Pho Pasteur

I can only review #13 on the menu– the beef noodle soup, size large.
While I can’t tell you much about the menu, what I can tell you is that #13 is piping hot, flavorful (with MSG to thank? No worries, I love this phở so much it could do no wrong), consistent (I’ve had it since I was a child, and then twice a week during the summer of ’15), and FRESH.
With beef that is a juicy red, noodles that are always cooked through, and the perfect ratio of meat to noodles to broth, this is my dream phở (ratios are important!) Ask for extra onions!
Don’t expect 5 star service or tasteful décor– expect a yummy and satisfying bowl of phở, delivered to your table within 10 minutes of your ordering it.

Can I tell the difference between phở from Phở Pasteur versus phở from New Dong Khanh or Phở Hoa? Probably not. That being said, the phở here hits the spot when I’m craving phở, but that’s the only dish I will ever order here.
I tried to venture outside of phở with a vermicelli dish, but the veggies were’t fresh, and the egg roll that came with it was simply unappetizing. Why come here, where I’m limited to just phở, when I can get the same phở plus much more at a place like New Dong Khanh?

Food is tasteless. I’m of south east asian decent so I know that it could taste so much better.
Floors have a think layer of grease which is disgusting. I’ve definitely slipped and seen others slip. I’m surprised I haven’t seen a server slip with food in hand. It only makes me think of what their kitchen could look like. Gross.
Service sucks. I asked for their chicken soup and asked that the vermicelli be switched out for the wider noodles. And the server hesitated for a second and then said okay. I also asked for no bean sprouts since I know I don’t eat them and I did’t want them to waste perfectly good food.
The food comes out with the wrong noodles. And he brings out beans sprouts. I eat them anyway with slight irritation. Again, i don’t like wasting food.
I notify him that I had asked for the wide noodles and he said that they don’t carry them. THIS MAKES ME SO ANGRY.
1. YOU COULDN’T TELL ME WHEN I FIRST ORDERED THAT THE WIDE NOODLE WASN’T AVAILABLE?!
2. AT A PREVIOUS VISIT, I’VE HAD THEM SWITCH THE NOODLES WITHOUT A PROBLEM. THEY EVEN USE THAT SAME NOODLE TO MAKE THEIR CHOW FUN.
3. IF YOU DIDN’T UNDERSTAND MY ORDER THE FIRST TIME, TAKE THE TIME TO UNDERSTAND IT. DO NOT JUST PRETEND FOR GOD’S SAKE!
The only good was the sweet Spanish guy that came to clean up our table at the end.

So, here’s the issue. The phở itself was pretty good. If I had only ordered that, I would have probably given them a 3 – 4 star rating. The noodles were good, the beef was good, though a little big on the slices (right thickness, but slightly too big around).
So why a 1 star review. I ordered the Cha Gio. It was served COLD. yes, as in it had been fully cooked and let to sit for who knows how long (who knows, maybe it came from someone else’s leftovers’ plate?) and was then served cold.
I have eaten at over 150 viet places (no exaggeration, you can see their reviews here) and at least 500 – 900 sittings over the years… never, not once, has this happened.
Go anywhere else. That’s just not acceptable

It’s whatever. People are like omg to the best phở, maybe the best of those in Boston (since they all are meh), but certainly, most definitely not THE best. Tonight was chilly so a dinner with hot phở was in need.
My friend got the ga lui (grilled chicken teriyaki) and I got the goi cuon (summer rolls) to start with. Chicken was tender and flavorful, goi cuon was filled with too much noodles.
For mains, my friend got the phở tai with rare beef on the side, while I got the bun bo hue. Bad. Should’ve just gotten phở, but I opted to be adventurous tonight. It just tasted dirty… not fresh, poor cuts of beef. It’s like they just dumped lemongrass in to get the bun bo hue flavor.
Service is whatever, as others say it’s order, eat, and gtfo. Don’t expect special treatment. Although the older lady liked me cause I charmed her with my ordering in Vietnamese.

Good solid Vietnamese food.
No frills, no tablecloth, and hardly any service. Servers aim for efficiency and speed, which is fine by me. Food comes in huge portion, tasty, and piping hot.
Phở Dac Biet is my go-​to comfort food in the cold winter month. The beef broth at Phở Saigon is on the darker side. Personally, I would prefer the lighter, sweet beef broth at other phở’s restaurant but Phở Saigon’s version is good for the area. (Note: I am still sad xinh xinh is gone)
My sister went for the bun ga, grilled lemongrass chicken vermicelli salad. She loves the fresh vegetables and grilled chicken in the vermicelli salad.
Other good eat at the place, go for their pork chop rice plate. Many patrons also get their stir fried noodle dishes.

Not a bad option for phở in downtown. It’s probably not the best, but it satisfies my cravings. I like the bo vien and the thit nuong vermicelli bowl is pretty good. I love that the restaurant itself is simple too, just like in Vietnam.

