Pho Paradise

Food is but the service sucks. They forgot to place a lime on my plate which is the norm to always have some type of citrus or lime and so I walk up to the counter and the owner proceeds to tell me I placed it in my bowl. I repeated myself saying there is no lime in my bowl or plate I need lime smh … Ima stick to what I know next time…

The highlights:
Seemed like a sketchy area, but I still had an open mind. In my experience great phở places are usually in sketchy areas.
Walked in an the place was empty. Got a glimpse of the kitchen and it didn’t seem sanitary. It was pretty dirty.
Server was friendly from the limited English he spoke. He smiled and laughed along.
The food was ok. Not great and not bad.
Two reason I give it one star
1) when I received my plate of onions to go in the soup there was a toothpick wrapper mixed in with the onions. Probably from the messy kitchen.
2) when I was part way through my meal the chef/​owner came out and used the bathroom with the gloves she was wearing to make the food. She returned to the kitchen to make more food without changing them.

Some night just call for phở. This place is close by so I would usually go right after work on a cold night or when I felt a cold coming on. Something about spicy chicken noodle phở that makes me think it will keep the cold away. The phở isn’t bad– but a little lacking in flavor. I usually spice it way up with extra jalapeños and it’s just fine. I’ve tried some of the apps like fried tofu– ehhhh– the go to is usually the egg rolls. I haven’t tried the beef phở, so maybe the broth is more flavorful with beef, but a solid phở for sure. Some people have said its in the ‘hood’… Please. It’s Providence people. There is no ‘hood’ in PVD.

Hands down, this is my favorite phở place in Providence. Albeit, I don’t go that often because the neighborhood is a little sketchy, now that it’s becoming phở season again, I’m going to make a more concentrated effort to head out to Broad Street. As a pescatarian, phở options are usually relegated to one menu option (for some reason, most phở places I go to cannot do anything with seafood and still ensure it’s pescatarian… I’m not sure why so I never take my chances). At Phở Paradise though, I really don’t mind. Their veggie phở is awesome, loaded with lots and lots of veggies where I find most other phở places are a little sparse. The broth is a little bland but I almost don’t mind and anyway, they provide a lot of add-​ins at no cost (like limes) that can certainly boost the flavor if you want it. The service here is always efficient and polite. The only complaint I have is that it’s sometimes hard to flag down someone for water but when your meal is primarily liquid, it’s not as big of a deal. I’ll be honest, Phở Paradise isn’t the most glamorous sit down situation (like, once over the summer I went there and all the lights were turned off? But the restaurant was definitely open? It was kind of bizarre but I went with it). This isn’t going to be the place you take a romantic date (even though the atmosphere can be quite intimate, I guess — especially with those lights turned off, haha!). But for a large, inexpensive, filling bowl of phở, it’s definitely worth making the trek.

We usually stop in at another location for our South East Asian food expedition. Being that it was the night of Waterfire, other locations were booked and we were left with no choice but Phở Paradise. Something should have warned us before we decided to stop in; the entire lot was empty, as was the restaurant.
Upon entering, we were greeted by a friendly man who seemed eager to greet and serve us. Good start to a rather unfortunate night. It took a while until he actually stopped by our table to wait on us, but I hold no ill will towards that. What struck me as surprising and utterly disappointing was the food. I grew up with these dishes and it says something when I notice abnormalities in Phở Paradise’s dishes.
I ordered the Phở Deluxe, which was meant to be a hefty bowl of rice noodles lathered in rich beef broth topped with copious amounts of beef strips and beef brisket. Reality? A handful of noodles, a soup full of meat, and an overwhelm amount of broth. Had there been flavour in the broth would the minuscule amounts of everything else been excusable. Nope.
My partner ordered the Beef in Sautéed onions and peppers. Not exactly a South East Asian delicacy but what have you. I am familiar with the different spins cooks will add into these dishes, especially when the spin is situated in the Vietnamese/​Cambodian/​Laotian/​Thai realm. Something was off. Very off. The odour was similar to rotting coconut milk and tasted not too far from that. Strangely, there was also not a nut allergic warning.
The only thing that could compel me to coming back would be would be the politeness of the owner. Maybe it was an off night? Maybe I’m being too critical as a person who always fines on South East Asian food, both at home and at other restaurants?
My recommendation? Take the extra drive and a few more minutes waiting in line to eat at Phở Horns or Apsaras.

