Can Tho Pho

Second time is not the charm here. We came before 6:30 on a Friday night and there was no other diners, but I wanted the durian boba smoothie so bad I decided to stay. The drink wasn’t as good as I recall the first time. They were slow to bring out the food; in the mean time we had to deal with flies constantly, gross!
The egg rolls were just OK ordered as an app but were terrible in the noodle bowl as they were soggy and hard (really, both of that!). Phở tasted fine. I didn’t ask how my friends rice plates were, they just looked huge, with two fried eggs in each! The staff was very nice though. But the food kind of somes out real slow…
Guess I’ll have to find durian smoothie somewhere else!

DO NOT EAT HERE!!! EVER!!! The Phở here is loaded with MSG or some type of ingredient that will make you feel SICK. I’m still feeling sick right now. I am not the only one, as one of my friends who also had their Phở noodle soup felt like puking afterwards. The Phở was so bad I could not even finish eating it, it was too SALTY AND SWEET. Afterwards when we paid they charged us extra. BAIT and SWITCH like other reviewers have said. Charged us $ 8.50 for a medium sized bowl of Phở that was less on the menu, and had less food than a small order.
Please do yourself a favor and do NOT to eat at this restaurant. I am not kidding and I have had Phở in Denver at Phở 95, 88, 333, etc. Also I’m from So. Cali and I have been to numerous Phở restaurants in Santa Ana, Los Angeles and San Diego, and none have made me feel so sick afterwards. My friend told me he felt like throwing up afterwards. I am not trying to trash this place, but it is so bad that I have to warn others out there. It is so bad I am considering filing charges against this place.

If you used a Groupon at Can Tho Phở, the server will hate you. The food was good to decent. But I went and used a Groupon recently, and the male server gave us a really bad attitude. He rolled his eyes at the Groupon. He said that we had three people at the table, but the Groupon was meant only for two people. Also this male server was mean and rude. He served Caucasian people with civility and courteousness, but not me and my group as Asians.

The second Phở restaurant on my Phở-​venture across federal blvd. I was hopeful because I have heard good things about this place from other friends. we must not have the same tastes. It isn’t bad, but its not what I love. I ordered the rare steak Phở. The Phở had plenty of meat and noodles and mainly fresh vegetables. The limes have obviously been sitting in water, but not a disaster. The broth smelled great and I was really excited that I hit the jack pot! But it was just too sweet for me and I have a hard time getting past that. Service was fine and the prices reasonable. however, just not a sweet broth fan. I want my broth to be savory! That’s just me though. I probably won’t be back, but I wouldn’t say that everyone should do the same. I just can’t do the sweet broth thing.

2012 Review #132:
We were getting a late dinner with friends, and pulled into the parking lot that houses Phở 95, Phở 555, Ba Le Sandwiches, Lolicup, and Can Tho Phở. Our friends asked if we could go to Can Tho Phở, because they didn’t like how crowded 95 was and felt that the portions were bigger at Can Tho. We said sure. As we walked in, I check the Unilocal reviews and got very, very nervous. But, I had a hard time believing our friends would have gone here before if it sucked.
Well, I’m happy to say that our experience was pretty good. I’ve got to admit that maybe I rely to heavily on Unilocal,because I would never have gone here based on the reviews. This place is small and, like most of the ethnic food places on Federal, doesn’t have much in the way of décor. Can Tho has tried to make the most of this by hanging fake vines and various plastic fruits from the ceiling. They also have a disco ball and a TV playing the history channel all the time. It’s weird but at this point I’ve learned not to ask questions. The menu is pretty typical– phở, bun, and plates, with a list of boba and smoothies. I went with a small shrimp phở, and my husband got the «pork stick, shrimp, egg roll» bun. I was surprised to see that they have an «XL» size here, which one in our party ordered. It’s $ 7.5, so that seems like a pretty good deal.
Food took a little longer than I expected, because there were only a few other tables in the restaurant. We also ordered a drink that never arrived. When the food came, we realized that our friend that had ordered an XL phở was given a medium. They ended up giving him the medium, and an additional small, which at least in price would have been several dollars more, so I thought they remedied it well. I was surprised at the broth, because I found it to be very tasty, and not too sweet for me, as others have said. My noodles at first were in a pretty big clump, but they broke up quickly. I never got the broth to quite the flavor I wanted, but I don’t think that was due to the broth, just my «editing».
Probably the best thing at the table was my husband’s bun. That bowl was absolutely brimming with noodles, meat, and egg rolls. Although the egg rolls didn’t seem made-​to-​order fresh, the pork sticks were absolutely incredible. The sauce they gave actually helped the whole dish; I often think that sauce only serves to keep everything from seeming dry. I stole lots of bites of his. My only complaint with mine was that my shrimp were tough by the end, but I’m not sure how that could be avoided since they are served cooked and just keep cooking in the hot broth.
Service here, like most Phở places, is pretty brisk. We waited a while for a water refill, but it did get there eventually. You kind of have to just decide when you want to pay, because we never got a bill, just had to walk up to the register. That said, once we made it known that we wanted or needed something, they took care of it right away. They also seem to just make smoothies to-​go, because a lot of scantily clad college girls came in wanting boba. I’m not sure how on earth they got all the way down to South Federal from whatever CU grad party they fell out of, but they certainly seemed happy. Last but not least– this place is open ’til 3 am. When we left at 10 pm, phở 95 was locking up and everyone was leaving. For once, I’m glad that I took the path least-​yelped, and trusted my friends’ instincts. In this case, it paid off really well.

