PhoNatic

It’s not the worst or the best phở place in Austin. If you have a craving for phở but can’t drive yourself to Houston or north Austin to Phở Saigon, then PhoNatic could probably satisfy your craving.
They’ve changed their menus several times– it went from a traditional vietnamese menu, to «build your own phở» menu, to now a very simple and basic american style menu.
Service is really lacking and hit or miss. The young waitstaff can be lazy and/​or unfriendly at times. Tables are left messy for long periods of time, while I see the staff standing behind the counter chatting away instead of working. They often times do not come back to check on you once you’ve been seated and your food has been brought to you.
It’s definitely american style phở, which is 1) clean 2) close to my house 3) affordable 4) easy.

Great photo place on the south side of Austin. Really clean, and they had some really unique creations. We ordered the «212» phở with everything on it as well as about bahn mi sliders. The slightest way up at lukewarm and could’ve been heated up a little longer. Everything tasted great now and I would definitely come back again when I’m on this side of town.

I can’t…
I have tried to overlook the negatives with this place and it isnt worth it.
Generally they just screw up my order. But not tonight. Tonight was special.
See…
On the last occasional mishap, the manager, Nicole, told me to ask for her next time I came in and of course she wasn’t there tonight.
You would think the staff would pay special consideration to someone asking for their manager. But no. When I asked the server to double check my order he said smugly «it’s all there». All fine and dandy, considering that the service is always horrible. I know what to expect when I walk in. Tonight however was a pure gem. Alas, a hair in our spring rolls.
Horrible service. Sorry portions, and you get hairs in your spring rolls.
I have really really really tried hard to enjoy this place and it just isn’t going anywhere.
I would recomend Phở Thaison in the same complex.
It’s authentic. The food is clean. They want your business and they dont serve hair.

Lots of soup, phở ga is not salty, fried egg rolls were good. Ok portion of the side bean sprouts and basil leaves. Will come back. Son liked the Kid phở ga (chicken soup)

Unilocalers have been haunting PhoNatic for years, but no matter — I am glad to be ‘better late than never’ to the phở party. With their new location of PhoNatic being close to the house here in Southpark Meadows, I found myself here and hungry on two recent occasions.
On my second visit to this store, I arrived with the fam about 30 minutes before closing — and the store manager greeted us with a big smile regardless. For me, this is HUGE in making a good first impression — especially because the manager was not only friendly, but she was willing to help us to narrow down all the choices into a quick meal. This was appreciated, as she and her crew were already in the process of cleaning the store and prepping for the next day.
On the menu, it seems like they have a little something for everyone and at various price points FTW. This is a big deal for us, as my family likes a variety of items here;
— Myself; I found the 212 Bowl to be satisfying with plenty of meat, broth and fresh veggies and noodles. I also enjoyed being able to add more jalapenos, cilantro and sprouts from the condiment bar to round out this huge bowl.
— Son; Banh mi sliders were good sized and are meal-​sized with 2 pc on a plate. While he crushed these quickly (well, he is 14 now…), he was very happy with the portion size and taste (he adds Sriracha to everything… lol). I had these on my previous stop in here and they are great!
— Daughter; Spring rolls with shrimp and peanut sauce is her standard and these (while all spring rolls need more shrimp) did not disappoint.
In summary, this is refresingly fresh, fast and affordable food that satisfies a variety of palets, so — we WILL be baaaaack!

I used to eat here quite frequently. After a recent menu change, I was quite dissatisfied. You used to be able to do a Build Your Own phở, and I loved it. Now there is a set menu and any changes or add on is an additional charge. This would all be fine if the food was good, but it was the worst bowl of phở I have ever eaten. I will not be returning.

First let me start by saying that Phonatic has some great food. I started eating here 2 years ago when they opened. Shortly after, they changed their menu and offered less food for more money. Example, their bahn mi sliders were 3 for 5.95 and then changed to 2 for 5.95. They also started offering only 1 size bowl. I recently went back and they changed the menu again which jacked the price up at least $ 1 for each thing. This is absolutely ridiculous. Since seeing that, I haven’t been back and have started going to other phở places that don’t take advantage of their loyal customers.

