Thi’s Place On Main

Where do I begin? The food is amazing and very reasonably priced. The owner was working when we came in and she was so incredibly generous! I hate that I live so far away, or I would be here multiple times a week. It’s my new favorite Vietnamese restaurant, for sure.

One way I gauge Vietnamese food is by the Phở. The phở served here tastes like the broth was made from water and ramen seasoning packets rather than a layered and developed with any culinary skill. Were out of bean sprouts, did not serve it with any fresh veggies or herbs actually… just a basic, salty noodle soup. RH has no other options for phở though… so they may survive.

This place claims Vietnamese cuisine, but it would more accurately be described as «Amerasian» cuisine. They didn’t have phở dac biet so I ordered hibachi chicken. The owner was our waitress. The place was empty except for her and an older lady that stayed in the back. She told me the chicken would be cooked in a sweet glaze instead of grilled… I’m non confrontational. I said okay. My fiancé ordered the only type of phở she had, and spring and summer rolls. The rolls were very good and fresh, but she gave us some kind of sickly sweet peanut sauce instead of hoisin… A mystery to me.
We were the only people in there and my fiancé asked why she had no true Vietnamese food on the menu. She said rock hill wasn’t interested in true Vietnamese food. We told her of our favorite place in Houston to eat Vietnamese (Kim Sun), and she has been there!!! We talked in length about all the authentic Vietnamese dishes we love, and she fixed us some steamed jasmine rice and a container full of thit heo kho trung to take home, free of charge. The food was better than I expected. The chicken was a little dry, but the sweet glaze was amazing and my jasmine rice was to die for. Josh’s phở was another story. Sad, sad phở… Flavorless and all vermicelli.
The owner was so nice though.
She even gave us dessert on the house.
I wish she would just see her dream through and go totally authentic Vietnamese with the menu. Rock Hill IS ready in my opinion! This woman knows good Vietnamese and she knows how to cook it.

Very salty chicken and broccoli; tough spring rolls; and fried rice with hardly any ingredients in it but a few pieces of chicken and onion. Very disappointed.

I wish I knew how their food tasted. Unfortunately, the door days they open at 11. If you call, from just outside the door, they open in 15 minutes. It’s already 11:30.

What a joke.
Are you freaking serious? Mediocre Food, Poor Customer Service, and worst of all… when are they actually open?
So, I am not a Rock Hill resident, but I am here a couple times a week. So, I decided to walk down and try this place because I like Vietnamese food.
Boy, what a waste of time.
First of all… the hours are bogus because they aren’t open most of the time.
Finally I go when they are actually open, I walk in and the waiter is sitting down. I look at the menu and I look and can’t find the food I like because it’s too Americanized simplified, which might be the tactic in Rock Hill, but I asked the waiter what was what and he didn’t know. He goes into the kitchen to ask and comes back out and completely ignores me. After sitting down for 10 minutes, I finally just chose something on the menu.
Then, I go to pay my $ 7 bill and the waiter says the credit card machine was down, so the waiter goes and tells that I can bring back the money, which I agree to. My ATM is in North Carolina, so they would get it later in the day.
I get back to my office and they didn’t get the spring rolls that I ordered. He tells me that I didn’t order it, when I did. It even tells you on the menu, if you wanted to add a spring roll, you can for $ 1.50… so he tells me that they can do it but I have to wait because they shut the fryer down and it would take 15 minutes to make. So, I’m like okay, whatever and I leave.
I come back with the waiter sitting next to my food and he demands more money because he made it. I’m like, I’m going to pay for the original price you asked for… and he was like «well, since you got more food, you have to pay more.» and I’m flabbergasted, so I decided to not take the food and just walk out. The waiter insist that I must pay the food and I told him that I will not, I will pay for what I received earlier, but nothing more.
As I walk out, the waiter says «Thanks for wasting my time» and I return told him «Thanks for wasting mine» since I had to go in and out of this restaurant to get simple food, but they messed up.
As I walk out, the waiter then comes and walks out and yells «You know what, I’ll just pay for your food… don’t ever come back» How rude? Not that I was going to go back anyways, but who are you to tell a customer to never come back.
Now, I’m not a unreasonable person. I am not trying to get a free meal, but I expect at least professionalism and to get my stuff correct. If I no longer want food, then I shouldn’t have to pay for it. If you are ever in the Rock Hill area, please stay away from this place because the staff is rude and unacceptable, but then again, you might have to stay away because they aren’t open on normal days, anyways.

