Pho Tay Do

I have been very pleased with the food here and also the excellent Vietnamese Style Iced Coffee with Sweetened Condensed Milk.
The restaurant itself is in a small house and is very unusual inside with it’s décor. Quirky, I would say.
Any dishes I have had with the grilled pork have been great. The pork is very flavorful, tender and is truly grilled, not put on a griddle.
The rice vermicelli bowls have lots of fresh vegetables too — bean sprouts, cucumber, scallions, basil, carrots, lettuce, along with crushed peanuts and a very tasty sauce to pour over the noodles.
The broken rice with grilled pork is very good as well but does not include as many vegetables. It is served with a cucumber and tomato slice and a few pickled carrots. It is good though if you are in the mood for a broken rice dish.
The Phở has a broth with good depth of flavor with many options to choose from for a protein — eye of round steak, well-​done brisket, fat brisket, soft tendon, well-​done flank, skirt steak, bible tripe, and meat balls. The Phở is accompanied by Thai basil, bean sprouts, sliced jalapeño, and lime wedges to add as you wish.
The Vietnamese Style Iced Coffee with Condensed Milk is the best that I have found being served in Richmond. They use Café Bustelo brand espresso coffee for this.
There are many items to choose from on the menu, and I look forward to trying more. I just try to overlook the sexist décor, which is in abundance.

First of all, bring cash. They only accept CASH.
Did I mention you should bring cash? Oh I didn’t?
Okay.
MAKE SURE, IF YOU GO THERE, YOU BRING CASH!
Okay. Now that I’ve gotten that out the way…
The food was fine, I ordered rice vermicelli, with pork. It was seasoned well, full of fresh vegetables, the whole entire 9. The only reason why I gave three stars, is because the noodles were cold. Maybe, I’ve been spoiled at So Phở 1… because their rice vermicelli is usually hot. Although I was slightly disappointed, I’ll just assume that everywhere has their own twist on the dish; and they just so happen to serve theirs cold. Luckily, the flavor compensated for it’s lack of hot noodles. I also tried the rice paper, but I wasn’t feeling the pork skin inside. To each it’s own.
I love that the restaurant resembles a small home, it makes you feel like you’re visiting your favorite aunt’s house that can cook or something. Nice and quaint. The people that work there are friendly. Overall, it was a nice experience.
P.S.
Bring Cash.

This place is literally in a little house on the back roads off horsepen road. I came here with a few friends for a mini reunion and upon entering the establishment, we saw that it was busy. They asked us how many people it would be and we told them 7. They sat us in the back at two separate tables and were told we could not put them together which I am understand.
It did not take long for them to take our orders and bring our drinks. The food was great, I ordered their phở and it was decent. Their broth is delicious and very savory. The portions are fairly decent for what you pay. All in all, I would definitely come back again.

This place is absolutely amazing! In an area that has plenty of options for phở, they stand out for me. It’s a small little restaurant so don’t be discouraged from entering by looking outside; inside is clean and well decorated.
They have plenty of options and have both rice dishes as well as phở. They also have Viet coffee (both black or with condensed milk) and both of them are really good! Black is robust and strong flavors. With condensed makes it a delicious desert.
The biggest difference for me was the prices what you receive. The bowls are cheaper overall. Costs $ 7 for a large bowl while other restaurants charge $ 8+. They also have an extra large bowl (almost the size of 2 large bowls) for $ 11 and I really appreciate that option because when I order large bowls at other places, I need to order a second because I just don’t feel full.
Also, the staff is very friendly and are patient to help you order if you’re new to eating phở or Viet food. An older couple was there while I was dinning and the waitress helped explain almost every dish, how to eat it certain meals, and some of the flavor profiles.
Be wary: BRING CASH! I missed that in the tips section and almost didn’t have enough to pay for it. Also, the price you see on the menu is the price you’ll pay up front, so no need to calculate any tax.

Excellent, friendly, and fast service. Don’t let the outside fool you, this place was an excellent find. Food is very quick to come out and very well prepared. Cash only, but prices are very reasonable. Highly recommended.

This place is a total hole in the wall. It’s a small house in a residential neighborhood that just happens to serve delicious food. Totally bizarre.
I was in Richmond for work and felt like I was getting sick. Naturally, I looked for Phở on Unilocal,and Phở Tay Do came up as close to the hotel and delicious. And it was. I had a brisket and strip steak phở, and it was so amazing.
BE AWARE: you will really stink when you leave here. You will smell so bad. I couldn’t get the smell out of my hair. I bet my coworkers really appreciated that.
The decorations are amazing, also. Not the cleanest place I’ve been, but no one got sick from eating there when I went.

I ordered the tai phở (rare steak) and it was okay. The grilled bbq pork/​egg roll with vermicelli was also ordered, and the pork was fatty (granted some people like it this way, but not me).
The prices were great — lower than other places in RVA. Downside, they only take cash and this is a pain for me as I never carry cash. However, there is a 7 – 11 nearby should you need to grab cash.
The atmosphere is def reason to visit — almost life size wooden cutouts of busty ladies, painted murals, and other interesting décor. The staff is very friendly and nice! I will probably go back again to try other dishes and to enjoy the funky décor. It would be a fun super casual date night joint.
Cheers!

We visited this place due to the recommendations of Unilocalers. Our visit here was out of the way due to traffic delays, but we were so disappointed (in my opinion) by the poor representation of good Vietnamese food.
For one, we had Vietnamese coffee… somehow it was the most diluted Vietnamese coffee I have had, and I could not finished half of it.
The shrimp and pork spring rolls contained pork that does not taste fresh. The sauce that came with it was not authentic and had an odd flavor… I could not bring myself to eat it. We had to make our own sauce. The hot Sriracha sauce on our table was so old and runny we had to get another bottle from another table. When we start looking at the table closely, it was dirty and was in need of a good clean up. I hope my experience was an anomaly and not the norm for Vietnamese food sake.
The Phở Dac Biet was alright but left us wanting something better. They did give us a good amount of fresh herbs with the phở.
On a brighter note, we do love the tacky decorum that make this place look authentically Vietnamese.

I love this place! Their Phở is the closest to homemade phở to me. The only downside is you have to bring cash but I am ok with it. I make sure I bring cash with me every time I go. I would never eat phở at another place except for this place.