Pros: Plenty of options on menu, prompt service
CONS: bait-​and-​switch – scamming customers on their bills (being provided one menu, and charging from another)
I came here with a group of friends after an evening out. We were promptly given paper menus and water – everything seemed fine. The menu is a lot more extensive than at other restaurants, especially at that hour in the night, which is nice. The food was fine, nothing to blare about.
When it came time to pay, that’s when the problems began. Everyone in the group paid their bills separately, and each person’s total was a couple bucks higher than mentally calculated. When I asked the guy at the register to recalculate and explain my bill, he recalculated, and came up w/​the same total. That’s strange, b/​c according to the paper menu I was provided, my bill should be $ 5 less. I showed him the pricing off of the paper menu, and then he conveniently stated that the paper menus have outdated pricing and is inaccurate, and that he was calculating off of the laminated menu. He said the laminated menu wasn’t provided b/​c they don’t have enough to pass around. That’s funny, b/​c the restaurant isn’t even packed… AND, someone SHOULD HAVE mentioned the price discrepancies when the paper menu was provided.
The guy at the register just gave a shrug. He knew what had just transpired – that I understood the bait-​and-​switch practice committed by the restaurant. However, there was no apology, there was just a look of «hand over the money lady.» How to remedy it? Take out the tip, b/​c the total bill I was charged was 20% higher than what it should have been.
The paper menu I was provided seemed like it’s used often – there were plenty of them on the counter for the servers to pass out to unsuspecting late-​night patrons. A couple dollars may not seem worth fighting about in one person’s bill, but w/​the traffic that comes in and out hourly, it seems like the restaurant is trying to make a quick buck off of their unsuspecting customer and take advantage of them.
A few bucks here and there adds up people. They won’t be trying to do that to me again.

Rudest place ever! My friend and I had a Groupon which included a lot of food for two people. The guy who was serving us would not let us order some things (even though the coupon was clearly in front of us in writing) and then he said we couldnt get to go boxes if we had leftovers so we left. I will NEVER go back and I will tell anyone and everyone not to go there. I have never been yelled at in a restaurant before but I guess theres a first for everything. Asians are rude but this guy was just plain mean. (i’m asian so I can say that lol).

Phở and spring rolls was all we ate.
The phở was too sweet. The noodles were abundant, as was the meat. We had the well done brisket and flank (#20). I know brisket is fatty, but this was too much. They have small, med, larger, and XL. The medium was big, a large at some other places.
The spring rolls were large as well. They included BBQ pork which added a nice flavor. Other places sometimes add boiled pork, which is nasty. The peanut sauce was well balanced also.
The bathrooms were clean, which I appreciate.
Spring rolls are excellent, but the phở not so much.

the only things i will eat here are the vietnamese pancakes, spring rolls, and maybe eggrolls, they are amazing! you are probbably asking «why three stars?». service is not the best. i came here once arounad 1100 and we left at 1230. they have a policy if you are there after 12am they charge a 15% gratuity. which is bull shit especially if your ordered an hour before

It’s an acceptable alternative to 555 when it comes to food after hours. It isn’t great, but at least the phở broth has decent flavor. Late at night can be tough to get a table for a large group of people. Service is kinda spotty along with the rate that the kitchen kicks out dishes. Last time everyone else at my table got their stuff except for me… guess they don’t like Asians. Don’t be shy about yelling at the wait staff to get what you want, they can get distracted easily and will often forget to refill your water and stuff. Thai tea isn’t like regular Thai tea, it’s a bit reddish and off tasting. They also serve traditional stuff like bun xiao and porridge, but I usually stick to my guns. Meatball phở, no onions. Bam. Can’t go wrong.