I love their iced coffee. There are no other Vietnamese restaurants nearby that offer a nice-​sized cup of Viet iced coffee. I mean, it’s $ 4 for a cup but compared to other places around Providence, they give a good amount of coffee. Other places, more ice than the coffee itself. The only other place I can receive a $ 4 LARGE cup was back in NYC when I was living there a couple years back. Yeah, I know… I love my coffee, okay? ;-) ALSO, their banh mi sandwich is not too bad, taste-​wise but price-​wise, it’s $ 5 for one… ehhh. All-​in-​all, they are good for the area in which I visit often.

Sat down. Written in prices that were raises a dollar each. Way to save money on paper guys. Bug on spoon. Hair on sugar. Adiós amigos. strike two on phở in providence.

Here’s what I got:
Appetizers: Imperial Shrimp Roll, Scallion Pancakes, Rice Ravioli
Phø: Large with Beef, Tendon, Tripe and Xtra-​Large with Beef and Steak
Drinks: Mango Bubble Tea
The appetizers and phø were delicious. I could tell that everything was very freshly made for us. I could literally hear them grinding up the mango for the bubble tea. And the bubbles were very soft, not frozen like in some phø restaurants I’ve been to.
The service was amazing. Our server was really nice and quick, and made every effort to serve us with anything we needed.
I would be very happy to come here again!

Phở paradis is huge! Delicious but too big for girl!!!

Excellent phở! What more needs to be said? They could really use some air conditioning or fans in there, though.

Food is good.
Service is friendly.
There is another joint that caters to my tastes more, but there is absolutely nothing wrong with the phở here, it is delicious.
Thai tea was also great.

The first location ive ever eaten phở… two years later ive eaten it in 3 different states in various locations and this is still the best. I was reminded of that last night. 85° and i was eating phở. Converted a friend of mines with the chicken noodle soup… absolutely amazing. Love this place. Try the nime Chow! BYOB!

First visit today as we stumbled upon this place. Quickly read the Unilocal reviews and saw the beef phở was the dish to get. We shared the pork rolls for an appetizer which were delicious. I had #30 and my husband #31. Both were delicious and the beef broth was incredible. Great service. Nicest owner and very attentive. So many delicious things on the menu and we can’t wait to go back.

The Chicken Phở soup was delicious, I always shop at the Asian Market next door, but just decided to have soup. I will definitely eat here again and recommend anyone to eat there as well, I am so good with suggestions!!! I ate the entire bowl. Yum

Couple of years ago, when I was pregnant, I had to have their large beef phở special at least once a week to stay calm. It was (and still is!) the ultimate comfort food :) But it was always a bit of a drive. One time my hubby got stuck in traffic on the way to pick it up for me along with scallion pancakes. So, he got there 40 min later and the lady who runs the restaurant made fresh scallion pancakes for him to take, saying the ones they cooked for us originally were not hot and fresh anymore. How sweet is that?
Some people say the ambiance is «meh» but the way I figure small family-​run places like these have limited budgets. They can spend it on making things look pretty and cut corners in the kitchen or they can focus on delivering authentic home-​comforting food. It’s that for us — very cozy, home-​feeling, flavors dancing on your tongue, happy warmth in your belly. Too many awesome dishes to review individually.
I guess I almost have an emotional attachment to the place. Ghetto and all.

The first time I went to phở paradise, I stepped out of my car and a homeless man came up to me and asked me for a dollar for thanksgiving. I walked by the guy and into the restaurant. The waitress came up and asked me; «two for dinner?» I turned around and the guy was behind me. I told them he wasn’t with me. He followed me until the waitress yelled at him and a guy came out from the back. I can’t imagine how often that happens.
I walked past a mail man having lunch which is usually a good sign, and sat down with a nice view of the guys selling something off a folding table in the parking lot and the cops coming over from the dunkin donuts next door. Apsara, Phở Horns. Why are all the good, authentic Asian restaurants in places like this? Better than Apsara. At least they don’t have plywood and steel bars over their windows!
Well, I had the phở with everything. It was the best I’ve had yet. The best broth. The most goodies inside. Lots of shaved steak and brisket. They sliced the beef tendon really thin and it was nice and clean. The tripe too. I’ve had it since and every time very good. My other favorite menu item is their ban hoi. They give you a bowl of hot water and rice wrappers and the grilled meat with lots of shredded vegetables and rice noodles. Grilled meat being chicken. I had chopped dark meat with skin and bubbling yellow fat on my plate. I hope it was chicken! I remember the show where Bourdain went to Vietnam. He was asking his translator what kind of meat he was being served, and all they could reply was «squeezle.» Don’t look at it too close or think on it too long. It’ll taste better!
The first time I had ban hoi, the waitress sat down with me and showed me how to eat it. You soak the wrappers, add what you like, and roll your own. I enjoyed that so much. It’s in a gnarly neighborhood but the food is good enough to go back.

