Pho Hoang — Restaurant in New York

I'm going to dock a whole star for the fact that they automatically charge you tip, don't tell you about it, and then have suggested tip calculations at the bottom of the receipt after you pay. This just seems like they are very intentionally trying to charge you double tip. The cherry on top is that the service and atmosphere itself is horrible, which further emphasizes how ridiculous the auto-tip is.

The next 2 stars were docked for the following, in no particular order: we were seated at the edge of the long sofa. A worker leaned on the edge of the sofa (just a few inches away from my friend) and proceeded to shout across the restaurant at the other workers and the incoming customers. They were essentially screaming into my friend's ear and my face. I get the shouting across the restaurant thing, but this was just ridiculous.

THEY SWIPED MY FRIEND'S CARD FOR THE WRONG BILL. I get that mistakes happen, but this was at the end of the meal. So basically, everything else in this post happened, AND THEN THEY SWIPE HER CREDIT CARD FOR ANOTHER TABLE. First, the woman who did it did not come to us immediately to notify us of her mistake. I get that mistakes happen, it's fine so long as you are apologetic and let me know ASAP. Second, she stands at the register and proceeds to scream across the room at me. I have no idea what's happening, I wasn't even looking at her direction, I was looking at my phone. Finally, I wonder what the ruckus is about, and I look up and make eye contact with her. And she's motioning to me, and that's when I realize she's shouting across the room to ask me if the credit card she's using is mine. I just say it's my friend's card and she just turns back to the register to do something. I get no explanation as to what is happening until she drops the receipts at our table. It is not until she gives us the receipt to sign that she explains the accidental swipe and that we have to sign both receipts, and then she just walks away.*

I was filming my friend opening a present, and the waitress walks up to the table and puts down the spring rolls and beansprouts/lemon/basil RIGHT IN FRONT OF MY CAMERA. There was plenty of space on the side of the table, or she could have said something so that we can pause and let her put the food down. But she just walked up and silently dropped the food right in front of my phone, blocking my entire camera with her hand/arm and the food. -we ordered spring rolls and the middle was barely warmed. Usually, spring rolls are piping hot. This is especially disappointing since it was $9 for 4 spring rolls. the chopsticks were very sticky. The moment the food arrived, I grabbed my chopsticks and it felt like there was dried sauce all over the top of it. I ended up cleaning them before use with the one napkin they provide you. the fish sauce dip for the spring rolls had no pickled carrots or radish in it. I think at this point, I'm just being picky. But again, these are not cheap spring rolls and I have never been to a Viet restaurant that just served a tub of straight fish sauce. This is combined with the fact they give you lemons instead of limes (again, I know I'm being picky but this is on top of everything that I've...

Update 2 (post renovation): I gave this place a 2nd chance hoping they actually improved their attitude but sadly they have not.

The incompetent busboy literally forgot one of our orders despite placing them all at the same time.

When we changed the waiters for an update and asked why that one order was missing, we were met with deflection and a dismissive attitude.

You would think when you reopen a shop, customer service is imperative. But it seems they could care less about how you feel. It's pretty surreal to have the waiters dismiss you like you don't exist or don't acknowledge your concerns. That's the straw that breaks the camels back.

Needless to say, we rather starve than come and deal with the waiters attitude, like we don't exist.

Update: This restaurant forcefully charges 18% tips regardless of how you feel about their service. Highly unethical and putting the customer in an awkward position.

Adding insult to injury -- they charge an additional 3.75% transaction fee for credit cards. Literally embodying pettiness to the max.

Not many restaurants force the service charge, and those that do -- tells you they under pay their staff and push clients away from ever coming back.

Subpar service, this restaurant doesn't seem to acknowledge a client when they're standing in front of their faces waiting to order.

Another petty part is they don't give exact change. If the change is say $0.53, they gave me $0.50. It's not so much about the trivial cents, it's about principle.

If I was short 3 cents they may not let me off the hook. If they were short 3 cents, they pretend nothing happened and carry on.

When I called out the cashier, she gives me a snarky attitude as if it was a major inconvenience -- when in reality they short changed me and didn't bother taking...

Sad to say that after not dining here for over two decades it reminded me why I stopped dining here in the first place

Food - 3* because the bo kho was a bit watery than it should be, however brisket was extremely tender. Bun bo hue didn't taste like any bun bo hue I've had before. Pho was alright.

Service - 1* because while you might think this is extreme but there were three noodle soups ordered and spring rolls. Spring rolls were quick as expected. Two soups came out at the same time, the bo kho and bun bo hue. However the pho took over an additional twenty minutes from the time the first two noodle dishes came out and I had the remind the staff twice we were waiting for the dish. The first time I asked they asked if I wanted to add the additional noodle so I told them simply no, I'm still waiting on the original order. After a second reminder and other tables who sat down after us and ordered after us getting their order of pho did we finally get our full order.

Atmosphere - 4* it's fine. Been to my fair share of places like this growing up so I know what to expect.

Overall - 2* because of the service, placing the bill on the table before we asked for it or were even ready to leave made us felt rushed as guests even after waiting so long for an order of pho, as well as the fact they automatically include gratuity into the bill of 18% of the pre-tax amount, which is correct. However their service today did not warrant 18%...