My girlfriend introduced me to Can Tho Phở about 7 months ago and at that time our experience was very good, I.e. fast service, good tasting Phở/​spring rolls and clean dining area.
Last night we decided to return to Can Tho Phở after recently eating at Phở 95 a few doors down for a comparison between the two. All I can say we were very disappointed in Can Tho Phở after eating there last night. After pulling into the strip mall where these two eateries are located, we noticed that Phở 95 was packed to the brim as usual. Can Tho Phở on the other hand, had one other person eating there when we entered at 8pm.
Nonetheless, we still decided to dine there for the sake of our comparison test. We started with a order of spring rolls, they came out after a few minutes of waiting and I would say that they were pretty decent, filled with nice size shrimp, pork and noodles, then the waiting game started… It took them about 20 minutes to get our Phở orders out to us despite the fact there was only one other person eating there. This is totally unacceptable. When the Phở arrived, the noodles were a huge mass of what appeared to be a hard ball of yarn. After receiving the Phở, it took several minutes to break the noodles up before we could enjoy the Phở. Also, this restaurant uses a large amount of onion in their Phở, I’m an onion lover, but this was a bit over the top. I can attribute their generous onion use to the fact that their Phở was lacking in depth of taste and flavor, so I concluded that the tons of onions used were to mask that to the consumer.
Overall, I would say Can Tho Phở has gone downhill in the last year as evidence in their lack of customers and slow service. If you appreciate good tasting Phở, fast service, and a clean friendly environment do yourself a HUGE favor and walk a few doors down and eat at PHO 95. At Phở 95, their Phở comes out in a matter of a few minutes and it is piping hot and very tasty. It is always busy there which speaks volumes to their quality of food.

It only gets better after each visit. :)
I can’t give it 5 stars, because the service isn’t always consistent. Sometimes they’re fast and friendly, other times they are not as friendly and service is slow, and one time they completely forgot about us after we ordered (gave our meal to another table who arrived after us, but the waiter apologized for the server’s mistake and was sincere). The food is always delicious, so we always come back.

Horrible. Horrible. Horrible. I’m from California and I’m asian. I eat tons of Phở all the time. I know what it’s suppose to taste like. The Phở here is lacking in flavor, and the egg rolls are stale and aren’t even prepared the right way. Instead of fresh ground pork, they’re using some kind of processed meat. Not good. The service is horrendous too. Waiter makes a mistake on our order, and still charges us and doesn’t even apologize. Wow. You would not survive a minute in California. Just stay in Denver.

It’s sad that I keep returning here because this is the only place that has different foods besides phở open late (until 3am on weekends). The waiters are nice, but they don’t understand half of the things that you say to them… and they just don’t seem to get the job done. Their food is okay, some dishes better than others. Although they are inconsistent with the way they cook their food. (Sometimes it’s overcooked or undercooked [rice plates, etc.]). I don’t recommend any of their drinks because they don’t taste good at all (their hot tea isn’t even hot and their three colored dessert [as well as some of their other drinks/​desserts] sits in that fridge all day… gross.). I give them three stars for their eggs and spam. The service there alone just makes me not want to go back though. =T

More like CAN’T Tho Phở. Har har har.
Sorry.
Anyhow, I went here for lunch today, ordered a #25 and a lemon soda. Either she misunderstood my order or their lemon soda is VERY different from what I’m used to, because it was really creamy and custardy. I was hung over, and usually I’m really adventurous and enjoy new things but I just REALLY wanted that salty sweet lemony goodness to get me through the day. The custard wasn’t cutting the mustard. A few sips of the broth didn’t yield any spectacular revelations. It was pretty damned bland. The herb pâté was generous but the basil was sopping wet and wilted. I’m weird like that, but it’s an annoying pet peeve when the herbs come out all dripping wet. I don’t know why that annoys me, but it really does, and this place did it.
So I began to eat. Munch munch slurp slurp. Tendon wasn’t good. It was that gristly-​type of tendon that I just don’t really grok with, not the melt-​in-​your-​mouth type that I love so much. So I ate a little mo-​OOOUUCH! WTF WAS THAT??? Either a small bone or a really hard piece of tendon, but it hurt like hell when I bit down on it. So that didn’t help me experience either.
The slices of beef were fine, but bland. The tripe was fine– I mean, you can’t go too far wrong with tripe. But the noodles were clumpy and undercooked.
So there you go. I had what I could actually describe as a not-​so-​great experience here. I won’t be returning, not when there are a) more phở places that I haven’t tried and owe it to my fellow Unilocalers to review, and b) plenty of places that I HAVE tried that I know will deliver the goods.
Sorry guys, you didn’t make the cut.

