Pho Hiho — Restaurant in Seattle

The Pho Kings found themselves south of downtown this week allowing them to partake of another new pho place called Pho Hiho. We had heard good things about this place so we decided to put them to the test for our lunch. We were not disappointed.

Pho Hiho is located in a strip mall south of downtown Seattle. It's a very small place with a kitchen on one side and some tables along the other. There only seemed to be one area where a larger group could have lunch, we had six with us for this day.

The place was busy with both the people at the twelve or so tables plus a constant stream of folks coming in to pick up to go orders. Service was a bit slow throughout our entire meal. From being slow to give us menus to the odd sight of having them bring us one bowl or plate of food at a time, the entire process from beginning to bill was slow.

It's lucky for them then that while service may have been slow the pho was absolutely delicious and perhaps some of the best that I've had in Seattle which I found a bit surprising because my first impressions were not nearly as favorable.

After the slow service when we finally got our plates of condiments was I happy to see a unique addition of cilantro but the basil was a bit wilted with black spots and the sprouts looked a bit sad though plentiful.

I ordered the combination pho, which in other places is usually just a combination of meat but in Pho Hiho it also has tripe and tendon. The broth was beefy without being greasy and had a unique, almost minty smell. This could perhaps be attributed to the tripe and tendon as I've never had them before.

The broth was also very hot as it should be at any pho shop worth going to. I loaded my bowl up and then dug in, winnowing our pieces of chewy tripe and melt in your mouth tendon. The meat was plentiful and tasty adding a great texture to my bowl of soup. Soon we reached the end of our bowls, very satisfied and happy with what we'd had. I'm not certain how often I'll be back down in south Seattle, but given the chance I'll certainly try to go back to Pho Hiho again. Ratings

Location: B Condiments: B+ Heat Index: A Broth: A+ Meat: A

Overall: A- (three out of...

2 different menus, Viet and Thai. I don't know the history of that, and it may be best not to.

All I have had here is the Pho and Pad Thai.

For Pho The broth is very strong marrow bone beef broth. The broth is what Pho should be (melted marrow from cow femur). The herbs were fresh, plentiful served on the side as usual. I paid a couple of bucks extra for extra noodles. The result was enough to be well fed for a day. And I am not from Seattle and am a decent sized guy and I eat like a man. They offer all the odd bits and pieces of the cow which is normal in Vietnam and is something a lot of Seattle joints apparently are triggered by. I get everything anatomical to our bovine friend but skip the mystery meet ball.

The PadThai is again what it should be with rotted fish gut sauce and lots of highly tenderized beef. Again a lot of Seattle joints are serving some vegan abomination that would have the joint fire bombed by the local Triad in Thailand.

They kept my glasses for me when I lost em here 1 time. I am in love with the waitress. She is a magnificent Asian/American teen-20 something and always greets me with her beautiful smile and remembers my favorites.

The kitchen staff is 100% Viet-Namese. They all run around really fast jabbering in VietNahmeese. Or it could be Thai. Again, likely better not to know .

This is a great joint to eat authentic Viet-Thai. Probably not a great place to performance sob about preferred pronouns. Likewise definitely not a place to expand one's gluten intolerance/veganism/peanut allergies/etc.

Just bring a good appetite for a great meal...

About average to good pho, prices higher than other places that are comparable. Would be 4 stars but they loose a star since the Bubble tea machine is always broken and they don't just take down the bubble tea sign or admit they don't offer it anymore. Have been 4 time this past 8 months and it's always broken but they always say it will be fixed soon, so I come back hopeful and yet again still broken. There are two other equally good pho places near by that do have bubble tea and honestly 1/3 of the time bubble tea is the reason I decide to get pho.

Updated: lost another star, dropped in for a salad roll on the way home. Open sign was on, 3:40 so within hours, lights on, but the door was locked. Politely knocked, since hey maybe it's an accident? But no. No sign or note saying be right back, or had to run out. Just locked up mid day. This place just isn't worth the effort. Food is good but will they be open? Will they even have what you want in stock?...