Pho Shobu — Restaurant in West Des Moines

Went in for lunch, was very excited to try this place. Beautiful restaurant, clean, very nice. Ordered bubble teas to start, then ordered the cream cheese shrimp rolls, and they were very good, four stars out of five, could have been 5 stars if not for the straight out of the bottle Ma Ploy ginger sauce served with them. Unfortunately, the wheels fell off the train shortly there after. Second appetizer was the green papaya salad, ordered three star spicy. It was not 3-star spicy, it was five star plus spicy, inedible to anyone without an iron stomach(l have one, but my dining partner doesn't, hence the 3 star order.) Didn't say anything at first as our meals arrived one minute later(still awaiting the bubble teas.) My 5 star red curry was 1 star spicy, overly salty, and had no flavor of coconut at all, none. Plus there were no carrots or onions in it, only peppers and pea pods.(still waiting on the bubble teas.) My friend's pho was served warm, not hot, without the basil, bean sprouts, jalapenos and lime that normally come with it on the side, and with no condiments on the table. By the time she had walked to other tables to get all the condiments, and waited for our server to bring the normal accoutrements, her pho was nearly cold. Finally, after 20 minutes our bubble teas arrive. We were willing to let the curry, pho, and 20-minute bubble teas go, but we asked to have the green papaya salad taken off, since it was inedible. The manager was sent out, and this is where it got really, really bad. We explained to her that it was inedible at its spice level, and she apologized and offered a gift card. We really didn't want to gift card as everything else but the shrimp rolls had been a disappointment as well, so we asked just to have it taken off. At this point she said that their system couldn't do that. We insisted that we should not have to pay for something that was inedible, she again offered a gift card. We again declined, saying we should not have to pay for an item we could not eat, that was made incorrectly. We explained to her that we were in the business, we understand mistakes, but we didn't feel we could pay for something that we didn't eat, couldn't eat. She then called us disrespectful. Finally explained that either the papaya salad would come off the bill, or we would never come back, we would tell our friends not to come, we would spread it in the business not to come. After the third request, she finally did take it off, which means she lied the first time when she told us the system wouldn't do it. I will never enter this place again, not because the mistakes in the food or the service, but because of the deep disrespect shown to us by the manager....

The last two times I have come here the service has been absolutely TERRIBLE. I contribute that to the fact that there are CHILDREN running the place. on 2/4/24 I came in for a late lunch with a friend and her son. We ordered spring rolls for an appetizer, I asked them to bring peanut sauce with them. I then had to ask the kid 3 more times after our rolls came out for the said peanut sauce. I had also overheard table next to us ask him for their side plates of bean sprouts, etc for their Pho. Instead of getting the customers their requested items, this kid SITS DOWN AT A TABLE AND STARTS EATING HIS OWN BOWL OF PHO!! Slurping noodles and not a care in the world that he had several upset customers. I took pictures as proof. I had ordered the steak and meatball pho and requested the steak rare on the side. He looked at me like I was requesting the craziest thing he had ever heard. When it came out there were no meatballs and the steak was in the broth, not on the side like I had requested. I was charged extra on my receipt to take it back and brought out the way I had requested (I order it that way every single time I have been here and never charged extra for it)

2/15/24 - Came in with a date. He ordered a dirty martini (it is on the menu) The bartender was another CHILD (no more than 18 years old) The drink that was brought out to my date was 1000000% not a dirty martini. In fact it had a lemon slice on the rim of the glass and not olives. I asked that the bartender come over and told him this was not a dirty martini, and it had absolutely no olive juice in it. He told me they don't even have olives - and that he absolutely made the drink correctly. I bartended for all of my 20's - I know how to make a damn dirty martini. Instead of making it right, he rolled his eyes at me and walked away and STILL charged us for the drink. We had already ordered spring rolls as appetizer and again I had requested peanut sauce - guess what I had to ask for two more times to get...yup, that peanut sauce! That is when we decided we were certainly not going to order main course and left to go to a better run Pho establishment across town where there was only 1 server, the place was much busier, but was 10/10 better service with a smile and quite honestly the food was better than this place. I used to love Shobu, it was my go to place for Pho, but sadly I will not be returning unless they turn this around. Hire competent employees who actual know what they are doing and how to...

The short:

Pros: Great pho. Broth is one of the best I’ve had. Pretty much nothing I have eaten here is bad. Spring rolls, drunken noodles, egg rolls, sashimi - delicious and fresh.

Cons: I’ve been coming here for about 4 maybe 5 years. Pretty much every time I’ve been in, the service is absolutely terrible. It hasn’t just been being short staffed through pandemic, it was an issue way before. So if you are looking for good service or timely food, this just isn’t it. In terms of food 5/5. Service and atmosphere1/5.

The long:

I love, love this food. I live downtown Des Moines and had dragged my friends all the way here for food for years, like once a month. Food is always good. Also, as reference, I’m writing this review well over a month after a bad experience that I’ll most likely never return. I’d get P9, I’d add Bok Choy. Sometimes I’d add extra tripe. I’ve tried all appetizers and many dishes of my friends. Again, all good. BUT in all my times here I’ve never had good service. It’s always crazy slow, kids who aren’t older than like 17 or 18 waiting on me, punch orders in wrong, charge items incorrectly, etc. I’ve had atleast 5 of my friends who said they’ll never go back because of how bad it was but I kept going cause the broth is 🔥. Long story short on my last visit they punched in my order wrong and my dates order wrong. They overcharged $15. Keep in mind I’ve been going here like 5 years so I know what it usually rings up as. So, I explain to the waitress, then to the lady (maybe a manager but I think the owners wife) that this is rung up wrong and $15 too much. She basically argued with me for 10 min on my date that she was right and that I need to pay for it. It was insane. So I ended up paying “half” just to get out of there, so $7 extra for something we didn’t even eat. It’s just not worth the hassle and the drive for me. And there’s plenty of other good Vietnamese restaurants around that give good service and will continue to receive my business. Thanks for reading my novel and toodaloo. My hopes is they make changes to their business model in respecting their customers and their...