Decent Phở but the ambiance is enough to make me go elsewhere.
I ventured in on a rainy Sunday afternoon to the small, dark plaza on Broad st. When I entered, I was wondering if they were even open (though the lit sign said so, and the door was unlocked, there were no lights on inside) but was then greeted by a pleasant man who I assume was the owner.
I say quietly… Alone and looked over the surprisingly large menu. I went with the Vietnamese meatballs and a chicken phở.
Food came out fast and was good tasting… But not the best I’ve had. The drinking water honestly tasted like fish tank water smells. I also got a pot of hot oolong tea which was a bit weak and had large chunks of tea leafs in it.
It was just strange sitting there alone and in the near darkness.
By no means a black mark on my Phở quest, just not one I will likely return to.

The cold December day started with a craving for warmth in my belly that only a bowl of Phở could fix.
We went for a late lunch /​early dinner and had the whole place to ourselves. After a few failed attempts in the past at figuring out how I like my Phở. I definitely got it right this time. The service was very fast and friendly.
I had been here before a very long time ago to pick up an order of fried egg rolls. We ordered egg rolls this time and that was when the memory came back to me. Even a small bowl is a lot of Phở.
When we finished our meal more people were there for dinner and it wasn’t loud, in fact it was very cozy. The only down side i remember was that I could not find the light in the bathroom.

I wanted to try a different phở place to see if there was any chance we had quality stuff here in the Providence area. I was quick to find that this place was in the GHEtto. This was broad daylight in the center of an open lot and I saw people doing their secret handshakes giving each other their fix for the day. There’s parking right outside the restaurant so park right there so you can watch your car. It’s next to the Asian grocery store.
I went at 10:30AM right when they opened because well, I was hungry. SO hungry that I decided that today was the day I would upgrade to a large. There was one lady in there who would act as my waitress, cook and busgirl. There’s nothing much to the ambience in the restaurant. If you’ve never been to a phở restaurant before you might be slightly turned off but if you have you’d just tell yourself «eh, all in a day.»
I think part of the reason I was craving a large today was the fact that I was watching a documentary on pot. I digress. I wanted the fried chicken wings that were listed in the menu. They didn’t have it anymore. You wrote in the new prices right onto the printed menu! Why not just draw a line through the items you don’t have anymore?
Ok, so I went with my usual which was the fresh spring rolls and then followed by number 27 which was everything in it in a large size. The spring rolls were probably more lettuce than anything but I found that their dipping sauce was quite spectacular. If they just add another shrimp or more noodles in them then I think it would balance things out! Then came my big steaming bowl of noodles. The broth was savory and quite like what I’m used to back in LA so thumbs up for that. That alone got 5 stars. The issue I had was the amount of meat in the large. There was suppose to be tendon and tripe in there. Sure there were small pieces which I could have easily lost in the mix of the noodles. That is not how things should have been! The noodles I think were a tad old as they were a bit soft. Not inedible, but softer than what I was used to.
So it’s a little farther out from me than Phở Horn but the broth was much nicer. However, the proportion of meat combined with the distance I need to drive to get there probably doesn’t make me want to go out of my way to go to this place. If you live nearby then it’s a great place to be with nothing particularly wrong with it.
I give this place my blessing but will look for something better or closer to me!

Mini-​update: the service is so nice and w/​the great
deal, I have to bump up the 3.5 for the food to a 4 overall. The phở is ok but the bun thit nuong I’ve found here is the best I’ve found in RI.
——
Yes, this place is hole-​in-​the-​wall in a nondescript parking lot, but a quick $ 7 or so bowl of steaming phở is really satisfying on a rainy day like today. My favorite non-​phở dish here is the charcoal-​y bun thit nuong (rice vermicelli with pork).