Pho 503 — Restaurant in Portland

This was our first time here. We had a day off together, so we took a nice walk around the park blocks. We got a bit cold and hungry so we stopped in for a big bowl of pho.

We had a chicken pho, and steak and brisket pho, and a chicken stir fry dish. The pho broth was delicious and rich and fatty. Perfect for a cold winter day! The stir fry dish was also delicious. My only request would be if I could have some cilantro along with the bean sprouts/lime/basil. I didn't ask for cilantro, so that's my fault. Next time I will ask if they have any.

You can tell this spot is popular with regular customers. We watched one gentleman come in after, and it was clear the staff knew him very well, and took care of his order right away. It's nice to see a restaurant that treats repeat customers well and remembers their names and orders (very few places out there like this now!). Also, I enjoyed dining in this restaurant because all of the windows allow you to enjoy some people/traffic watching while you eat.

Next time I want to try the ribeye steak pho! And it looks like there are many other tasty dishes to try there! Can't wait to see you...

Unfortunately, our experience was very underwhelming. We ordered a few dishes for takeout and only one of the three felt freshly hot. Once we got home we realized our side of steamed veggies was missing.

But those are minor compared to the problems with the actual food. The spring rolls and the tofu vermicelli bowl both relied on the peanut sauce for any flavor. They started out with fresh ingredients but the peanut sauce (pictured) was milky, watery, and only faintly peanutty. It looks more like gravy than anything. It was so bad that it actively detracted from the dish. I ate my tofu spring rolls without sauce because of it.

The combo stir fry with chicken was alright but kind of bland. The lemongrass chicken with vermicelli was good, thanks to a tasty sauce. The proteins in all of the dishes were thinly sliced and lacking in quantity. The dishes were fluffed up with lettuce and veggies.

We really regret the drop in quality. According to my dad, the food was great before the change in ownership. We can’t speak for the pho, so maybe it’s very good! We’ll be going back to bambuza for...

Let’s be clear this place promises “rich and authentic flavors,” but deliver? More like a lukewarm betrayal served in a bowl

The ambiance: picture an aging noodle shop where the AC decided to call it quits mid-July. Yep, sweat is now a key ingredient in your broth

Service-wise, the liver-spotted waitress juggles it all solo, doing her best impersonation of an overworked circus actpredictably chaotic and borderline rude “in a friendly way”

And that “house special” pho that’s supposed to be the star? It shows up half-hearted with meat that’s as enthused about being there as you are. The broth whispers “meh” louder than it broths, and the noodles are either flaccid or willfully rebellious. And don’t expect that genuine, spine-warming pho more likely to get a bowl of apathy.

Let’s not forget the price tagPortland pho averages around $17 these days and trust me, you can do far better for that same dough elsewhere. There’s stiff competition: elsewhere folks rave about pockets of pho perfection in this city...