Profits over quality is abundantly clear at I-​35 location of PhoNatic.
Gave it one more shot, as the previous visit was followed up by science experiments on how to remove a metallic taste out of my mouth.
As soon as you walk in, you are immediately greeted by a faint odor that doesn’t exactly invite you to a good meal. There’s a common (bad) smell that a lot of Asian cuisine establishments have that is definitively recognizable. Hard to characterize, other than it smelled like a bucket full of used rags. Probably the same rags used to wipe down tables and rarely washed. To be fair though, I’ve done the same thing at home, used a rag to twice wipe my table without washing it. Good thing I’m not held to the same cleanliness rules that restaurants do. Restaurants like PhoNatic.
Ok, so smell aside. Let’s talk customer service. Hiring people who obviously don’t have any pride in being there really permeates throughout every aspect of the customer experience — from the greeting, to the product, to the environment. All of the above things I exchange money for. As a business-​minded person, I get it, minimize overhead to obtain maximum profits. Especially as things get tough, have to watch your bottom dollar. Well, the net effect when you either cut too much, or simply have lost track of the vision and passion of why you started this restaurant is a product and customer experience that is poor.
Lastly, ok, we’ve all been to some amazingly delicious restaurants with rude staff, questionable cleanliness, but the food is absolutely wonderful. Yeah, sorry, fail on the food portion as well. Seriously, who do you have cooking back there? We got the 212 — isn’t this your crowning classic? The last time we had it, it tasted like someone pranked your kitchen and swapped every single ingredient with salt. Including the salt.
This time the broth wasn’t as ready to dissolve snow, but it was on the other end of the spectrum. It tasted like it someone missed a step in their phở recipe. Probably found on Google. Maybe you were out of printer ink (DARN YOU MAGENTA) the day they printed it, and it was missing some ingredients. Or maybe the bucket-​o-​rags smell was actually the phở broth.
So, to the owner, or other involved party:
A) Don’t confuse two hands, a heartbeat, and previous experience flipping burgers as ability to cook delicious Vietnamese food.
B) Hire some people who take pride in their work. Or have better sense of smell. Think about it, there’s a correlation there if you try hard enough.
Either way, best of luck should you continue to stay in business; plenty of suckers and limited people who probably are still raving about your… food?

Yum!!! I love the variety Phonatic offers! Every time we go, we are never disappointed! Great place to eat before a movie and very quick too. There’s usually not much of a wait unless it’s Friday or Saturday night. Every bowl is filling and you can add more toppings at their self serve condiment bar. Check it out for yourself! :)

This place used to be fairly good, but now it is horrible. We would always order the pork vermicelli. Every time we ordered it, it would be a little different. The portions would also be different, but that was bearable because it was really the only place to get decent vermicelli close by.
But this last time was our last time visiting this restaurant. The pork was over tenderized and had a bunch of sweet sauce that ruined it all. All you could taste was this new nasty sauce. We seriously had to go to Smash Burger next-​door just to get the nasty taste out of our mouth’s. They are owned by Phở Saigon on north Lamar, but you can’t tell. The food taste NOTHING alike. The food taste like a couple suburban kids from Wyoming decided to open up a Vietnamese restaurant and are like «hey, let’s put some of this in there!» NO! Don’t waste your money.

I am editing a previous review after the owner of the business reached out and corrected a customer service concern. I respect a company who listens to their customers and tries to make it right.
The food is good and probably the best in South Austin. The only reason I did not change it to 5 stars is because it is also very expensive compared to what you pay at most other Vietnamese restaurants.

I’d say the best bowl of phở that you can get on the south side of town. I got 4 bowls to-​go today and my whole family loved it! They have great customer service. The location is clean and modern. The to go bags were thoughtfully packed with all the utensils, sauces and other essentials (Thai basil, lime, sprouts, jalapeños, etc.)
We will definitely be back!

My go-​to place for fast phở. They have enough variety to keep it interesting. The food here is reasonably priced, filling and flavorful. This isn’t someplace I would go for a romantic meal but for a quick lunch it’s perfect. I also recommend the spring rolls in peanut sauce and the vermicelli bowls.
The only negative is that they have coke products in the fountain machines. I wish they would change over to natural sugar sodas.

I love phở but this place was a huge disappointment. I’ve always ranted to my mother about how awesome phở is. I suppose it was my mistake to take her to a chain for her first experience. I order the flank phở and she orders the chicken and soft tenderloin phở. My phở was decent. Nothing special. Her phở had only some shreds of meat. Hardly worth $ 8. I tell her to go and ask them to add more. So she goes up to the counter and tells the cashier that there isn’t really any meat in it. His response to her was that she should have asked for more meat when she first ordered. Seriously? He tells her he will take it to her so she walks back with her bowl. He brings it to her with an attitude problem.
I was disappointed that this had to be the first phở experience for my mom. And ashamed that that guy works there. I won’t be back and I won’t recommend this place to anyone ever.

