The restaurant itself has a modern decor with a beautifully backlit wall and grey floral applique which is actually falling off the wall, but still effective. The seats are plush with tall backs and the whole vibe screams money bags especially in Chinatown. And yet the prices of the food are reasonable like chinatown.
There's so much selection here but I decided to go with the tried and true. I had the pho with chicken rice (which is actually just tender boiled white meat chicken without rice) + brisket and beef balls. I really thought the broth was so-so (no cilanto??) but complimented by the brisket which was good and not too fatty. The beef balls actually had flavor in them which I've never experienced in all my pho eating years.
As per the ordering the unknown, we ordered spring rolls and they brought out these fried egg rolls. In my crew of viet friends, spring rolls are those soft rice paper wrapped rolls that we'd made at "spring roll parties". Here at this joint they're the fried stuff that are served at chinese restaurants. We were fortunate to change our order but at first the little server girl refused because "you ordered it and we made it".
If you aren't sure what you're ordering here, don't order it. Or ask and prepare for a confusing answer.
In short:
Flavorful beef balls?? YUM!
Pho? Good!!
Ambiance? Nice, romantical almost.
Service? What service?!?