54 Restaurant — Restaurant in Washington

It was my first time trying 54 Restaruant.

Food: This restaurant has a slightly stronger, more fragrant broth recipe; one of the best I've had. I didn't use any soy sauce or hoison like I usually do, and I stuck with my usual: Pho Tai Chin Nam. I didn't take a photo of the strawberry peach slush (w/out boba), but it, too, was so good. All the other drinks are bottled and are overpriced, in my opinion. $3 each for a 20oz tea and Diet Coke is unnecessary. The fresh summer rolls were delish -peanut sauce was good but a bit thick for me.

Service/Atmosphere: Fast food style in a sit-down restaurant atmosphere. Unexpected, but kind of cool. Nice indie music. The staff is nice. Food comes out promptly. There's not much a/c, so expect to be warm and a bit uncomfortable while dining. There were a few people fanning themselves while eating, including myself.

I gave 4/5 stars because 1) the overpriced drinks, 2) the chicken egg rolls came out fast but cold and tasted a little like old oil, which lets me know they weren't made fresh, and 3) there's only one size of phở. I'm not one for wasting. I would have chosen a small if it were available, seeing how it was my first time trying this restaurant, I wasn't that hungry, and I didn't feel like having to either carry my leftovers around downtown or take them all the way back to the parking garage. I ended up carrying them around -inconvenient for...

This is my favorite pho restaurant on east coast and #2 favorite of all time as someone who ate from at least 10 different pho restaurants hehe.

Honestly, when I stepped into the restaurant I knew the food was going to be good just from the aroma. And there was a wait!! But they are very efficient so we didn’t have to wait that long maybe 10 min.

I got the pho with well done brisket and eye round as well as summer rolls and iced thai tea. OMGGGG SOOOO GOOD. EVERYTHING WAS SO TASTY.

The pho was served hot and the broth was so deep and meaty. The meat was very tender and I loved that they gave everyone their own share of veggies to put into the broth.

The summer rolls were so yummmy. But the highlight was the peanut sauce that had chopped peanuts. OH THAT WAS SO LEGIT YUM.

The Thai iced tea was only $5 and it was served in a huge size that I couldn’t finish it and shared some with my friend.

Overall, a very happy dinner and I will definitely be back to try other dishes too.

Btw, you need to order at the counter and give your name to be called and then the waiters/waitresses will walk around calling people’s names and then once you raise your hand you get the food. Very efficient system...

Came here due to the high reviews. Came in, stood around confused. Didn’t know if we’re supposed to be seated or just pick a table. People came in after us went directly to the cashier’s line. Made us assume to order our food and seat ourselves. Husband was still being polite and asked the waiter walking by us if we seat ourselves(pointing at the empty table). He said “yes, but that table is taken because there’s things on it.” Husband advised him he witnessed the people left. Waiter then said “oh..ok…but there’s people in front you.” Then went to the people in line and asked if they already had a table, they said no, so he said this table is for those people and for us to wait for another table. We were stunned. 1. Those people came after us but knew more than us to go stand in line, they were not actually in the restaurant before us. 2. If your answer is yes, to seat ourselves, do not back peddle to seat someone else and tell us to wait to be seated. 3. Have some sort of instruction to decrease the confusion. We left. Still questioning if we were discriminated or just received really bad...