Pho 83 – Shakopee, MN

Another lunch road trip needed to be taken, so I consulted the list of Shakopee dining establishments I’ve compiled and headed to Pho 83. It’s right across the street from the fancy horse track – Canterbury Park. It’s in a small strip mall, so I drove past it once and had to come back to it.

The inside is nice and clean – decorated nicely, as well. And the place was full of Asians, which is a good sign. The nice man behind the counter seated me at a booth and I started scanning the menu. I was hungry for fresh spring rolls, but was in a rush, so I ended up ordering the wrong ones. I ordered Vietnamese Egg Rolls accidentally and didn’t notice what I had done until they arrived at the table. My own fault. I also ordered a Dew, since they’re one of about 6 places in Minnesota to carry Pepsi products. I was in the mood for Pho, which based on their name, I assumed was pretty good. The Pho menu was pretty small, but I found what I needed, so I got P2 – Pho with sliced rare beef and meatballs.

The Dew came out with a bendy straw, which sadly, made my day up until that point. The Vietnamese Egg Rolls also came out and were super hot – fresh out of the deep fryer. I waited until they cooled a bit and bit into one. A bit pork-y for my taste, but still really good. Also a little greasy for my taste, but maybe that’s because I was actually in the mood for fresh rolls. Either way, these were pretty good. I didn’t care much for the light sauce that came with the rolls. It just didn’t have enough flavor. So I was thankful to see a bevy of sauces on the table for me to choose from. I grabbed the hoisin and sri racha and whipped up a better sauce for my tastes. That made the egg roll much better.

The waitress then brought out the Pho and the traditional plate of basil, bean sprouts, limes, and jalapenos. I was tempted to eat with chopsticks, but since I was in a rush and had noone to impress with my skillz, I went with the fork. Actually, it was a threak (a threak has three tines, a fork has four – dur). I began tearing up basil and throwing it in the soup along with the sprouts and jalapenos. I squeezed both limes into the bowl and then slathered the whole thing in hoisin and sri racha. Then, because I was feeling sassy, I threw in a scoop of chili peppers also on the table. This is what you do to Pho, just to get it ready to eat: add a bunch of spicy things to it! Sounds like it's high labor but it’s worth it, though.

The Pho was quite good, honestly. It’s not the best I’ve had (thank you for ruining all other Pho places for me, D.Rough), but I’d eat here again (if it were closer). The sliced beef was good and not gristly. The meatballs (which look like sausage but aren’t) are cut in half and were pretty good. There were plenty of noodles and I didn’t really run out of any ingredients. I drank some of the delicious broth separately since it’s hard to drink with a threak, but it was delicious. And since I was so generous with the peppery things, my face was a tad warm when I finished. And also my nose was running badly. And I had broken a considerable sweat. I’m sure I impressed the staff there (who probably didn’t even notice).

Overall, this place was pretty good. Super nice staff people and all of the customers appeared top leave happy and full. If you’re in the Shakopee area and it’s not 85 degrees out (like it is today), grab yourself some Pho.

Top 5 things about Pho 83
1. Pho with sliced rare beef and meatballs
2. Super nice staff people
3. Large menu (minus the Pho section)
4. Vietnamese Egg Rolls
5. They have Dew

Bottom 5 things
1. The dipping sauce for the Vietnamese Egg Rolls didn’t have any flavor at all
2. Limited Pho offerings
3. It’s much farther from the office than I thought
4. It is set off the main road behind a gas station so it’s easy to drive past
5. I melted my own face off with the added heat - totally my own fault

Pho 83
1141 Canterbury Rd. S.
Shakopee, MN 55379