I was really surprised at coming into this location of Vinason Pho. Compared to the takeout-only spot I'd seen in South Lake Union, this is a gigantic sports bar type place, with massive tables, a towering screen, and self-order kiosks.
The main thing I had was the short rib pho. I will say, as someone who's not really into pho, ramen, and soup-based dishes - this was pretty solid. The portion size of the bowl is just massive, and this applies to both the broth and the amount of noodles. Sometimes with pho, the amount of noodles end up lacking, but there were really a lot here. I had to remind myself to keep drinking the broth at points.
Another common issue with soup-based dishes is the meat portion, but there actually was a lot of short rib in the bowl. Now, I did think it ended up mostly being overcooked, but since it is so fatty it was still fine to eat - albeit not as good as it could have been.
The broth was salty, clear, and quite flavorful. I really liked it.
We also shared the pho taters, which are just tater tots with mayo and beef on top. The actual tater tots were quite crunchy, but the beef on them was far past overcooked.
The amount of food here was crazy. It's a little on the expensive side, but the tater tots are massive, and the bowl of pho would be difficult to finish for any reasonable person.
Overall, it's a solid place that's definitely better than its other locations. 7.75/10