Phat Pho - Carindale

First lunch in my new area , freshly arrived from Singapore. Cute place , open till 3pm on a Saturday, chicken pho was my mood . Staff very friendly and nice , brought extra basil on request. Pho wasn't the best I've had but it was certainly tasty enough , a little short on the chicken .. The price shocked me. In a mall in Singapore where rents are high , you wouldn't pay more than sgd $7 so I found $ 14+ was very pricy. Maybe rents here are high ? Probably will return if the pho mood strikes and I can walk here . Free WiFi too.

What a disappointment, in and out in 10 minutes and $80 poorer ... And forgot a drink. The fried tofu is not crusted with lemongrass or pepper and is certainly not fried - could not even pick it up with chopsticks. As for my baguette, 5 pieces of sickly tofu, 2 small slices of cucumber and pinch of carrot on a bread roll, best go to Subway. Done once and can now cross it off the list, spent all day waiting for my Friday evening out. Verdict, you can do much better in the area for a night out.

For a quick Vietnamese meal, you can easily find yourself at Phat Pho. I ordered takeaway barbecue pork bao buns, vegetarian spring rolls and chicken fried rice, which was all prepared quickly. The bao buns were very tasty but needed a little bit more filling. The spring rolls were average and the chicken fried rice was not what I expected. The dish was made using chicken mince and there was no other vegetables to be seen except for some carrot that appeared to be a garnish. There wasn't a very strong flavour to it either. With the takeaway boxes, the meals are put onto a sheet of wax paper inside the box so half of the food sticks to the sheet, which makes it difficult to eat. Hopefully they have more success with their pho dishes.

Had dinner there for the 2nd time even though I vowed not to go back. First time the food was very average and we left hungry but paid good money for four dishes for two people. Second time I actually felt offended by the Beef Pho that was served. It was full of beef balls not mentioned on the black board (god knows what **** goes into these) and three slices of beef that were stuck together in a big blob. The broth was flavourless and tasted as if it had come from a beef cube. I returned it, asked for my money back and was told that is not going to happen.   The rice roll and rice noodle salad was ok, nothing to come back for. In the end, the money for the Pho was refunded and then we were basically "thrown out" as the boss called his staff to clear our table. It was 6:50 and the table had been booked for 7:00. Will never go back. PS. Yes, I have been to Vietnam many times and yes, I have had the pleasure of eating 100s of Phos all over the world over my long life....none of them as bad as this one.

Had dinner there for the 2nd time even though I vowed not to go back. First time the food was very average and we left hungry but paid good money for four dishes for two people. Second time I actually felt offended by the Beef Pho that was served. It was full of beef balls not mentioned on the black board (god knows what **** goes into these) and three slices of beef that were stuck together in a big blob. The broth was flavourless and tasted as if it had come from a beef cube. I returned it, asked for my money back and was told that is not going to happen.   The rice roll and rice noodle salad was ok, nothing to come back for. In the end, the money for the Pho was refunded and then we were basically "thrown out" as the boss called his staff to clear our table. It was 6:50 and the table had been booked for 7:00. Will never go back. PS. Yes, I have been to Vietnam many times and yes, I have had the pleasure of eating 100s of Phos all over the world over my long... read more