So this is the ONLY place for phở within a 30 minute drive from rock hill/​york. Let me just say that next time I’m anywhere near the area and am craving for phở, I’d much rather take the 45 minute drive into charlotte for real phở.
The service was terrible although I tried to be understanding. Working in the service industry myself I was patient. But if there’s only 1 other table in the restaurant (which was just 1 person) and the only server can’t take your order because she’s too busy chatting with this guy to acknowledge our presence then for the entire time we were left waiting we could’ve taken the 45 minute drive to charlotte.
I ordered phở and it was by far the worst phở I’ve ever had. My dinner date ordered hibachi which looked nothing like nor tasted like hibachi. The Vietnamese coffee was not good either. I told the server when she finally came around that I was not happy with my food but she didn’t care to replace it with something else.
I would never go back here even if it were the only place for Vietnamese food within a 100 mile radius… seriously.

Our attorney who was putting our SC wills and trust recommended Thi’s. They were regulars and used Thi’s to cater some meetings, so we thought we would give it a try.
Nice Vietnamese foods made by and served by the owner who is first generation American. He parents were boat people who made it out and emigrated to the USA. So the food is authentic and very good.
Located on Main Street the location is perfect. Parking is on the street and at the end of Main Street, about three blocks distant is a large municipal parking lot, so parking is not a problem.
If you are a stranger or beginner of Vietnamese foods, please ask the owner or server to describe the options. They are happy to do so.

I spent 4 years living in Hawaii with some of the best phở outside of Vietnam. Then, I lived in Washington for 4 years with tons of good phở restaurants there. When I was visiting family in York, my husband and I came across Thi’s and decided to give it a try. Since Rock Hill isn’t exactly known as a melting pot of culture, we were a bit skeptical. We were pleasantly surprised. The broth was very flavorful and the meat was tender. The noodles were a smidge overcooked, but not enough for me to complain. If I was to complain, I’d say that the phở could use just a little more meat and that it should be accompanied by a platter of basil, jalapenos, and bean sprouts. I’d recommend it to people based on this one experience with the phở, but outside of that, I don’t know how the other dishes are.

Thi’s place is a wonderful dining option in Rock Hill! She herself is warm and pleasant, and will make recommendations and customize anything for you. I’m a big fan of her Vietnamese curry, and my husband always gets the Bun called Thi’s Man Measure. Of course, you have to be open to flavors that aren’t the normal Southern fare, but if you want a little adventure in your diet, Thi’s is a good place to start. The only reason this isn’t a 5 is that the heat wasn’t working the first time we went, but Thi’s made sure we had extra hot tea to keep warm, so even that was okay.

We are not fans of exotic food, and the first time we visited Thi’s didn’t change my mind. The owner is a wonderful, warm woman who talked with us and our two small children, even giving them a tour of the kitchen. She did say that if there is anything we wanted done differently on a dish (noticing that my husband didn’t eat broccoli and I skipped the celery), that they would happily customize dishes to suit tastes. Husband likes hot-​spicy, and they will do it! They may rein in the exoticness for rural SC, but just ask and they’ll liven it up.

I’m not an expert on Vietnamese food by any means, but I’m trying to branch out and try different places. When I found out that there was a place closer to home that served phở and buen dishes, I was skeptical. Rock Hill isn’t a culinary capital, but there are some places that stand out and are actually pretty good. I didn’t really feel like Thi’s stood up to the buzz I had found about it.
The service is congenial (the owner personally served me and was very pleasant to talk with), and I got my food quickly. It may be because there was only one other patron there, but I did like how lunch-​centric it seemed to be.
The food I wasn’t so crazy about. I ordered a lemongrass chicken stir fry, and for $ 8, I wasn’t very pleased. It just seemed very bland, and the carrots and broccoli seemed like they had that unfrozen crunch. More sauce or a bit of spice would have been nice on the entrée. It was a chicken dish, but the mushrooms were the best part.
I was surprised at how a lot of my friends and family that have tried Thi’s had a much better experience than mine. It may be the dish I ordered, but I don’t think I will return to find out.

If you’re ever in Rock Hill, first of all let me say «I’m sorry». But SHOULD you find yourself stuck there around lunch time and you HAPPEN to google «best lunch downtown rockhill» and you come up with «Thi’s Place»…well, I hate to break it to you, but sometimes, yes SOMETIMES the internet is a G**D*** lie! I know! I couldn’t believe it either!
Nothing about this place worked. We arrived at 12:30. There were two other tables occupied, yet every empty table was piled with dirty dishes. It took 20 minutes for someone to come take our order. Eventually, I had to go into the kitchen to inquire about our meal, explaining that we DID have to return to work. Food finally arrived (actually one of our 4 had been eating for 10 minutes), but not exactly the food we ordered. We thought to complain but we didn’t have time. Split checks… well, I’d advise against it.
I LOVE Vietnamese food. I have no idea what this was. I’m pretty sure the Vietnames Coffee was from a can. Egg rolls were probably frozen (at least that would explain their interior «chill»). Sauce was anemic. And I have never known Bún to be served on a plate. I don’t even know how that’s supposed to work! I wish I’d ordered the phở if only to see how they f’ed it up.
I NEVER say this, but I wish we’d gone to Subway.