Pho Cyclo Café

Is it weird I had this for lunch and then dinner? Super fast service. Phở is great! I also had the lettuce wrapped chicken. Yum!

The Worst. I’ve had take out twice from this place and the meat is SO chewy I end up have to spit it out so I don’t choke.
On a positive note: the Coffee is good.

Negative 5 stars. Horrific. Disgusting. Unsanitary. Including the soda fountain. Can’t believe I’m about to eat the bahn mi. But I’m really hungry.
And update: bahn mi is gross.

Ordered phở to go for lunch today. Rare beef with veggies. Meat portion was good. I was charged $ 1.50 extra for the vegetables and received two small broccoli florets and four thin slices of carrot.
Noodles had hardened and dried, and soaking them in the broth did not improve them. The typical garnishes of Thai basil, cilantro, onions, bean sprouts was instead a small bag of shredded iceberg lettuce (?! — iceberg lettuce does not belong in a hot dish, as it takes on a very unpleasant texture when hot) and thai basil.
The broth had a weird spice flavor like cinnamon or anise and was not the hearty beef broth I expected. Really sub-​par food coupled with the long wait makes me unlikely to return.

I would leave 0 stars if I could! This place is disgusting and the food is horrible. When I walked in there were dirty napkins all over the ground, food on the tables even though they were empty, and the tables hasn’t been wiped down properly so they were really sticky. I waited 10 minutes before anyone bothered to acknowledge me. When I asked for the meat on the side (as I do at every phở restaurant) they told me they couldn’t due that due to health codes, but apparently they don’t care about their restaurant being filthy. When I sat down I had to ask for water and chopsticks, and the waitress acted like I was bothering her. I will definitely not be coming back.

I have never felt more bloated in all my life.
+1 For the restaurant interior
–1 For the fresh spring roll peanut sauce
–2 For the phở
Appetizer: Fresh Spring Rolls
Main Entrée: Phở Tai (Rare beef)
I had not eaten all day and I was craving phở. Now, you might think «You wouldn’t be so bloated if you didn’t eat both spring rolls and phở.» No. There is a difference between being full and being bloated and I know my limit. The spring rolls are a little more on the generous size, with respect to how much noodles they wrap up. My main issue is the peanut dipping sauce. It looks wonderful. Until you try to dip your roll. The sauce looks… sticky, not creamy. The sauce tastes sour. If it was a different take on the peanut sauce, great! I’m all for trying revamps of the usual. But it was not great. As for the phở: the noddles clung together as if they were frozen together in a batch, the onions weren’t cooked all the way through so the raw onion-​y flavor ripped through the overall flavor of the broth, and the pepper on top was unnecessary. I do like that their chili paste wasn’t all oil and actually had the chili bits.
For those who say there isn’t another phở place, there is. Just half a block away on Third and Marion. It’s by no means a huge improvement, I would give it one more star than this place, but at least you don’t feel like a balloon after eating.
I am a fan of the huge windows of the place and the darker wood textures. Without those windows, I would have knocked down a star.

This place was once my favorite. Now I am done. I’ll try back in a year or so. It has gone done hill fast. It repeatedly takes 15 – 20 minutes for phở. Really? The basil is often going black. I’m done.

I ordered a Vegetarian phở to-​go, but when I got back to my office, I found out I was given beef broth. Their menu clearly stated that it comes with a vegetarian broth, and they didn’t ask me if I wanted beef broth or otherwise.
I wasn’t going to go all the way back to the restaurant, so I had a dry tofu, veggie and noodle salad (which by itself was decent I guess). Overall, I’m pretty disappointed and I won’t be coming back.

I’ve been here a few times, but sadly only because of the convenience, and the lack of other phở places nearby. Their phở is just okay, and slightly pricier than better phở places. However, since they’re one of the few phở places located in the financial district, they can afford to do that.
I’ve also tried their banh mi, which I thought was on the dry side. The bread tasted okay, but it was wayyy too crumbly, and it was the kind that would shred the inside of your mouth. Wasn’t a fan of their banh mi.

One word describes this phở place: MEH.
You might notice that a lot of people are in line during lunch hours on the weekdays, but that’s really because there’s no other phở place around in this area!
First, at this place, you order and pay first, grab a number sign, and then sit down. The servers find you by having you put your number sign on the edge of the table so that they can see it. Our servers messed up our order a few times. My friend wanted the bo vien (meatballs) and the other meats well done, but apparently they could not comprehend that. Thus, some language barriers were in place.
Second, I got the Raspberry Iced Tea, but it was SWEET as (insert 4-​letter expletive)!! It was more like drinking sugared water unfortunately.
I ordered the Phở Tai Nam Bo Vien. Just like the iced tea, the broth was a little on the sweet side. For people who like sweet soups, this might be the next best thing since Miley Cyrus, but I don’t like it. Phở broth is not supposed to be that sweet. Also, the noodles had a strange texture — like TOO a la dente. They should have cooked it a little more. I guess a red flag shot up when our food came in 2 minutes (literally).
We also ordered a grilled pork Banh Mi to share. The sandwich was flavorful and the grilled pork was good, but there was not enough of the meat. Another thing is that we wished they had cut it in half so that we didn’t have to attempt to tear it apart like savages.
In conclusion, there are MUCH better Phở places out there. Only come here if you are craving phở and are stranded in this part of downtown Seattle.

Good grilled pork sandwich and fresh rolls! Also #16 is delicious!
Better to just get togo then dine in.

