Pho Cyclo Vietnamese Restaurant — Restaurant in Merrifield

Pho Cyclo is a Vietnamese restaurant in a strip mall, in what used to be the Giant plaza and then the Staples plaza. It is a quaint, little restaurant that feels homey in a good way. It's definitely casual and decor is simple, with pops of color. The table tops were a bit sticky and there were lots of bits of food on the floor that were not cleaned up or even noticed by the staff while I was there. As a preface, this review is based solely on the atmosphere, decor, and the particular bowl of pho ordered.

I visited Pho Cyclo in the hopes of finding another pho restaurant to enjoy but unfortunately, I'm not sure what to think. Let me explain. I ordered the combination bowl, which is Pho Tai Nam Gan Sach. This bowl is supposed to have rare eye of round, cooked brisket, beef tendons and beef tripe. I got a large bowl cause I was hungry and let's face it, I love to eat. The bowl arrived fairly quickly as expected and at first glance, it looked great. There seemed to be a huge blob of the eye of round in my bowl and it was well done by the time it got to me, which was a disappointment as I like it rare. As I moved things around, I noticed there was a distinct lack in the other ingredients in comparison to the eye of round. After eating a bit, I could notice a hint of sourness in the eye of round, which I believe is from the meat being presliced and sitting around in its own blood/juices. I would speculate that I received such a large portion of eye of round in comparison to the other ingredients because it had been sitting around and they were trying to use it up. But again, this is just speculation.

As far as the broth is concerned, it was good and comparable to what I am able to make at home. It was expecting and hoping for better, but it definitely was one of the highlights of the bowl. The noodles were slightly overcooked and stuck together more than I would have liked. Overall, I would give the pho a 6.5 out of 10. It lost a lot of points due to the sourness of the eye of round, which turned me off. Also, points were lost due to the lack of other ingredients. For nearly $9 a bowl, I was hoping for more.

I give Pho Cyclo 3 out of 5 stars because my pho experience was far from exceptional, which would have earned 5 stars. The lack of ingredients, questionable eye of round, and overcooked noodles were the main reasons. I will be returning though because I believe the broth had promise. I'd like to try another bowl and will be updating my review at that time. I'd also like to try the other menu...

So I don’t normally write reviews, but I felt like I had to write this one. I just ate at this restaurant and I must say the service was very bad. I’m not sure if it was because it was a busier Friday, but that should not be a factor for the reason why this service was bad from the very start, the waiter felt impatient with me even though I had already explained I had never been there. To start, he question me about what drink I wanted, and I asked him for water now, a smoothie to be brought at the end, and time to look at the menu but he acted like he did not want to wait and then gave me kind of like a sigh and a look and walked away. He did not return to take my order and a different waitress came back about 10 minutes later to do it. When my water finally arrived (along with the smoothie i’d asked to be brought out later), there was no straw. Now, I would normally have overlooked that small detail if it weren’t for the fact that later, when my food arrived, there were no utensils. No fork or chopsticks. I waited for an additional 5 to 7 minutes to see if it was just forgotten or if the waiter had left to retrieve them, but he never returned. Also, my table had no sauces whereas other tables did and I even had to ask for napkins. The main problem I had with all of those details, those simple additions were included with everyone else’s meals who were being served around me. When they were given water, they were given straws on the spot. When they were given food, they were given utensils and napkins to eat with. I was having a different interaction with the waiter than everyone else. I try not to delve into this next touchy subject but, optics alone, It did not help that whereas other patrons were white or lightskin’d people, I was the only black person there while at the same time I was the only person not being served at a basic level of expectation when eating at a restaurant. I literally had to ask for every component to my meal Every time. Worst yet, when i did ask for the things i should already have been given, the waiter acted inconvenienced to be giving them to me and didn’t even acknowledge or apologize for the lapse. I tipped $2 for an $18 meal, and to be honest, really wanted to tip nothing but I am not a complete a-hole. Environment was good and the other hostess was at least kind, which is the only reason I am going to stray away from not recommending this...

Second time here. Might be the last as today's experience made me realize that I should drive the extra for our old go-to pho on Broad Street.

It is an okay place. Service is quick. Today one of the staff came over and as we explored more of the menu than the pho page, we had questions. "Yes, this is spicy and good. Big serving" sold me on a shrimp curry. We also got a pho. The food came quickly and that was the last we heard from the staff until the bill was presented.

Back to the meal. I think the pho is served too cool. Again. But it is tasty enough. My spicy curry has just a flavor of too much tomato and is sweet. Remember it is supposed to be spicy? Not at all. I added siracha to try to give it flavor but it was not very helpful. If I wanted siracha shrimp, I would order it.

When a server returned with the check we advised him of the lack of spice and flavor. "You should have told us and we would have brought you the spice tray" he said. "We were very busy with take-out orders" he continued. I only saw one driver the whole time we were there and a foursome who came for bubble tea so that was a fib on his part. No apology or removing it from our bill or "let me get you some dessert to make up for it."

Elephant Jumps is next door. I think I'll jump!

PS: Both times we have been there someone is mopping a floor and you can smell the bleach at the dining tables. I am not...