Fresh Off the Bowl review

What the pho? This place wasn't too good. A friend and I dined here on a chilly Sunday night. It was freezing so we decided upon something warm after having coffee at Fioza. We had no plans on having dinner out.. but got hungry after having a nice chat at the nearby cafe. Came here upon convenience and it was quiet and empty inside. It's supposed to be a Vietnamese cafe.. yet we didn't see any Vietnamese chefs nor customers inside. I mean.. this gave away an unauthentic feel. My friend and I ordered the "skinny pho", which means you get a smaller bowl. By "skinny" they meant "skimpy".. we barely had any meat in our pho. My friend got up and paid an extra two dollars to have more meat in our soup. They used grilled chicken in my pho ga, which gave a dry feel and texture. This is the kind of chicken you'd have in the vermicelli bowl.. not the pho! The broth was lacking in the typical soothing and deep flavors you'd find in pho. The notes of Vietnamese cinnamon and star anise were lacking. We mostly tasted garlic in our broth. Adding condiments and peppers only masked away the flavor that we tried to get from our meal. The fried crab wontons were nice and crisp. They were better than our main meals. A few customers dropped by to pick-up their to-go orders. The staff started cleaning midway our meal. We finished our meal promptly and left. This place caters to the bland palette. I doubt I'll be dropping by anytime soon. We have a great selection of Vietnamese cafes in Houston and this one in particular isn't one of them.