I'm finding the price of Chinese lunch specials going up all over to around $10.50 to $12.00 or more in some places. But here at The Donut Bistro in south Reno they're just $9.15! On top of that the food is actually really good, better than some of those more expensive places. As usual the lunch comes with egg drop or hot and sour soup, 2 crab rangoons and fried rice. No egg roll but no big deal. The fried rice here is not just that cheap, brown "colored" fried rice with nothing else but rice that comes with most lunch "specials", but it's real fried rice with egg and veggies in it and it tastes like real fried rice. The lunch comes with tons of choices of dishes, from sweet and sour anything, to veggies and meats to an unusual dish I don't see anywhere else on special, Spicy pork and Asian Eggplant. Tasty and just a little spicy. Check out the lunch specials for just $9.15 and even get some donuts to go!
K Bukovics
Only doughnut shop that is good.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Donuts
Zina Lee
I'm finding the price of Chinese lunch specials going up all over to around $10.50 to $12.00 or more in some places. But here at The Donut Bistro in south Reno they're just $9.15! On top of that the food is actually really good, better than some of those more expensive places.As usual the lunch comes with egg drop or hot and sour soup, 2 crab rangoons and fried rice. No egg roll but no big deal. The fried rice here is not just that cheap, brown "colored" fried rice with nothing else but rice that comes with most lunch "specials", but it's real fried rice with egg and veggies in it and it tastes like real fried rice.The lunch comes with tons of choices of dishes, from sweet and sour anything, to veggies and meats to an unusual dish I don't see anywhere else on special, Spicy pork and Asian Eggplant. Tasty and just a little spicy.Check out the lunch specials for just $9.15 and even get some donuts to go!
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 5
Haanpaa H.
Wonderful!!! Delicious good portions And for goodness sakes donuts!!! Aaaaaaaaaaaa Bbbbbb
Kurtis Thrasher
My favorite
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Andrew S.
I'd like to give a shout out to Pho Donut Bistro. Don't let the name throw you off. Pho and donuts? What? The food is good and so is the service. They offer a selection of Pho, Dim Sum and other options such as Sweet and Sour Pork, Mongolian Beef and Vermicelli rice noodle bowls with fresh vegetables and grilled chicken. Moving on....And now let's talk donuts, this is what gives this place character. They always have a display case that's stocked with fresh donuts (that is if they don't sell out). It's almost impossible to walk by that display case without being beckoned by the sweet siren song of one of their gigantic apple fritters, bavarian creme donuts or strawberry kruellers. I must admit that my staring usually evolves into me saying something like, "I think I'll have the Broccoli Beef and ... hmmm, why not throw in a maple bar and blueberry cake donut to-go, and why not, I'll take the sprinkles one too." When you walk in, it's very basic. It's not the place you go for the atmosphere, fancy date or a place to plop down with your computer and leach off the wi-fi for a power session. It's low key by design, you're in and you're out. You go there because it's reasonably priced, the food is good, fairly fast and they offer decent portions....and the donuts, did I mention those? : ) Also - they offer take-out. I highly recommend trying this place at least once. Whether your single or have many mouths to feed, you'll get your moneys worth and likely have some leftovers.
Robert Q.
I have been eating in Chinese noodle shops for 40 years from the Bay Area to Carson City. I look for Formica tables and friendly waitresses. A medical technician at Renown gave me this restaurant as I went into the MRI donuts hole. I've been twice now and feel I can highly recommend the Chinese dishes served up inside this no frills restaurant that also serves up fresh American donuts and dim sum. The service can be slow depending on the time of day, but the dishes, including pho, are worth the time. Had some Singapore Rice Noodles today and it was a large portion and perfectly seasoned curry noodles with shrimp. As good as any you can buy in Oakland or San Francisco. So if you appreciate restaurants good food sitting at Formica tables at a decent price, give it a try.
Robbie R.
