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If you want authentic Vietnamese food, with pho that melts in your mouth, this is definitely the place to go.
Have been hear several times and never disappointed. A few things of note first: The ambiance is non-existent. So is the decor (though they do have new fixtures in the bathrooms -- go figure). There's a lone fish tank in the corner that seems, well, lonely. Ignore all of that.
Instead, you will find a consistently busy restaurant (with lots of locals) even at off peak hours. Always a good sign.
Go for the Pho -- really any kind is fine. It has a nice rich broth and meat that is slightly fatty -- as it should be. But not chewy. Just right. Add some sprouts, mint and a little "rooster" sauce and you're all set.
But surprisingly, the menu works beyond that too even though many people get the Pho. The Spring rolls were fresh and you could tell they were just wrapped. Awesome. And a pork vermicelli dish served in a bowl with some sauces was a great find on the menu too.
Service is attentive and when you're done, you can just go up to the cashier and pay (no need to wait for your check).
Overall, this is nearly the best place in the Hartford area (even though I think Le's comes in ahead). Just don't go for the decor.
While Pho Boston looks like it would be a nice restaurant, the service is slow and the pho is sub-par. The stock is a very heavy beef stock, and the portion is very small for what they charge.
The only positive I can think of is the bubble tea. Very good, though not really worth the trip.
If you want great pho, try Pho 501 in favor of Pho Boston. You'll be glad you did.
We chanced upon this vietnamese restaurant when we went to A-dong for grocery shopping.
We ordered :
1) Grilled pork chop with rice - The pork chop was a little dry.
2) Seafood Chow Fun - Very nice, but the bottom chow fun were a little dry. Can be improved.
3) Claypot rice with frogleg, seafood, chicken and vegetable- Love the gravy. Its a little spicy but very delicious
4) Durian shake with pearl - Love it. Must try!
5) Coconut juice - nice and refreshing
I am seeing myself going back in future.
I have found a pho place in Hartford. The location isn't necessarily the best but there's plenty of parking!
Friendly and quick service. Good food.
The perfect cure for my flu last week - a bowl of steaming pho so huge I could curl up inside it. I had the beef ball (bo vien), and my friend tried the pho boston (sate dac biet), and both of us were very pleased.
Strong flavors and quick service - except when you want the check.
The food at Pho Boston is totally delicious! Pho, stir-fries, teas and drinks... everything I've tried has been oh-so-good. I'm always psyched to go back for more.
The place is hopping on the weekends. The tables are close together and the waitstaff gets so frantic that it's a bit like being in rush hour traffic, but the food is totally worth it and you can (and should) flag someone down if you need anything during your meal.
In short, not the best ambiance here, but the food more than makes up for it! Yum!
I've eaten here so many times, I felt I just had to add a vote. Imagine going into a cafeteria in Saigon, your there.
Our go-to dish these days is Goi Tam, a shredded cabbage salad with poached shrimp, crushed peanuts and mint. Awesome.
Great spring rolls. As the weather gets colder, we'll go back to the vermicelli noodles with beef or Pho w/chicken. If you speak Vietnamese then you might be able to explore deeper into the menu.
PS, Just so you know, don't wait for a waiter to come by with your check as you could sit forever. When your ready, go up to the counter and settle up.
PPS: with regard to the folks who mentioned bad service....we stopped in for lunch on a Sunday afternoon. If you've ever gone to Pho on Sunday or on holidays like Xmas or Easter, you know the place will be at it's most packed. Though there were at least 2-3 parties waiting for tables, we were seated and sipping tea within 5 minutes. The service is unbelievably fast getting your order taken and your food delivered. Then, you get left alone unless you wave for attention or know the staff.
Finally made it here after reading all these reviews.
My brother and I split the fresh spring rolls and then I got the pho with thinly sliced beef and my brother got the pho with beef balls. Delicious!! Very filling, huge portions of soup. The broth was so flavorful.
The service was decent and we were seated right away. There was a constant flow of people in and out the door so this place can get busy. Can't wait to go again.
Unanimously, this is our favorite Vietnamese restaurant between me and my lady. Their stock is delicious, excellent pho, vermicelli has a good texture to it, and not too mushy. The grill pork chop on rice is to die for, their "3 color rice" aka pork chop, pork skins, egg cake is one of our favorite, portion for the grill chicken on rice, oh boy, huge, pork chop with fried spring roll on vermicelli, mmmmmm... making me hungry again, and... not to mention their fresh spring rolls.
This is definitely the place that we use to judge all other places that we been to.
