Last Sunday, when we heard that Pho Hoa at Tomas Morato already reopened after major renovation, we eagerly trooped to have an early dinner after hearing mass. Pho Hoa is one of my family's favorite restos in the area, well majority of us anyway.
As our vehicle approached the place, we noticed that at the corner stood Congo Grill, in the place where Don Henrico's used to be. Beside it is Pho Hoa, in its old location.
The newly renovated Pho Hoa seemed well-lit and clean from outside. It even looked a bit sosyal, my sister said. I immediately regretted not bringing a jacket, predicting that it would be quite cold inside. It was, after all, just renovated.
When we entered the resto, we weren't greeted by the cold air I was expecting. It might even be warm for some people. But we didn't really mind. In fact, we've experienced warmer temps in the old Pho Hoa where the airconditioning was oftentimes not enough. After being directed to a table, we sat down and surveyed the place.
There was a definite improvement. The counter was bigger and more visible. The tables were spaced further apart. The downside is that the seating capacity seemed less than before, which could be bad news for Pho Hoa patrons. Prior to renovation, we've had to wait for seats on occasion. And on one instance, just left after waiting by the door, unable to get any waiter's attention. But that was more because of the poor service than the lack of seats.
As we looked around, we spotted flies going about but paid no mind. We noticed the lack of air curtain, which might have prevented flies entering everytime the door opened. However, this became an issue when our food was served. It's hard to enjoy the food when you have to be on the lookout for flies while eating. The proverbial straw really was the fly in my glass of water, which came to my attention after just taking a drink. In the waiter's defense, we knew the fly wasn't there when the water was served. It probably just fell into my glass. So we didn't make a fuss and just told him about our issue with the flies and our suggestion for the owner. But I felt queasy, not knowing if the fly fell into my glass before or after I took one last sip. My sister voiced out my exact thoughts. "We are so not coming back here."
The old Pho Hoa had its share of problems, poor service at times, airconditioner not functioning properly. Despite the problems, we always went back because we loved the food. You could say that we were loyal patrons. But loyalty has a limit, and until the fly problem of the new Pho Hoa is solved, we would just have to be loyal patrons someplace else.