I'm headed back to Sacramento with my work crew from our site location east of Carson City and needed some lunch before heading over the pass on the 80. We're headed north up the 580 to Reno. One of my guys says he's heard of this donut shop that serves great Chinese food and Vietnamese pho. What? A donut shop the has Chinese food? You're kidding me! Nope, so we exit at South Meadows, turn right and the first left and we're there! Good freeway access, that's for sure. Walking in, it's not too crowded. We got 6 people, so we take a big table in the middle of the room. Yep, there's those donuts all displayed in the glass case! We're here for food though. Our server is friendly and hands out menus. I see a variety of your normal Chinese food and Pho bowls. Two of the guys get the lunch specials, cause well, that's what they always get at Chinese places. They ordered the Chicken Mushroom and the Pork Sichuan Eggplant both with fried rice for about $9.00 ea. That's a good price! Entree prices are around $13 ea. I ordered some pot stickers for the table. You only get 6, so we each got just one to try. They were more like the Japanese ones but fried, a little smaller, but tasty. The rest of us got entrees to share. We got the general chicken, house pan fried noodles, large won ton soup, asparagus chicken, chicken chow fun with black bean sauce and this crispy eggplant which was one of the strangest dishes I've had. The crispy egg plant was definitely not what I was expecting. It was pieces of eggplant coated with a thick batter and deep fried. It look like chicken nuggets and came with this bowl of brown sauce. It was not very good. The general chicken was good for being general chicken, it had a crunchy coating instead of the normal squishy kind. I did like the sauce. The house pan fried noodles were good, a bit too much sauce, but the noodles were crispy. The Asparagus Chicken was excellent. It was a simple dish that was done well and had great flavor, my fave out of all the food we got. The won ton soup was very good. The broth was better than most place that serve this standard soup. The dumplings were nice and tender. The chicken chow fun black bean sauce was excellent, one of the better versions. The noodles were super tender and soft melty in the mouth. The sauce, chicken and veggies were piled high on top. The two guys that got the lunch specials really liked what they got. The fried rice was better than most places that serve cheap fried rice with the specials. This rice was like actual real fried rice with eggs and some veggies in it. The little fried won tons were good dipped in the house made sweet and sour sauce. I tasted the sauce and it was way better than most cheap Chinese joints that serve sweet and sour sauce out of the gallon food service bottle. Good for this dount shop! You get a ton of food with the lunch specials if that's what you want. OK, I was surprised at the quality and value of the Chinese food here at "Donut Bistro". I'll tell everybody I know, we had Chinese food at a donut shop! Dang, those apple fritters do look good and we still have a ways to drive!
Dirk D
THis place sells donuts AND Chinese food and goes by another name as well, Pho Noodles as well as Donut Bistro. The donuts don't come on line till they open at 10am, so that's kinda late if you want donuts for breakfast.Chinese and Viet food is ready at 10am except for the lunch specials that come on at 11am. I find the food here made with just more skill and care than most other Chinese joints with lunch specials. The fried rice here actually tastes like real fried rice, not like steamed brown colored rice like you get with most other Chinese lunch specials.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 5
Jose Valencia
Love this place. Not the best in the world, but for the price, service, and atmosphere, it's competitive with the best. I get the chicken pho, and I like it a lot. I heard great things about their lunch specials, too.
I usually come to get a Togo order once a week(I call it in). Kung pow chicken, extra spicy with no peanuts is my go to. I don't have an allergy but peanuts aren't my thing(I've never received a single peanut In my order). The 10 times I've gotten this in the past few months have been amazing! The female owner and daughter are very sweet. The restaurant is small but always tidy when I come in. The food is great!!
M L.
