This hip Vietnamese restaurant opened a couple of months ago on Greenville just north of Lovers Lane, in the same strip as Jersey Mike’s. It was happy news as there is a surprisingly small number of Vietnamese restaurants in Dallas proper. And I often crave pho, having developed a fondness for it in a past life as a newspaperwoman in Beaumont, Texas, a city much lacking in the culinary arts but with one great Vietnamese restaurant.
Pho is for Lovers is cute. The decor is clean and modern, and the people who work there are good-looking and friendly. It’s a fast-food style restaurant with a small menu. I ordered the beef pho, which comes with medium rare beef filet, beef brisket and meatballs. If you order this, do not then go outside and dig around in your purse for five minutes looking for change for the newspaper box, as I did (the box stole my money, by the way). The food comes out super fast, so if you waste time, the hot soup will cook your medium-rare filet by the time you come back inside. That’s what happened to mine.
It was nice to quickly fulfill my pho hankering for once, but it was not the best pho I’ve ever had. Not even close. I would say it’s just OK, and actually, I’m not sure I would order it again. It’s not that flavorful, even after adding the garnishes — the herb ngo gai, sliced jalepeños and a squeeze of lime (I don’t tolerate bean sprouts). I would consider trying the chicken pho just to see if it’s any better.
Next time, I will try the bahn mi, a Vietnamese sandwich with either Korean barbecue, chicken, pork or ham and pork.
