SDPB Special Chapel Hill Edition: Lime, Basil and LOTS O' SALT

Location: 200 West Franklin St., Chapel Hill, NC
Hours: Not listed on Yelp
Phone: (919) 967-5055
Website: Their Yelp page

Beth:

Every now and then, I venture across the country to see my dear significant other, where he goes to grad school at a certain basketball-crazy university.

And since we both love Pho, we've made trips to Lime and Basil, the only pho place in Chapel Hill.

And usually, the pho we had there was just fine. Not my favorite, but definitely not bad.

But this last time- the time I went ready to write a review on it...

It pretty much sucked ass.

Now, keep in mind that the other times I've eaten there it's been fine. Not great. Fine. But since they served me bad pho- inexcusably bad pho- on that fateful day in late March (I'm behind, I know...) I have no choice but to tear them a new one.

Lime and Basil has a lot of good qualities. It has a nice location right on the main drag by UNC, and the restaurant itself is nicely decorated, clean, and well-lighted. The wait staff has always been polite to me.

However, this is where the mediocrity begins. No sauce dishes, and they bring you one spoon with your soup. So where the hell do you put your sauce? They will bring you a sauce dish upon request, but this implies to me that people in Chapel Hill don't know how to eat pho properly. And that makes me sad.

The menu also leaves something to be desired. They confusingly use different names for the meat than any other pho place I've been to (eyeround instead of straight-up steak?) They also only list like 6 possible combos. I'm sure you could order something different if you could figure out what meats are what.

The vegetables were quite fresh- no culantro, but hey- not that many places seem to have that.

Let me again make the disclaimer that this place was at least slightly above mediocre the last 3 times I ate there before this.

Now... LET THE HORROR BEGIN!

Seriously, there is one overarching theme here. THE PHO WAS SO SALTY I COULD NOT EAT IT.

The meat was a little bleh, but only a little. The noodles were perfect.

But seriously, I could not eat it because the broth was like ocean water with a little beef bullion flavor. And I like salt in general (a little too much, according to my blood pressure), so don't take this lightly, folks. My S.O., who is known for his hearty appetite and his general willingness to eat almost anything, also barely made a dent in his bowl before he frowned and asked for the check.

So, the moral of the story:

Since Lime and Basil is the only game in town (unless you make the drive to Durham), go ahead and try it. Don't be a non-confrontational wuss like me- if the soup is bad, send it back. But seriously, there is no excuse to serve soup like that at all.

2 spoons, and place in the Hall of Laaame. May god have mercy on their souls.