Pho Pasteur on Rubber Ave in Naugatuck just opened, maybe last weekend or the weekend before. I have been dying to give it a shot and only found one restaurant review online that made it seem decent so we gave it a shot.
I gave Pho extra room to make mistakes since they just recently opened. There is always a learning curve. However, I wanted to jump into that kitchen and help out or start waiting tables because it was a DISASTER!
When we arrived at about 7 pm on a Friday there were 2 other tables. The owner was on the phone and did not tell us to have a seat for a good 5 minutes. After that, we sat without drinks for another 10 minutes before he came over and poured us some tea that smelled and tasted like flowers. He asked us to order from the menu by number and when we had questions like "Do you have egg rolls" it was hard to communicate with him. However, we did get egg rolls, and the filling was very tasty but you could tell they were precooked and then reheated. They were barely warm.
Then the food took forever to come out (at least 40 minutes and we only ordered soup!) My meal was shrimp and yellow noodles. The dish had some meat looking stuff in it, that kind of looked like bologna or some sort of loaf that had been fried and thrown into a light broth with romaine lettuce, seared garlic, scallions, small overcooked shrimp, and egg noodles that were barely cooked and stuck together in a giant clump. My meal came with a side of bean sprouts which were very fresh as well as a fresh slice of lime and a few slices of jalepeno. That was the best part of the meal!
My husband ordered white thin noodles with pork and shrimp which he was relatively happy with. He ate all my "meat-looking stuff" that I tasted and could not eat. I was highly unsatisfied with the meal and though the prices were decent ($7.99 for anything small and $8.99 for anything large--what is the point of that???) I would not go back again for the food.
We actually saw someone we knew come in and had him sit and eat with us since he was alone. He said this was his 6th time coming back even though every time he came in there were mistakes, the food took forever to come out, he never got what he ordered, and the food was sub par. He stated he was a glutton for punishment. I'd have to agree.