Worst Phở ever + worst experience ever + really bad service = Phở Pasteur.
Been here yesterday with a company of three. I asked for extra veggies — and got just broth, noodles and chicken, literally just that, and been told that they are out of veggies at all. Though I could see around people were getting their phở‘s with veggies. I did not understand that joke at all, left no tips. I was extremely pissed. My companions received similar bad treatment. Seriously, I do not recommend. There are so many great Phở places in Boston to go to.

I love the Phở here, it’s probably the best phở in town from my experience. I also like their vermicelli with grill pork, so yummy.
The price is reasonable, the food came out very fast so if you are in a rush, this place is perfect for you.
The only things I hate about this place, the staff here never smile. They will throw you a check before you finish your bowl.

Maybe I’m biased because I grew up in California or maybe Boston just has a lack of quality authentic Vietnamese joints… but…the restaurant just didn’t cut it for me. I went with a group of friends who were also from out of town upon the recommendation of a local patron. I got the beef phở with everything on it and fresh spring rolls. Nothing was very spectacular. Phở tasted watered down, lukewarm broth, chewy meat. Spring rolls were mostly noodle and very little protein.
The brightside is staff is super friendly and food comes out quick.

I love to come here – the chicken phở with extra veggies is where it’s at. I get the small and can never finish, Their bowls are GIANT. I usually start with some thai tea and a fresh roll then dive into the soup. It’s really yummy and you can customize it with sauces, basil, bamboo shoots, all of that good stuff.
This place is a factory – it’s brightly lit, not a cute interior, when you order you get your food absurdly fast, it’s just a whirlwind. But a delicious, cheap one.

I had their vegetarian lo mein. It was $ 10 for a huge plate, best bang for buck. Served with hot tea, perfect for Boston’s cold weather. Will be going back again and again.
P. S. — They have a decent vegetarian menu.

I normally come here for hangover food. Never again. It’s convenient when I’m staying in boston but not worth it. The waiter brought my phở out with his thumb sticking INTO my broth. The soup was luke warm, the noodles were overly soft and we were wondering about the size of the large phở bowl.

Good Asian food in Boston is scarce. Based on word of mouth, my friend and I decided to try this place. It is quite good, thank goodness! I mean, I’ve definitely had better but it is decent and I would definitely be back again.
So far, I’ve only tried their phở, #20 (with rare steak and well-​done brisket) and #23 (beefball). The meats are delicious. I could eat them with the sriracha sauce and hoison sauce by itself. The broth is a little lighter than I usually like it, but not a big deal. They only have small, large, and x-​large, which I find weird but all are under $ 8.
The cold vermicelli bowls look delicious, too.
Staff is prompt. Bathrooms are clean. The restaurant is always busy, but luckily so far, I’ve been seated right away. I’ve seen there is a wait once in a while but the crowd never gets too out of control.

I’ve had enough phở at this point I consider myself a phofessional. I am totally phocused. And no one ever wants to go with me because there are too many words that are vastly improved by adding phở to them. In fact, as a person I’m vastly improved when phở is added to me.
With so many places in my portpholio, I was a bit iffy on going to a phở place on the East Coast. I’ve been hurt before (see: eating phở in Czech Republic. Just don’t.).
Phở Pasteur, though, was exactly what I needed. A gigantic bowl of every type of beef product. They even have the rare beef, which is actually kind of hard to find, since most places assume (rightly) that all their customers are idiots and will start packing uncooked beef into their faces. But this place gives the impression that they don’t care about you or your intestines and they pile that red meat on.
The other reviews here have a point, the place does encourage you to stuff your face and GTFO with a manner that skirts the edge of rudeness, but that’s because the place is always super-​packed. And for a super-​good reason: It’s super-​good. Really probably the best phở I’ve had on the East Coast (outside of Phở Viet in DC).
I’ll definitely be back. No phooling.

This is definitely my favorite Vietnamese spot in boston. Their potions are great and they are wicked fast. Perfect for a quick weekday lunch!
I love that this place is so vegan friendly. My favorite is the tofu salad. It comes with tons of cabbages and other veggies with tofu on top so the texture never gets boring. It’s also ginormous!
Their vermicelli bowls are also a great bet. I love how there are so many different combinations. The sauce is like crack.
I’ve also had the summer rolls and Vietnamese sweet and sour soup here. Both were great too!
Although service here can be a hit or miss, i can’t say I really expected more from a Chinatown business. The waiters I’ve had were either amazing or awful but the owner who’s always standing near the door never seizes to stop smiling.

