I've come here since I was a 14 so I'm quite familiar with this place. They've since renovated this place which is nice but the open kitchen still bothers me. The smell of pho is so overwhelming that you'll smell of pho all the way back.
The food comes out fast and furious and if you want to come at lunch, you better get there by 11:30 or else, good luck finding a spot. I could live with the poor service at times because the food makes up for it. The Pho Sate is excellent although, no longer my favorite. I've tried other items but it's the Sate that keeps me coming back for more.
This is a place where you want to go get a quick bite during lunch. Eat and get the hell out because the longer you stay, the harder it is to get that smell off your clothes. I don't go here as often any more since I no longer work in downtown. It's just not worth the hassle to find parking around Chinatown just to have a bowl of Sate when I could go somewhere else. Relocate to a place with free parking and plenty of seats and I'll give this joint one extra star. Put in a huge furnace fan with a turbo engine and close off the kitchen so that no air can escape to the dinning area and I'll definitely give this place 5 stars.