Pho 54 — Restaurant in Town of Amherst

Food is hands down the best Thai food I've had here in Amherst. It's unfortunate that I have to say that there is an unequal treatment of anyone who isn't Asian when they are dining in. Me and my family came today and were made to feel like we should evaluate other restaurant options because the kitchen was " so backed up ". When we said that we don't mind waiting, it was almost like it was an inconvenience to the server. She cleaned off the table and sat us down. Then we waited for 25 minutes before we got a menu. They were also extremely busy which I understood, that was until I saw a table of other Asians ( not being racist, its just an observation ) get seated pretty quickly and within literally 2 minutes they got there menus. There were several other groups of Asians that came in and received their menus and their food much faster rate than we did. I don't think all of their shortcomings or mistakes were malicious, but it definitely did not feel like we were being treated equally to the other customers that they may have felt like they could relate to. The table next to us actually reminded the server that she forgot their water and she apologized and went to go get it. When she came back I reminded her that she had also forgotten water at our table but I was very polite about it. She was very rude in her response and had her hand lifted in the air as if I was such a bother to her. Her body language and her tone weren't appreciated but of course I held it together because it's not serious enough to argue about but the behavior definitely did not go unnoticed. So I took note of it. One thing I can't complain about though is the food, it's literally the best food that you will get in terms of Vietnamese food. Everything was very flavorful with its own flavor profile, nothing tasted exactly the same every dish had its own identity but staff could benefit from checking themselves and adjusting their behaviors. I work in a field where I am heavily involved with the public, it isn't always easy under stress but if you see someone's not being rude then I can't understand why you would be. I wouldn't have tipped the server for her behavior, she didn't deserve it from us but my sister set her own feelings aside and decided to still tip. She also notified the servers that they gave us the wrong bill. Had we paid the bill that they originally gave us, they would have been underpaid by about $30 to $40 due to them getting us mixed up with another table. I think it's safe to say that I will only get takeout from this place from now on seeing that we were made to feel like we weren't welcomed. Which is sad because this place has so much potential, but it's just not...

The restaurant was clean and nice looking once you walk in. We didn't have to wait and we got to pick our seat. We were the only ones in the restaurant. They really didn't have people coming to dine in but they had a lot of people coming in to pick up orders. The waitress brought us one glass each of water when we sat down. After that they didn't ask if we wanted other drinks and they never once came around for refills. We ordered yellow curry, sizzling duck, two different types of fried rice, and the fried banana for dessert. My daughter ordered the yellow curry spicy and it wasn't spicy at all. Next time she'll have to ask for Asian spicy to see if that makes a difference (that's what they title the hottest heat level for their food). We also ordered the dessert to come at the same time as the dinner and they forgot. We had to go to the counter after fifteen minutes of them serving the good to ask if it was coming. If you plan to eat here make sure you have extra time as it takes a while for the food to come out. They also didn't check in on us once to see if we needed anything, to see if we were happy with the food, etc. Lastly, we ordered the fried banana. We never said we wanted it with coconut and it came covered in it. If you don't like coconut.... Which my daughter didn't....you'll understand why it was super disappointing to get this and she...

We arrived at 10pm figuring they close at 11pm and we had plenty of time. We tried to order sushi but were told we couldn’t have it anymore because it was too late, but everyone else around us was receiving their sushi orders up until 10:45?!!? Then, the Diet Coke was served from a warm can and instantly melted the ice. Our appetizer order of pot stickers the size of it was only 5!?! The menu didnt state how many were included but everywhere else it’s 8… then… our Banh Mi sandwiches were made with processed water ham meat chunks with a canned cat food type patte on the bottom. Very Bad flavor. Little to no vegetables. No sprouts or cilantro. Very hard, stale bread. Also I think it was a sourdough bread which was disgusting paired with the ham chunks, either that or the bread was turning bad. Vegetable soup was also awful and basically just water with no flavor at all and had something in it that looked like a shrimp or other sea creature which I was told were “onions”. Im scared how my stomach is going to react to all of this. Save yourself the trouble and go to a better Thai restaurant in town, there are many other excellent ones if they’re open, or mighty taco across the parking lot would even be better than this place. Also the bathrooms were gross too so that is probably what the kitchen looks like. Never going...