Pho Thai East is the smallest of the family's three locations by review count — 70 reviews at 4.8 stars — and the regulars' pick for pad thai. 4001 East 10th, on the east side, in a strip mall that looks unremarkable from the road and which has been quietly serving the city's east-side Vietnamese-Thai eaters since the family opened it. The hours match the rest of the family. The menu matches the rest of the family. The differentiator is the kitchen's apparent prioritization of the pad thai, and the very small but very consistent review base that has crystallized around it.
The orders. Pad thai. That's the whole reason to come here over the other two locations. The kitchen will match your spice level if you tell them how hot you want it — just say "medium hot" or "Thai hot" and they'll calibrate. Strong fried rice is the supporting cast. The mango chicken is the under-the-radar order. The drunken noodles are also good, but they're equally good at all three Pho Thai locations, so order what you can't get elsewhere — the pad thai.
The 70-review pool is small, which usually means the rating is noisy. In Pho Thai East's case, the rating is consistent. The reviews don't fluctuate; they cluster at four-and-a-half and five stars. That tells you the regulars have settled into a pattern: same orders, same expectations, same rewards. Smaller review pools with consistent ratings usually indicate a smaller core customer base who knows exactly what they're getting and aren't tourists. That's the right read of Pho Thai East.
Hours. Closed Sundays. 11 AM to 9:30 PM the rest of the week. The lunch crowd at this location is dominated by east-side workers — there's a sizable concentration of light-industrial and service-sector employment within a five-minute drive — and the kitchen turns lunch tables fast. The dinner pace is closer to the rest of the family's pacing.
The room is smaller than the downtown location's and similar in scale to the west location's. Strip-mall format, sit-down dining, easy parking. If you're east of Cliff Avenue, this is the Pho Thai location closest to you, and it's the only Asian option of any consequence on East 10th.
For takeout: pad thai travels well. The pho still doesn't (a pho-doesn't-travel rule that applies to every Vietnamese kitchen in the city). The fried rice travels fine. The drunken noodles travel fine. Most of the menu travels fine. Call ahead twenty minutes, pick up, drive home.
Card and cash. The phone is (605) 274-1686 — note that this is the same phone number listed for both Pho Thai East and Pho Thai Downtown in the canonical pull, which suggests the family routes calls through a shared line. If you're trying to reach the East location specifically, mention the location when you call. The website is the family's shared phothaisiouxfalls.com.
The neighborhood. East 10th is a major east-side artery, easily accessed from the Cliff Avenue corridor, the East 10th retail strip, and the Bridges and Sycamore neighborhoods. Parking is plentiful. There is no metering. The strip-mall lot is well-lit at night.
Compared to the other two Pho Thai locations: East is the smallest, the most pad-thai-focused, the most regular-driven. Downtown is the broadest. West is the calmest sit-down. East is where you go when you specifically want the pad thai or when you're an east-side resident who doesn't want to cross town.
Compared to Saigon Panda (3301 East 26th, the other east-side Vietnamese spot): different specialties. Saigon Panda is the egg-rolls-and-pho specialist; Pho Thai East is the pad-thai specialist. If you're in the east-side neighborhood and choosing between the two, the question is whether you want Vietnamese-leaning (Saigon Panda) or Thai-leaning (Pho Thai East). Or, candidly: order from both, split the meal among friends, and figure out which one becomes the regular.
The kitchen quirk. Pho Thai East has a slightly heavier hand with the fish sauce on the pad thai than the other two locations. That's a feature for fish-sauce loyalists and a quibble for the squeamish. Tell the kitchen if you want it lighter. They'll dial it back.
The customer-loyalty pattern is tighter at this location than at Downtown or West. The regulars know the staff, the staff knows the regulars, and the small-review-pool dynamic reflects a less tourist-heavy mix. That's a feature for the regulars and an opportunity for first-timers — the staff will treat you like you're being considered for membership in the regular crowd, which usually means the food gets a little extra attention.
If you've never been: order the pad thai (medium spice if you don't know your spice tolerance), the fried rice, and the crab rangoons. About $30 a head. The mango chicken is the second-visit order if you come back.
If you've been many times: ask the kitchen what's coming up on the specials.
The bottom line. Pho Thai East is the east-side family-restaurant choice for pad thai, and the third leg of a three-restaurant family that altogether represents the broadest Asian dining footprint in the city. If you live east of Cliff and you don't want to drive — this is your room.