Pho Luck! Restaurant Grand Opening Review

Hello again, Foodie Friends! We’re taking you on a tour of the Grand opening of Pho Luck! Restaurant in Wellford, SC! 😁🍜🎉 Don’t miss interviews from owner Tony Nguyen, menu breakdowns, and reviews on all the food we ate there this weekend. 🙌

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Tony Nguyen is no stranger to the restaurant industry. He’s been running restaurants in the Upstate since 2012! Pho Luck! Restaurant is the fifth (and largest) of his businesses to open in Wellford, SC. It’s just five minutes off of I-85 going towards Lyman, SC.

The last time we interviewed Tony was at the grand opening of his last restaurant, Pho Your Choice Two! Check out that blog here for more about the Wade Hampton/Taylors location and learn more of his origin story since moving to South Carolina from the West Coast.

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In between taking orders and shaking hands, I sat down with Tony to get the low-down on Pho Luck! My first question – tell me about Pho Luck! and what you want people to know about restaurant #3:

We’ve added a larger selection of Boba teas to this one. The Thai tea or Chai tea is then flavored with normal, flavored jelly, or popping Boba. Besides the regular teas, we serve a smoothie (blended flavored drink) with the Boba additions. The smoothies come in flavors like Passion fruit, Pineapple, Taro, and Kiwi. The food here is essentially the same as the other restaurants. Talking about the pho, we make real broth using soup bones, and no MSG. We always use super high-quality ingredients whenever possible. We’ve added a pho sirloin option and still have favorites like stir-fried noodles, fried rice, pho noodle salads, etc. Another great menu item is the Vietnamese street food, banh mi. We’re proud of its preparation and is a staple in all three of our restaurants.
– Tony Nguyen, Owner, Pho Luck! Restaurant

I notice there’s a drive-thru on this building, will you be utilizing that as well? Anything else outstanding about this building or location you love?

Pho Luck! Restaurant is a larger place than the other two we own, Pho Your Choice and Pho Your Choice Two. Eventually, yes, we’ll utilize the drive-through for take-out and pick-ups. We’re also going to expand out the wall of the current restaurant; the entire space is 3,000 square feet. We plan on securing our liquor license to create a restaurant club serving beer and wine, and hosting live music! That’s projected to happen around summertime this year with any luck. This restaurant serves the communities of Moore, Lyman, Wellford, Duncan, and Greer. We’re serving an underserved group who don’t want to drive to Greenville for this type of cuisine.
– Tony Nguyen, Owner, Pho Luck! Restaurant

You know we wouldn’t be Pimento & Prose without looking out for allergens!
My last question – Are there any allergen-friendly menu items or ingredients that you’d like to point out?

People have a choice of veggie pho and stir fry, and also have vegetarian/vegan (tofu) options on the menu. If people have allergies, let us know when you first get here and we will try to accommodate them. With the Boba teas, we typically serve them with milk or half & half. However, we have soy and almond milk options for dairy-free people. The smoothies have dairy in them but might be able to be switched out if told about allergies in advance. We also don’t use MSG in any of our broths!
– Tony Nguyen, Owner, Pho Luck! Restaurant

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We loved how Tony had free samples for anyone who came in that day, besides being able to order anything they wanted off the normal menu. We started with some pork egg rolls (Cha Gio), a combination fried rice, and fried chicken wings (salted and buttered – Canh ga rang muoi). Those were delicious, and I only realized after the fact that they had butter on them (oops 😬, I only had two, luckily).

Check out the full menu below by pulling the slider back and forth!

We tried a little bit of everything menu-wise when it came to dishes. My hubby Jamie and I both chose the Pho Beef Special (first and last pictures) – which included that unctuous broth, served with slices of beef steak, brisket, meatballs, tendon, and tripe.

My friends who came with us ordered Beef Stew (Bo Kho), the second picture, and Stir-fried Egg Noodles (Hu Tiu Xao) and Beef (third picture). In terms of food ratings, here’s what our (#unofficial) food judges had to say:

• Beef Pho – 8/10. The flavor of the broth was amazing but could use a little more meat in the to-go containers (we ended up taking ours on the road to make space for other diners!). They did a great job separating everything so the noodles and accouterments stayed fresh and we could pour the broth on when we got home.
• Beef stew – 8/10. Great spices and it had a little sweetness along with a great meat-to-noodle ratio. Said it reminded my friend of a Cuban spice profile from a dish she’s made and had before, Ropa vieja.
• Beef stir fry- 8/10. Plenty of meat, and good noodles, but maybe needed more vegetable variety? He and his wife said the dishes could’ve used more carrots (they both love carrots, so take that as you will; it could also be a personal preference thing 🥕).

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We can’t forget about the band! Triple Threat, with Thomas as the lead singer/guitarist, Terry on drums, and James as backup singer/bass player kept the tunes rocking all afternoon long. 🙌 Tony even stepped up to the mic and made a guest appearance on a song or two. Make sure to follow them on Facebook here and show them some love! 🎸🎤

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The restaurant will be open Monday – Thursday, 10:30 AM–8:30 PM, and Friday and Saturday 10:30 AM–9 PM (closed on Sundays). We’ve loved all his concepts so far and the whole restaurant was popping while we were visiting! Let us know what you think of the restaurant or your favorite dish when you go in the comments below 👇

Follow Pho Luck! on Facebook here and show them some love! 🙌💜