One Highlands restaurant is gaining attention and popularity, not only because of their food, but their name: Pho Shizzle.
Owners Alex and Tina Le took a gamble that paid off, when they took their daughter Kelly’s advice and named the restaurant with that slang reference of Snoop Dog fame.
“My dad’s like, ‘Hey, what should we name it,’” said Kelly, a junior at Liberty High School. “He was thinking King Pho, like typical names. I was like, ‘No, you should think of something that attracts customers and really gets them to be interested in this because there are countless pho restaurants. There’s a ton of them.”
Searching for pho restaurants online reveals 56 restaurants in the Renton area, that doesn’t even take into account the Vietnamese eateries in neighboring cities and towns.
Kelly’s parents asked her if she was sure about the name and she told them just to do it.
“And I can’t believe they did it, but they did,” she said, with a big smile.
Pho Shizzle opened in March 2011 and business has been good and increasing everyday , according to the daughter. Customers admit to the Le family that they came to Pho Shizzle because of the name. Now the restaurant has a steady stream of diverse customers of all ages, all seeking the Vietnamese soup, with veggies, meat or seafood.
Dinner and weekends are their busiest times. The most popular dish is the pho combo or Pho Dac Biet. Kelly has grown up eating practically all of the dishes on the menu at some point.
“Everyone loves pho now,” she said. “It’s like getting really popular. It’s different than other types of food, so people find it really interesting to eat.”
Pho, pronounced phonetically like ‘fah,’ is a noodle soup, with herbs, in a broth. At Pho Shizzle, customers can choose to have the soup vegetarian-style, with tofu, seafood, chicken or beef.
“There’s a lot of variety to that,” Kelly said.
Pho Shizzle’s menu also includes appetizers, of spring rolls and dulings; prawns and terriyaki; veggie dishes or Chay and rice dishes. Bubble Tea, although not Vietnamese, is popular, along with their Vietnamese Iced Milk.
“So actually, it’s a really good thing that we named it Pho Shizzle,” said Kelly. “People say they like it, or it’s funny.”
