Pho Thai is a small restaurant located in a plaza downtown with only a few small rooms: the dining room and the kitchen. When entering, there is a shrine full of old Vietnamese antiques. After passing the antiques, there is a small dining room to which you seat yourself. All the tables were clean and so was the rest of the room. I ordered the pineapple fried rice with shrimp. After ordering, the food was served in less than five minutes. Along with the good service, the food was presented well. The plate consisted of a half pineapple that was hollowed out to be shaped like a bowl. Inside was rice mixed with shrimp and various vegetables. The food tasted even better than its presentation. The rice had a small, but a noticeable taste of pineapple. There was a good balance between rice, shrimp and vegetables. At first glance, $15.99 seems like a lot of money for a meal, but it is a good price for how much food you get. 

Despite all the positive characteristics, there are still a lot of flaws. The restaurant’s location inside the plaza was hard to find, which could be the reason that it was not very busy, and there were not a lot of signs to direct people. The best way to fix this problem would be to make more clear directions. Another downside was the smell. Because of how close the kitchen was to the dining room, there was a strange smell. The only solution to that is to try and drown out the smell with some sort of air freshener. The music was not fitting; there was 2000’s pop playing, which did not fit the setting of the restaurant. One of the bigger issues was that there was a small selection of food to pick from on the menu. There were only soups, rice and noodles with different meats and vegetables added.

Taking into account all the positives and the negatives of the restaurant, the positives definitely outweigh the negatives. With the good-tasting food and the great service, the experience was overall satisfying. Pho Thai is definitely a place I would like to visit again. If I were to give it a rating, I would give it a 7 out of 10. It could get a better score by fixing some of the critiques. If you ever want to eat Vietnamese food, I would recommend Pho Thai.