This is the second time I’ve eaten at Phở Cyclo downtown. I gave it another chance thinking the first trip could have been an anomaly.
The first trip was accompanied by a mess on most of the tables throughout the restaurant, limiting the places where I could sit. In addition, the soda that I wanted was out of syrup.
The second trip was about the same except a bit worse. There was a mess throughout the restaurant, the spoon i grabbed was dirty, soda machines were out and they were out of bean sprouts for my chicken phở soup. The bean sprouts were replaced by lettuce (not even close). The prices are also high to pay when having such a bad experience.
The reason I’m giving two stars instead of 1 is because the food tasted good. Dont waste your time or money going here.

Been here twice. The Phở Ga is good and the wait is not bad. I only need the small. However as others have noted the tables do not get bussed quickly at lunchtime — it’s often a mess.

Across the street from my work, Phở Cyclo Café is my guilty pleasure on a cold rainy day. The broth for the phở is flavorful. I like how they have an option to get both meatballs and the flank steak. It’s not the best phở I’ve ever had, but I appreciate their consistency.

Gotta be the worst customer service I’ve ever had in my life. First off, I walked in there, definitely wasn’t busy, Why the hell was I literally standing there waiting for about 5 mins to have someone ask me what I wanted. And wait, not done yet. There was actually two customers in there and one of them had to yell out hello cause I was standing there looking stupid waiting for service. So I wanted to order egg rolls, chicken sandwich, and ice coffee. The guy that helped, swear didn’t know wtf I was talking about?! I mean really!!! I’m already giving the number on the menu and you still don’t know?! To top it off, there was no coffee no egg rolls. He gave me the chicken sandwich for free, which was I nice gesture. BUT, I couldn’t even eat it because I was watching him the whole time and guy didn’t even wash his hands nor put on gloves! Like seriously!!! Ughh I was SUPER ANNOYED!!! Never ever coming back here. And they work downstairs from my work building. Sad.

I’ve been to cheaper and I’ve been to better, but there is no place as convenient as Phở Cyclo when I’m craving phở at lunch. Their fast service and my quick consumption means that I’m in and out in 20 minutes.
I wish they had tendon as one of their meat offerings, but their rare steak and flank is decent. I’ll definitely be back.

The quality has gone down. The chicken wrap used to have ground chicken in it. Now it’s all rubbery (lots of grisle) chopped up pieces of chicken. Blaa. Passed on it after one bite. Went back to get my favorite dish N7 stir fried tofu noodle salad. Usually so good. Someone was lazy with the tofu and only grilled one big piece of tofu and then chopped it up into bite size pieces. Usually the bite sized pieces are individually grilled. There was hardly any salad at the bottom of the dish with tons of cilantro stems at the bottom. Also, there was hardly any of the pickled veggies. :(
Note: I didn’t take my dish back to the kitchen to ask for another dish. I paid for a brand new dish. I didn’t want anyone pissed at me making a new dish. Not going back to this location.

I’m pretty sure this is… not the place for me.
I was in the area and this seemed like the best place to sit down indoors and eat a quick lunch, so I stepped inside and decided to order the grilled prawn and papaya salad.
The salad was very large and arrived quickly, but… it was really hard to remove the tails from the prawns and to get them off the skewers. They were also covered in an orange/​red sauce, so I had to use a couple of napkins to clean my hands after. The papaya… didn’t taste especially fresh, and I got a weird feeling while eating the salad. About twenty minutes later, I had a stomach ache.
They were able to serve me quickly, they did have indoor seating, and some of the other dishes might be good, but… I can’t really recommend it.

Near my office, there are a handful of Vietnamese places I will eat at. While Phở Cyclo is not my first choice, it’s definitely a decent choice.
I don’t enjoy the phở here. The ingredients are okay but I’m not a fan of the broth. That’s okay — there’s plenty of other things I can eat.
The bahn mi is flavorful. The bread is decent. I think the sandwiches could definitely use more meat and vegetables.
My favorite dish here is the pork vermicelli bowl. Not only is it flavorful, but the quantity is amazing. The pork is seasoned well and cooked perfectly. It lays on a bed of vermicelli noodles and spattered with fantastic vegetables. I’ve never been able to finish a bowl by myself in one sitting. All for under $ 10, a great value in downtown Seattle.
If you have a group of more than 4 people, you should get there early. They don’t have many tables that can handle a group larger than that. On my last visit 7 of us were there and with good planning, we were able to sit together.

First time at this location. The ordering system seems convenient for the downtown business district. Order at the counter, take your number and find a seat. Lots of quick eaters. I was kind of looking for a place to eat with waiter service — not so much counter-​style, but in the end I was happier with this spot. It was so super lightning fast. I sat down and within a couple of minutes my chicken phở arrived. There was a lot of chicken in my phở and a little bit of noodles. I like it the opposite way, but it was filling. I love that sauce they bring with the phở. I’m not sure what it is, but it is yummmy.
Note: you leave smelling like the restaurant, so if you have a meeting, just know they can smell you ;) Free advertisement for them I guess. Haha.

Ugh what don’t you get about no green onion?! Anyway…
This is a decent restaurant embedded into a side of a business building. The line for lunch is relatively short because people more quickly. The food is just okay and the price is higher than I am use to but it seems to be on average with other Vietnamese restaurants around this area.
No one tells you what to do since they assume you’ve been here but I just watched other people pick up their own utensils, grab a seat and wait for their food with their order number; and followed.
I wish the week day specials of the day were better. I think in the future I’m just going to stick the regular menu.