Pho Ca Dao — Restaurant in Saint Paul

Very unethical place to eat at. Ordered a create your own bowl of steak, tendon and meatball and never got tendon in my bowl. I told her I never got my tendon so the server brings out a bowl of tendon. Got 2 bubble tea also. Never once after we got our food did anyone come top off our water or asked how everything is tasting. She gives me my total so I asked for an itemized receipt and she charged me extra for the tendon that was never in the Pho. When I mentioned why she charged me extra she said they gave us 3 pieces already and it melted in my bowl. (Last I checked tendon don’t just melt into the bowl of pho) she said tendon is expensive so I should have let her know right away so she can come check, but when I told her right away that there was no tendon she didn’t check and just brought out a bowl of tendon. They also charged a mixing fee for the bubble tea (if it was for additional flavors or extra pearls it’s understandable but mixing fee), they also add tip automatically to the bill then the sales tax is calculated after the tip. Very shady owners. They only like you if you’re Vietnamese...

In a just and equitable society this place would be able to charge $20/bowl and there would be chain stores all over the metro. However, because this sort of cuisine and dining experience is ridiculously stigmatized as needing to be cheap and "authentic" it doesn't get the praise and material support it deserves.

The small #2 with an egg roll is one of the top 10 meals in the Twin Cities. The rolls are crisp and served with sensible proportion and a small dish of dipping sauce. The soup is a relatively clear broth with an even distribution of spice and not a lot of fat. It's perfectly simple, which is hard to pull off in a dish this tasty.

The noodles are never saturated or spongy or over served, the meat is never tough or rubbery, and the broth is always served at the perfect temperature.

My preferred seasoning style is no sugar, 3 full spoons of the chili sauce, 90% of the sprouts, half of the basil, a splash of fish sauce, and the juice from the lime wedge. For the dipping sauce I prefer a 50/50 sirracha/hoisin mix.

You will not find a better comfort food in all of the...

Service is just horrible. We walked in and was never greeted. We popped out just a few more to see the host/waiter sitting at a table next to the register. He grabbed the menu and pointed at a corner. My first observation was that the host looked annoyed that we walked in, mind that this place was empty, and only one other family was dining in. He grabbed us our waters and just looked at us, no word was said. We ordered our pho's and that was it. I wanted to order some eggrolls, but at this point I just wanted to eat and get the hell out of there since we didn't seemed welcomed. My son dranked all his water and audibley asked me if he could get more water. I know the waiter heard it since he was sitting one table away, but nope no water refills...really sad.

Place only serves Pho, eggrolls and tri-color. Pho is good, a little more on the sweeter side. Bathroom was dirty and the place seems very rundown and dirty. Place is cash only.

Bottom line, IMO, go somewhere else. Very bad service, one of the worst we've experienced. We won't...