Than Brothers - Ballard

Adress: 2021 NW Market Street Seattle, WA 98107

Phone: 206-782-5715

Website: http://www.thanbrothers.com

Prices:
Small - 4.35
Medium - 4.75
Large - 5.25
Extra Large - 6.25


Rating: 2

If you ever look at other review websites such as Yelp, people either love or hate Than Brothers. Being the largest chain pho restaurant you can pretty much expect this. Personally, I like somewhere in between.  I have eaten at a few of them and they have decent pho but nothing to rave about. On this trip, though, I did not have the most pleasant experience.  I walked in and the woman behind the counter glanced at me in such a manner that made her look like she was annoyed that I was there and the waiter that came to my table looked very bored.

The food that I ordered did come very fast, but it did not look too good. The condiments plate looked like it was at least two days old and a bit wilted. It only came with one slice of jalapeno which was so thick that it must have been a third of the the pepper. I ordered a medium but when they brought it to my table it looked like I had ordered a small and they decided to add a little broth. In the photo above you may notice that there is a huge slice of tripe half way out of the bowl. Now i realize that most Americans probably don't order the tripe but is it necessary to display it? With all that being said, the soup was actually pretty decent. The meat is tasty but nothing special, the broth is very tasty and the most enjoyable part of the meal.  All orders of pho come with a cream puff and they are delicious.

There are 13 Than Brothers throughout the Seattle area and I do plan on visting them all over time and giving them reviews, but I certainly hope that my experiences will be better than this one. The soup is good enough that I'm not dreading going to another location but since I know there are other great pho places close by, I will probably avoid this one in the future.