PHO BEN Vietnamese Noodle House and Grill (Formerly Pho 78) — Restaurant in Pembroke Pines

Came here from Seattle to visit a few relatives for Christmas and came in to try one of the few pho places in the area. My friends from Seattle told me that this place has really good Bun Bo Hue which is a spicy lemongrass based beef soup noodle. They even make speciality of that spicy lemongrass soup by putting it in a typical pho as well so I had to check it out.

I got the spicy lemongrass soup with my favorite pho cuts which is fatty brisket, cooked brisket and beef meat balls. Not to mention that you can customize what ever cuts you like and they will do that for you!! Coming from Seattle and having been to Vietnam, I have a fair share of various spicy lemongrass soup and I have to say pho 78 is on a lighter side however it packs in so much flavor. The beef flavor and the lemongrass was not overpowering one another and you can taste both of them really well unlike others that I’ve tried where it be just lemongrass or just beefy. I usually like mine spicy so I requested their chili oil and as usual lots of veggies on the side too.

We came in around 7:30 PM and the restaurant was super packed and they only had one staff working outside catering to guests while another in the back bringing out food and drinks. We had to wait for our food for a little while but that’s understandable since their kitchen must have been backed up from the looks of it. The staff was nice and despite the busy hour would come back checking up on us.

Also while we were dining there was this other table of guest being rude to the staff claiming that the lemongrass soup was just not it and that it’s not what they are used to and it’s just bone marrow soup XD and that the restaurant should warn others that their soup isn’t what they claim to be by wanting to send it back to the kitchen. It’s funny seeing the entitlement of seeing non-Vietnamese telling Vietnamese how their soup should be. Girly pops if you are not the chef how do you know that’s it’s just bone marrow soup and honey that is not what I am tasting despite ordering the same broth as you? Don’t know what she was talking about but I feel bad for the employee who was given such a hard time during a rush hour.

Anyways, despite this commotion, we had such a great time coming here and would highly recommend this place to anyone looking for authentic pho especially their speciality of spicy lemongrass soup...

Excuse me for putting on my judgmental hat. It needs saying. 2 points. It is PHO PHO PHO. not noodles. You would not call lasagna, super wide noodle sandwich, would you? Another thing, this is how Asians eat. No ambience, nor boot licking waiting expected. IT IS ABOUT THE FOOD!!!! And they have good pho. Their pork rolls are ok, nothing out of the ordinary. It's fresh and the rice wrapper is soft. The banh mi is fresh as well, although a bit lacking in heft. Now to the pho. That broth has been simmering for some time. It is complex, flavorful and satisfying. The noodles soft and pliable. Good amount of meat. The condiments most of the time fresh. The thai basil sometimes is wilted. Tarragon lonely. Jalapenos... eeeh.... prefer thai bird pepper. Bean sprouts are ftesh. All together awesome. Very filling. So how to order. First a Vietnamese to english translation of meat names. Then a list of combinations of said meats. Such as brisket and beef meatballs. The combinations are listed by number. Bowl size is next.... small medium large. YOU DO NOT WANT LARGE unless you have the stomach of an Asian grandmother or the size of a body builder. It's big!!!. So you would order by combo number and size. One number 12 medium please. Unique drinks.... they have the usual boba selection, not impressive. BUT BUT BUT an Avocado shake. Don't make a face. Try it!!! Its incredible. When the hass avocados are available you should definitely try one. To boba or not to boba. That's on you. You can also choose degree of sweetness. Another thing is vietnamese iced coffee. Like a cafecito with condensed milk slow dripped into a glass filled with ice. Will give you palpitations. Very flavorful but strong. That's it! If you never had pho. Just do it. But expect a myriad of flavors in your...

Good (tiny) banh mi, okay pho, but extremely slow (25+ mins for a bowl of pho, 15+ mins again for the replacement) and pretty bad service. The regular pho broth was okay, but you couldn't taste the anise or other spices. We let them know that we'd be lifelong customers if they made our order right for us, and their manager said they were sorry but no, $19 mattered more to them than that. Our favorite pho in the area is Pho 79 near FIU, which has been excellent every single time and is well worth the drive -- don't bother wasting your time nor money here at Pho 78.

The "spicy lemongrass beef broth" specialty pho has an intense bone marrow flavor and was super fatty -- not at all what we wanted in a bowl of pho. We asked if they could just switch out the broth and keep the rest of the ingredients, to which they refused, so we sent back an entire large uneaten bowl of pho ($19) and ended up having to pay for both that bowl and its replacement (regular broth). We asked nicely a few separate times if they could just replace it but they insisted that we pay for everything that the kitchen cooked even though we: didn't like it, explained why, asked them to fix it, and sent it back uneaten. They additionally messed up the replacement order by adding tripe and tendon that we had ordered without, and provided a $2 discount for the error.

The manager here was very polite but didn't have the basic customer service skills to make people want to come back. We'd rather drive twice as far for better food and service elsewhere, and would recommend you go...