When I heard that there's this donut shop that has great donuts, but ALSO serves Chinese and Vietnamese food, THIS I gotta see! I know Asians make some of the best donuts, so I guess makes sense, might as well serve Asian food for the rest of the day, and make use of the restaurant space they're paying rent for anyways! Only in Reno, Donuts and Chow Mein and Pho in one place! The inside looks like a typical donut shop with tasty morsels on display. Prices are reasonable just $1.25 for a regular donut. My friend purchased a half doz for $7.00. I'm not THAT much of a donut fan, I'm here to see how the Chinese food is at a donut shop! The menu includes all the standard Chinese American dishes and lunch specials, but also has a few dishes you don't see very often. I ordered the large Wonton soup with egg noodles added for $12.95. It was plenty to share, no skimping on the wonton dumplings here! The egg noodles were cooked al dente how I like. My friend ordered a dish I never saw before at a Chinese restaurant, Lemongrass Beef ($13.45). This dish I'd def get again, unique flavor like no Chinese dish I ever had, tender beef and a wonderful sauce eaten with rice. Both dishes 5 STARS! My friend loves to get egg foo young and it was on the menu. When we asked about it, the server told us it takes 45 minutes to make! Wow, I'd never heard of that before! It must be good for taking that long! OK, next time we come, we'll order 30 min ahead, so it'll be ready soon after we get there. Our next visit, Egg Foo Young here we come! Pork Egg Foo Young ($15.45). We also ordered Spicy Sichuan Eggplant with Pork, that didn't sound like one of the run of the mill dishes. The Egg Foo Young comes out .... Holy OMFG! wow, that's not like any egg foo young I ever saw! It looked like 2 large meatballs covered in a rich brown sauce. I cut into one with my fork and whoa! Not meat inside at all, but a moist mix of eggs cooked with veggies and pork. Normally I'm not a fan of egg foo young, they're usually just flat little patties with some generic gravy on it. This was totally a different animal! (Carson City sayin I heard). The gravy went well with the eggs and it was cooked so evenly across the diameter of the ball. Get this, just to say you did, but order ahead! The eggplant dish was fantastic, better than I expected for sure. Everything cooked perfect, no tough skins like one other review complained about, just tender and full on yummers experience. Get this one too! Both 5 stars!
Jesse A
Consistently good food, very nice staff, good prices.
Sophie R.
Consistently great service. Love their pho. And they are super quick if you call in for takeout. We have been customers of theirs for years.
Kirsten Steele
I’m going to start by saying that I never review places but this place is ridiculous. We called tonight at 5:50 to place an order for two adults and two kids (not a giant order). We were told it would be ready in 40 minutes. We showed up in 40 minutes and they said just a little longer. It literally took them an hour and forty minutes!!!!! So now I have two very hungry kids and it’s 7:30. And then when we did finally get the order it was all cold!!! If we hadn’t paid already we would have just cancelled the order or walked away. NEVER AGAIN will we order from here. NEVER. I wish I could give zero stars. I understand being short staffed but 1.75 hours for take out pho? NO.
I'm finding the price of Chinese lunch specials going up all over to around $10.50 to $12.00 or more in some places. But here at The Donut Bistro in south Reno they're just $9.15! On top of that the food is actually really good, better than some of those more expensive places. As usual the lunch comes with egg drop or hot and sour soup, 2 crab rangoons and fried rice. No egg roll but no big deal. The fried rice here is not just that cheap, brown "colored" fried rice with nothing else but rice that comes with most lunch "specials", but it's real fried rice with egg and veggies in it and it tastes like real fried rice. The lunch comes with tons of choices of dishes, from sweet and sour anything, to veggies and meats to an unusual dish I don't see anywhere else on special, Spicy pork and Asian Eggplant. Tasty and just a little spicy. Check out the lunch specials for just $9.15 and even get some donuts to go!
Only doughnut shop that is good.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Donuts
I'm finding the price of Chinese lunch specials going up all over to around $10.50 to $12.00 or more in some places. But here at The Donut Bistro in south Reno they're just $9.15! On top of that the food is actually really good, better than some of those more expensive places.As usual the lunch comes with egg drop or hot and sour soup, 2 crab rangoons and fried rice. No egg roll but no big deal. The fried rice here is not just that cheap, brown "colored" fried rice with nothing else but rice that comes with most lunch "specials", but it's real fried rice with egg and veggies in it and it tastes like real fried rice.The lunch comes with tons of choices of dishes, from sweet and sour anything, to veggies and meats to an unusual dish I don't see anywhere else on special, Spicy pork and Asian Eggplant. Tasty and just a little spicy.Check out the lunch specials for just $9.15 and even get some donuts to go!
