Tank Noodle — Restaurant in Lake View Township

Updated Review:

We have been coming here on and off for quite some time now since the original review a year ago. Overall we have been coming here for over 8 years. At that time, I gave a 4 star because it was, as I have stated below, authentic and tasty. But since I have been notificing the noticeable decline in both the food quality and quantity in the past year, I have decided to write a full review, and yes the bubble tea is still bad, Thien...

The restaurant is a dive, meaning no atmosphere and high noise level, during busy hours you will have to share tables, they did invest in new plastic chairs though. If you sit on the outer tables close to the door, someone is usually watching you eat the entire time and be careful not to run into the table cleaning carts. The patrons are half half, Asians and none, most of the first timers I am sure came from Yelp or Google. The prices are not too high for a dive at least before they start cutting down the quality and quantity. For example, the Young Chow fried rice that we usually order came with a pretty good portion for $11, we used to be able to take some home. Now it is about 65% of what it was, the waitress confirmed twice that this is the only size they serve and not aware that we have been coming to Tank longer than she worked there. I also noticed my neighbors' (on the same table), pork chop plate is no longer a pork chop (bone in), it is a now couple of pork medallions, which are much smaller and cheaper than a full size pork chop. You do get the same amount of rice though, just to be fair. Personally I don't blame the owner for this strategy, more orders = more money. But I am more comfortable with s price increase instead. Of course, some might say, who eats that much anymore? Too many people waste the left overs, 40% of the food in America are wasted...

The point is, I paid for it.

Now it begs the questions, what makes it so popular? The answer is simple, NOTHING. The quality of the food is about the same as other smaller Pho places in the same area. We visited most of them and some of them are actually slightly better. What makes Tank popular is because it has been around the longest, and it is always about location location location, it is right at the corner of Argyle and Broadway, most other places are smaller, further away from the main strip. Most of them are under the shadow of the Argyle CTA station where a lot of shady people dwell.

In conclusion, we won't come back here, the other Pho places down the road are just as good and more comfortable.

Original Review:

It is a dive worth visiting, authentic, huge selections, but bad...

Happy to announce, I've joined the rest of the free world by experiencing my first Pho. So without having anything to compare it to, not sure where this place falls on the spectrum, but there were a few notable aspects of my experience that stuck out.

I was worried about what the wait would be after hearing how popular this was and planning to go at 7pm on a Friday night needing a table for 4. Luckily, they were able to fit us in at a long community table. My other concern was the fear of the unknown - never having had Pho, didn't know what to order, how to order, if I would be able to decipher the extensive menu (which is overwhelming to say the least). The staff was very attentive and extremely helpful. I took a leap of faith and just asked for the most popular dish and then asked what it consisted of. Before I even had to say anything, our server suggested that I have the beef pho without the stomach and cartilage ingredients. Yes please!

I loved how fresh and flavorful the soup was and that I had the ability to add as much or as little garnish as my heart desired. Additionally, the other people sitting alongside us at the community table gave us tips on sauces and what to add, not add, etc. So the awkwardness that I originally felt being sat at a table with complete strangers actually made the experience more pleasant.

My absolute favorite thing that we ordered at the table was the beef roll. It's basically a roll your own spring roll and even though it's an entrée, we ordered it for the table as an app to share. It was perfect! They were fun to make at the table with everyone and we all had the ability to customize our own to our personal preferences. It was great and the beef was so flavorful and scrumptious. For dessert, I left with a tasty bubble tea. Lovely experience overall. This restaurant is not about all the bells and whistles. The décor is modest. The tables and chairs are not fancy, but the food is solid and the price is right.

For an added bonus, make it a cute date night or a fun field trip with friends by checking out the little grocery store around the corner. It's interesting to see all the products that you would never find at your typical Jewel...

I recently came here on a lunch trip because this is one of the first restaurants that you would happen to see as soon as you turn into argyle street. Upon entering off the bat there were some very positive signs but also some very negative signs that later on made the lunch trip very awkward. Positives wise the menu was very large and had a wide margin of options to choose from myself and my three guests got a seat very quickly to bad that was it for the positive part. Now the negative We were not served any water at all our male server was on his cell phone texting to the point were I had to tap him on the shoulder to get his attention to let him know that we are ready to order ( this was very unprofessional) two of our orders came out within, 15 mins after we sent in the order which was great but the 3rd order did not come out until at least 20 mins after the first two came out which was very odd and our 4th party member never got his order, the male server told us that he forgot about it. At this point, this was very awkward since we have been here for a little more than an hour and only two people ate one just got their order and one person order was forgotten. We decided to ask for our check so we can leave. Our total came out to 43 dollars and some change we paid 60 in cash and instead of getting any change back they kept everything and assumed that I was planning on tipping 16+ dollars for this type of service. This was already a waste of time and effort we did not want to get into a verbal argument and decided that this will be the first and last time. To review No water, the server on the cell phone, food coming out at a big difference in time, forgotten order and self-tipping instead of returning change. I would also like to add that I always tip a min of 20% and at times depending on the service 25-30% but I expect myself to be doing the tipping not someone to tip themselves and not say anything, No one ever stated keep the change and 20% of 43 dollars is $8. 60 so no where does that = a...