As far as cleanliness goes, well, let's put it this way, it is nowhere near surgery room clean. My recommendation for any Vietnamese restaurant or any restaurants that serves lots of soup and fish sauce, get rid of the carpet, it smells. Also, keep the busing cart away from sight, it is really not that appetizing seeing the remains and dirty dishes.
Couple of things. They had too many tables, lots of customers, but very little staff. I was hungry and they took nearly 15+ minutes to take our order. I knew exactly what I wanted to order, large beef PHO! We ordered the shrimp spring roll. They were okay. I wish they didnt just use hoisin sauce as their dipping sauce. I believe my husband and I order extra large bowls of pho and the bowl was big, but not enough noodles. I thought I was stiffed rice noodles. Anyhow, I thought the broth was good, but my husband beg to differ. This restaurant serves a wide variety of dishes, pho & rice dishes. I'm pretty sure that I will revisit again and hopefully my next experience will be better.
Bumping this up to 5 stars. I am still not a Pho expert but I am literally obsessed with this place so I think it deserves it. Really consistent, really delicious, everything I've had on the menu has been great.
I am a Pho novice but my experience here (after shopping at A Dong, natch) was completely solid. I… Read more »
Pho Boston, why can't you actually BE in Boston?
We used to eat here on a regular basis when we lived in West Hartford. The perfect inexpensive, warm comfort food for a cold day.
I don't think it has ever taken them more than ten minutes (max - usually five) to serve us our pho. The service is fast and unobtrusive. The condiments are plentiful and they keep them flowing. Two bowls of more pho than we could eat for $16 flat, including tip - Yes Please.
Yum.
Pho Boston, will you please come to Boston?
I had never had vietnamese food before, but given the reviews here and other places, I decided that this was the place to try it. I was certainly not disappointed.
though I had viewed the menu online before going, I still had a hard time deciding what to get. the menu is quite extensive; lots of choices for the experienced diner, or the more timid eater. I ended up with the shredded chicken pho and the tofu spring rolls. the spring rolls were great - very light. I enjoyed the flavor of them, especially with the mint. the peanut dipping sauce served with the spring rolls was amazing, too. I couldn't get enough! next... a word to the wise... the extra large bowl of pho... let's just say we dubbed it the "bathtub of soup" because it really IS that large. I didn't finish it; it's big enough for two. I opted for the egg noodles which were good. the chicken really was like "grandma's chicken soup" as they used both white and dark meat; it gave it good flavor. the only thing that bothered me was that they used beef broth for the chicken soup; I wish it'd been chicken broth, but it didn't make the soup less tasty, just different tasty. :)
many people have commented on the poor ambiance and poor service. I would agree that it's not the greatest of atmosphere, but it's also in a strip mall, so expectations were low. it was still clean and smelled like amazing food, which is always a plus. the service that we had was great. we were served our appetizers quickly and our meals were not too far behind. I certainly wouldn't mark down the restaurant for either of these aspects. also, the price is fantastic. we had a group of six people; we ordered (2) bottles of wine; we paid $30 each (with generous tip). we've paid double that for food that wasn't nearly as good.
I know that we'll be going back again. great value for great food.
Hot pho on a cold rainy day... what could be better?
Went to Pho Boston on a Saturday around 12:30 and it was packed! We had a ten minute wait and were then seated. We opted for the spring rolls as an appetizer and I ordered the shredded chicken pho and my lunch partner ordered the Pho Boston which had thin slices of beef in it. Our appetizer came out relatively quickly. The spring rolls were light and fresh tasting.
About ten minutes later our pho arrived piping hot. The bowls are enormous and could easily be shared between two. It's alot of soup.
I added extra chili paste to give mine added heat and the Pho Boston was already spicy.
The restaurant itself is what you'd expect for being in a strip mall but the quality of the food and the service are what shines over the ambiance.
Great lunch spot...cheap and fast!
When going out to eat, the most important factor for me is the taste of the food. Ambience is a non-issue because if the food stinks, who cares if the walls and furniture are lovely? This restaurant, as noted in other reviews, is a bit lacking in ambience and yes, it is located in a strip mall. On to the important stuff.....