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 5
Wonderful!!! Delicious good portions And for goodness sakes donuts!!! Aaaaaaaaaaaa Bbbbbb
My favorite
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
I'd like to give a shout out to Pho Donut Bistro. Don't let the name throw you off. Pho and donuts? What? The food is good and so is the service. They offer a selection of Pho, Dim Sum and other options such as Sweet and Sour Pork, Mongolian Beef and Vermicelli rice noodle bowls with fresh vegetables and grilled chicken. Moving on....And now let's talk donuts, this is what gives this place character. They always have a display case that's stocked with fresh donuts (that is if they don't sell out). It's almost impossible to walk by that display case without being beckoned by the sweet siren song of one of their gigantic apple fritters, bavarian creme donuts or strawberry kruellers. I must admit that my staring usually evolves into me saying something like, "I think I'll have the Broccoli Beef and ... hmmm, why not throw in a maple bar and blueberry cake donut to-go, and why not, I'll take the sprinkles one too." When you walk in, it's very basic. It's not the place you go for the atmosphere, fancy date or a place to plop down with your computer and leach off the wi-fi for a power session. It's low key by design, you're in and you're out. You go there because it's reasonably priced, the food is good, fairly fast and they offer decent portions....and the donuts, did I mention those? : ) Also - they offer take-out. I highly recommend trying this place at least once. Whether your single or have many mouths to feed, you'll get your moneys worth and likely have some leftovers.
I have been eating in Chinese noodle shops for 40 years from the Bay Area to Carson City. I look for Formica tables and friendly waitresses. A medical technician at Renown gave me this restaurant as I went into the MRI donuts hole. I've been twice now and feel I can highly recommend the Chinese dishes served up inside this no frills restaurant that also serves up fresh American donuts and dim sum. The service can be slow depending on the time of day, but the dishes, including pho, are worth the time. Had some Singapore Rice Noodles today and it was a large portion and perfectly seasoned curry noodles with shrimp. As good as any you can buy in Oakland or San Francisco. So if you appreciate restaurants good food sitting at Formica tables at a decent price, give it a try.
I'm headed back to Sacramento with my work crew from our site location east of Carson City and needed some lunch before heading over the pass on the 80. We're headed north up the 580 to Reno. One of my guys says he's heard of this donut shop that serves great Chinese food and Vietnamese pho. What? A donut shop the has Chinese food? You're kidding me! Nope, so we exit at South Meadows, turn right and the first left and we're there! Good freeway access, that's for sure. Walking in, it's not too crowded. We got 6 people, so we take a big table in the middle of the room. Yep, there's those donuts all displayed in the glass case! We're here for food though. Our server is friendly and hands out menus. I see a variety of your normal Chinese food and Pho bowls. Two of the guys get the lunch specials, cause well, that's what they always get at Chinese places. They ordered the Chicken Mushroom and the Pork Sichuan Eggplant both with fried rice for about $9.00 ea. That's a good price! Entree prices are around $13 ea. I ordered some pot stickers for the table. You only get 6, so we each got just one to try. They were more like the Japanese ones but fried, a little smaller, but tasty. The rest of us got entrees to share. We got the general chicken, house pan fried noodles, large won ton soup, asparagus chicken, chicken chow fun with black bean sauce and this crispy eggplant which was one of the strangest dishes I've had. The crispy egg plant was definitely not what I was expecting. It was pieces of eggplant coated with a thick batter and deep fried. It look like chicken nuggets and came with this bowl of brown sauce. It was not very good. The general chicken was good for being general chicken, it had a crunchy coating instead of the normal squishy kind. I did like the sauce. The house pan fried noodles were good, a bit too much sauce, but the noodles were crispy. The Asparagus Chicken was excellent. It was a simple dish that was done well and had great flavor, my fave out of all the food we got. The won ton soup was very good. The broth was better than most place that serve this standard soup. The dumplings were nice and tender. The chicken chow fun black bean sauce was excellent, one of the better versions. The noodles were super tender and soft melty in the mouth. The sauce, chicken and veggies were piled high on top. The two guys that got the lunch specials really liked what they got. The fried rice was better than most places that serve cheap fried rice with the specials. This rice was like actual real fried rice with eggs and some veggies in it. The little fried won tons were good dipped in the house made sweet and sour sauce. I tasted the sauce and it was way better than most cheap Chinese joints that serve sweet and sour sauce out of the gallon food service bottle. Good for this dount shop! You get a ton of food with the lunch specials if that's what you want. OK, I was surprised at the quality and value of the Chinese food here at "Donut Bistro". I'll tell everybody I know, we had Chinese food at a donut shop! Dang, those apple fritters do look good and we still have a ways to drive!
