May Hong

There is a saying about bad pizza, that there is no such thing as bad pizza. Is there such a thing as bad pho? I used to think that like pizza there was no such thing as bad pho, but I was proven wrong the other day. Pho is a beef noodle soup that is a Vietnamese dish that is one of my favorite meals. I recently read something in a local publication about May Hong and how it is one of the few Vietnamese restaurants in the heights. I did not recall eating there in years and my family does not go there or talk about it. I found out why on my recent visit. May Hong is located in a strip mall off of Eubank and Montgomery. The restaurant is a hole in the wall kind of place. There are old booths with some tables in the center. The restaurant can probably accommodate about 50 people at a time.

I feel that the key to a good pho is good broth. The broth is the back bone of pho. A good broth had layers of flavor like sweetness from the sugar, to the spices from the spice bag that is boiled with your pot of beef bones for a few hours. This pho broth was beef broth at best. Pho is supposed to be greater than the sum of it's parts, but the sum of the parts did not equal anything good. I ordered the Pho Dac Biet which is supposed to have several cuts of beef including tripe, brisket, and rare beef. I did not get the tripe. The staff was not attentive at all to refill my water or answer my question, and I had the lunch time constraint. I ate the bad pho. When I was able to flag someone down about the pho they informed me that they do not carry tripe or tendon. So thirsty from my one small glass of water and unsatisfied with my bad bowl of pho I left May Hong with $8 or $9 less + tip. May Hong will not do in a Vietnamese food pinch unless you can tolerate the watered down beef broth, bad ambiance, and inattentive service. I would give May Hong a rating of one out of five stars.