Urban pho — Restaurant in Town of Clay

My dialysis center is 3 minutes from this joint so of course I wanted to come here after treatment. It looks like it just opened up. Walking up, their front door is actually to the mochi donut shop next door.

I walked in and got sat. I came at a later lunch hour so I was the only table. This venue is very pretty! The tables, decor and set up is really nice. My server came and got my drink order started. I snagged a golden isle tea which is pineapple and passion fruit tea.

I already checked out their menu online so I didn't need much time with the menu at the table. For lunch I got the imperial egg rolls to start and the house special pho. As much as I wanted to get something else of their menu, I decided to play it safe with the basics.

My drink came out first of course. It was really sweet and fruity. There are little pineapple bits and blueberries in it. It's really good. I was hoping that my egg rolls would come out first so that I can actually enjoy them with my fruit tea. But my egg rolls and pho came out back to back. That really annoys me cause I'd like to eat my pho without having it sit there while I'm working on my appetizer.

The egg rolls were good. I love that they were wrapped in rice paper. The texture is so much better than egg roll wrapping. I would have liked some lettuce to wrap them in since they are pretty similar to cha gio. The filling is just a little different. The dipping sauce was a nice addition to the egg rolls. And the sauce could have been served in a bigger ramekin. The egg roll was just a tad bit smaller than the ramekin so it was annoying trying to dip a chunky egg roll in such a small dish.

My pho looked hearty. It was topped with a lot of herbs. It was still hot after eating a couple of my egg rolls. I paused eating the egg rolls to work on my pho. Soggy pho noodles is not the best. The broth was flavorful. I added basil, jalapenos and Sriracha to my bowl. I dug in and I didn't expect the amount of white onion in my bowl. It was too much. Every bite was so much onion. I also expected more noodles which I finished in a few bites. The tripe and brisket were so hard to chew. The sirloin and meatballs were probably the only two things that were edible besides the 4 bites of noodles you got.

I paid 30 bucks for my meal and honestly the pho was not worth the price point for as much as you get. The service was basic. I get your venue is new and shiny but your food and service needs to reflect your business. Would I come back, I don't know. If I'm paying for food, I'd want to go somewhere where I feel like I'm getting my money's worth. Today's meal was...

Food was alright. I came here when it was 50% off, so its hard to complain about the prices, though I'm glad I got to try it at half price instead of full. Service was so-so. The Chinese tables were seemingly getting priority over every other table, which was unfortunate. Though I do understand its probably easier and quicker to serve tables that speak your own primary language. I think it took 3-4 tries to get checked out due to them ringing me up wrong repeatedly. I assume by this point they've gotten the hang of their PoS system and stuff like that is likely no longer an issue.

I'd say the Pho here seemed like a good soup, but wasn't like any Pho that I'd had else where in the local CNY area, the US as a whole, or when traveling to South East Asia. It seemed like they added something to it that made it a lot less simple than the Pho I am used to. Not bad, but not what I would personally choose. I'm not sure if the flavor difference is a regional difference or the owners' Chinese interpretation of Pho.

The Banh Mi was also not very good. There are better Banh Mi options not far away at the Vietnamese Noodle House, Ky Duyen Cafe, or...

Urban Pho was fine and unfortunately that won't get anyone reading this very excited. But that was our truth on this visit. Nothing was bad or went wrong, it was mostly an underwhelming food experience.

The restaurant itself is attached to a Mochi donuts place, which I think is the more intended dessert route. So together but separate.

The staff greeted us quickly, was kind and service was lightning fast, almost scarily so. The dining room is small but simple and clean.

The few things we ordered like the spring rolls, pho and vermicelli were all lacking flavor. Again not bad but lackluster in terms of any flavorful punch. The crab rangoon was the one thing that I can say was very good. Everything seems very competitively priced.

I know we will likely try again and try some different dishes as sometimes things don't always add up. I encourage trying it for yourself and go beyond taking my anecdotal experience. As...