Pho King Review

Photo of Grilled Chicken at Pho King in Austin, TX

Restaurant: Pho King
Location: North Austin, 1021 East Parmer Lane Austin, TX 78753 Map
Phone: (512) 491-7585
Price: $6 – $10
Hours: 8am – 9pm Daily

Food (4/10)

(4/10) Cam Ga Nuong
Rice with charcoal grilled chicken. This dish did come with a decent amount of chicken, and a huge amount of rice. The quality of the chicken was horrible. Almost every piece was fatty, chewy, and had no flavor whatsoever. Certainly not any chargrilled flavor. We were coming back from a 10 hour drive and didn’t have any food at home, so we stopped by and took this to go. The sauce that accompanied this dish was bland as well, so we forced it down with sri racha, sambal oelek and soy sauce. We hoped for better luck with the next entree…

(4/10) Bun Tom Nuong Thit Nuong
Vermicelli with charcoal grilled shrimp and pork. Strike two! Look at the picture…we didn’t eat any shrimp before snapping this photo. Also, the pork to rice ratio was underwhelming, which is why this dish is overpriced. Just like the chicken, the pork had almost no flavor and a slightly rubbery texture. The shrimp lacked flavor but had a nice texture, and the vermicelli noodles were cooked well. Still, this was not a great choice. If you are thinking of ordering this dish just “Pho-get about it!”

Photo of Vermicelli at Pho King in Austin, TX

(7/10) Service

We went into this eatery and requested a to-go order, so our experience with the service here is limited. When we walked in, a hostess/waitress immediately greeted us and asked where we’d like to be seated and handed us a few menus. We asked her what some of the favorites were, and she gave us a few options. When we were ready we gave her our order, and it came out only a few minutes later. The gruff but efficient male cashier rang us up, and we were on our merry way.

(6/10) Ambiance

Pho King is located in a developing area. It is somewhat isolated, without residential or commercial buildings around it. The inside was bright and clean, with plenty of booths and tables. It didn’t feel like an authentic Vietnamese restaurant, and the taste of the food added to that feeling. We were only there for a few minutes but noticed that the restaurant was very cold and had some music playing in the background. There were a few families eating there that night. Next time we are craving Vietnamese cuisine, we will head over to Chinatown because they have some great pho and banh mis!

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