Grand Bistro Vietnamese Restaurant — Restaurant in St. Louis

I've been going to Pho Grand for almost 28 years. I graduated as SLU in '93, so really I've been going there longer. When they started in the small, 10-12 table restaurant next door, that was leased. Then they bought the building, which I think was a house at one time and several offices / businesses that opened in between the house selling and Mike and Tammy, owners of Pho Grand, bought it, totally rehabbed it into a beautiful, quiet, yet very busy, Pho Grand restaurant. I have probably eaten, or at least tried every dish on the menu. Never, ever, disappointed in the flavors and the freshness of the dishes. Mike and Tammy were there watching over everything. If you notice, the servers will usually never let your water class get below half empty before they come back and fill it. This gives him a moment with the customer again, check and make sure everything is okay and clean off the dishes that are setting empty. On busy evenings, which is usual, the server's don't walk, they run to the tables. The service is unbelievable! They speak very good English and know the dishes. Mike and Tammy train them very good! Mike is usually back in the kitchen working, but does come out periodically and check on everything, and everyone. If your dish is not what you want, or what you expected. Just tell Mike or Tammy or one of the servers, and Mike Will take it back. You picked another dish and he'll fix it fresh oh, no charge for the first one. Tammy is usually out in the front, sometimes Andrew, their son is working also. All food is delicious! The service is beyond what most, higher-priced, restaurants can give you. And the bathrooms, at least the men's, is clean. (I've read about what things you should look for in a restaurant to tell how clean it is overall, especially behind closed doors in the kitchen. Clean restrooms is one of the ones on the list.) So I check the bathrooms in a restaurant. This usually gives you an idea of how the kitchen is also. (Dirty, messy bathrooms= dirty messy kitchens, generally speaking.) But I highly recommend Pho Grand restaurant!! I can't really recommend one certain dish, because I love them all. Of course I have my favorites, Pho Dac Biet, (soup) the pork chop combo plate, and the Bo Lac Lac (?sp). Appetizers, if you're looking for low calorie, probably the spring rolls, but make sure you ask for the peanut sauce also for dipping. I also love the seasoned tofu appetizer, egg rolls, etc etc. I think once you go there, you'll keep coming back, and you'll bring friends, and you'll go there for special occasions. Highly, highly recommended it! Anytime I'm working out of town and there is a Vietnamese restaurant. I compared their food to Pho Grand. None have ever come close and I've...

Upon entering, the place looks very small, it's kind of up on a hill and I thought, "I better put in a reservation, it looks pretty busy." Our party of four was promptly seated in an extended dining area in the corner. It was cozy and didn't feel crowded at all. All four of us are huge foodies so we ordered a lot.

{Food Review:}

I was recommended the pork crepes which were absolutely incredible, and I have to admit I truly do not like crepes. I'm not a fan of eggs, but this crepe was something I've never seen before; it was a rice crepe, with fresh herbs, cucumber, sweet/mild rice vinegar sauce topped with char-broiled pork. It was savory yet sweet and very light. They added peanuts for a bit of crunch, which I thought made it perfect. I also ordered their 15.03 which was vermicelli noodles, char-broiled pork, lemongrass, cilantro with the addition of an egg-roll laid over top. Also ordered (but not on the menu) was their green curry. If you only get only two things from this place, order the GREEN CURRY and their PORK CREPE! Truly you can't go wrong with anything on their menu, but these two are must tries!

Appetizers we ordered:

10.03 Goi Cuon, which was 2 Spring rolls, steamed rice paper filled with vegetables, vermicelli noodles, shrimp and pork.

We also ordered the 10.09 Crispy chicken wing (Chicken wings with caramelized garlic sauce.) It was what you'd expect, nothing spectacular, still tasty. The crispiness was spot on.

The portion sizes are quite big so we got a few things boxed up (they take your food and dish it into a to-go container in the kitchen.) The owner came out personally to hand us our food and kindly asked if everything was to our liking since we took some boxes to go. We assured him everything was phenomenal, we just stuffed ourselves with so much tasty food, we wanted to enjoy some it for later, too. The food and experience was wonderful; we will certainly be back to try...

First and foremost: great staff! Thank you for carrying my elderly mother's walker up and back down your MANY stairs (permanently broken chair lift, apparently), which we were not expecting, and these stairs were in the only entrance.

Second, glad all staff wore masks.

Third, food came to the table hot and gorgeous.

Now the problems:

1. Beef pho I am a beef pho fanatic and have had it in many places (dozens in California, many in Seattle, and about a dozen in the St. Louis area), since 2002. The pho broth was unusual, here, with an unknown spice. I was surprised, but liked it. However, the rest was disappointing. Surprisingly, unlike most places, this pho comes in only one size. Second, the relish plate was missing traditional ingredients (sliced jalapenos and mung bean sprouts) and very skimpy with the rest. Despite requesting extra basil, I was served only one sprig. Only one quarter of a small lime and 2 sprigs of cilantro were the only other components. There were not much meat or noodles, either, so most of it was the strangely flavored broth.

2. Shrimp, veggies, noodles We asked the server for a dish my mom loved at the defunct Kim Son (in U City), a soft noodles-made-crispy by stir frying topped with shrimp and freshly cooked veggies in a great sauce. The server assured us this was their dish, but it was not. Mom received a HUGE "nest" of hard, dried, crunchy noodles, not as requested. The rest was all right, flavor-wise, and very fresh. The noodles eventually got soft and soggy, but never crispy.

So, nice people, terrible inaccessibility, mediocre to disappointing...