Pho VN Bistro — Restaurant in San Antonio

This place doesn't even deserve the one-star I'm forced to give. I arrived around 6 PM on a Thursday, and the restaurant was about one-third full. No tea and brisket or bun bo hue were available, but I was told they could prepare something similar. I agreed to try it, and we also ordered fried rice, lo mein, and Vietnamese egg rolls. We waited 30 minutes for our appetizer and an additional 30 for our unsatisfactory meals. When the appetizer arrived, it was just two small, skinny rolls. They tasted like old grease and had minimal filling. The fish sauce that was served with them tasted quite old as well. It was very dark and had a white film on top. We ate the rolls because we were starving, but they were not at all enjoyable. My bun bo hue was little more than pho, and it wasn't even good pho. The meat tasted like it had freezer burn, and the meatballs seemed to be spoiled. The broth had an odd flavor; it was dark, murky, and excessively sweet. The lo mein and fried rice were bland, with the only seasoning being an overwhelming amount of salt. If the excessive saltiness didn't make the food inedible, the grease certainly did. We left all the food behind because we feared we might get food poisoning. Food rating: 0/10. During our visit, the service was disappointing. Our waitress, a young girl, appeared to be more focused on her boyfriend at a nearby table than on attending to us. She forgot to bring us water, an extra bowl, and the lettuce that should have accompanied our rolls. Although she checked on us frequently throughout our hour-long wait, she would ask if everything was okay while we sat at our empty table, confused about what we were supposed to be rating or enjoying, as we had no food. Service 2/10 At checkout, we mentioned that the meat in the pho was going bad and that the fried rice and lo mein were overly salty. Her only response was an apology. Do yourself a favor and...

I have never been more disappointed in a restaurant's customer service than what we experienced tonight. We placed an order online and my husband arrived at the time we were told it would be ready. They didn't have our order ready and hadn't even started on it because they had a question about what we ordered. Instead of contacting us by phone or email (because you supply both for the online order) they waited until he got there. The female hostess informed my husband that our order had not been started. Then the man who has been working there for years approached my husband and was verbally abusive to him. He told him he didn't have the order and didn't know what we wanted and told my husband to look at the menu. Again we ordered online and it was confirmed by the restaurant so he should have known what we ordered. He then said it would be at least 30 minutes before they would have our order which we had already paid for. They offered no apology or kind gesture for the inconvenience. They prepared the diners orders first and the man purposely would not bring my husband the order when it was ready but had brought every other diner's order out to them. He had the female hostess bring it out. We have never felt more disrespected as paying customers. We've been eating here for years but we will never eat here again. For (what I assume is the owner) to treat a pain customer with such discontent is completely...

Most Vietnamese restaurants lack proper customer service but that is NOT so at Pho VN Bistro. The wait staff, of which there were two during my visit, were quick to acknowledge me upon entrance into the establishment for lunch. The place was rather spacious but did not appear to be busy and free from the gaudy pantomime people call Oriental Decor. The motif was contemporary but not at all hipster-ish. The wait staff promptly fetched me a cold beverage and menus. Food order was placed and at my table in 8-10 minutes. It was fast. In fact the way the Bistro was built and from my seating position I could hear the cook feverishly clanging away on the wok then the swoosh of the swinging kitchen door open with the waitress and my entree. I'll have to revisit the restaurant during a more busy time to confirm the performance & accuracy was not a fluke. Also, to try their Pho. The food is prepared for a lover of typical South Vietnamese cuisine. The taste was on the slightly sweeter side. I prefer savory and slightly salty like found from Hue, Vietnam to Hanoi, Vietnam. Even the nuoc-mam (fish sauce) was sweet. If I wanted to pour sweet flavors over my sweet entree I would have gone to IHOP for syrup & pancakes. That is why I give Pho VN Bistro a 3.5 stars (I rounded up to 4 stars). I'll be back another time and I'll update...