Pho House

Pho House

October 10, 2015

It’s been a long time since I have posted, and for that I apologize, it has been a very busy time for us. With that being said, this is Thanksgiving weekend, which always means loads and loads of food, so there should be a post or two forthcoming with the weekend festivities.

To start us off this weekend, there is a new restaurant in Grande Prairie, called Pho House, which opened a couple weeks ago. If the name didn’t give it away, they specialize in Pho. But they also have rice bowls and other Vietnamese dishes. I had never had pho before, but I had always heard very good things from other people that I knew. While it is a very simple dish: Broth, rice noodles, and meat, it is very complex and deep in flavour.

The first time I went, I had the Pho with beef strips and beef meatballs, and was with my editor, who had the same. He showed me that on the table, they have spoons for the broth, chopsticks for the noodles and meat, hoisin sauce, sriracha, and sambal for flavouring the soup to your liking. The soup also came with a side of lime, basil, and bean sprouts for further customization of your soup. It felt like a production in the best kind of way: you start with an amazing broth and can add things as you like, or leave them out to make it just the way you want.

I returned a few days later with my wife and baby, and I had the same, and my wife ordered the charbroiled pork, spring roll, and shrimp noodle bowl. I did the soup as I liked it from the last time, but my wife liked it better without anything but the lime juice. Her noodle bowl came with a sauce that is some sort of rice vinegar sauce that was fantastic but I have no idea what it was. The portion sizes were very generous in my opinion, and the prices very reasonable.

Both dishes were very, very good, and it was something different than most of the food that you can find around here. But one of the things that can make or break it for me for a new place is the service, and this place has it. Both times I went I was greeted and seated immediately, and the staff is prompt, helpful and happy. This makes a HUGE difference to me, I have not gone back to places that have good food but poor service, and I have gone back to places that had poor food but good service to give them another chance.

Overall, I am very impressed with this new addition to our food-scape, and will be returning for sure. I would rate this new restaurant a 8.5/10 on my overall scale, and that is probably a full point better than any other restaurant in town.

Cheers and Best Wishes!

The Omnomnivore