Pho Char — Restaurant in Virginia

Recently, my sense of taste brought me to Pho Char once again. On a quiet Thursday night, curiosity took control and we made the decision to try it.

We were welcomed by an atmosphere that was almost Zen-like when we arrived. But because it was the middle of the week, I was willing to overlook the seating area's appearance of a ghost town as a potential warning sign.

We ordered a variety of foods, including fried rice with vegetables (we asked for Thai spicy), summer rolls, and dumplings. A crisp and energizing bite like the summer roll, which made a commendable debut, would be ideal on a hot summer day. The dumplings, on the other hand, were an underwhelming supporting act and had a curiously store-bought performance flavor.

The combination fried rice, the pièce de résistance, was a visual spectacle but sadly tasteless. It came in an oddly shaped bowl and featured shreds of chicken breast and enormous shrimp. The culinary group, though, fell short of expectations. The shrimp, despite their size, lacked flavor, and the chicken was as flavorless as a cardboard cutout. Richer flavors of chicken thighs and smaller, more flavorful shrimp would have greatly enhanced the dish. Ironically, the star of the show was the rice itself, whose perfectly aged texture hinted at the use of day-old rice.

In a previous trip, the pho also failed to impress me because it lacked flavor, just like the fried rice did. While Pho Char checks all the right boxes for a calm atmosphere, its food selection falls short. It resembles a beautifully wrapped gift that is disappointing when unwrapped. Unfortunately, Pho Char is still a melody...

Only reason for 1 star is because the decoration is nice. Other than that, the pho is mediocre, and the SERVICE is ABSOLUTELY TERRIBLE. If you would like to get disrespected as a customer for some cheap food, go ahead and come on in and try this place.

The lady that calls herself a server will watch you stand at the door for a few minutes waiting to get seated and then proceed to seat you while also giving you extreme attitude almost like you're bothering her.

She then proceeds to THROW the menus AT YOU after you've been seated at the table like she does not care whatsoever. Then, once the food takes a good 30 minutes to get to your table, if you need anything at all, be prepared to get it yourself because none of the servers will get you anything. Literally asked her to please get some extra limes after pho came, she proceeded to look me in my eyes, then look at the table (indicating she understands what I need), and then turned around and kept going on about her business like a customer did not just ask her for something. Absolutely terrible service.

Won't be providing my business here anymore since it ain't anything special, after all it's one of 5000 pho places in the Northern Virginia Area and I am all about good customer service, don't really care for the cheap price. You can keep your Mediocre Pho and Worst Customer...

I would give this place zero stars if I could. I walked in and sat at the front because two people were in front of me. The lady at the front desk gave the guy his order. She then asked the lady after him about her order. I stood up to get her attention . She then proceeded to ignore me and sat down to eat. She didn't even greet me! The lady in front of me saw this horrible service and tried to call the lady. She just sat there eating. I left the establishment and went Pho Saigon and received phenomenal service.

About 1.5 hours later, she had the nerve to call me and ask why my order wasn't picked up. I advised her of what happened and she said " I thought the guy took your order" which was a blatant lie. I advised her that she should at least acknowledge all customers and that I was ignored while she ate her food. There are a ton of quality Vietnamese restaurants in Manassas,so there is no need to patronize that establishment.

To be honest, this was not the first time that I had poor service from them. I overlooked it in the past, but this was the straw that broke the camel's back. Nobody deserves that kind...