Pho 99 - Knoxville

Lunch here this week. Quite an interesting place. Clean and promptly seated for lunch. Ordered what I best understood. The menu is frankly a little hard to understand but with a return visit or two maybe would be more comfortable with it. Basically soup , a huge bowl, with noodles, beef, scallions and spices. Comes with a small plate of bean sprouts and other type of vegatables. I used only the bean sprout.  Menu is somewhat limited and would appear mostly the same soup with different types of protein and items in that soup. Not bad and a thought might be to be more involved on the request. probably will do that on my next visit.

Saw this place from the road when it recently opened, and got a chance to check it out. Walked in, it smelled clean, looked sharp, and I was quickly seated. The place was about 1/4 full, not a rocking Friday night, but I hear their lunch trade is big. Ordered the Spring Rolls and the "Dry Style Chicken Pho" because I never heard of it. The waiter asked "Are you sure?" to which I asked "What is the deal with it?" Basically it is a bowl of broth and a bowl of the solids (meat, noodles, etc.). "Hit me! Feeling frisky!" Rolls were very good, a simple almost bland roll with an amazing sauce. I licked the sauce ramakin when no one was looking. The Pho was as advertised, two bowls of components. I asked for "the proper way" to eat it, and the waiter said you are supposed to eat them separately, but most get frustrated and pour the broth into the solids. I chose to dip the solids into the broth one chopsticks full at a time. Let me tell you, this Vietnamese Au Jus method is amazing. The solids are not all soft and soggy, and you control the broth level. I am doing this more often. Have napkins handy, it is a little messy. Ended up with more broth than solids, scraped the crumbs into the broth, spiced it up a bit, and left two shiny bowls. A couple of Heinekens wet my my whistle, though the beer selection is minimal. Maybe some local brews, or at least some SE Asian selections to round it out. I'll be back...

Saw this place from the road when it recently opened, and got a chance to check it out. Walked in, it smelled clean, looked sharp, and I was quickly seated. The place was about 1/4 full, not a rocking Friday night, but I hear their lunch trade is big. Ordered the Spring Rolls and the "Dry Style Chicken Pho" because I never heard of it. The waiter asked "Are you sure?" to which I asked "What is the deal with it?" Basically it is a bowl of broth and a bowl of the solids (meat, noodles, etc.). "Hit me! Feeling frisky!" Rolls were very good, a simple almost bland roll with an amazing sauce. I licked the sauce ramakin when no one was looking. The Pho was as advertised, two bowls of components. I asked for "the proper way" to eat it, and the waiter said you are supposed to eat them separately, but most get frustrated and pour the broth into the solids. I chose to dip the solids into the broth one chopsticks full at a... read more

Pho was really good. Ate here while in town for Rockytop football tourney. Enjoyed the flank and brisket pho was awesome loved it. Plan on trying some more and price was good.

Let me start with the dining room. It's literally yin and yang. They remodeled from the Lemon Grass but they did not keep a uniform look throughout the restaurant. One half has white ceiling tiles the other black. The bar area actually looks like a nice dining area, but it was overtaken by staff and tables had paperwork, Krispy Kreme doughnut boxes etc, and they didn't seat anyone in there. Where are you are sat looks like an overly lit school cafeteria, has tacky house number stickers on the table AND the wall so servers know what table you are. When I was in college, and waited tables, we memorized the table numbers, not that hard.  When I pay 10 bucks a person for soup I want to eat in a nice restaurant dining room. The service was bad, the kid was young and his response to every request I made was  simply a "Yeah". The food is just typical Pho. Nothing special about it.  Bottom line, you might as well take it to go. I left thinking did I just pay 10 bucks for some bone broth and 1-2 ounces of meat in a school cafeteria?