Lynnwood Pho — Restaurant in Mill Creek

This was our first time here and it left a sour taste in our mouths, here’s why.

Normally I’m all for supporting all local businesses and ordering up a storm and paying what is owed because I’m a huge foodie.

However shady business practices like this place loses my business immediately. We decided to come here instead of our local go to pho joint just to check it out because we came across their instagram post special of 15% off Tues-Thurs 3-5pm (no start or end date and when we arrived, this was on EVERY TABLE) so we didn’t think twice and even splurged a little by ordering more apps than we normally would have.

When it came time to checkout the gal at the front, said oh sorry it’s past the time. Then I’m like had I known that I would’ve paid before 5pm (we entered before 4:30 and left 5:22pm). Then she called a person, who I assume is the owner, and they told her sorry it ended last week?! Really?! Like when?! Because as I pointed out as of 6 days ago, they were still posting the 15% off HH on Instagram. It was also currently on every table. I immediately told the girl, please take down all your signs because just saying “sorry” doesn’t cut it. If you’re going to run a business, run it honestly. No start and end date, and then having the signs still plastered on every table to trick customers by baiting them is just dirty practice. And who knows if you did have a pay before 5pm deadline rule, please at least list that. This is called baiting customers and it’s just dirty. DO BETTER & be honest to your customer as a basis for business.

You’ve lost my business by being dirty but I hope nobody else falls victim as I have requested for them to immediately remove signs before others get taken. My bill was $75 for 2 adults and a toddler. I ordered a kids pho, a chicken pho, a rice dish, a drink, a spring roll, and one app banh khot. Not exactly a cheap place. Now as for service, smiles and you order by phone. She placed our food down and never once checked on us so it was nonexistent but at least we got smiles. Food was honestly decent, and we could’ve been return customers but I don’t support bait and switch businesses, so for that reason, I’m out. Baiting is actually an illegal business practice in Washington state, and secondly, believe what others have mentioned. This is hyped by Instagram as with most establishments, so save yourself the trouble. Don’t support businesses like this. Thanks...

The server messed up our orders pretty badly. The girl who's making drinks takes forever. She's extremely slow, so make sure you have enough time if you want to get drinks here. Your drink won't be ready in 30 minutes. Sadly the food was just mediocre.

The server gave my pescatorian friend a beef banh mi (and of course my friend did not order that). My friend tried to order milk tea, but the server kept saying he'd come get the order later. We had to ask a few times to just order one drink and wait another 30 minutes or more. The whole process took nearly an hour, and my friend got green tea instead of milk tea. At that point, we knew how slow the girl was and did not want to wait another hour, so we gave up. One of our food orders came way later than others. I don't know if they forgot about it or if they were just so slow. It wasn't even something complicated. Watch out if you come here with a group. We split the bill, and somehow my bill came out way more than I expected. I asked if I could check what was in my bill and if he accidentally added my friend's drink. He insisted that I could not check what's on my bill on the screen since it only shows full order and my bill is correct. I was skeptical but paid anyway with a 15% tip. I ended up finding out that there were "non-cash adjustment 18%" and "rounding  adjustment." Both the server and the menu did not mention this at all. No wonder my bill was higher. Since they don't even take cash here, the 18% must be a group charge (we had 7 people), but he should have told me. Honestly, I did not even want to pay a 15% tip for the awful service, but I paid anyway. The server did not even check in, and there were no water refills the whole time. If I knew they already charged 18%, I wouldn't have paid an extra 15%. We all felt like we got scammed, and we will not come back...

Let me preface that I an a huge pho fan and have been to many if not most of well known old pho spots in the greater seattle area in the last 15years.

Was hoping that this would be a new local fav find but turns out to be such a disappointment for the following reasons:

Service: it took about 25mins for bun rieu cua and bun bo hue to come out. And another 5-10mins for banh khot that was ordered same time. There were max 3 tables of 1-2 people each, and 2 take out orders during our stay. Which overall is not bad but on the slower side for pho house. Despite all the below, the server demanded tip at the checkout.

Missing item & communication: bun rieu cua was missing pork blood cubes. Thinking there may have been a miscommunication, I asked if this was the right menu and if so why it is missing- the server told me that it is sometimes not available. I was a bit unpleasantly surprised that she didn’t tell me about this at the time of ordering. Nor was it substituted with something else (at least that I was told about). I didn’t bother to cancel and wait another 20minutes or so to get my order, so I just ate it as I had to leave.

The food itself: sorry to say, but really mediocre. No depth to flavor of the soup, the quality of ingredients were doubtful - at least in what I ordered. Spicy oil was good though. However, the condiments looked not fresh.

Price point: ok to medium-large portion, but generally more expensive than its competitors for the quality and taste. With 15% dc promo on cash/venmo, it was ok, but would not think to pay that amount for what I had.

Unfortunately, it is hard to see myself choosing this place over other well known pho houses in the area anytime in the near future. Although, I sincerely hope the business takes off and improve its flavor...