Pho does Vietnamese food right. They are reasonably priced, have an enormous selection for carnivores and herbivores alike and one you have ordered, the ingredients are fresh (or they won't serve it), the food is out in a flash even when it is slamming busy (which it usually is). Bonus points to them that they will not let you order something "odd" without confirming that you know exactly what will be showing up in front of you to eat - if you order something which requires assembly (such as the incredibly delicious beef Banh Hoi Heo, Bo Hoac Ga Nuong) they will explain what to do when it arrived at the table. They are accomodating of special orders, are kid friendly (it is my 5 year old son's restaurant of choice...even over McDonalds. He likes the wonton soup and the chicken chow fun) and are right next door to one of the largest Asian markets I've ever seen.
Extra bonus points for having the same waiters for the last 10+ years. Very little staff turn over here. I know everyone there at this point.
My husband and I are slowly trying eveything on the menu. We tend to be a bit adventurous food-wise, so we have a lot of fun here - that said, there are TONS of non-"scary" food choices on the menu and the wait staff will gladly explain anything you have questions about.
The only down sides (and in my mind these are a non-issue after happily dining there for well over 12 years):
Pot holes in the parking lot large enough to swallow a Honda whole.
Once the waiter has taken you order and the food has hit the table, you may not see him again unless you aggressively flag him down like a NYC taxi.
You go to the counter to pay the check - they do not bring it to you.
If you leave your food at the table unattended to use the bathroom, it may get cleared away before you get back. Leave a note or tell a waiter before you go.
They do not take reservations except for the family dining tables which seat 8-10 people...I think those require a reservation. Still, the longest I ever waited was 10 minutes for a table.
Still, we are there at least one every month and regularly on Friday nights during the summer.
Do not go to Pho boston if you want ambiance or good service. Do go to Pho boston if you want delicious food at inexpensive prices. I'd rate this place lower if I was in Chicago or San Francisco or elsewhere, but since I'm stuck in CT, I'm going to give this place 4 stars and keep going. I'm no pho-novice and this isn't any where near the best I've had but its more than adequate. I'm a fan!
Came here solo on a Monday night, and the place was relatively empty. Great service, *very* good pho broth and veggies, though a little stingy on the rare steak. To supplement, I ordered an appetizer of rare beef marinated in lime juice (which is basically the thinly-sliced rib-eye they put in pho tai anyway) and I tossed it in my soup. Perfect.
Clean place, non-ghetto bathrooms, and right next to a superstar of an Asian market. I'll be back tomorrow night to try the neighboring Thai place.
I am giving this restaurant 4 stars because of the lack of Vietnamese restaurants in CT. Also because the food is tasty, cheap, and extremely fast. Even if you are not an adventurous eater the large menu will have something for you.
I stopped in here for lunch with my husband beause we both felt like a big bowl of tasty pho. First we ordered a fresh roll stuffed with shredded pork skin and veggies. The 2 rolls were large and filled with the goodness that is shredded pork skin.
I ordered the pho # 16 which contained razor thin slices of tendon, flank, brisket, tripe, and rare steak. It was a bargain at $6.95. The bowl contained a good amount of each type of meat. All of the meat was tender, even the tendon. I added a lot of the chilli paste to kick up the heat. We also used up most of the sprouts, basil, lime, etc.
My husband ordered Pho Boston which was rare steak pho in a spicy broth. I tried some of his and it was very good too. He said that he'd definitely order it again though next time he is going to try the carmel ribs.
Our food came out quick and our server was super attentive. The best part about the restaurant is that you don't have to wait around for a check. After you are done just go up to the register and pay.
Pho Boston is located in the same shopping center as A Dong Supermarket. Eat first and then shop.
Five stars for the price, four stars for the taste. I couldn't handle having Vietnamese noodle everyday, but I wouldn't mind eating it once a week.
Here's the menu of this place; Check out the prices for yourselves:
http://www.menudog.com...
The egg rolls and satays are not the best I've ever had, but for $3.50 per dish, how could anyone go wrong? Coming here is the next best thing to actually making your trip into Chinatown.
I ordered the XE LUA, which is an extra large bowl of noodle soup (and I mean EXTRA LARGE), with thin slices of beef which just cooks over the hot broth. For $6.50, I had enough food for me and my daughter.
All I've got to say is Yummy-licious!
Happy Thanksgiving, Pho-style!
A friend and I knew we wouldn't be able to travel out of state for Thanksgiving, so we decided to get us some hot 'n' tasty pho! It wasn't quite as desolate as I would have expected for Thanksgiving evening, but we were the only non-Vietnemese table there (there were about 6-7 other groups there).
The wait staff was very friendly, and super quick! I was surprised and pleased to have my pho sitting before me in less than 5 minutes. Yum Yum! I'll definitely be going back.
