My parents seem to love this place. But after meeting them there for lunch today, I can't understand why. The restaurant style is definitely unique. The front section is so wonderfully bright and spacious. We were led towards the back, which ended up looking like a disco cave. So very dark and mirrored. Though, I believe décor doesn't mean anything when it comes to food. Most of the time.
The waiter came and haphazardly set the table with plates that had a dirty film on them. Thankfully we did not need them for the soup we ordered. The large, book style menus needed updating as they had seen better days, perhaps 10 years ago.
The Pho I ordered was just fine. More expensive than most other places. The brisket was also fattier than I am used to. Originally I was looking to order the shrimp dumpling noodle soup, but they had run out of dumplings by noon on a Sunday. We all had to alter our orders because of this.
On a positive note, the fried dough sticks were nice and crispy. Despite the crispy sticks, we will not be back to Ben Thanh.