PHO-NOMENAL-BOWL — Restaurant in North Charleston

Pretty Good Late night Nosh spot! We kinda got stranded heading back from some little out of the way little town called McBee, we were driving around looking for an open Pho place (really looking for some good Asian fried wings) when this one jumped out at us - the NAME first of All!! I called first, we ordered (at 25 minutes before closing time!) two Combo Pho and one order of shrimp spring rolls. I had called twice actually but failed to place the order because the employee didn't even know the address and could not confirm that I was calling the correct location. Good thing I called back!! ‍ So once we got there and we walk in - hey! this place is super Kitch! Trendy lil spot, lots of lil booths run the length of the shop, with a couple of larger ones up front, they have these super cool painted ceramic Modern Chic Ceramic Teddy Bears all lined up behind the register - high up on the wall. KAWAII!! So when I DID get the order in and we got to the place they were pretty quick. They had quite a few orders going out when we got there matter of fact! We were there til about five minutes to close and they had five or six orders waiting to be picked up!! When we got our food back to the hotel the broth was still piping Hot! The combo bowl comes with rare beef, tendon, tripe, meatballs, and brisket. And then you also get cilantro, jalapeño slices, basil, lime, and bean sprouts. Along with some hoisin sauce and sriracha sauce. I always also add in fish sauce, which I asked the guy for when I called, but noticed was not included when we got back to the hotel 😣 Their broth is AH-Mazing!!! You can Taste the hint of Star Anise - which I always love - in the background, they add the onions to the broth so that you don't get that raw onion flavor and, they will already be cooked and soft; as well as green onions. Adding it to the other ingredients and you have the perfect mix of YUM!!! The broth is beefy, spicy, just a bit of cinnamon hints and oniony background. The slices of beef are tender and delicate, the tripe is super gristly and delicious, the tendon is gelatinous and full of rich beef flavor and the veggies are exceptionally fresh and wonderful. Best part though is the noodles are NOT over cooked. They were cooked with still a little bite to them. They were even still firm when I ate the rest in the morning!! Excellent...

*UPDATE * I really wanted to give a higher rating for this place because there aren't many Vietnamese restaurants around. I decided to give this place another chance today. The phở was even worse than last time. The broth smells like sink water with dirty dishes, possibly the worst I have ever had, and I have been to many places in the world eating some pretty bad phở. My daughter ordered the Tonkatsu, and it was nothing like the real thing. We weren't expecting Japan quality, but the dish was not edible. It was pork cutlet chopped into the size of your thumb and deep fried. It was dry and impossible chew. With the cost of eating out so expensive these days, I would not come back and definitely not recommended. I took away a star, so 1 star.

ORIGINAL

Phở was not good. I got their P1, the house special phở, a little more expensive, but I wanted them to put their best foot forward. Portion was good, I liked the big bowl, easier to mix everything up. Fresh herbs were good, they served some basil, cilantro, bean sprouts, and jalapeños. They got the Rooster Sriracha, that's a plus, not every place serves it now because it's more expensive. Lots of meat, which is good. What ultimately earned them the 2 stars is the broth. The broth does taste like phở broth, seems like some ingredients were missing. I can taste some Vietnamese fermented shrimp paste in the broth, which could be contaminated if they also serves bún bò Huế. The broth had a heavy dose of MSG, probably because the broth was not cooked correctly so they use MSG to add flavor. Don't get me wrong, I love myself some MSG, but the broth was not right. Would not...

We had a great dinner here the other day. Their Pho is sooo delicious and heart-warming. The broth is so good, I think this is gonna be my new favorite Pho place. We also had the chicken steak fried rice which is also yummy. The rice is very tasty. We also had the pork chop meal that comes with egg and veggies on the side. The pork chop is also good a little bit on the sweet side so we just requested vinegar to dip it in to balance out the taste. Will definitely come back again to try their other dishes and order some more Pho.

3/20/23 Update: We ate here again and this time we ordered Tonkotsu Appetizer, Grill Plate, Beef Fried rice and Pho. Everything was delicious but the main reason I decided to update my review is because of the server. I just wasn't able to get her name but she said it was her first day. We came in less than an hour before closing but she still gave us such excellent customer service and she was very...