PT PHO Express - Glendale — Restaurant in Phoenix

As someone who'd ate Vietnamese 1-2 times a month for over ten years, at dozens of different places, I don't even know where to begin with this place.

I ordered take out to eat in the car while the rest of the family went to McDonald's during lunch break from Hurricane Harbor and was super excited to try this out.

My 'go to' is always a Vermicelli Bowl, with fish sauce and hoisen on the side to pour in to taste. First off, I asked if it comes with Hoisen, they said no just fish sauce, I asked if I could get a side of hoisen as well(like every other place has always just thrown in) , and they charged an extra dollar. I asked for a side of Sriracha as well, guess what, another dollar. For the sauces that are sitting on the table for free should I have ate in. That in itself was the first slap the the face, the second came when I got to the car and the fish sauce wasn't even in the bag. So they charged me extra for what everyone else gives for free everytime and didn't even include what they were supposed to include. The next piece was the beef, they used a cut of meat filled with chewy pieces that half of them you can't even swallow. The other half of beef that were edible is part of second star I'm giving because it was good.

The next piece in both the vermicelli bowl and the spring rolls, that really ruined the meal, in a few different ways, was that the vermacelli was actually hot. Never in my life have I had a Vietnamese restaurant serve me hot vermacelli either in the bowl or in the spring rolls. You can take a guess at what hot vermacelli will do to a rice paper wrap. Honestly just burnt through it. The lettuce was completely soggy by the time I got my meal. I don't know if that cook/chef is new, or that is just how this place serves their vermacelli. If it is, they've obviously never had good Vietnamese. The peanut sauce was too thin and lacked the proper flavour as well. Overall, the veggies were fresh and the taste was ok, just honestly the worst Vietnamese I've ever had, and still glad I didn't have to eat McDonald's.

They also told me the wait would be ten minutes, maybe 15 at most. It was 25 minutes and not one other order went out between when I order and received the food. I won't be...

Just wow... not in a good way unfortunately! Only one table of 6 when we walked in the door...2 of us, so 8 people in the restaurant. Quick with a menu, ordered an appetizer and meals... appetizer ( shrimp and basil rolls) took nearly 20 minutes. Someone came in and wanted to place a to go order, I heard the waitress say 45 minutes... seriously? Anyway, about 45 minutes after ordering, one plate shows up and the waitress tells us the second plate, the noodles were being rinsed??! We waited, we like to eat together rather than being served at different times... About 5 minutes and the waitress tells us that they forgot one of the orders and it will be about 20 minutes... again, really?? It's Pad Thai people, takes about 5 minutes if your ingredients are prepped!! She asked if we would like to order anything else and I said no, not if it's going to take an hour! So we shared a serving of pad Thai, flavor was okay... longest we've ever waited for food I think. And it's called...

What a disappointment. I wanted to fall in love with PT Pho given the lack of diverse offerings in the area. But portions are too small, prices too high, and quality not on part with competitors.

For example, tonight i ordered 14a, the spicy pho with brisket and beef. The broth was terrible. It had zero flavor and absolutely no spice. This was a take out order and I was shocked at how little meat was included given the $15 price. I measured the brisket. 1.5 oz. Unacceptable. The entire takeout experience was frustrating as their voice over IP phone was on the fritz (yelp pro tip - get a land line) and despite saying my order 3x (even calling back to confirm) they made the wrong item (and blamed the phone).

This was my second and last time going to this location. During opening week I was surprised how little meat was in the Bahn Mi. I chalked this up to being a new restaurant. Working out the kinks. Unfortunately this was...