Great phở spot and reasonably priced!
Review based on service and food. The taste of the phở is great! I got the #12 which is an XL dish. My one complaint is that the XL dish should definitely have more noodles, but there was a ton of meat in it so it made up for the lack of noodles. They had all the toppings on the table so we didn’t have to ask for anything and if we did they brought it out right away. We did have to ask for more water which was bothersome since everyone at the table was in dire need of a refill and they should have noticed. We were seated right away and were even asked if we wanted to move to a larger table when one became available. This was really nice of them since we had a bigger party. Overall, I had a great experience and the food was tasty.

This was literally my favorite phở restaurant in Chinatown until an incident that happened today. I’ll skip the details and get straight to it. I came in to eat with eight other people and we decided to split our checks according to what we ate so of course that kind of took a while. Not to mention, the check was written in Vietnamese so it was hard for us to decipher which was which. Anyways, we figured everything out and we were just waiting for the waiter to swipe our cards. The restaurant was getting really busy and there was another party of eight waiting our table. One of the ladies working there (she was a bit old and I think she’s a manager) was at our table and screamed at another waiter «why the hell are they still sitting here?! Who do they think they are just sitting here and chitchatting?» in Vietnamese to. Mind you my friends were Vietnamese too and understood it, so that was REALLY rude. Whether she did that in purpose or not was just really unprofessional. It wasn’t our fault that our waiter took forever to swipe our cards and give us the check back — I was dying to get out of there because of major food coma anyway. And whether or not she knew that, she could’ve asked in a polite manner to the other worker. I understand the restaurant was getting really busy and there was a huge line forming, but she needs to learn how to keep it professional too. I am hostess at a restaurant and it gets SUPER crazy, especially when there are 10 people on the waiting list, but it’s no reason for me to be mean to my customers.
There are many other terrible incidents that I’ve encountered at this particular phở restaurant, but I don’t think I need to keep on justifying why I am giving this restaurant one star. This incident alone is enough to make me not come here ever again.

This place has failed me.
If you are looking for AUTHENTIC vietnamese food this place will not give you that. They will give you the generic bootleg cheap & quick version of it.
I ordered a com thit noung (grilled beef with rice) & egg, a very traditional rice dish. And they couldn’t even make it correctly. The egg was over cooked, (yolks are suppose to be gooey still in this traditional dish)
This dish is normally served with chopped up rice but they failed to deliver that also. Its like serving phở with yellow noodles! Just a no no. It violates everything about this traditional dish.
On top of that i did not appreciate the staff refilling bottles and taking away things and putting it back on our table while we were eating (it was not closing time it was mid day)

Vraiment déçu… Dise qu’ils livrent mais une fois quon appel… Non on né livre pas!!! On demande une option livraison a Unilocal et nous laisse sur notre appétit… Plus jamais!!! Merci!!!

Das Essen ist sehr lecker, aber den Service finde ich unfreundlich und unmotiviert. Preise sind ok.

Pros:
+ Lots of tasty food for relatively low price
+ Tasty, fresh phở
+ Lychee smoothie was refreshing and complemented the phở well
+ Almost never have to wait, even during busiest hours
+ Good location, near T stops
Cons:
— Unreliable service (see below)
Came here for dinner at around 6:30pm on a Friday evening with my fiancée. We were pleased to be seated immediately after entering. The place is pretty popular, but the restaurant is large. I’ve come here at least half a dozen times and I’ve never had to wait more than a couple minutes.
I ordered a #13 (basically medium-​sized beef phở with everything) and the fiancée got a #1 (wonton soup). The wonton soup portion size was extremely large — it’s listed as an appetizer but it’s pretty much entrée-​sized. The broth is very tasty, not too salty. In addition to the wontons, the soup had large pieces of chicken and some cabbage too. The phở was very large and looked fresh. The beef and broth were very tasty and not too salty either. The lychee shake seemed like it was made with preserved lychees instead of fresh lychees, but it was still tasty, not overly sweet, and it had a nice refreshing cooling effect, which went well with drinking the phở broth, since drinking phở broth alone always makes me feel too hot.
Our food was served relatively quickly after we ordered, but there were problems with the timing of the lychee shake. I would have probably given 5 stars, except for a consistently frustrating experience with the service. This time, after we both had pretty much finished our food, my lychee shake still hadn’t been served. I stopped a waitress walking by and asked about the lychee shake, and she just said «in a minute». Later, another waitress came to our table… with the check! It wasn’t until I asked again about the lychee shake that she went to go get it! This wasn’t an isolated incident either. Every time I come here I order a lychee shake with my phở, and almost every time they either forget it completely or don’t bring it until after I’m done with my food.
However, the bad service itself doesn’t turn me off too much when weighted against the lack of waiting to be seated, the tasty food and the amazingly low prices, which is why I keep coming back.

It was our first time with vietnamese food. We’ve had a hard time trying to understand the menu and the waiter was not very helpful. After looking on Unilocal,we’ve chosen the chicken noodles soup.
The soup was very good, but we didn’t think it was so large as other reviewers have mentioned.
I’m looking foward to come back.