Pho 81

Every time I come in or take out I have not been disappointed, I love their P1! Very tasty!

I’m not a food snob but this just wasn’t very good. I wish I read the other reviews before going and have taken the warning into consideration. I would give two stars but it’s an extra star bc part of me really likes something about the two women there even if they run their business a bit whacky and a LOT of improvements need to be made.
You know that tv show where they swoop in and remodel the menu and restaurant to try and save the business?
I never thought I have ever been to a place that would need that but this place is totally it. :(The woman serving us was very nice although it sucked that all of my husbands good came out before mine instead of together so we could eat together. When you’re both as hungry as an elephant, it sucks watching someone else feed their face while you try to suck down old bobAs.
I ordered the taro boba tea. All of the bonus were either old/​or over cooked or both. I have never had boba ‘s that have sticker together like that. There were chunks of ice in the drink and I gave myself brain freeze trying to find the bo as. There were like 6 stuck together. Normally these things have a good amount of those little balls and they are plump and chewy. These were old flat and stuck together. And totally gross.
The rest of the taro tasted pretty good. I avoided my 6 bobAs.
We ordered the crab wontons. They were alright but you could tell they were fresh. They were a little stale and had a bit of that freezer taste.
I ordered chicken lo
was loaded with noodles, and drowned in sauce. Hardly any chicken or veggies in there. It tasted like a thick mushroom sauce. It’s didn’t expect it to be like lo me in at a Chinese restaurant by any means but def didn’t expect that at all. I wouldn’t order it again either. I also had random beef chunks in my lo mein but I’m assuming it’s because they used the same pan my husbands beef fried rice was cooked in instead of a fresh pan.
My husband had a seafood phở. There was a muscle in there that ad some hairy looking part in the middle of it. It looked like a hairy va-​Jay Jay. He avoided it. It was hilarious but gross. Haha. we had a good laugh at it. He felt the rest of his phở was pretty good though to be fair. The sides were skimped out on a bit for what other phở restaurants serve.
He had beef fried rice. It didn’t look too bad but he said it was very oily.
I think they skimp out on a lot of things because maybe the rent is high and they are trying to save money. Perhaps not a lot if people come here because of the food and it’s goes back and forth. We would gladly come back if it was just small dumb things and pretty good food. I wish we didn’t get skimped on with chicken and veggies, have old/​overcooked yucky boba, gotten our food about the same time, or had greasy food and weird portions, and then heard the two ladies go at it in the kitchen. Not a good dinner in any way. :(
It just sucks that not even one bit of it went right or tasted good. :(
I kind of just felt sorry for them. Overpaid for the service and left thinking how we won’t be back again. We were going to stick to the other Phở place closer down the street.
I really do hope that they check all of this out and take the feedback into consideration. If things changed, I would be happy to give it another try. Until then– we will get our fix elsewhere.

Man, this place is cheap!
I mean they cheap out on ingredients and portion! They phở tai small is SMALL. I usually can’t finish this size at other places so I share with the hubby but I ate it by myself and I was still kind of hungry!
I had already eaten one of the spring rolls too! Oh, the spring rolls are the skinniest ones I had ever seen! See photo of it taken with a chopstick for reference.
The boba smoothie had FIVE boba in them. We counted.
The beef rice platter also looked sad. Slivers of beef slices.
Flavors were not repulsive but not exactly on point either.
One word: CHEAPSKATES!
Not coming back. Ever.
Did I mention that the lady asked me if I wanted to use the same spoon with the peanut sauce (that I put on top of the empty plats to be taken away) when I reached for a new spoon for my phở? Yeah… no.
$ 26 = tiny phở, skinniest spring rolls I have ever seen, sad shaving of beef with a HUGE mound of rice, and smoothie with 5 boba.
We are still hungry.

My husband and I decided to try this out tonight, we ordered 3 appetizers to try them out, for dinner he got the phở and I got the pad Thai. We were very pleased with the food and the serving sizes on the entrees were bigger then we expected.
When we first arrived service was very slow, we were seated quickly but even though no one else was there (1 table was leaving) it took a long time for anyone to get our drink order. When someone did come over we ordered drinks, apps, and dinner fearing even longer wait. We did not get our drinks until after the apps arrived. The food however came out quickly and it was amazing which is why I’m sticking to my 5 star review. Excellent food should always win over service, after all its the food that we come for.

Won tons tasted like they were premade and frozen. Flavor was just average.

