Don’t Miss The Dumpling Station at Pho Good Time
The Dilworth restaurant offers pan-Asian dishes in a fresh setting
When a restaurant is called Pho Good Time, you’d expect pho to be the main attraction. While the Vietnamese noodle soup here is solid (and simmered for more than 10 hours), the dumpling station takes center stage. You’ll see it straight ahead when you enter the restaurant, which opened in Dilworth’s Park Square shopping center in October. Behind a window, a woman meticulously kneads the dough, mixes the filling, and seals each dumpling before she takes them back to the kitchen to be steamed or pan-fried.
In Chinese culture, dumplings represent wealth and prosperity. They’re traditionally eaten during Lunar New Year and can be filled with a variety of ingredients, such as meat, vegetables, seafood, or tofu. Pho is equally customizable—and comforting on a cold winter night—and the warm, aromatic broth tastes more complex than a tomato bisque or chicken noodle soup. But the dumplings just feel more celebratory.
Order the Rainbow Dumpling Set, and you’ll get a bamboo steamer full of neatly folded pouches that are color-coded with natural dye, so you know which flavor you’re about to eat. A dish like this feels special, even if you’re not celebrating a special occasion.
The 4,000-square-foot interior bears no resemblance to Fat Cat Burgers + Bakeshop, the space’s previous tenant. The formerly red walls are now light and bright, with recessed, linear lighting along the ceiling and glowing arched alcoves that give it a futuristic feel. The old wooden bar is now tiled in sleek, turquoise porcelain, and pops of greenery decorate the dining room.
The front dining area gives you a view of the flat-screen TVs above the bar, while the back room is a bit quieter, with additional two- and four-top tables and semicircle booths. The pet-friendly patio has more seating and heat lamps for the cold months.
The boba and fruit tea menu, which is also displayed beside the pastry case at the entrance, has colored images of each beverage to help if you’re not sure what’s what. Each one is served cold, and the milk-based tea drinks have boba—chewy, bite-sized tapioca pearls—at the bottom. The Taro Milk Tea ($6.50) is a sweet, creamy drink made with taro root that gives it its purple hue. The Green Apple Slushy ($6.50) is cool, refreshing, and practically glows in its highball glass.
Thai Chicken Wings with a Green Apple Slushy
Adult beverages include the Tito’s Matcha Mule ($13), a fun twist on the classic vodka-based cocktail with matcha green tea syrup, and the Viet-Tini ($15), which is like an espresso martini with Vietnamese coffee. They’ve also got wine by the glass or bottle, as well as a mix of domestic and imported beers.
The menu incorporates a range of pan-Asian appetizers like Chicken Satay Skewers ($7.95), Veggie Spring Rolls ($6.95), and Thai Chicken Wings ($9.95). But it’s best to start with the dumplings. They’re all made to order and can be pan-fried or steamed. If you have kids, let them go to the window and watch their dumplings being prepared. It’s splendid entertainment for them—and might even offer you a few uninterrupted moments to enjoy your beverage.
The Chicken ($11.95), Vegetable ($11.95), and Beef Dumplings ($12.95) each come six to an order and arrive with impressive speed. The Pan Fried Sesame Bao ($11.95) includes four pan-fried bao dumplings topped with sesame seeds—just don’t wait too long to put this order in, as it has a 15-to-20-minute wait time.
Pho Bo Vien is a meatball dish served with bean sprouts, chiles, and lime wedges.
Pho comes in 11 varieties, and each one has a base of slow-cooked broth with herbs, bean sprouts, chiles, and limes. Pho Nam ($15.95) is made with hearty beef brisket, Pho Bo Vien ($15.95) with meatballs, and Pho Hai San ($16.95) with shrimp, crab stick, fish meatballs, and squid.
Other fusion dishes include Sesame Chicken ($15.95), General Tso’s Chicken ($15.95), and Taiwanese Style Fried Noodles ($17.95), sauteed with chicken, shrimp, basil, jalapeños, carrots, scallions, cabbage, and topped with a squeeze of lime juice. This isn’t boundary-pushing food, but these dishes are familiar and comforting if you love sweet and savory sauces and large, shareable portions.
Pho Good Time could have easily sidestepped dessert and served stale fortune cookies alongside the check, but they have a surprisingly good lineup. The Ube Cheesecake ($10) has the creamy, tangy taste of cheesecake with the sweet, nutty flavor of ube, a purple yam that’s often used in Filipino cuisine. The Turtle Cheesecake ($12) and Lemon Berry Mascarpone Cake ($12) don’t have Asian origins, but a good dessert is still a good dessert—and a sweet finale is always satisfying after an umami-rich meal.
2410 Park Road
HOURS:
11 a.m.-9:30 p.m., Sunday-Thursday
11 a.m.-10:30 p.m., Friday-Saturday
KNOW BEFORE YOU GO:
If you just need a caffeine bump, you can walk in and order boba tea at the counter.
