Seriously the most weird Pho restaurant I have ever been. Is it even a restaurant anymore when you’re forced to stand in line, pay and tip in advance at the counter, AND be told which table to go sit in waiting for your pho? I was told to sit in the back when other tables up front with better lighting were available. Totally off point fast food vibe. A restaurant gets you a, “hello how are you doing, would you like some water while you look at the menu?” Nope after I paid & with my 20% tip for service I’ve yet to receive, I was given a cup to go get my own water at the fountain, get my own chopsticks, spoon and sit myself in the back. Then the horrendous pho where the dried noodles are thin and still hard bc it wasn’t cooked thoroughly. The beef broth has no soul. You can tell it was made quickly instead of hours of simmering with beef bone. So my 20% tip is to the girl that brought out the pho and never seen again? Bad-bad-bad business model. This is nothing like a traditional pho restaurant.
Pho Square Vietnamese Restaurant + Boba Tea
Excerpts
Seriously the most weird Pho restaurant I have ever been. Is it even a restaurant anymore when you’re forced to stand in line, pay and tip in advance at the counter, AND be told which table to go sit in waiting for your pho? I was told to sit in the back when other tables up front with better lighting were available. Totally off point fast food vibe. A restaurant gets you a, “hello how are you doing, would you like some water while you look at the menu?” Nope after I paid & with my 20% tip for service I’ve yet to receive, I was given a cup to go get my own water at the fountain, get my own chopsticks, spoon and sit myself in the back. Then the horrendous pho where the dried noodles are thin and still hard bc it wasn’t cooked thoroughly. The beef broth has no soul. You can tell it was made quickly instead of hours of simmering with beef bone. So my 20% tip is to the girl that brought out the pho and never seen again? Bad-bad-bad business model. This is nothing like a traditional pho restaurant.
In the same way that there is such a thing as American Chinese food this place feels kind of like American Vietnamese food. The drinks were by far the best part of the experience. Tons of options, good boba and amazing coffee (lavender latte was incredible). We got vegetarian spring roles and they were nothing to write home about and could have used more avocado though they were neat and quick to come out. I got the tofu vermicelli bowl which was alright. Basically the exact same ingredients as the spring roll accepted totally lacked fresh herbs which is an important part of any real vermicelli bowl. The tofu was fantastic and I wish there was twice as much of it. They put spinach in the bowl which I found to be very strange and they also had additional lettuce which was fine but felt overall unnecessary. The rest of the veggies were fresh and good. I have mixed feelings about the sauce: they serve it with peanut sauce which tastes very good but I really wish they could have committed to the dish and found a way to make a vegetarian vinaigrette without the fish sauce. I really prefer that and have had it other places with great success. Just some notes. The bowl was pretty good overall. The best thing we had was the tofu ramen bowl which was perfectly seasoned and cooked super well. The vegetables were all fresh and the tofu was once again well marinated and handled. They weirdly put spinach in this too... Not sauteed in the sauce but added on top raw on top after cooking. Weird. Is this the best Vietnamese restaurant I've ever been to? No. I am not from Rockford and I noticed there were a lot of other Vietnamese options. I specifically chose this restaurant because of the vermicelli bowl offering and was not particularly impressed. I probably won't return but if I were local I would definitely consider coming back for that ramen dish.
In the same way that there is such a thing as American Chinese food this place feels kind of like American Vietnamese food. The drinks were by far the best part of the experience. Tons of options, good boba and amazing coffee (lavender latte was incredible). We got vegetarian spring roles and they were nothing to write home about and could have used more avocado though they were neat and quick to come out. I got the tofu vermicelli bowl which was alright. Basically the exact same ingredients as the spring roll accepted totally lacked fresh herbs which is an important part of any real vermicelli bowl. The tofu was fantastic and I wish there was twice as much of it. They put spinach in the bowl which I found to be very strange and they also had additional lettuce which was fine but felt overall unnecessary. The rest of the veggies were fresh and good. I have mixed feelings about the sauce: they serve it with peanut sauce which tastes very good but I really wish they could have committed to the dish and found a way to make a vegetarian vinaigrette without the fish sauce. I really prefer that and have had it other places with great success. Just some notes. The bowl was pretty good overall. The best thing we had was the tofu ramen bowl which was perfectly seasoned and cooked super well. The vegetables were all fresh and the tofu was once again well marinated and handled. They weirdly put spinach in this too... Not sauteed in the sauce but added on top raw on top after cooking. Weird. Is this the best Vietnamese restaurant I've ever been to? No. I am not from Rockford and I noticed there were a lot of other Vietnamese options. I specifically chose this restaurant because of the vermicelli bowl offering and was not particularly impressed. I probably won't return but if I were local I would definitely consider coming back for that ramen dish.
Amazing Pho & Spring Rolls and friendly service! Was a wonderful place to stop for dinner 😁