Phorage Overland — Restaurant in Los Angeles

Horrible customer care (unless you happen to know the owner and/or the help)! Not traditional pho.

First, you should know that their pho is not what most would consider traditional pho. I assume it is supposed to be "upscale". It is not bad but much more of a strong beef broth with less salt & seasoning. Compared to more traditional pho it tastes a bit bland. Pho is my favorite food and I've had it in 10 different states and three different countries.

Now for the best part! (Please note sarcasm.) My daughter and I were in the West Los Angeles area and were craving some pho. This placed popped up on Google Maps and was pretty highly reviewed so we went. We were promptly treated to service with the most dismissive attitude I have ever experienced in a restaurant especially for "upscale". Their attitude left me with the impression that we should be grateful that we were allowed to dine here.

We walked in behind a couple that apparently knew the owner and the hostess/waitress who both chit-chatted with them for a few minutes while we just stood there. There was only one other couple seated at the time. They both finished their conversations and the owner went back to the kitchen; the hostess to her flower arrangement. We proceeded to stand and wait for them to even acknowledge our presence. I tried to wave the owner down to just try to get seated at a table. He didn't notice at all and just walked away but at least the woman from the couple took more interest in helping us. She explained that we had to order first then get seated.

To make a longer story shorter, after paying, the hostess had a look on her face that said, "you seriously expect your coin change?" After hemming and hawing, finally she said, "I'll bring it to your table." Needless to say, I never got my change and when I went to break a $5 bill for tip she "remembered". After another eternal minute of painfully watching her fumbling around, she started to walk to the back. So I put her out of her misery and said, "don't worry about it."

Don't worry, I will...

2 stars for this experience. We’ve been here before and really enjoyed the food, a bit pricey, but obviously worth it for us to repeat.

However, this time we rang in for a pickup order and were essentially denied. Buckle up for this one. Their own website states 11a-10p, Google Maps says until 9:30p, so we decided a call at 9:07p would suffice, cause we hungry.

The unlucky fellow who answered the phone, had to play middle man with the kitchen while trying to explain to me why the kitchen was already closed, but he wasn’t sure why it was closed and thought maybe ordering online would work, but not over the phone, cause…ya. When reaffirmed that the closing time posted was at the earliest 9:30p, he responded with “ya, we need to fix that, the kitchen closes at 9:15.” Again I explained that it was 9:07p and inquired if that would be enough time for a pickup order, and sadly was answered with “ya, it would be better to come tomorrow.” No, it would not be, we hungry tonight.

Listen I don’t mind closing earlier for whatever reasons, heck even lie and tell me you ran out of food. I worked food and hospitality for years, it’s tiring and taken for granted. But the strange confusion of whether or not you are closed (during stated open hours), with unclear communication about the finality of closure and dismissal of how unusual and unhelpful the conversation was led us to blatantly exclaim that we will not be returning tomorrow, or soon at all.

We’ll probably go back, but goodness I hope they figure out if they’ll be open...

I grew in orange county, so my standards are pretty high for Vietnamese food. If you are looking for authentic Vietnamese food on the West Side, I would NOT go here.

I ordered the washugyu beef pho. The quality of the meat was decent, but the broth was missing the aromatics you would expect in pho. It was decent for soup, but you'll be disappointed if you're expecting a bowl of pho.

My friend ordered the spicy lemongrass beef & pork noodle soup (Bún Bò Huế) and this was even more disappointing. I'll give this place the benefit of the doubt since we asked to keep the spice on the side, but this broth tasted nothing like Bún Bò. Typically, the base Bún Bò broth should be flavorful on its own with the chill sauce (ốt sa tế) added on the side for spice. When our Bún Bò came out, the broth tasted almost pho-like and whatever spice on the side was just pepper and lemongrass, not ốt sa tế. Again decent for soup, but not Bún Bò.

We were only one of two parties and the service was slow, though it looks like this place is a big takeout joint. We ordered some imperial rolls for apps. These are supposed to come out in six pieces, but only five came out. Our server failed to mention how he dropped one piece on the ground (which my friend saw). Luckily he didn't...