Quan Pho — Restaurant in Saugus

I decided to stop by this new Vietnamese restaurant since it was highly rated. However, for such a highly rated restaurant, it was oddly empty for a Saturday at noon.

To start, one of the cups for water was not clean, with something red at the bottom of it. The cups were also toddler-sized, perhaps to make the bowls look bigger in photos.

Here's what we ordered:

Beef Ribs Pho: Market-priced at $25 for a small bowl with just one rib and three slices of beef. The plural "ribs" is deceptive, and the price is highway robbery. The broth was average, and the noodles were overcooked and mushy. Do not order this.

Bun Bo Hue: An absolute disaster. The noodles were overcooked, and the meat had an off-putting taste, like it was kept too long in a freezer. My wife even spat out a piece of ham. The broth was average.

Grilled Meatball Spring Rolls: Not particularly memorable.

Sesame Chicken Wings: Mediocre. Essentially your run-of-the-mill fried chicken wing doused in sweetened soy sauce and topped with sesame seeds. Despite being their top seller and recommended by the wait staff, it was nothing to brag about.

Peach Lemongrass Ice Tea: Good, but at $7, it was overpriced.

Additionally, their toast payment system defaults to show only tips of 18% and higher.

All in all, I do not recommend this place. It is way overpriced for what you get, and the meat quality is suspicious. Actually, everything about this place is suspicious. I've never seen a 4.9-rated restaurant being empty at noon on a Saturday, which indicates that no one goes here and the reviews are probably fake. Someone should really call the health inspector because I suspect something is wrong with some of their meats. If you want good pho, this isn't it. Stay far away...

I never write bad reviews. This may be my first.

This was not my first time at this restaurant. I've been here maybe 4-5 times before. This was definitely the worst, though, and unfortunately, it was unforgivable.

First, I told the waitress I had a nut allergy, and was almost immediately served peanut sauce. I knew what it was when they brought it, so no harm, and no big deal, but that was the first sign something was wrong.

Second, in pho, normally there is brisket. This is supposed to be made out of meat, preferably beef meat. Instead, amazingly, I was served pho with three pieces of pure fat. I am not exaggerating. I am posting a picture of that. At first I thought it might be tripe, but no, it was pure fat.

While this was the most offensive thing I have ever been served in the Boston area, somehow, THEY MADE IT WORSE. When I called the wait staff over to show them what was in my pho, their response was, "Sorry. As the meat gets toward the end, it gets more fatty. You had the last part of the beef."

So no effort at all to correct the mistake, and instead, they blamed me for there being no meat, just fat, in my soup. Because apparently I won the lottery that night where I get the non-food ingredients for dinner.

I will never be coming back under any circumstances. I only write this review in hopes that the restaurant will dramatically change practices so to avoid future patrons having such a horrible experience. Good luck if you...

I've gone to the place twice now. First time loved the atmosphere. Got on the first time vienamese spring rolls (goi cuon) and the pho special (pho dac biet). The first time the spring rolls was spectacular, large 2 spring rolls cut in half and stood up to look like trees. The pho dac biet seemed a little small but tasted good, would have wished for more tripe since personally that is my personal choice of meat but was still fine. The 2nd time i went i got an iced cofffe with sweetened condensed milk, vietnamese egg rolls, and a rice dish. The coffee was good, the egg rolls were small (got 3 egg rolls that seemed like half to a third of the size of a combodian lumpia), the rice dish looked amazing (a third of the plate was rice which the portion size seemed much more than your regular portion) taste wise it was there. Couple of easy fixes to the dish are simple. Personally would use more scallions in oil rather than the topping on the meat. When i went to grab chili in oil to mix with the vietnamese fish sauce that was provided, i opened up the canister and the oil had solidified and had mold (in a visual of an individual white ball) laid on top. Gave it to the owners to dispose of. So some easy fixes where to review all their condiments and just some minor fixes on portion in certain aspects. Regardless still a good mom...