"The Nouvelle Cuisine Of Vietnam" says the building's marquee. Well, it is a new restaurant. But unless you're completely new to Vietnamese cooking, you won't find anything menu here that you haven't at least seen in other local Vietnamese restaurants. As the name implies, the specialty is pho--the beef-broth-and-noodle soup, and all of its dizzyingly numerous variations. The cooking is a bit above the local average, however, and even the more complicated dishes are served well.
Pho Orchid is a family operation, opened in early 2009, taking over the former location of the long-running Ding How Chinese restaurant. A number of Asian restaurants preceded it, going all the way back to the mid-1970s, when Ding's--the first restaurant in the area to serve Peking duck--opened here.
Pho Orchid may be the handsomest, most comfortable Vietnamese restaurant in town. The big dining room is bisected by a line of artful furnishings, some of them glowing and bubbling. The lighting is low and the mood quiet. Reflective ceiling tiles make the place seem vast. Further renovation along one wall added to the airiness of the place. The service staff is for the most part very young and enthusiastic.
Many of the best dishes here are more appropriately served for a family rather than one or two people. The bigger the group, the more interesting the possibilities.
| Attitude | 2 |
|---|---|
| Environment | 1 |
| Hipness | 2 |
| Local Color | 0 |
| Service | 1 |
| Value | 2 |
| Wine | 0 |
