Phở Loan — Restaurant in Lake View Township

I came in accompanied by my group and I had asked for my pho bowl with the onions separate due to a mental health condition. When the waiter came to take my group’s order I had specifically told her to have it separated and the waiter jokingly said in a translation to English “ you have to remove them yourself”. I was already in a bad mood that day and I wanted to come to the restaurant I haven’t been to in weeks. The way the waitress discouraged me in front of everyone that knew my condition was insulting. I didn’t laugh initially, but my face and presence showed I was not remotely joking. I’m hundred percent sure that the waiter knew this and still choose to continue taking orders without an apology. My appetite was disgustingly ruined. I now have a hard time looking at the dish I’ve come to love in my culture and now can never forget that moment now so that’s why I’m writing this review. I believe the next insulting part that followed was...I never got the dam onions or scallions on the side. It was so bland to have it without it and I was having a bad day so I just ate the pho as fast as I could and left the group since someone already volunteered to pay. When the waiter came I asked about why I didn’t have the onion or scallions on the side and she said she thought I didn’t want them when I clearly instructed her to have it on the side before she made that horrific joke.mi stormed out the building in anger and went home. I honestly hoped that restaurant was gonna help me, but I can’t help but feel a pain in my chest and a tear to my eyes every time I think back to the moment where the waiter made a mean joke and still disregarded my easy instructions. My departure should’ve been a sign for the waiter to realize what happened, but of course it’s not. The reason why my review rating is a 2/5 is because I still want to believe in the restaurant I’ve come to enjoy, maybe it’s because I’ve visited so many times and loved the dishes. I don’t review often, but I felt like I needed to get this off my chest. I hope the owners can tell their staff to be careful about what they say because you don’t know if your joke can impact someone you don’t know who may be having a bad time. I honestly want to go back to talk to the waiter and the owner, but my fears and depression makes me lose heart every time I pass the restaurant. It’s a sinking feeling I can never let go even when I recently visited another pho restaurant (pho5lua), the waiter saw I wasn’t enjoying the pho and talked to me about it. I truly feel that I can never enjoy a good pho meal anymore because of that experience, and I hope my review will help people tell the waiter or manager of my experience because my heart isn’t...

05/16/21: It’s been a few years since we visited Pho Loan. From what I remembered, the last time it was pretty good. This time was a different story.

I’m giving this place 3/5 stars because of the benefit of the doubt and I would need to go again to reassess my review. Also, it’s COVID-19 times and most restaurants are struggling.

The menu is extensive and covers a lot of Vietnamese foods from noodles, Banh mi, noodle soups, family style dishes, rice, stir fries, vegetarian, salads, seafood, different regional foods, etc. We went with some basics of fried VN egg rolls (Cha gio), pho with rare meat and beef meatballs (pho tai bo vien), and spicy beef noodle soup (bun bo Hue). The egg rolls came with a side of sweet chili sauce. The egg rolls were crispy, but very bland in my opinion. Fiancé liked them though. The tablespoon of pho broth I tried was good. Fiancé liked the pho, but said the meatballs were not good. My bun bo was a complete disappointment. There was way too much fermented shrimp paste (mam ruoc) and not enough lemongrass. The broth was cloudy and not flavorful. The beef was decent, but was skimpy. The cha (Vietnamese sausage/ham) was soft and squishy. The Vietnamese coriander (rau ram) was plentiful, which I like, but there wasn’t much cabbage or any shredded banana blossoms.

Let’s just say later that afternoon I got sick and that bun bo did not last very long...

This place is amazing. Growing up and eating authentic pho all the time, I’m really picky and good at differentiating between bad and good quality pho. This place in particular is probably the best pho I’ve had in Chicago. The broth is hearty and tasty. I usually order pho with everything in it including; tripe, tendons, beef, meat balls, and what I love most about it is that they give you a cervical spinal cord attached with meat still. That is authentic af.

One thing I will say is that I usually order egg rolls as an appetizer and they aren’t really consistent with it. The egg rolls are frozen and they just deep fry them as preparation. Which means, your egg rolls aren’t always as hot. I’ve had times where I’ve bitten into it and there’s still small shards of ice in it. Its not really a big deal tho because your server will just send it back and make you another. Other than that, when it is perfectly fried, it’s amazing.

There is free WiFi as well and the atmosphere is good. No complaints. Just sit, eat, and...