You don’t usually walk into a pho shop expecting the service to be the part you remember.
But that is exactly what happened when we stumbled into Pho 19, the modern Vietnamese spot that quietly opened last week across from CF Richmond Centre.
It sits in the Paramount building, the same stretch beside Lao Shan Dong.
Now it is open and we went in anonymously to see what was actually on the plate.
Walking in, we got a genuinely warm greeting from the staff.
The room is modern and calmer than the old-school pho shops nearby, with soft green walls, plenty of seating, and framed black-and-white street scenes of Vietnam.
We asked the staff what to order, and they pointed straight to the Beef Rib Noodle Soup, the one starred house special on the menu at $20.95.
The rest of the menu is exactly what you would expect from a pho spot, which is not a knock.
Spring rolls, banh mi, the usual run of pho, rice plates, and Vietnamese coffee, with no real curveballs.
Pricing lands competitive with the older hole-in-the-wall pho around the block, which is worth noting given how freshly renovated this room feels.
We got the Beef Rib Noodle Soup and an iced Vietnamese coffee, which is our default test order anywhere.
The coffee surprised us, and not in the way we wanted.
It arrived pre-poured, just a cold glass set down ready to drink, with none of the slow drip through a metal phin filter that the mom-and-pop shops still make you wait for.
I mean, their menu literally has that filter shown on there too…
The Beef Rib Noodle Soup looked the part, with three large ribs sitting up out of the broth.
The problem was the meat, or the lack of it, because once you dug in there was not much to actually pull off the bone, which was a letdown on a $20 bowl.
The noodles and broth themselves were standard and fine, not overly salty and warming, but nothing that lingered after the last spoonful.
So the food did not blow us away.
The service, though, was ACTUALLY above and beyond.
You usually walk into a pho shop with zero expectations on that front, but the one staffer who served us made the whole visit noticeably more pleasant.
That is RARE enough at a casual noodle spot to be the thing worth calling out.
Pho 19 joins a wave of recent Richmond openings like Chung Chun, Unique Bakery at Union Square, and Yummy Rice Roll.
For more new and upcoming food spots in Metro Vancouver, take a peek at our tracker here, and subscribe to our weekly newsletter here.
Address: 6386 No. 3 Road #190, Richmond, BC