I don’t think I’ve ever really been disappointed in Phở. But this place needs some serious changes. I feel like the restaurant isn’t doing well so they are cutting corners and such. But the quality of the food and service just wasn’t good. I ordered the steak and brisket phở that I order from every other phở place. The broth was very bland. My friend ordered her phở with shrimp and extra noodles added. Her bowl came with 2 shrimp. 2! And that cost $ 2 extra. The noodles were also $ 2 extra but there weren’t extra noodles from what we could see. We ordered spring rolls that were good. Definitely not as big as most I’ve seen but still good. I also ordered a taro boba smoothie and she brought out an avocado boba smoothie. I tried it and just couldn’t drink it but that’s just my preference. However, the boba pearls were hard and either way undercooked or way over cooked. I have no idea which one because I’ve never had boba pearls that hard.
The sriracha was watered down. We tried to find a bottle that wasn’t watered down to no avail. Are you serious? It was the consistency of cholula. Also, we asked for Togo containers for our phở. We were CHARGED for the Togo containers. That is ridiculous. I hope the owners realize soon that this is NOT the way to save their business. My friend took me here for lunch today because she loves this restaurant. But she probably will never be back and I won’t be either. Please read these reviews and make some changes so that you can thrive the way you used to.

Came here Sunday bc phở tj was closed. Broth was very bland. You can see the oil floating on top. Broth didnt even seem warm. The meats were lacking for a combination. Didn’t even have any tendon/​tripe. The spring rolls were room temp making the noodles/​lettuce feel warm and not fresh. The pork and shrimp inside the rolls lack taste/​seasoning. The large bowl in my opinion felt like a median.
One thing that made me gave a one star and not two is bc when we were about to leave, we asked for a to go cup for our Thai tea. The waitress brought it over but instead of having myself pour it from the glass to the form cup, she did it. First taking the straw out of the glass with her hands and putting it in the form cup, poured in the tea then put the lid over not before pushing the straw through the hole, holding the straw from the bottom. Very unsanitary!

The first couple of times I visited this restaurant (shortly after it opened), their servers were very attentive and the overall quality of the food was excellent. It’s been a few months since my last visit and, I am sorry to say that today’s experience was very disappointing.
The restaurant was nearly empty of customers so it is understandable that they only had one server. Sadly this waitress was way too young to understand the duties of her position. Needless to say, the service was subpar. In addition, their food had neither the presentation nor the flavor that one would come to expect from a Vietnamese restaurant.
I cannot, in good conscience, any longer recommend this restaurant.

Not Impressed At All! The noodle bowl was good, but the Boba drinks had huge ice chunks and the service was deplorable. We sent one drink back it was so chunky, and never got the replacement. Waited quite a while for our food, and sat with empty plates and no water while the waitresses passed our table like we were invisible. When I complained about the drink never returning the waitress gave me a hard time. And it’s freezing in here!

Tasted excellent, i could smell the broth the second i opened the door. Had the rare beef and egg roll platter. Food was fresh and full of flavor.

Ate here for the first time a few weeks ago & was pleasantly surprised. The broth was delicious. The noodles & the fixins’ were fresh & tasty. The staff was friendly & the price was decent.
It’s not really a complaint, but I had the beef in my broth & after ordering, not sure it was necessary. The broth alone was sufficient.
If I ever get the flu or am not feeling well, this broth will be my go to meal!

Been twice. Both times they forgot cilantro on the phở. The second time for pick up, they forgot lime and they jammed the phở broth containers in so tightly that 2 of the three broke and leaked all over my car. Phở tasted OK but not complete — but bad service. Better phở places and won’t return for service alone.

With high hopes of finding decent phở in Brighton I stopped in for lunch today, unfortunately I was left searching.
I ordered vietnamese egg rolls and a medium phở. The egg rolls were pretty good but lacked quality fixings and they skimped on the fish sauce at delivery.
The phở was obviously thrown together with a large clump of pre-​prepared noodles and a near flavorless broth. Meat was almost non-​existent and it just seemed lacking.
The kicker that dropped them from 3 stars to 2 was the sanitation (or lack there of) factor. When I went for the classic garlic-​chili paste I found it in one of the old parmesian cheese shakers (this place used to be an italian food place) On the front of the jar was a sticker that says «unscrew the lid and scoop» which really isn’t a big deal. Unforunatly under the lids was black and nasty and the lid was rusting. Super gross and unsanitary. I was going to post a picture but I didn’t think it was appropriate.
Needless to say, take a drive. There is plent of good phở in Denver.

A very unfortunate first experience to say the least… As my wife was greeted with a head nod she asked if we could sit at a specific table at which time the waitress did not respond to her request. It was only when I engaged the waitress that she answered our question. Once we sat down we attempted to order one of the boba drinks however the waitress continued to tell us that «they didn’t have that flavor». After asking for 4 different flavors and being told that they didn’t have it, we finally found two flavors they had in stock.
When we began ordering our main meal, we were again told that they were out of a specific item. After attempting to order two different dishes I finally settled on Phở, which I did not even want to eat that evening but it seemed to be the only item they actually had. I thought this place just opened! How are they out of everything!
After the waitress delivered our food she disappeared for the rest of the evening until I had to get out of my seat to go track her down so I could get some more water.
The food is itself is average, nothing special. This was a very frustrating experience and not worth the time or money. I will not be returning to Phở 81 in the future.