Just a little past SeaWorld on International Drive (I-Drive), you’ll find a small unsuspecting strip mall. This strip mall happens to be the home of one of the most originally themed restaurants in the country. Opening in December of 2021, Twenty Pho Hours is a fun and deliciously immersive experience that is the first of its kind in the U.S.
The Theming:
When it comes to theming this place is second to none immersing you in a black-and-white 2-D world straight out of a black-and-white comic book. Everything is decorated from the walls to the salt and pepper shakers, no corners were cut. Even the restrooms are themed to match keeping you enveloped in the fantastic 2-D environment the whole time you’re there.
The Food:
Twenty Pho Hours sells pho and ramen of course. It also sells several other Asian options as well, boasting over 8 different bowls of deliciousness ready to serve on the menu. They also have a build-a-bowl option if you prefer to come up with your very own noodle masterpiece. They have vegan options as well with the choice of Vegan Pho on the menu. Drinkwise, Twenty Pho Hours has a pretty nice selection of specialty drinks, but we just opted for good old refillable fountain drinks. We decided to try 4 different menu items along with a kid bowl. We started with steamed dumplings which were a very tasty little intro for things to come.
Nat went with a Pho Hai San (Seafood Pho) which she stated was very flavorful and packed with seafood. After looking at her choice, I’d have to agree. The bowl was packed with 4 fried tempura shrimp and loaded with other seafood delights.
My son built a bowl with ramen noodles, beef broth, pork belly, chicken, bok choy, and seasonal veggies and he loved every bite. Our picky six-year-old went with a kid ramen bowl adding chicken as her protein of choice which she had us painfully remove. However, after removing the chicken she ate the whole bowl. I opted to try something different. I ordered the Kimchi Noodles and was extremely happy with the dish. My bowl consisted of kimchi, ramen noodles, scallions, sesame seeds, a poached egg, and no shortage of delicious pork belly. It was so good that I wanted to order another one on the way out of the restaurant.
The Service:
As soon as you walk into the door there is someone waiting to greet you, almost like a host. However, this is also where you order your food before you are seated. This can be both good and bad. I had read some mixed reviews on Yelp before we decided to try Twenty Pho Hours. However, when we showed up it was around 5 pm and it wasn’t that crowded yet so we were able to take our time. The host was fantastic and very patient with our extremely indecisive 12-year-old who kept wavering in his decision. Other than the host being incredibly patient he also informed us of their discounts for Disney employees, military, and veterans. Maybe if the line was long when we showed up that might be a bad thing, but again we had no problem. Once you place your order you’re seated. The servers are fully expecting you to be in the way-taking selfies, videos or just trying to coral your youngster who thinks the 2-D phone booth is their own personal playground-so they were great about weaving through people and stealthily delivering food to your table while you play.
The Cons:
In our opinion, we only found two small cons. The first drawback is the ordering system. This is also where the mixed reviews on Yelp came from. The restaurant seems to only have one device to take your order when you enter the building so as I stated before this could possibly cause a backup. We noticed a little bit of a line building as we were about to leave. The second con is that they don’t really have waiters, but you’re asked to tip at the beginning when you order before you eat or have experienced the coolness that is this restaurant. Basically, in this case, you’re just tipping the host for a job well done. We had no problem with this because the host we had was amazing and dealt with our 12-year-old like a champ.
Overall Summary:
This restaurant is a lot of fun and the food is excellent. This is a fantastic place to check out if you’re looking for something cool and unique to do in Orlando outside of the theme parks, or if you’re staying in the SeaWorld area. It’s definitely worth a visit if you’re a fan of Asian food especially if you’re visiting from afar. The prices are great for the amount of delicious food you get and the overall experience isn’t something you find just anywhere. If I could be honest we all had a good amount of leftovers so if you’re on vacation and want to be frugal this is a good way to get two meals in. That is dependent upon how much you can eat of course. Twenty Pho Hours’ overall uniqueness makes for a very fun, social media-worthy time with some great Asian food to boot. We definitely enjoyed ourselves and are getting a kick out of sharing our experience with friends and family and we believe you will too. Despite the 2 little cons we found that could in theory be annoying to some people we all highly recommend that you pay Twenty Pho Hours a visit.
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