Pho R Us - Asheville

[chezdy]

Ciao hounds! I am oh so very happy to report that Asheville now has a very good Vietnamese restaurant! Or, as the name would succinctly imply, pho restaurant. And, true to form of (IMHO) all good 'ethnic' eateries, it is in a little strip mall in South Asheville and the prices are extremely reasonable. Almost an actual, not pseudo 'dive'! And I use that term with all appropriate affection, not disdain nor affectation. Now, if we could only get them to make a real banh mi....

Pho R Us
1950 Hendersonville Road
Asheville, NC 28803
828-676-2311

[Windsor]

I love this place, good food, good people, good prices! I had enough left over for lunch the next day.

Vietnamese, Korean and even Ethiopian on Tuesday nights...I think I am going to love my new home.

[Alex Halsey]

Where is the Tuesday-night Ethiopian?

[Windsor]

Alex, DeSoto Lounge. They post a new Tuesday Night Ethiopian menu every week on Facebook.

[chezdy]

How is the Ethiopian at DeSoto? Really...

[mark]

i've been a few times; it's ok. but nothing really wowed me. nothing i couldn't have done at home with a decent cookbook. note: it's the only ethiopian i've had, so for all i know it could be fantastically authentic and delicious in comparison.

[alimcghee]

DeSoto Ethiopian unfortunately doesn't really cut it. I've had truly great Ethiopian, and it's fairly 'meh.' :( I do love hanging out there, though. The best Ethiopian seems--for whatever reason--to be concentrated more towards the middle of the state. Still crossing my fingers for great Ethiopian here.

[alimcghee]

I ate here last week -- my report below! Yum!

Asheville *finally* has a Vietnamese restaurant! And it's really good! Rejoice! As pho lovers know, the key to great pho is the broth. Pho-R-Us (weird name, I admit, but hey--I definitely remember it) has the broth down. It's deliciously, delicately flavored, full of sweetness, sourness, and umami. On a prior visit, the waiter/owner came around and asked everyone how the broth was--it's that important. I tried the regular pho, with meatballs and other assorted goodies. It's served with fresh bean sprouts and basil, and condiments on the side like Sriracha and fish sauce.

I got a side of fresh spring rolls with pork and shrimp (served with a peanut sauce) and they were delicious as well. The menu is small right now, confined to pho and some appetizers, but they may expand to include banh mi in the future. Then I really *would* be in heaven. Go to Pho-R-Us and support them! We need this so badly in Asheville, and this place knows its pho!!

Note: apparently if you get take-out they leave a lot of the meat quite rare. I'm assuming this is because they expect you to heat it back up on your own? Anyway you may want to ask about this if you're not ok with doing a bit of the cooking yourself.

[danna]

Pho 99 in Greenville will give you thin, raw strips of beef with your to-go pho. I think this is because it's the dip in the hot broth that cooks the meat. I just heat up the broth and then put in the beef.

[quazi]

Many Pho places will serve the meat(only the thin sliced beef) rare to you whether doing takeout or dine in so you can control the doneness. I prefer it this way myself