And if you go, check out the Asian Market next door (A Dong). Very cool.
"If you can't fly to Hanoi, Cali, or VA, then this is the place."
This is as close to going to Vietnam as it gets in CT. Right next to A Dong grocery might be an indicator of the market that it caters to.
Rule of thumb, if the restaurant is filled with the people from the country that the restaurant claims is from, go there. Pho Boston is not an exception to this rule. The Pho is large and in charge. The pork slices, fatty and sliced paper thin. And for the $6-7 price, amazing. The spring rolls were fantastic, the beef on a stick - cooked just right and juicy (not like your typical dried tire beef), and we got the pork on rice dish and it was great. Our new thing is the pork and shrimp crepe in the appetizer section. And order the lemonade or the Vietnamese coffee to wash it all down.
Being fortunate enough to visit Vietnam and be that I ate my way from Hanoi to Saigon, I am proud to say that this place is a tribute to the authentic and tasty.
One of CT's best kept secrets.
I have yet to find a legit Pho place in the NYC area, but if you are in northern CT check this place out. This was my go-to Pho spot once upon a time. Whenever we visit the BFs fam in CT, I try to plan a visit here. Cheap, tasty and comforting (not to mention a great hangover cure). I mix it up between the shredded chicken (#25) and the beef aka Pho Boston (#15 and ask for extra scallions!!), and at $6.50 a bowl its a bargain! The spring rolls are very good here (Goi Cuon being my favorite) as are some of the clay pot dishes, namely the spicy pork (may be a bit salty, you can ask them to tone it down). They do carry bubble teas (they're good, maybe not the best I've had but it makes the cut), salty lemonade and plum sodas.
FYI - you don't come here for the atmosphere, its located in a strip mall on the fringe of town...However, do make a stop at A Dong - the Asian market right next door, which has a great selection and very fair prices.
Been eating here for years. Fast, cheap and good. The fresh spring rolls are great, and they've got such a huge selection that the menu items are numbered. I always find something I like (though I tend to go back to my favorites). We used to eat here so much that I'd know (down to the entree #) what I was getting before we even got in the car.
Service can be spotty sometimes. You might have to send up a flare in order to get the check, but at these prices, who cares?
The only thing preventing me from giving this place five stars is the sometimes spotty service. I do have to say, though, that after going to Pho Boston about 5 times, the waitstaff began recognizing us and remembering our order. It's just (occasionally) a matter of GETTING a waiter that can be a problem.
Other than that one very small not-even-so-bad side, the pho soups are delicious! I've tried a few different Vietnamese soup places throughout CT, and this one is by far the best. The broth is flavorful and delicious, with lots of chickeny flavor and garlic. The pho chay (the vegetarian option) is delicious and absolutely jam-packed with fresh, still-crunchy vegetables. The spring rolls are also very tasty.
I eat here almost once a week and highly recommend it to anyone who loves soup and has a bottomless pit of a stomach -- the bowls are HUGE!
Service was a little spotty, and ambience was that of a strip mall, but overall, I like. I'm a pho virgin, at least in the US, where I find the dependency on regular silverware and yankee table manners to be a little stifling. Once I gave up on my own embarrassment, the meal was delish. I went with spring rolls and the shredded chicken, both were super tasty. And what a deal! I look forward to trying some of the other vietnamese hot spots in hartford... may update again once i do.
Being Vietnamese, my parents, their friends, and I would rather go out to get Pho than make it. Any Vietnamese person knows that! So, this is one of the places to go. They're quick, the Pho's yummy (I almost always get the Pho Tai - rare steak) and the staff is nice (and most speak Vietnamese)! I don't think I've ordered anything else but Pho here.
Though I moved to California and there are many choices for Pho here, I still miss Pho Boston.
It might imply something positive about the restaurant when someone is willing to drive one hour one-way to eat at a place when he could drive only twenty minutes to order the same thing. But in this case, it's because 1) every pho restaurant in the NYC metro area that I've tried sucks in flavor and has given me the runs, and 2) I love pho.
Pho Boston is a great pho restaurant, a good benchmark on which to rate other pho places. Broth is thick and flavorful and noodles well made. Meat is not too fresh but have it cooking at the bottom of the bowl and it tastes fine. A little bit of the hot sauce goes a long way with this pho. Egg rolls are decent if not particularly remarkable. Service is quick, not rushed and the register lady is very friendly. Restaurant is large and clean, and no emergency trips to the toilet.
A nice perk is the A-Dong supermarket nearby. Actually the whole strip-mall where Pho Boston is located is a Vietnamese and Thai mall.