There are three phở joints within spitting distance of each other in and around this strip mall. Phở 95, Phở 555 and Can Tho Phở.
Phở was pretty good, very fragrant but it seemed a bit too sweet, like the chef was a little heavy handed on the rock sugar. Clumpy noodles as well. Lots of fresh sliced onions and a ton of meat and tendon. Since I have no self control, I ordered a medium. I needed another stomach, I couldn’t finish it. I am not going to need any dinner that is phở sure.
Maybe because it was 9:30 on a Saturday morning and the broth maybe hadn’t cooked long enough, but there are better phở joints, imo, like say, Phở 95 or Phở 555, which are within spitting distance after all.

I was headed to Phở 95 when I saw this place with a «Grand Opening» sign on the outside. Basically new owners took over the space that was formerly Ha Noi, no new changes to the interior. It’s a Phở place so I don’t expect anything spectacular as far as décor and service, all I care about is the food.
I didn’t order phở because I saw Bun Bo Hue on the menu and went straight for that, so this review is based solely on that. Not that I have anything against phở, it’s just if I see Bun Bo Hue on the menu I have to try it and most places seem to disappoint.
I really can’t understand why more people don’t eat this dish. Bun Bo Hue is a beef broth lemon grass soup, and at Can Tho Phở they serve it spicy, just the way I like it. They had pork hocks/​shanks, some tender beef and some congealed pig blood. Normally I ask for this dish without the pig blood but forgot on this occasion so I had to pick them out. The noodle in Bun Bo Hue is usually a round rice noodle and a thickness in between phở and a Japanese udon noodle. Some places cheat and use the phở noodles but this place did it correctly. For sides you get julienned cabbage, bean sprouts, basil, lime wedges and jalapeño. This place doesn’t serve you banana flowers which made me a bit sad.
What can I say, it is the BEST Bun Bo Hue so far that I have tried in a restaurant in Denver. So far the only place better is something that is homemade or many places in California. Like with Phở most places serve you combination of from scratch broth and instant bouillon cube soup base and tons of MSG. MSG is a flavor enhancer, makes the broths always taste better. I can’t say with certainty but the soup broth for the Bun Bo Hue was excellent and probably from scratch. Tons of fat floating at the top with bits of meat and cooked blood floaties :) The lemon grass was not overpowering and not annoyingly chopped up into the broth (lemon grass is tough to chew).
Didn’t know about the bouillon cubes and MSG. Did you know most of the Phở places reuse the plate of veggies if you don’t use them? Yup, they wash the herbs, sprouts Jalapeño and serve them again. Don’t believe me? You can ask someone who’s worked at a phở joint or just watch how they collect the plates when you are finished (if you have a lot of veggies remaining).
Recommend if you want to try something different like Bun Bo Hue. As for phở, I tried my GF’s broth, it was just OK.

The place could do with a lick of paint, new furniture and some replacement carpet but you could probably say the same of most phở joints on S. Fed.
We started with an order of spring rolls ($ 3) which were nicely cooked, piping hot, stuffed with savory ground pork, and came garnished with an interesting variety of leafy greens and herbs.
I chose a small phở with rare flank, fatty flank and crunchy flank ($ 5). He ordered a small with rare steak and well-​done brisket (same). While their phở was by no means bad, it was definitely not nearly as good as many of the other places in the area. The broth was clear and fragrant but it had very little depth of flavor — I felt that adding sriracha/​hoisin etc was a taste necessity rather than being things to complement what was already there. The fixings were generous but several culantro leaves hadn’t been washed properly, and the bean sprouts weren’t super fresh. The rare flank was pretty standard but the other meats were really low grade.
So all in all, this was just A-​Ok. There are much better phở places around imo.

This place used to be the Ha Noi Phở joint just a month ago. It has been taken over, and am glad to report it is nothing like its predecessor, it is far better!
The first thing that got our attention, was the interesting menu selection besides phở. They have an assortment of other noodle soups, including a very good bun bo hue (spicy noodle soup) that is much spicier and tasty than the ones offered around town (i.e. the federal area).
My boyfriend and I started off with two appetizers, spring rolls and Banh Xeo (Vietnamese Pancakes). The Banh Xeo is an uncommon find at a phở joint, and they were SO GOOD. Crispy on the outside, and were flaky slightly sweet goodness with a hint of coconut milk in the batter. They are stuffed with bean sprouts, garlic chives, and some shrimp and pork. Easy to share among 2 to 4 people.
The spring rolls were also very good. Filled with a good amount of pork, and were served with an interesting herb on the side. I think it was perilla leaf. I would say pretty good if you are a spring roll fan.
The phở broth had an awesome aroma and is good, although definitely not the best around. Seems to have some good nutmeg undertones, and also has a good ratio of fat and oil. They are super generous with cilantro in the soup, and with the side herbs/​toppings, of which I will add were very fresh. Often times places are stingy and may not be fresh.
Overall, I’d recommend this place, not so much for phở, but if you are also looking for other food items.