Pho Lover — Restaurant in Palatine Township

This place used to be To Pho, which was one of my favorite Vietnamese restaurants. The service at To Pho was not always the warmest, and the interior resembled an old diner, but the food was varied, plentiful, and delicious. Moreover, To Pho's Taiwanese chef brought some unique offerings, like bao, to the menu.

"Pho Lover" is not just a new name. This is basically a brand new restaurant, with a new chef, new owners, and a different menu - and no more bao. :( However, life giveth and it taketh, for where bao has gone missing, there are some new additions to the menu that may make for interesting substitutes.

One thing to notice right away is that the presentation game of the restaurant has gone WAY up. From the garden-like decor, to the stylish chopsticks, custom-branded dishware, and even scenic bubble tea plastic toppers, the aesthetic is on a whole other level. This really hyped us up for our food.

We each ordered a combo meal - pho tai for each of us, along with a bubble tea. Hubby got a taro smoothie (one of the best I've tried in a long time!), while I got a Thai milk tea. Both were really good, with the texture of the tapioca pearls being a particular highlight. Also, a pretty good value - about $17 bucks for a large bowl of pho and big cup of bubble tea.

All that said, nothing else matters as much as the quality of the pho. When it arrived at our table, I was feeling a bit cautious - I hadn't really read the online reviews yet, but at a glance, they seemed guarded.

I took a thoughtful sip of the broth with the giant spoon they give you. My first impression was: this broth is AMAZING. Complex. Flavorful. Multi-dimensional, with discernible components.

But it didn't stay that way. After a few bites, for some reason, those bold flavors disappeared and coalesced into only one flavor - really salty. I am not sure why or how that came to be.

The 1975 "Pepsi Challenge" came to my mind: during a blind taste test, participants overwhelmingly preferred Pepsi to Coke, due to Pepsi's higher sugar content. However, while all that sugar makes for an impressive first sip, it overwhelms an entire glass. Thus, more people prefer Coke overall. I wonder if it was something like that - if the saltiness of the broth was there all along, and built up over time until it became overpowering. Or else, maybe as the beef, et al. simmered, it just changed the flavor of the bowl?

Salty broth wasn't the only problem. Something about the texture of my noodles just wasn't right. It's like they were too limp. My husband did not have that complaint, so maybe there was some inconsistency in how our bowls were made. I also noticed his beef was a bit more rare, and mine a bit more well-done, so more evidence to that point.

Speaking of the beef, it was different than the cuts I usually get in pho tai. These were thicker, rounder, and leaner-looking. That said, they were still tender and tasty, so not really a problem (though I do prefer mine a bit rarer).

I am sticking with 4 stars for now, because our meal was mostly a good one. I feel like I can get a better bowl of pho somewhere else right now, but am hopeful that the flavor and consistency will improve over time as this restaurant...

This was our go-to spot because it's very accessible and the food is delicious, although it has changed owners (I wish the old owners success in their next endeavors, whatever those may be). We ended up checking out the new ownership during their soft opening.

The ambience inside is extremely cute! It's been redecorated to look like a cherry blossom grove, with a couple faux trees coming right up out of the floor, and vines decorating the lamps. Absolutely bonus points for atmosphere; my only caveat would be that the decor could potentially feel claustrophobic if you were sat directly next to one of the trees as they were pretty close to the tables. But, there is plenty of seating and that is a very minor critique.

As for the menu, it is significantly smaller than it was, with the biggest complaint about the entire experience being the now lacking vegetarian options; one of the reasons we loved it so much before was that there were quite a few different options that sadly aren't present anymore. That said, the food was still delicious. I ordered the lemon pork noodle salad which came with a delightfully crispy egg roll. The pork was tender and flavorful, and the whole dish smelled delicious! I absolutely intend to come back to try the pho dishes; we were heading to a movie after so I didn't think I'd have time to enjoy soup.

As an added bonus, because it was the soft opening, the team offered a complimentary appetizer of shrimp spring rolls. I'm not much of a seafood person, but the gesture was appreciated regardless and if you are more of a shrimp fiend, you would definitely like this dish.

Overall, I'm sad to say goodbye to an old favorite but very excited about discovering a potential new one! I'm not sure where all of these 1 star reviews are coming from, but I do believe a good chunk were made in bad faith. Ultimately, I recommend checking them out and deciding for yourself if you want to come back. I...

We passed Pho Day in Schaumburg two Fridays ago and it was PACKED. Rather than driving that way again, thought we’d support local closer to home. Pho Lover once was ToPho which had very tasty Pho Ga was okay. Wish them well however I won’t go back.

We ordered Pho Ga (chicken), shrimp teriyaki entree, and chicken udon noodles. The pho ga was very bland despite putting basil, jalapeños and lime. I did put hoisin because that’s how badly it needed some flavor. Fish sauce not an option for me ever and I’ve had good pho in the past.

Shrimp teriyaki probably the best dish. Large portion but must share with others as the sauce flavor is too much for one person. The assortment of veggies was good. Fried veggie rice was good.

The udon chicken noodles was good. Comes with LOTS of onions (not mentioned on the menu), and they were able to make it without fish and oyster sauce.

Boba tea : we wanted one but they said no to mixing two flavors. Strawberry and mango for the fruit smoothie. Everyone else is able to so we rather get it from our normal place.

The restaurant is beautifully decorated inside, the service was horrible. We were the only diners there. Almost turned around because it’s kind of scary being the only new dining on a Friday evening, & trying a new restaurant. There were no carry outs while we were there. The server did not offer us refills on our drinks. We waited for him to come by for to go boxes but saw a table that had them so assumed we should just take it ourselves. Weird.

I really had expected a...