plastic wrap (which I've never seen done before, i found it strange) and it smells weird like it may possibly be spoiled? I do believe that my spring roll was made today(i did wait like 7mins for it) but I think the pork is rancid: Kind of smells like tonsil stones and the kitchen sink when the dishes have sat in there for a week in the summer. Or like a dirty turkey pan that's sat out for a few days. The peanut sauce is good though! I also noticed flies in the restaurant which could be nothing but other (poorly rated older) reviews suggest that this may be due to some underlying sanitation problems given that this would not be the first report of spoiled food and bugs. Btw, this Pho Tai is the same restaurant as the tin tin tea and tin tin Ice cream that are listed on maps as 3 separate businesses. I believe this may be a business strategy to pull in more customers as they're essentially getting the customers from 3 separately listed buisness"es" (which in reality is just one business) and possibly as an attempt of redemption for their google rating (which isn't terrible actually. it's just that tin tin tea has 0.3 more stars and tin tin Ice cream has 1 review that happens to...