It is funny to go to a place called PHO Boston, when I am from Boston and have been eating Pho in Dorchester, Allston, and Cambridge for the past 10 years. With that in mind I give it 3 out of 5 stars on the Metro Boston scale. On the Metro Hartford Scale I would give it 5 out of 5. The broth for the chicken pho was a tad sweet, and in my opinion needs more cloves. Some of the chicken pieces had tendons, but that happens at some of the best places around. The service at this place was fast. My review isn't set in stone, but I need to try the grilled pork chop to give a more accurate review. With all that said, I am excited to find a place in the area that has the Pho!
Mmmm. I have been in the Rising Star (Hartford) for some time now and this is the spot. #15 is excellent, big and fulfilling. Also the spring rolls are fantastic as well. There are several Pho spots in Hartford/WH to choose from, but this place is legit. Check out A Dong Supermarket next door if you have time.
Go on Saturday afternoon and the line is out the door!
Freindly waitstaff and there is a machine you can get candy from for 25 cents also.
not the cleanest place when you look at it, but the food is reasonably priced and the service is fast. I eat here once every several months. they do have a large assortment of vietnamese dishes, and being vietnamese and having eaten at really good vietnamese restaurants, i can compare this place to others. the non asian people i bring to eat there really like it.
Ahh! Excellent food in a hidden place at a cheap cost. Now that's my kind of place. Thanks Yelpers for pointing me in this direction.
I went here for lunch today, and I knew it was going to be good when we saw that it was nearly full (and it's not a small place) despite it's off the beaten path location and had many Asian diners. We weren't disappointed. I had the shredded chicken pho which was great- fresh ingredients and large portion. My fiance had the pork clay pot, which was tender and flavorful, but not greasy or fatty. We also had some spring rolls which were delicious. We'll definitely be coming back here again!
Note: this place isn't that fancy, but it's clean and the service was quick despite the large lunch crowd.
Not sure if this is the only pho place around the area, but I like to stop here after a day shopping at Dong's supermarket next door. The pho is good, but I've had better. And one time, they didn't have any basil available, which was really disappointing since I couldn't put it in my seafood soup.
Do not go to Pho Boston if you want ambiance or good service.
One of the best phos I've ever had. Big tasty bowls of heaven. Share one for two. The ginger chicken ain't too shabby either.
This Vietnamese restaurant is authentic as them come here on the east coast. You can tell its good by the sheer amount of Vietnamese who eat here. Food isn't expensive and the place is big enough so that you never have to worry about getting a table. I highly recommend this place.
Mmmmm.....hot pho on a cold day. Very casual dining here, but well worth the wait in the waiting area. We've gone back to this place several times to get our fix. The Boston Pho is our favorite.
You get a lot of food so be careful when ordering appetizers or anything extra with your meal--you really don't need it. This place is quick too. I just went there for lunch and it was really good. I had curry chicken with rice. Something that is really nice about this place, besides the large clean atmosphere, are the real chopsticks--no wooden ones! I have been to some great Japanese restaurants that have the cheapest chopsticks ever! You should never need to bring your Makita sander to a restaurant. The plaza that this restaurant is located in also has an "interesting" Asian market that is a lot of fun to poke around in.
OK, I had to experiment with the menu a bit, but I have found things I really enjoy. The other things weren't for lack of quality, just things I genuinely am not a fan of, i.e. spring rolls in rice paper. Amazing quantity and quality for the price. Only downfall is the location, but if you can get over that, you're golden.
When my boyfriend lived in Richmond, VA we would go to a great Pho restaurant. So I was happy to find a replacement in eastern CT when I happened upon this shopping center in search of an asian grocery store. The bowls of Pho are large and filling, although the broth is pretty average in flavor - only about $6-7 a bowl. The spring rolls are good too. Visit the A Dong market nearby for a two stop foray into asian eating.
Don't let the somewhat run-down strip mall surroundings fool you. Both bowls of pho we ordered were quite good. Perfectly cooked noodles in delicious steamy broth. Service was quick and friendly.
That being said, missed out on having the flavor of basil in my broth due to dirty leaves, so can't give the full four.
Curious about the name so asked and found out that the family owners started their first pho restaurant in Boston. The name is apparently an homage.
West Hartford, CT
Category: Grocery
Hartford, CT
Category: Vietnamese
West Hartford, CT
Category: Vietnamese
West Hartford, CT
Category: Thai
East Hartford, CT
Category: Vietnamese
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