THis place sells donuts AND Chinese food and goes by another name as well, Pho Noodles as well as Donut Bistro. The donuts don't come on line till they open at 10am, so that's kinda late if you want donuts for breakfast.Chinese and Viet food is ready at 10am except for the lunch specials that come on at 11am. I find the food here made with just more skill and care than most other Chinese joints with lunch specials. The fried rice here actually tastes like real fried rice, not like steamed brown colored rice like you get with most other Chinese lunch specials.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 5
Love this place. Not the best in the world, but for the price, service, and atmosphere, it's competitive with the best. I get the chicken pho, and I like it a lot. I heard great things about their lunch specials, too.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 4
Restaurantji Recommends
I usually come to get a Togo order once a week(I call it in). Kung pow chicken, extra spicy with no peanuts is my go to. I don't have an allergy but peanuts aren't my thing(I've never received a single peanut In my order). The 10 times I've gotten this in the past few months have been amazing! The female owner and daughter are very sweet. The restaurant is small but always tidy when I come in. The food is great!!
When I heard that there's this donut shop that has great donuts, but ALSO serves Chinese and Vietnamese food, THIS I gotta see! I know Asians make some of the best donuts, so I guess makes sense, might as well serve Asian food for the rest of the day, and make use of the restaurant space they're paying rent for anyways! Only in Reno, Donuts and Chow Mein and Pho in one place! The inside looks like a typical donut shop with tasty morsels on display. Prices are reasonable just $1.25 for a regular donut. My friend purchased a half doz for $7.00. I'm not THAT much of a donut fan, I'm here to see how the Chinese food is at a donut shop! The menu includes all the standard Chinese American dishes and lunch specials, but also has a few dishes you don't see very often. I ordered the large Wonton soup with egg noodles added for $12.95. It was plenty to share, no skimping on the wonton dumplings here! The egg noodles were cooked al dente how I like. My friend ordered a dish I never saw before at a Chinese restaurant, Lemongrass Beef ($13.45). This dish I'd def get again, unique flavor like no Chinese dish I ever had, tender beef and a wonderful sauce eaten with rice. Both dishes 5 STARS! My friend loves to get egg foo young and it was on the menu. When we asked about it, the server told us it takes 45 minutes to make! Wow, I'd never heard of that before! It must be good for taking that long! OK, next time we come, we'll order 30 min ahead, so it'll be ready soon after we get there. Our next visit, Egg Foo Young here we come! Pork Egg Foo Young ($15.45). We also ordered Spicy Sichuan Eggplant with Pork, that didn't sound like one of the run of the mill dishes. The Egg Foo Young comes out .... Holy OMFG! wow, that's not like any egg foo young I ever saw! It looked like 2 large meatballs covered in a rich brown sauce. I cut into one with my fork and whoa! Not meat inside at all, but a moist mix of eggs cooked with veggies and pork. Normally I'm not a fan of egg foo young, they're usually just flat little patties with some generic gravy on it. This was totally a different animal! (Carson City sayin I heard). The gravy went well with the eggs and it was cooked so evenly across the diameter of the ball. Get this, just to say you did, but order ahead! The eggplant dish was fantastic, better than I expected for sure. Everything cooked perfect, no tough skins like one other review complained about, just tender and full on yummers experience. Get this one too! Both 5 stars!
Consistently good food, very nice staff, good prices.
Consistently great service. Love their pho. And they are super quick if you call in for takeout. We have been customers of theirs for years.
I’m going to start by saying that I never review places but this place is ridiculous. We called tonight at 5:50 to place an order for two adults and two kids (not a giant order). We were told it would be ready in 40 minutes. We showed up in 40 minutes and they said just a little longer. It literally took them an hour and forty minutes!!!!! So now I have two very hungry kids and it’s 7:30. And then when we did finally get the order it was all cold!!! If we hadn’t paid already we would have just cancelled the order or walked away. NEVER AGAIN will we order from here. NEVER. I wish I could give zero stars. I understand being short staffed but 1.75 hours for take out pho? NO.
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 1
Service: 1