Salt Versus Pepper?

Name: Pho 234

Cuisines: Vietnamese

Payment: Cash, Visa, MasterCard

Alcohol: Yes

Price: $

Location: 10376 Festival Lane, Manassas, VA 20109-3548

Salt's Take:

If you don’t read the sign before you walk in the door, you would probably be surprised to find that it is, in fact, a Vietnamese restaurant. The soft yellow walls, pale recessed lighting, not to mention the European-esque countryside paintings make the restaurant seem more like an Italian eatery than anything else. However, one bite will let you know that this is one of the best Vietnamese restaurants in the area.

For starters, I ordered the fresh shrimp rolls which came with peanut sauce. It lived up to its name—everything about it was impeccably fresh. The shrimp were well cooked and the vegetables still had a bit of snap to them. The rice paper wrappers were perfectly tender. The peanut sauce was a little thicker than what I’m used to, but it brought out the flavor of the whole dish.

For mains, I had the spicy seafood soup. The soup was comprised of rice noodles, shrimp, calamari and fish balls. The broth was the best I’ve ever had in any soup. Usually, noodle house broths seem to get bland halfway through the meal, but this one was complex enough to keep me interested.

The seafood was perfectly cooked, except for the calamari which seemed a bit tough. The soup didn’t need any of the herbs and sprouts that came with it, but they did heighten the flavor.

The staff was extremely friendly. When taking my order, the waitress took time out to ask me questions to ensure my meal was exactly the way I wanted it.

When she brought my food, she explained the different ways I could add the herbs and bean sprouts to my soup to get the perfect flavor. The staff came around often to make sure I was enjoying myself, but not enough where it was annoying. Though the lighting makes the restaurant look a bit dismal, it is one of the cleanest I’ve ever been in. Also, the bathrooms were spotless.

I would definitely come back to Pho 234 and would recommend it to anyone who loves good (almost) home-cooked Vietnamese food. The portions are fair and the price is the same.

Pepper’s Take

Once again, I walked in and all eyes were on me. Not wanting to waste time on this old routine, I decide to be proactive and get my own menu. I walked over and grab one, and the lady behind the counter grants me permission to take a seat of my choosing.

Looking at the menu, I noticed the pho (traditional Vietnamese noodle soup) is more expensive than most places that serve the dish.  This meant it was either so good that they good could charge that much, or it was so bad they HAVE to charge that much to stay in business. I would go with the latter. 

This time around, I went with pho with eye of round steak.

The pho came out very fast—in less than five minutes, I would say. While the food was edible, it was certainly disappointing.

They did not give me any of the dressings normally associated with the dish, such as bean sprouts and lime wedges, but the meat was thinly sliced and cooked perfectly in the broth.

The broth was not very rich in flavor and was way too oily, not to mention the unsettling feelings I experienced moments after eating.

The place was decently clean and too overpriced for the quality, but still inexpensive when compared to most evenings out on the town. 

I don’t see myself returning. All in all, I thought had a better atmosphere and much friendlier service. Even with the flavorless lemongrass chicken, I’d rather go back there any day.