Phoclo Cafe
406 Broadway E
Seattle, Washington 98102
United States
(206) 329-9256
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GeoPage Score
7.0
What's this?
3 Recommends
Citysearch Rated
This casual Broadway eatery pays tribute to cyclo drivers, Vietnam's cabbies, with fast, authentic and affordable Vietnamese cuisine.
June 30, 2006

In Short
The foodie denizens of Capitol Hill fill this bright room at lunch and dinner, taking in the life-size street-scene murals covering the walls, complete with tiny lights twinkling like stars. Colorful lanterns hanging from the ceiling and a thatched-roof kitchen enclave enhance the alfresco atmosphere. The menu includes a long list of pho choices and a healthy assortment of rice, noodle and stir-fry dishes paired with grilled meat, shrimp and tofu.

(Editorial review provided by Citysearch)
1 to 10 of 16 reviews | Go to Page 1 2
Good enough Pho
April 29, 2010
(3.0 / 5 stars)

This is a great place to get a good and hot meal for a very decent price. Kid friendly and really fast service. We like to start out the m...

(User review provided by Insider Pages)
Good Veggie Pho
September 08, 2009
(4.0 / 5 stars)

good quality food and service.

Pros: food
Cons: ambiance
(User review provided by Citysearch)
Decent soup, rude service, bizarre atmosphere
November 06, 2008
(2.0 / 5 stars)

As my headline suggests, you may go here on a rainy night, thinking that you'll find sanctuary from the cold and damp and get some nice, hot soup to warm your belly. And you'd be right.

In the meantime, however, you have to put up with being waited on by any number of different people (so, I ask, where does my tip go?), one of whom may rush up to your table, demand that you move to a different one to make way for a larger group, and then ask what you ordered, grabbing it from the bewildered server and plopping it down in front of you as if hoping you'll eat and leave as soon as possible, because you've decided, in order to preserve your dignity, not to budge at all.

If you still have any stomach left for eating, it probably won't last long, because really bad pop music blares from the speakers (indoors and out) at an earsplitting volume, while harsh lighting glares down at you from the ceiling, preparing you for the interrogation that'll soon follow the drilling you just received. Or so you believe.

I recommend going elsewhere. There must be peaceful places to have soup in Seattle, no? Pho Cyclo provides mostly light and noise pollution.

Pros: Food
Cons: Everything else
(User review provided by Citysearch)
Best Tofu Curry in town~
June 27, 2008
(5.0 / 5 stars)

Upon visiting Seattle, we were walking along Broadway and came across the Pho Cyclo Cafe and decided to try it out. Excellent atmosphere for warm evenings, as the front side of the building is made up of large sliding doors/windows that can be opened to create an al fresco dining experience.
The food was amazing ~ I had one of their specials, the tofu curry, it it was so good that we went back twice more that week because I couldn't get enough of it! Excellent. However, would not recommend the Vegetarian Pho - apparently some things just can't be recreated well without meat. =(
But all of the rice and noodle dishes we tried were excellent, and the prices were amazing to boot. Dinner for under $20 for two of us - amazing all around.
Go try it out! But beware - you might become their most loyal customer. The food does that to you!

Pros: The food, the building, the location. All excellent. Especially the food.
Cons: Sometimes wait staff took a while to come around and refill water. But not a big deal.
(User review provided by Citysearch)
Go somewhere else for pho
April 11, 2008
(2.0 / 5 stars)

Though I haven't tried any other types of cuisine at Pho Cyclo, I wouldn't recommend their pho. The taste is bland. They put broccoli, cauliflower, and carrots in their non-meat pho (inauthentic if you ask me) and the meat is cut very thick. Also, it's expensive in comparison to the millions of other pho shops in Seattle.

(User review provided by Citysearch)
Great food, bad service
February 24, 2008
(4.0 / 5 stars)

By far the best pho on broadway, and maybe, the city. Wait-staff is very inattentive, but usually fast in bringing the food out. Might get 5 stars if it was always constantly great, though sometimes the veggies are close to wilted. I'd have to take away more stars for the music they used to play, it's really bad and really loud, but they seem to have toned it down lately...

(User review provided by Citysearch)
Hair on the food and worst customer service!!
November 12, 2007
(1.0 / 5 stars)

Right away we got there we see a lot of opening seats and they told us if we can wait 10 mins.
When I got my food I saw that there was hair on my food! I ask for a manager and she took the plate and said she will get a new plate for me. That time I already lost my appetite!! I got my new plate and very carefully eating my food and when I took a spoonfull of rice there's another HAIR on my food!!! Their customer service were not doing so well, we have to get their attention to get a glass of water or napkins etc. Me and my family likes to go to Pho Hoa restaurants and unfortunately this experience that I had in that restaurant turned me off to go any other Pho Hoa restaurants.

(User review provided by Citysearch)
Mediocre food, poor service
August 07, 2007
(1.0 / 5 stars)

There are a lot of Pho places in Seattle. Pho Cyclo is not the best, but it is one of the most expensive. I've eaten there a lot because of convenience, but the service is terrible and the dishes aren't very good. Any number of places in the ID do a better job of both. I had a recent experience that convinced me not to go there even for convenience. I went there with a friend who have a severe onion allergy. She asked for her food without onions and the waitress confirmed the order. When the food came it was smothered in onions. Mistakes happen, so my friend pointed out the error, explained why she wanted the food with no onions, and sent the dish back. Minutes later it came back with some of the onions picked off the surface but otherwise filled with onions. I have no problem with a restaurant refusing to modify its dishes, and I know mistakes sometimes happen, but this was positively malicious.

Pros: convenient
Cons: food, service
(User review provided by Citysearch)
Worst Customer Service and food
May 21, 2007
(1.0 / 5 stars)

Customer service was the worst. People who work there were stealing money from us! They didn't know how to calculate and blamed it on the customers that we did not give them right amount of money. What kind of service was that? I have never had any restaurant telling me that I was a liar. They also believed that thier people were right and whatever customers said were wrong! Doesn't it say that customer always come first. Obviously, this restaurant does not have one!! Also, one time, 2 of my friends bought some soup from their restaurant and they ended up throwing up afterward. I don' recommend anyone to go there...but if u want to get rib off or go to hospital afterward than try it !!

(User review provided by Citysearch)
best pho on broadway
February 28, 2007
(3.0 / 5 stars)

Than Brother's free cream puffs is a tough deal to beat, but I've really come to love Pho Cyclo. Great selection of normal and weird meats (for the novice and "master" Pho eater), and what looks like a superior selection of other Vietnamese dishes (I wouldn't know, though, b/c I rarely venture far from my Pho bowl with soft tendon, tripe, fatty flank, sweet basil, brisket... yummy). And the 3D decorations on the walls are very trippy after your second Sapporo.

Pros: Great Pho!
Cons: Don't have free cream puffs?
(User review provided by Citysearch)
1 to 10 of 16 reviews | Go to Page 1 2
Save Money:

Takeout lunch specials are offered during the week.

What to Drink:

Try a bubble tea, which come in flavors from honeydew to taro.

RECOMMENDED BY
THE DETAILS
Category:
Restaurant
Cuisine:
Noodle Shop, Vietnamese
Features:
Lunch Spot, Cheap Eats
Prices:
$
Payment:
Visa, MasterCard
Serving 2 neighborhoods:
Broadway, Capitol Hill
GEOBLOGS
By Alex Sum on 07/01/09 04:02 PM

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