Looking at other reviews, I may be the beneficiary if they sprang on good ingredients. Let’s hope it (and my 1^st time visit bliss) lasts!
The place is unassuming when you walk in, lots of standard seating (most of it tables for two) with big illuminated menus hanging in the incoming-​customer-​chute entrance to the registers. There were more families with grandmas and well-​behaved tots than there were packs of teens; the rest of the crowd looked mid-​twenties. Calm and casual.
I’m the just-​jump-​in-​type, or at least I was this 4^th of July, so on first skim of the menu I knew I wanted 212 phở for me and banh mi sliders for the table while my friends had to read every line of the screen. Found chocolate Pocky sticks at the end of the chute, reviving a near-​forgotten addiction and grabbed two boxes. Tiny shot bottles of drink-​only-​in-​an-​emergency-​quality wine (perhaps Sutter Home?) on display at the register so I ask for Chardonnay and a white bean coconut drink. My phở, cookies, two drinks and a $ 2 tip on my card totaled $ 25 which seemed a bit steeper than I expected when we chose the place.
My phở came out immediately and looked tauntingly delicious as we waited for the other orders to arrive (we did all order at the same time). It took a few minutes before two plates of sliders came out and all three of us could dig in together, with the remaining phở bowls arriving after.
The 212 bowl was full of astonishing satiny ribbons of beef, no gristle to be found but all thin and tender and perfect. Three fingers wide and long as my forearm! Plenty of basil, lime, sprouts, jalapenos on the side and of course I put it all in. Copious, beautiful noodles – in the midst of this feast I actually found time to covet the other bowls’ egg noodles, they looked so good. On friend commented on the good quality of her shrimp.
Spring rolls were the size of newborn puppies, not the little taquitos to which I’m accustomed, with crispy veg and good peanut sauce. Found no gristle here, either.
Banh mi sliders are tasty on palm-​sized steamed rounds. I’m a Tam’s woman at heart and prefer the traditional crusty French bread, but can honestly tell you these were tasty, beautifully presented, and I would be proud to offer these to any meat-​eater. The 2pc plate is a meal in itself.
All in all? Delicious. A little pricier than I expected, but we got good meat and the portions were generous. Outside of having the meal brought to your table, it is self service although the dude was helpful when I asked for another soup spoon. At Tam’s I pay less and get more service but if I choose this place I’m saving 30 minutes drive and have more elbow room. Notice I didn’t even mention Tam’s cream puffs? I’m trying to be fair here :)

First here and I’m a fan
Will be back to explore more of the menu
Sliders are worth your try. And the tofu is very good
Thai iced tea i wasn’t that impressed with, but I loved being able to serve my own garnishments.

Well I wanted to take my older sister to eat Vietnamese food for her first time and was browsing through Unilocal and found this place.
After reading through reviews and looking at pictures I figured we couldn’t go wrong. Sad to say I was quite disappointed! When we first walked in it did smell great so I really thought it was going to be great! My sister wasn’t in the mood for «soup» she called it lol. Since I had Phở the day before from another place up north I was okay with skipping it.
She didn’t want anything spicy and we decided to share so I figured I could just spice my half up of whatever we decided to get. We ordered the build your own dish with vermicelli and the grilled fish which was a dollar extra for fish as the protein, which I didn’t feel it was worth at all.
Since it was her first time to ever have Vietnamese food I had to order spring rolls so she could get the whole experience. I ordered the shrimp and pork roll. The shrimp tasted very fishy and the roll just didn’t have that yummy taste like freshness in your mouth like every other spring roll I’ve ever had. Neither one of us even finished our roll!
The dish was so bland and flavorless I felt terrible for my sister trying to eat it with no spice added.
Not only was the food a let down but it was $ 18 for one dish and two spring rolls! I’m so glad we decided to split something! Maybe their phobia better but I won’t be back.

I like PhoNatic for a number of reasons, the main one being the consistent quality of the food, and also that its close to my house. Its not fast food but is always made to order and tasty.
I switch back and forth between rice and noodle dishes here but both are always good. My favorite topping is the grilled pork, which is savory and goes great with either.
They also have a cool little topping bar where you can grab more cilantro, peppers, onions, or sauces. As I always want more than I’m given this is perfect for me.
They also have a good selection of snacks and drinks near the front so if you are hungry for some Pocky, or any number of flavors of bottled tea, they have it waiting for you.
If you are in the SP Meadows shopping center or nearby definitely give this place a try. The staff is helpful and friendly, and the food is good, which makes me want to come back again.

Eh, I won’t be returning any time soon.
Positives: I DID really like the fact that you order at a register and don’t have to wait to be served. I also appreciate that there was a drink/​condiment station. Also, the restaurant was very clean. The menu was easy to figure out. I liked the ‘build your own’ options.
Not-​so-​positives: I ordered the vegetarian phở. I didn’t feel that there were nearly enough veggies. And they skimped on the tofu big time. However, the tofu in my phở was totally nasty and overly fried. So maybe I should be thankful that there wasn’t more.
Maybe I’ll give this place another try. Maybe not.

Sigh, the selection for Vietnamese food in South Austin is so lacking. I do like this place for their wontons. It’s as close to good wonton I can get without driving all the way up north.
I tried their phở the first time I visited. I was not impressed. So now I just get the Wonton egg noddles dish.
Their spring rolls have some crispy thing in it that annoys me, I had it without it and it just wasn’t that good either.
For south Austin, I guess this is average.