pho viet - five points

mmm. get the vegetarian springrollswith tofu, beef pho with rare steak/brisket, and an iced coffee and you will leave a very happy person ;)

my husband and i get take out from here often. he gets the rare steak pho and i get the veggie pho. i am a vegetarian so it's a great option for me. my only complaint is that the veggie pho isn't as flavorful as some other places i have gone, but i can fix that with some sriracha. they are huge portions so perfect for leftovers!

also love the veggie springrollswith peanut sauce.

i've had pho at several authentic vietnamese and cambodian reataurants, in the us and abroad, and pho viet is probably my second favorite. i base this judgement primarily on one dish: pho tai nam gan. granted, service is not the best but that's not why i come here. their pho base is spot on and they're generous with meat portions. the noodles are never overcooked. sprouts are fresh and crisp and they serve thai basil instead of cilantro when it's available. their summerrollsare also a great authentic starter - love that dipping sauce!

so disappointed by this nasty place. i can't help but wonder if the five points location just changed ownership/management. i'd heard such great things about the decker location and was so please to hear there might be a great vietnamese place in town! however, this location/restaurant was sticky/dirty, the waitstaff was just bizarre, and the food was borderline edible. the television competed noise-wise with loud radio playing a mix of commercials and pop country-western. that might have been kitchy and okay if the food was good, but it wasn't even close. the broth of the veggie pho is made from knox bouillon cubes (waitress showed me the box), though the menu brags about the broth as the most important pho ingredient. (also: out of jelly tea. seems like that's not even an option, so don't go if that's what you're going for without calling first.) the fresh springrollswere just okay, barely--not gross but lacking the herbs and veggies you'd find in the good version of the dish and served with what tasted like bottled heavy-on-the-cornstarch sauce. the only good thing about the food is this: the pho is served with a plate of fresh garnished: sriracha leaves, lime wedge, sprouts, fabulously hot peppers. (the sprouts were a little old looking but okay.) that's mostly what i ate. one more upside: the food is pretty cheap ($7.95 for the veggie pho), but that's also a lot of money to pay for food that's too bad to eat much of. so i am ... baffled.

wow. i've been to several vietnamese places around the country, and this one in columbia, sc has earned the gold medal. as mentioned before, the food is brought out almost immediately (depending on what you order), and the staff are, as you would expect, happy.... but the thing that really caught me was the freshness and awesomeness of the food. every dish i've seen served out of the one here in sc, (at least 10 different dishes), has been cooked/prepared to perfection, and every single person that i have taken there has been happy and impressed. my wife and i get the springrolls(#1) and the pho chin (#12) spicy every time.... try it, love it....

always room for pho!. i was delighted to hear that a pho restaurant was opening in 5 points.

i ordered the springrollsand veggie pho. the springrollswere pretty good, but i was surprised to find there was chicken, or turkey in therolls- it was a somewhat unpleasant surprise. the peanut sauce was delicious! there are a few things that i would change about the springrollsthat would make me come in daily - leave out the poultry and perhaps add some cilantro or basil.
the pho was also pretty good, but the veggies left me wanting a little more variety. maybe some snow peas, shitake mushrooms, or even red peppers.

the service was excellent and quick. i got my order to go, and i was promptly greeted and given a to go menu. the packaging of my to go order was efficient and they put everything i needed in there. napkins, fork, spoon, chopsticks, hoisen sauce, siracha hot sauce, etc. the pho broth and veggie mix were packaged separately and there was a separate bag with jalepenos, bean sprouts, lime, cilantro, etc.

overall, it was a pleasant experience and i will definitely come back. hopefully they ditch the chicken/turkey in the spring rolls.