Pho-nuts

When I headed to Pho Noodle with my friend Brett on a scorching evening, I wondered how in the world I would eat pho in 100-plus degree weather. But Pho Noodle might be a good place to combine strange things because the restaurant shares space with a Donut Bistro. Pho and bear claws? Hey, if I can like soup on a hot day, then why not?

The two businesses co-occupy a space in a strip mall in south Reno. The space is small, but set up well, with a donut case by the counter and the rest of the area set with booths or small tables. The ceilings are high, and there are windows surrounding the front, so the space feels larger than it is. We were greeted immediately by a friendly woman who escorted us to a booth and gave us some menus. Pho Noodle serves both Vietnamese and Chinese food, and the menu is fairly expansive.

We started with an order of pot stickers (six for $4.95), which looked large and puffy on arrival. The pork and vegetable filling was flavorful and you could distinguish the ingredients. The dough around it was … dare I say doughy, like a doughnut? There was a dipping sauce that I thought tasted too sweet, but these pot stickers were good alone, so they didn’t need a sauce.

Brett stared at me in disbelief when I ordered the small pho dac biet ($6.95), which is pho with various cuts of beef including tripe, tendon, flank and meatballs. He kept motioning outside as if perhaps I had forgotten that the sun was baking down. The weather is not the boss of me and cannot tell me when I can have pho! If you couldn’t tell, I really love pho. When the food arrived, I tried the broth before going to work doctoring it with the lime, cilantro, sprouts and sauces. I wish I had just gone ahead and dumped some Sriracha sauce in, because the broth tasted like dirty beef water. Nothing some fixings couldn’t help, so I went to work on it. While I improved the broth, I unfortunately couldn’t do anything for the beef, which lacked flavor and was too chewy. The dish was heavy with tripe and skimpy on the other cuts.

Brett went with the Singapore street noodles ($8.95) which came with a decent portion of chicken and shrimp. The dish was OK, but it needed a stronger curry, as it lacked either spiciness or a sweetness that one would expect. The vegetables, which consisted of onions, carrots and green onions, were crisp and fresh but overall, this plate had too much egg and not enough variety on the vegetables.

Service throughout the meal was great. The waitress was friendly and kept our water glasses filled, commenting that it was hot out so she knew we needed to hydrate. We took a look at the doughnut case on the way out and saw a maple doughnut with real pieces of bacon. For some reason, we didn’t grab this one, but decided on a cherry “burrito” donut and a chocolate glazed bar ($2.38 for both). The cherry burrito was great, with a crisp sugared tortilla wrapped around cherry pie filling. The chocolate glazed bar was simple but good, with a light sugary dough and thick layer of chocolate.

Unfortunately, the great service and doughnuts didn’t balance out the rest of the food at Pho Noodle, so I don’t see myself making a return visit.