Pho Xe Lua Viet Thai Restaurant — Restaurant in Philadelphia

Nice little spot in Chinatown on Race Street. Given the location, if you're driving, it will only be street parking (which is fairly typical for Chinatown). We had to circle around a few times before finding a spot that was 2 blocks away from the restaurant. It was a bit chilly out so naturally the walk felt A LOT longer than it was in distance.

The cuisine is a medley of Asian options - between Vietnamese and Thai. I think the main draw is the pho (especially on colder nights, such as the one we visited this restaurant.)

I didn't see any vegetarian pho options on the menu, so instead ordered their Phad Thai. In hindsight, I think they may have a vegetarian/vegan broth with veggies, but I opted for the noodle dish instead. My other guests did order the pho and were very pleased with the outcome. As for me, the Phad thai was well made (and without egg and mushrooms, per my specifications :]). The dish was savory but definitely required additional spices. I drizzled in a combination of the hoisson, chili oil, and jalepenos to get to a amped up spice level.

In addition, we all opted to try their bubble tea! I chose the soybean drink with the tapoica and was pleasantly surprised on how good it was - not too sweet, and complimented the Phad Thai pretty well!

The service was very quick (which was awesome since we were all starved!) The place was fairly busy when we arrived, so we hung out for about 10 minutes. This worked out just fine though since we were served our glasses of water and had a chance to look through menu while a table was cleared for us. The waiters were attentive and fairly knowledgeable about the menu items. It did take some reaffirmation that any modifications to the menu items were noted, but other than that the food was prepped to everyone's liking.

I think this spot works best if you want quality food - fast, coupled with the dine in experience. Would come back and venture for vegetarian pho, and if that is not a possibility, the Phad Thai is still a solid...

Food was fine, but service alone was enough to rate this restaurant a 0 and ensure we don’t come back. I’ve been here multiple times, and we’ve never had this issue before.

I ordered #122 (egg/rice noodle soup) on the menu but the waitress accidentally served me the wrong dish. She served me #121, which was called the seafood egg noodle soup. It was full of shellfish which I am highly allergic to. When I told the waitress of the error, she claimed that while I did order #122 correctly, all eggs/rice noodle dishes automatically come with seafood. This isn’t mentioned anywhere on the menu and it wasn’t mentioned when I ordered as well. And when I told her I was highly allergic to shellfish so I cannot eat this dish, she stared at us in silence not offering us any solutions. She then yelled at us claiming that we should have asked earlier before ordering. She continued to say that I didn’t know how to order or read the menu, making us feel uncomfortable and unable to communicate with her further. At the end, my friend offered to switch her plate with me because our waitress just wanted to continue yelling without helping at all. The waitress picked up the wrong, unwanted dish from my plate and gave it to my friend, who just offered to eat it out of courtesy. Even though my friends and I were clearly uncomfortable the waitress acted like she solved the issue herself when she switched my friends order with mine and neither of us had the food we wanted. This waitress clearly did not care about serious allergies and how this could negatively affect my health.

Throughout this whole interaction, she would also barely look at me while talking to me about my dish and my allergies. Instead, she would look at a different member in my party who was not involved in this. She refused to look at me, which just made it even more uncomfortable for everyone at the table.

This one instance was enough for me to never come back even though the food is...

Pho Xe Lua, also known by its frequent patrons as ‘Choo Choos’ (take notice of the neon choo choo train on the front window), is a staple restaurant in Philadelphia’s Chinatown. They serve a large menu of Vietnamese and Thai dishes in a relaxed, casual setting. Don’t let the storefront or interior fool you. Simply put, the focus is on the food and it is delicious, and that is why you should make this an absolute must visit. I’ve taken many friends and visitors here, and everyone has commented on how good the food is. You’ll find all the familiar Vietnamese and Thai dishes, as well as some hard-to-find authentic, traditional ones (crispy fried satay frog, anyone?).

The consistently good, high-quality, low-price food, makes this a repeat favorite of mine in Philadelphia. You can’t afford not to come here and order a lot of food and drinks. Some of my favorites include Bo Tai Chanh (raw fresh flank steak with lime juice), Goi Bo (papaya salad with beef), Chao Tom (minced shrimp on sugar cane), Canh Thap Cam (house special seafood soup with mixed vegetables), Hu Tieu Mi Xe Lua (Xe Lua egg & rice noodle soup), Bun Gao Xao Bo (stir-fried vermicelli with beef), Pho (extra-large, extra noodles, and all the meats and seafood), Ca Chien Nuoc Mam (deep-fried fish with spices), Lau Viet Nam (Vietnamese hot pot), and I could go on and on. Don’t forget to order a smoothie (get the avocado smoothie) or Cafe Sua Da (French coffee with condensed milk served cold) or a beer. They also have a good number of vegetarian options, and set meals for 2, 4, 6, and 8 people. I encourage you to go with a group of people, order a lot of things from the menu, and share/sample everything. Great food is best enjoyed with...