Arrived with my mom and sister with an empty stomach and high expectations, mostly because I studied the menu overnight. Upon entering, there were few tables in the dimly-lit restaurant. Despite the dim lighting, the gentleman brightly greeted us and immediately directed us to sit at a table near to the register since it was cold and windy outside. When seated, we were asked what we wanted to drink, and I got the passion fruit tea and water.
When I received the tea, I drank and immediately felt eyes on me. Little did I know, it was the mother, who was also waiting on the tables...and asked me whether I liked it or not. I said that it was a bit too sweet, but she assured me to simply mix the ice in with the rest of the drink. Despite me personally not drinking sweet things, my drink was very tasty, and it got even better once the ice melted down. I later found out that the reason why she asked was because the drink is fairly new and she just learned how to make it from a recent trip to Vietnam.
I ordered the eggrolls and a large bun bo hue, having read the raving reviews on Yelp. I was partially indecisive because my eyes was wandering and I saw the rice plates that looked so good...but the server (with it being a family-owned restaurant, I believe he may be the owner or the son of the owner) told me about how far people travel to get this soup, along with how his mother makes her own shrimp cakes for the soup, that she also learned from visiting Vietnam. Bun bo hue it is! I ordered it without the pork blood.
I received my eggrolls first, which were 5 pork and shrimp eggrolls with a fish sauce dip with a light amount of chilis in the small bowl. The eggrolls were hot, very fresh and delicious! The light crisp of the wrapper leads you to a pretty generous meat filling that is very satisfying to eat along with the not too salty dip. About 2-3 minutes later, I received my soup, which was what dreams are made of. It wasn't overly spicy, had a generous portion of meat in it, and the addition of the cabbage was great as well. The shrimp cakes were bouncy and full of flavor.
I felt those eyes again. I'm asked if the soup was good. I tell her it's amazing...
Here the mother comes to show me how to properly eat the soup. Apparently I didn't add enough cabbage to it. She adds the extra cabbage that I didn't yet add into the soup, mixes it in for me, and tells me that the combination of the cold cabbage and hot broth is what makes it better...and of course she was right! I have to mention here that I'm nearly 7 1/2 months pregnant, so I'm positive that her intentions are 100% pure to help a pregnant woman eat this food correctly lol...so everything I am mentioning about her is coming from a good place.
After eating as much as my body can allow me to with a growing baby limiting how much I can eat, I got the rest of my soup to-go. The son told me that this soup will taste even better when I reheat it. When I tried it several hours later, the broth is way more complex with a slight sweetness once reheated, and the round l noodles maintained their structure, compared to regular pho noodles that would typically break apart once in the broth for too long.
I was throughly satisfied with my order and overall experience here. Everything was fresh and came out quickly. The customer service that I received was amazing, and those trips that the mother made to Vietnam expertly influenced the true flavors of Vietnam in what my family and I had ordered. They also enjoyed their meals, but it was not their first time here. I'm the food critic of the family, so it was their mission to show me this place and asked me to compare to the other pho restaurants that we have visited in the past. I will of course be back to get this bun bo hue again, and maybe try those pork and shrimp spring rolls that my mom was absolutely raving about! read more