Pho Keene Great: New Hampshire Restaurant Ordered To Remove Sign That City Deems Offensive

A Vietnamese restaurant in New Hampshire is now realizing that not everyone can take a joke and that there are plenty of ways to offend someone. City officials in Keene, New Hampshire, have had to force a restaurant to take down a sign promoting their soon-to-open location as they deemed it to be profane. While the manager of the restaurant doesn’t agree with officials, she had no choice but to abide by their orders.

WSVN reported that the Pho Keene Great restaurant in Keene, New Hampshire had to remove the sign that was simply advertising the name of their new place. Apparently, it appeared too much like profanity and city officials simply didn’t want it to remain in place for all residents and visitors to see.

The restaurant’s name comes from the Vietnamese soup called Pho which actually has the pronunciation of “fuh.” Add the words “Keene” for the name of the city in which it resides and the word “great,” and well, you get the idea.

Pho Keene Great’s owner is Isabelle Jolie and she said that she doesn’t necessarily believe that the sign or name is offensive, as she wrote on the official Facebook page for the restaurant.

“We liked the name because it’s lighthearted and fun. It’s a name that reflects Vietnam’s National dish, comfort food and our most popular culinary product, pho! Keene, of course, is the location.”

While the situation was pending, Jolie asked fans on the Facebook page if they agreed with the ruling of city officials.

https://www.facebook.com/phokeenegreat/posts/534865707010805?__xts__[0]=68.ARA-vl_nJrmdp3wpjGxZfEGgURiAc-IHVgvs4fYG5dqcxEUbHifn630Gk1lS2l_R_NLEMORjgjJQawyB_Q-QYD5MsBuj2pZKRsn3dJPyjSgsNSYnT1cOwKOz63biEtTwH0CDj31EdQYP1PktSbAhziDqwpqwgyDeSB22gLmnOiKuVRhG-pFh3roZHBaTk4Z_R-dX4798y-mI3CKQbDe0LYCN65H4t6CSfaQ-0x6fzGpWIKJRcc1Ig74lMTyLr33YWiJVlCyN7awB2TYNqUCbN63zRwAKq__4hIENVOrv5pv9kt2L_wk3Q-iOPHAJJge68n8IUT41I0w09bhtvYoK2Bwd2PfIX3M&__tn__=-R

Obviously, the results were quite overwhelming in that hardly anyone found it to be offensive.

The Facebook page of Pho Keene Great just issued a press release on Saturday, January 5, stating that the situation is still pending. City Manager Elizabeth Dragon is set to have a meeting with Jolie and they hope to have the matter resolved by early February.

Throughout the rest of the press release, Pho Keene Great made sure to try and clear up any misconceptions that may have come about. Jolie insists that they have no plans on changing their business name as they believe in what they’re doing and have spent a lot of money on marketing already.

Pho Keene Great is one of those restaurants which was simply looking to be successful and create a successful business in New Hampshire. The name of their dining location is a subtle play on words while also having a lot of meaning behind it, but not everyone sees it that way. The city officials of Keene had decided that the name appears too much like profanity and that signs needed to be taken down with a possible name change still pending.

Do you find the name of Pho Keene Great restaurant offensive?