Bistro BT — Restaurant in Tampa

I’ve eaten at the main restaurant on multiple occasions and I’ve always had a great experience. I went to the BT TO GO location on Macdill yesterday for dinner and ordered Chicken Pho Soup around 5pm. The noodles were rubbery and hard and tasted as if they were barely cooked. The restaurant closes at 9pm, by the time I had the opportunity to reach out to the restaurant, they were already closed. I called in this morning and spoke with someone (none of them want to state their name which I’ve never experienced at a restaurant before) , they informed me that they’d call me back after the spoke with their manager. A few hours go by and nothing. I called again and spoke with someone different this time who did follow up with the general manager. The general manager refused to state her name said that it was my fault because it was most likely stored improperly and not eaten the same day. I tried to explain to her multiple times that i attempted to call yesterday but it was too late and I did in fact attempt to eat my food for dinner. Why would I buy pho to eat it the next day? She was very nasty toward me and blamed me for the reason as to why the noodles were rubbery and hard. I offered to bring the food back for either an exchange or a refund. I was denied a refund and an exchange and told it was my fault. For a restaurant that’s on the Michelin guide, the service was terrible and the general manager was one of the most nastiest people I’ve ever spoken to in the restaurant business. She refused to let me speak with someone else as she says she is the highest that this can go. It was a waste of $18, it was one of the nastiest soups I’ve ever had and I love pho. Please train your manager on how to communicate from a SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS STAND POINT. Due to this, I will not be recommending anyone to...

I’ve eaten at over 100 Vietnamese and Thai restaurants over the past few years. I decided to choose this location for lunch because pho is one of my favorite foods and also all the other, closer Vietnamese locations were closed at 2 o’clock for some reason.

With that being said I just want to leave this poor review solely for the fact that my experience with this meal was actually sub par.

The pho was $22 in comparison to any other real Vietnamese restaurant which is almost double the price. The meat, which was the filet, was tasteless and had zero flavor. The broth was actually too hot and ended up over cooking the noodles turning them into one goopy pile. The taste of the broth was also non existent. The only saving grace of the broth was the 1 wedge of lime offered to give it some semblance of flavor. The size of the bowl was laughable and probably half the size of a traditional bowl of pho. Traditional Vietnamese pho dishes come with the beans sprouts and basil on the side. This bowl came with it chopped extremely finely already in the dish. For me, I consider this out of touch with the traditional dish and a nuisance to eat a mouthful of minced mint.

No ice in my water and no napkin(had to walk up and ask for it)

Will not return. There are literally, a dozen other pho restaurants that do this dish justice and this place...

My wife and 18 month old daughter decided to do a "lunch date" together this afternoon and since this place does not cater to children my wife stopped to grab some chicken nuggets from Chick-fil-A while on the way. Once seated and content with her 2 chicken nuggets on a plate and happily eating (no bag, no box, no drink, etc) my wife was approached by the woman working there to casually rain on her parade. My wife was told that they weren't allowed to feed our daughter in their establishment with outside food (which is ironic because technically everything is outside food until it is brought into the restaurant). At any rate my daughter was devistated and my wife a little embarrassed when she was forced to remove the nuggets from the table and into her purse while waiting for her food. My wife has been going to this restaurant for years. And needless to say this will be the last time... And to make it even worse, it wasn't just a misstep by a new employee taking their job way too seriously but evidently the owner was the one that advised this employee as to how to approach the situation. Way to be a hero, you lost a long time customer and a potential new one in the future between my wife and my 18 MONTH...