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| - Unfortunately I couldn't make the official Pho-bruary kick-off UYE at Pho Tien Thanh. I wanted to try Pho Tien Thanh so I decided to recruit a couple of my siblings for a UYE of our own. This was my first experience with pho and I must say it was fan-pho-cking-tastic.
We started with the vegetarian spring rolls, beef jerk and papaya, and shrimp roll on sugar cane. The spring rolls were awesome, not overly greasy and much better than most Chinese style spring rolls I've had. The beef jerky dish was also tasty, the jerky had a great texture and the sauce was great. The "papaya" looked suspiciously like carrot to me but it tasted great so whatever. I'd pass on the shrimp roll next time, it was a little bland for my taste.
I ordered a medium special beef pho, which came with tripe, tendon, brisket, and rare beef. The rare beef comes raw and you cook it when the bowl arrives by submerging it in the broth. The medium was huge and there was a ton of delicious, tender meat in my soup. The soup is served with fresh bean sprouts, basil, and limes on the side and the broth benefited from the addition of these. For what it's worth, after finishing the meat in my pho I didn't finish the broth; I was really full by this point and the broth alone didn't blow me away.
For 3 soups and 3 apps our bill came in at under $40. For the amount and quality of food it was super cheap.
While the food at Pho Tien Thanh was a 4, the service was easily a 5. Everyone we interacted with had a huge smile on their face and our waiter was quick, friendly, and unbelievably helpful. I think he could tell right away we were new to the pho scene by the puzzled look on our faces when the bean sprouts and basil arrived. He walked us through a Pho101 class, showing us what to do with the sprouts and basil and how to mix the various sauces on the table just right. Every so often he'd check in on us whiteys to see if we needed any help.
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