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Judging Restaurants – Pho Bar & Grill
1360 H St, NE
Pho Bar & Grill opened at 1360 H St, NE back in Oct. 2011. You can see their menu here. Any fans? How do they compare to other Pho joints around town?
Category: H St. NE, Restaurants
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I live by here and really wish it were better. It’s not terrible, just mediocre. The pho itself is pretty decent, but the atmosphere is meh.
The pho is mediocre as well- lacks flavor. About the only good thing about this place is that it is perpetually on Scoutmob (not a good sign for the business).
Yep, bland and lukewarm broth. There are better places to grab a bite to eat nearby. If you want pho, go elsewhere.
I have only had their vegetarian Pho, which may defeat the point, but I found it really underwhelming. Now that I realized that Toki Undergound does carryout I will probably never go back.
Does Toki do pho?
Should have clarified that my reason going to Pho Bar and Grill was for picking up carryout close to my house more than for the Pho specifically. So if in general I want to swing by H st. to grab something to eat at home, the vegetarian ramen at Toki is my first choice.
Pretty much the worst Pho I’ve ever eaten, but DC (well, Northern Virginia) has so much good Pho I might be a little spoiled.
For those of us who don’t want to travel to another state for a bowl of soup, are there any pho places nearby you’d recommend?
No. Pho Viet nor Pho 14 compare to Falls Church/Fairfax for Viet. Man up and take the 20 minute drive.
Eh, I’ll just make my own.
Pho Junkies food truck
They don’t have vegetarian.
Pho75 on Wilson Blvd is your best bet. I live within walking distance of Pho14 and Pho-Viet and still make the trek out to VA. Just don’t do bad pho.
I totally agree.
Pho 14 in DC, Col HTS and ADMO is great for a close hop, otherwise it’s always PHO 75 for me. 79 on wilson Blvd was good once, but then the second time I went it was horrid. I’m way too far into traditional Japanese RAMEN in DC now to go back anyway.
Seriously. The choice is yours: Enjoy some of the most delicious ethnic food anywhere, or cower in fear of the suburbs. People are ridiculous.
Yeah… those ridiculous people, cowering in fear. Or, maybe we just don’t have cars.
I lived in the suburbs of VA for five years, thank you very much. I’ve wasted so much of my life sitting in Northern Virginia traffic that I won’t do it again unless it’s for a very good reason. Eating food that I can recreate reasonably well at home is not a good enough reason.
You can get some pretty good Pho up the Red Line in Rockville.
http://www.washingtonian.com/restaurantreviews/2011/08/cheap-eats-2011-pho-75—rockville.php
Can knock out some Christmas shopping while up there too.
Making a note to check out Pho 75.
Of Pho Viet and Pho 14, which is the better?
It’s a 20 minute drive if you go at 10 pm, maybe, but not if you want to eat at normal dinnertime hours. Trust me– I did the drive for years and the traffic out that way is epic.
So if you live near H Street your options are to eat bad pho here or drive an hour each way to get some at the Eden Center. I can see why this place is thriving despite the poor reviews.
I’ve only had the vegetarian Pho. It’s pretty good, although they started putting this weird fake meat in there that I would just as soon do without. Lots of vegetables though. The tea is ALWAYS too strong and bitter (I’ve heard other complain about it too) and the appetizers are mediocre. The service was inconsistent and often terrible when they first opened, but they seem to have gotten their act together.
thats funny, i noticed the fake meat too, and really liked it!
I don’t like real meat very much, so maybe that’s why I dislike vegetarian versions of it. Maybe they should have an option of either fake meat or tofu.
The lemon grass chicken (served over rice or noodles) is amazing! It is, however, the only thing worth ordering from the menu.
Gosh I had high hopes for this place. A good, basic Pho joint on H would make an absolute killing. As it is, every time I have been to this place something is off– the broth is weak and there is hardly any meat, but the thing that keeps me from going is that the entire place is just… weird. It’s a pho joint that is trying to be a bar/club? Why is everything so GD expensive? (coffee is almost $5 but the price isn’t on the menu, once my girlfriend ordered a “house red” and it was $9), and the menu seems to be constantly shifting. Ordering is strange in an undefinable way (Oh, this casually dressed caucasian dude wants to take my order? I thought he was another patron).
To me, the name “Pho Bar & Grill” just embodies everything awkward that doesn’t work at this place. Just name it “Pho 28″ or whatever and be done with it. When I think of pho, I am not thinking of a bar & grill.
I hope management can turn it around or that somebody else can take it over, revamp, and do it justice. I would be in there once a week if it was a decent place.
also, Joe’s Noodle House at NY Ave & Bladensburg Road is immensely better and way cheaper if you live in the area.
Serviceable. Fills a niche.
Do they sell any Vietnamese beers? I’d love to have a bottle of Dung Nhung IPA again someday.
That place was my first pho experience and I was so unhappy, I sent it back after two spoonfuls (one for the broth, one for the flavorless chicken therein). Glad to hear it apparently ranks badly in terms of pho experience, maybe I’ll give pho a second try elsewhere.
PhoDC isn’t bad – not as good as Pho 75 but good. I’m gonna try out Sprig and Sprout tonight – will report back.
This place is the worst, ordered delivery one evening, two and half hours and 5 surly phone calls with the staff our order showed up incomplete. We received 3 orders not 4. So that was neat. I had been previously when it first opened and awkward is indeed a correct term for it. 10 minutes after arriving they started blasting turible music and the rest of the experience was more comical than anything.
Pho 14 is where its at
There is no such thing as vegetarian pho, in my opinion. It just crosses the threshold to tofu soup. Not that that is necessarily bad, but the standard vietnamese vegetarian soup I’ve had is fairly bland and not very exciting. I usually opt for some tofu and vermicelli noodle dishes when doing vegetarian at vietnamese places.
As long as the person slurping veggie Pho doesn’t use the term “authentic” to refer to it, I’m fine with it. Otherwise, I’ll probably laugh so hard that soup comes out of my nose.
Exactly. Veggie Pho may not be authentic, but it’s still delicious when done right. And I disagree that it’s just a glorified tofu soup. The vermicelli rice noodles, the fragrant star anise broth, and the table salad make it very different.
My first and only time having Pho was here…I loved it
. I would go again.
+1
It’s nice to see a business here instead of a vacant storefront. However the pho isn’t worth eating and the ambiance is uncomforting.
I also found this underwhelming — both the pho and the ambiance. Also the drink list wasn’t amazing. I wouldn’t waste my time going back, sadly. Pho 14 in Columbia Heights runs laps around this place.
I have been there several times and order the chicken Pho. I love their pho and grilled pork dish. I think people are always looking for something to complain about. Maybe some feedback to the managers are a positive way to go instead of rambling off on sites like this. I hope that they do read your comments and make some good changes. It is nice to see hard working people taking the financial risk to provide a service to the neighborhood.
They do seem to be taking customer feedback into consideration and making strives to improve. But the changes are happening very slowly… and until they nail the broth recipe they will continue to be attacked by the Pho Police.