Phở Cần Thơ Vietnamese Cuisine — Restaurant in Tucson

After almost two weeks of exotic travels in the jungles of Vietnam, I came back to the West a new man with new tastes. Already feeling like a stranger in a place that was supposed to be home, I felt very off. Perhaps it was my body returning to health after drinking Saigon Red beer instead of water every single day in the hot, humid and unforgiving Mekong Delta. Perhaps it was the lingering sense that society is lacking an essential something, a something that can transform nightmarish, capitalistic monotony into a harmonious balance of actual joy and fulfilment. Perhaps I was just hungry.

It’s only been a week, but I needed to devour a Banh Mi or some Pho asap. I put on some traditional bolero music and went to the googles to find me a solid Vietnamese food stop. And lo and behold, Pho Can Tho. Described as a “Low-key, family-run eatery offering a range of noodle soups & other Vietnamese favorites.”

It was about to turn into a high-key joint (or maybe middle key at least) because as soon as I walked in, I told the lady at the counter “I’m looking for Tucson’s Pho King. I just got back from Ho Chi Minh and everyone claimed to be Pho King. I feel like the competition might be a little less stiff down here.” The lady just nodded and sat me at a table for one. I could already tell this place was Pho King headquarters. I asked her for a hot coffee (Ca Phe Sua Nong) and was so happy when she brought me the Phin metal filter which sits atop the glass with the coffee grounds and drips into about 3 teaspoons of sweet condensed milk. While she handed me the menu I said “did you know coffee was introduced to Vietnam in 1857 by a French Catholic priest in the form of a single Coffea arabica tree and with the lack of fresh milk and proper storage, sweetened condensed milk became a popular substitute as both sweetener and creamer?” She gave me a weird look and walked away. Yeah, I’m not a fan of the French either, toots.

My eyes sprawled over the familiar textures and fresh beauty of delicacies of recent past. The Bahn Mi Ga chicken sandwhich with liver pate spread, egg mayo, cilantro and pickled carrots, the Com Tam broken rice with grilled sausage, shrimp, pork chop, shrimp patty, shredded pork skin and egg meatloaf, the Pho with its thinly sliced beef in a sumptuous broth surrounded by noodles, fresh springs, thai basil, cilantro, jalapeno and limes. I let out a loud whisper moan: “phoooooooooooo” as I came out of a food porn daze and noticed the lady was standing in front of me waiting for my order.

I think a single tear poured down my cheek and I looked up at her with ecstatic and ethereal eyes and asked her to give me a minute. She raised her eyebrow and walked away once again. I wiped my face and got up to go out front for a cigarette after taking a sip of my sweet, sweet coffee. There was a new Vietnam war brewing. And it was one for my heart. The last time I felt these feelings was a long, long time ago. Like January 25th after almost crashing into a cow on a motorcycle. And i’m so grateful to feel them again. I ordered all the things and I think I may have found the Pho King of the...

Absolutely the best pho soups in town, huge bowl of pho, I'm close to 270 pounds and I could barely finish it, yet everyone else around me no matter what the size also finish their pho, unbelievable what these nice people go thru to just prepare this incredible soup, they serve the pho with cilantro, jalapeños, limes, basil, sprouts all fresh as if picked that day, that's dedication, egg rolls are a must with the pho, so much love in the food you can taste it, the owner has been super nice to us and even has memorized our orders, our family has been goin here for years, best when hungover it will get you going, I'm stunned to see all these negative reviews here, but those people probably like that fake miss saigon crap, real pho has to be mastered over the years not that fake ramen broth that miss saigon has. Remember, people come from different back grounds and sometimes they seem PISSED when really that's how they just look, I know this because people use to say I look PISSED when really I wasn't but that's just how I look lol, I'm telling you just wait till you see that bowl coming at ya, we've been coming here for years and have seen all walks of life come thru this place. Please don't come to this place if you are a negative person I would not like to see you here. Honestly if this staff was super rude and just had a bad attitude with me I would be ok with it because I'm a sucker for...

My friend was not eating solids so I stopped by to request a broth to go. There was one young guy serving the floor with an older lady looking to work the kitchen.

First off, 2.0 cups of broth cost $9. I am used to ~$6 in many states. As my friend drank it, I don’t know the quality. That said, I trust that it was good as most pho restaurants have solid staples. I added a $1 tip when ordering at the beginning and was no behavior problem, so I should not have garnered negative reaction.

The chicken pho broth had green solids floating in it. [ex: perhaps green onions, etc]. Totally normal for the house broth to be made and presented how the house dictates. Yet, my friend couldn’t eat solids that evening. So, please be careful if you all have surgery the next day or etc and need to avoid solids while craving broth.

What drove me to write this review is the wait time. Server had three tables and attended to all of them before attending to my request, all while the older lady sat down to eat instead of him asking her to help with this small task. It was 15 minutes of waiting to get a $9-$10 pint of such broth.

Again, I trust the food is tasty. They would not stay in business otherwise. Yet, I would be looking to splurge to come back again considering both...