"The sign on the front door points to the left where the entry of its sibling House of Pho is located. That tip alone alerts you to the fact that Taiko Bistro and its neighbor are closely related. In fact, they are family; owned by the same people, and put in place after the success of House of Pho led to expansion to cover the bubble tea explosion around the country. They share a kitchen, while House handles traditional Vietnamese fare and Taiko addresses the taste for Asian snacks and tapioca ball drinks. Following directions, I walked into the elder to order Roast Pork Banh Mi, Ribeye Pho and a Mango Smoothie to go. I returned to my car for the suggested 20 minute wait, as the business wasn 't really set up for in house dining. Ten minutes later, the manager/owner/cashier was coming over to my vehicle with a nearly wrapped package. I opened my door to accept the bag and thank her for going the extra mile to find me when everything was ready, rather than waiting for me to re-enter ten minutes later. That kind of courtesy is memorable. The Banh Mi was excellent. Tasty load of thin sliced roast pork with pleasant hoisin flavor, daikon, carrot, cilantro in a fresh demi baguette. Liked it a lot. I assembled the Pho in a large bowl while it was still warm, but with the large next of noodles, generous beef and desire to add copious sprouts and Thai basil, I chose to microwave the broth to better cook everything else and bring the dish back to optimum. It was still good; the taste was there, but there was no doubt it had lost something in transportation. The Mango Smoothie was more a slurpie, with too much freeze and little smooth. It was clearly made from a mix without a hint of fruit pulp. Disappointing. Maybe bubble tea was the way to go. Lesson learned. Banh Mi travels well, and Pho can be resurrected by focuses reheating at home, but a poorly conceived smoothie is impossible to revive. 3.5 STARS"
