I had seriously been waiting for this place to open FOREVER.  Mmm, just imagine a warm bowl of pho after a day of holiday shopping. I spend far too much time at NorthPark Center anyway so you can IMAGINE how pumped I was when Pho Kitchen finally opened in the Food Court.

I HOPE I just happened to be there on their first day of business because everyone seemed confused. There was already a long line but the only person making Banh Mis was an older gentleman and he was putting pate on all of them. I asked WHY since it wasn’t listed in the ingredients and he didn’t answer me.  A younger man came over & told me that all banh mi had pate on it, ALWAYS. I suspect he’s had this debate before because he was already frustrated with me but it got worse when I asked if I could have my sandwich withOUT pate. I think he wanted to tell me NO that wasn’t an option, but instead he said, “Whatever but it’s not going to taste the same.”

It actually DID taste the same, which means it was really good. I was a little disappointed because the guy was such a jerk that I wanted to hate his food. I still told myself I’d never go back but I ended up hungry at the mall again today and found myself at Pho Kitchen.  This time I ordered the Vietnamese Slaw Salad with Chicken and was assisted but a sweet, older woman behind the counter.  Man, she was adorable but she put my food in a regular bowl even though I said “I need it TO GO” over and over again.  She finally heard me & set a small plastic lid on top of the bowl. Mind you, this didn’t close the bowl. The lid didn’t even reach the sides. She was about to dump the whole thing into a bag (???) when I said, “Wait, is that going to stay closed?” Suddenly, Angry Banh Mi guy popped up out of nowhere and said, “WHAT, you want a BOX???” I think he was even angrier about that than he was about the pate.  So, I carried it carefully home but the lid never actually stayed on, see? It just kind of slid around on the salad.

Once again, as much as I wanted it to suck the Chicken Salad was really good. Of course, it cost $10 so it had BETTER be good.

So Pho Kitchen, your food wasn’t a let down but your service definitely was.  It seems like your employees have never worked in a restaurant but that can’t be the case, right? Wasn’t there a Deep Ellum location before this? I guess I’m just going to have to tell Pho Kitchen to Pho Off for now…or at least until I’m super hungry at the mall again.