My husband and I finally got an opportunity to stop by Pho Alderwood. First off, we couldn't find it and when we called to find out what they were next to, we got some interesting answers. As luck would have it, we were right next to it practically but because they told us it was by Target, we were on the wrong side of the street >.<
We were seated by the door which was freezing but really couldn't be helped because the place was FULL.
The menu is lovely because they offer pictures for just about everything and the pictures really are good representations of both the looks of the food and the size of the portions.
They serve a very light tea that I enjoyed a lot...I am not certain what kind it was and should have asked but it was very light and pleasant (especially sitting next to the door >.<)
We hadn't eaten at all that day so we ordered pretty big with the sampler platter and pho soup with rare steak.
The sampler platter was absolutely delicious. It is a combination of spring rolls (which they do VERY well), meat skewers which were heavenly, Some yummy fried shrimp rolls, egg rolls, peanut sauce and more.
My apologies because I actually got one of their take out menus so I could remember what all was in the sampler but I seem to have misplaced it.
One thing I didn't like was that they didn't serve any kind of plate with the sampler so you were stuck eating off of the serving plate which is fine at home but not what I look forward to when eating out with someone else who is also having to share the serving plate >.<
They also didn't speak English very well so asking for a plate or like another customer who was there when we were, anything other than the obvious menu items, was just about impossible (the other customer just gave up).
The pho with rare steak was interesting. The steak wasn't remotely rare. Usually when I get rare steak pho, the steak is sliced super thin and added completely raw to the hot soup and just cooks while it's on it's way to the table. This looked as if maybe it was full cooked brisket or something. The meat was good though. The soup was served with the traditional bean sprouts, fresh basil and jalapeno peppers. The broth was not very flavorful but once I added some sriracha and hoisin sauce, it tasted good. They serve their pho with a lot of noodles. My husband usually orders extra noodles which he also did this time but he said that he actually had too many for once!
All in all, I would be very interested in checking Pho Alderwood out a few times to get a good, solid picture of their pho...maybe try out the other varieties while I am at it (I love pho ga). The appetizers are delicious and definitely worth trying out.
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