Omar and I have been watching a lot of Food Network shows lately. It seems no matter what we watch, someone, somewhere is eating a delicious looking bowl of Pho. We got to talking about Vietnamese restaurants in the area and how Madison Heights seems to have an abundance of variety. I started doing my research and a restaurant called Pho Viet in Warren kept popping up, with good reviews and great looking food. We decided to try something new and heading out to get a big bowl of Pho.
The place is very unassuming, in fact it seemed so quiet we thought it was closed. Located in a shopping center at Ryan and 13 Mile Road, you can barely tell there is a restaurant there. When we entered, the place was clean, airy, and utterly empty. Was it even open? At 1:00 on a Saturday where was the lunch crowd?
Our waitress came over and we asked her that very question. She explained that they had been closed for a while for renovations and just recently reopened. She assumed that most people did not yet know they were open. I have to say, we were a bit nervous. Being only during peak meal time didn’t make us feel too easy.
The menu was pretty extensive, with Pho, appetizers, vermicelli soups, rice dishes, vegetarian entrees, stir fries, even family style dishes like sweet and sour and curry dishes.
We started with the pork spring rolls with Grilled sliced pork, mint, lettuce and vermicelli wrapped in soft rice paper, served with peanut sauce. The rice paper turns translucent and takes on a gelatinous, chewy texture. The filling was decent, but the strange rice paper texture to me, is a bit off putting.
I ordered a simple beef eye round Pho, with a broth that is incredibly intricate yet simple. The layers of flavors that have clearly been cooked into the broth all day makes the dish, and the tender meat and ample amounts of noodles makes a very hearty dish.
Omar ordered the meat lovers Pho. This Pho comes with all different cut of beef such as eye round, brisket, flank, fatty flank, tendon, tripe, well-done brisket well done flank & crispy beef including meat balls.
The accouterments brought along with the Pho were a beautiful platter of incredibly fresh toppers. Thai Basil, cilantro, bean sprouts and jalapenos. All incredibly fresh and a lot of it. Top the Pho with the fresh veggies just takes the dish to a whole new level.
We felt like we found this magical oasis, that was our secret place, where we could go and eat by ourselves.
Fast forward a couple months and we decided to try again. Once again, the experience was the same. Empty restaurant, great food, the only difference is what we ate. Omar ordered the Nam Vang Style Soup with shrimp, sliced steamed pork, fish cake, ground pork, crab meat and quail egg in a light seafood broth and served egg noodles.
I stuck with the Beef eye round Pho, but added meatballs. I was in an unusually daring mood! Again the meal was awesome.
A side note: We ordered a third time, but this time used Door Dash. Now I love Door Dash. You can get a ton of different restaurants delivered right to your door! But when we ordered from Pho Viet, we got a call saying the restaurant not only didn’t have our meal ready, they didn’t even have record of receiving it! After much back and forth, we finally got our delivery, almost 1 1/2 hours later. This was not an anomaly as when were dining in the time before, Door Dash was there waiting and we heard talk of “not receiving the order” and the “dasher” had to wait. I do not blame Door Dash in any way, they were on the ball calling us and keeping us posted.
So, go in, order some Pho. Enjoy your meal. Just don’t order Pho Viet through Door Dash, unless you do way earlier when you want eat, because I should mention the food was hot and delicious when it finally arrived.
