I love pho. I could almost eat it every day...almost. Obviously, I was excited that Beavercreek was getting a pho restaurant. I've been to Wat da Pho a handful of times for lunch since it opened; once during its soft opening, another visit a week after its grand opening, and once each month since February. In that time, Wat da Pho has smoothed out its rough spots (service was an issue during the soft opening) and has really begun to hit its stride on all fronts.
Wat da Pho's dining room isn't large. In truth, Wat da Pho is one of the smaller pho places that I've ever been. It seems to get a good amount of lunch business with many of the crowd coming from nearby WPAFB. As a result, you may be in for wait for a table depending on the day and time you visit.
Wat da Pho offers a single menu for lunch and dinner. Since opening, the menu has evolved, adding small sized bowls of their soups and several new items across the board. Prices have held stable and, for the most part, while offering good portion sizes and solid quality for the price. Over the course of my multiple visits, I've sampled most of the usual suspects that you'd normally find at a restaurant like this.
I've had the Spring Rolls/Goi cuon ($3.75), which were two nicely sized rolls, seemingly freshly made with pork, shrimp, vermicelli noodles, and mint. It's definitely one of the better renditions I've found in the local area. The peanut sauce accompaniment was thinner, less peanut-ty than others I've had, but still possessed good flavor. The Vietnamese Ham Sub/Banh mi thit nguoi ($4) was a solid effort. The sandwich had an ample amount of meats and fresh, colorful vegetables inside for a visual and textural contrast. While I can only imagine how a proper banh mi baguette should taste, I found Wat da Pho's bread to possess good flavor with a crispy outer crust, yet still light and reasonably airy inside. For the price, it was a good deal. The Bun Bo Hue ($8.75), a generous-sized bowl of soup with a spicy lemongrass beef broth, thick rice noodles, chunks of coagulated pig's blood, and Hue ham, was flavorful, yet surprisingly light. You could definitely taste the lemongrass, which was nicely balanced by the other notes of the broth. While I personally like the pig's blood in my soup, be forewarned that it's in there. While I don't know for certain, but I imagine you may request that it not be added. However, I enjoyed the iron-y notes of the blood and the flavor and textural contrasts it brought to the bowl. Last, but not least, I've tried both the large and small sizes of its namesake pho, Wat da Pho/Pho dac biet du thu ($9/$10.50), a traditional beef pho with sliced eye of round, meatballs, beef tendon, and beef tripe. In my mind, Wat da Pho's pho stock has definitely become better refined since its soft opening becoming a bit meatier, better seasoned, and more balanced in its flavor. However, it's still cleaner, lighter bodied, with more pronounced sweet notes than most that I've had. In both sizes of pho, I received a good amount of noodles, eye of round, meatballs, tendon and tripe. However, I'd rate the large bowl as a better value as the large bowl was, to my eye, appreciably larger for only a $1.50 price difference.
I like Wat da Pho. I've been very pleased with its improvements in service, adjustments to its menu, and seeming refinements to its food. Wat da Pho will continue to be in my regular rotation of places to eat. read more