Pho Bac Hoa Viet

This review is for the restaurant on Madison, between Auburn and Walnut. My associate and I ducked in for some lunch. It being the first time there, and not real familiar with Viet cuisine, I took the safe route, and ordered the Pork Chow mein. It was great! The noodles, vegies and pork were fresh and tender. Big portions. The place used to be a Rib joint. Everything is that funky '90's hunter green and cream paint with wood accents...not at all Asian and kinda shabby. But hey, its the food I care about...definitely a guy thing. The cleanliness seemed up to standards...no sticky tabletop, at least. Service was brusque, but again, I'm there for the food. I've had similar service at Ruth's Chris, and at those prices, I would expect better. But here? Forgetaboutit. I'm taking our family of five tonight, so if there's a big departure from this experience, I will let y'all know.--BW Pros: Value, portions, presentation, price Cons: Don't go for the ambiance. Think Dennys, Carrows, etc. more

My boyfriend and I LOVE pho noodle and, since our favorite pho restaurant closed, we have been looking for another one. Last night we went to Hoa Viet on Madison and Auburn. First we were seated at a table that was nasty, sticky and had a film on it. We asked the host to clean it. He grabbed a rag off a cart filled with dirty dishes and swiped at the table a couple of times, tossed the rag back on the pile of dirty dishes and walked away. This made the problem much worse, because the rag was sour. Now, not only was the table dirty, it also smelled bad. When the waiter came, we informed him of what had happened. His response was, ""Oh, don't worry about it. What do you want to eat?"" I told him no, the table smelled bad and we needed to be moved to another table. The new table wasn't much better than the first, but at least it didn't stink. We were now seated next to a window that was also filthy, inside and out. Pros: The food did look good. If the shrimp weren't old, it might have been ok. Cons: Dirty, dirty, dirty, dirty, dirty. It's a restaurant for goodness sakes! Clean the place once in a while! more

I got E-Coli from this place. It was one of the most horrible things ive ever experienced. Dont eat here. more

The food is pretty decent, and there is amazing variety on offer. Lots of spices you can add, so nothing is too hot. Many local Vietnamese and Vietnamese Americans eat at Pho Bac Hoa Viet, a good sign - but most come, eat and leave. The service is inattentive and brusque, they are not here to pamper you - only to take your order, feed you and process your check. Pros: Huge portions of steaming pho and other foods Cons: Service is not a concern here - nobody seems to know what it is! more

On a positive side, their ""pho"" - soup noodle is good (well, at least for my understanding within that area, not many vietnamese noodle place there), but service really, really sxxks! they never pass you the menu, they just throw 'em on the table & leave. No greeting - not even hi & bye, no smiling. Cons: service more