T-R PHOTO BY ROBERT MAHARRY — The team at Jack’s Pho House, located at 802 S. 3rd Ave. in Marshalltown, celebrated the renovation and reopening of the southeast Asian restaurant with a Chamber Ambassadors ribbon cutting on Wednesday afternoon.

Marshalltown residents who crave the authentic flavors of southeast Asia have endured a difficult couple of months as Jack’s Pho House, located at 802 S. 3rd Ave., has been partially and then, for three weeks, fully closed for renovations and a planned vacation.

They can rest assured, however, that one of the community’s most unique restaurants is back open as of last Tuesday with a new and improved interior, and owner Wendy Mohler celebrated that milestone with a ribbon cutting hosted by the Chamber Ambassadors on Wednesday afternoon. Jack’s has been open for over a decade and specializes in Vietnamese, Laotian and Thai dishes — specifically, the namesake Pho soup from which it takes its name.

Mohler explained that they were already in the process of getting a new roof when, after a six-inch rainfall, half of the roof was on the floor.

“That’s what caused us to get everything done at one time. Eventually, I was going to do it, but not that fast,” she said.

The new layout provides more dining space and a modern look with LED lighting, and Mohler worked with Marty Hardon of Hardon’s Services to create a spray foam ceiling and an industrial look with fresh carpet and galvanized steel walls. Next spring, Mohler hopes to overhaul the exterior of the building to make it less of an “eyesore,” in her words, and eventually put in a new parking lot.

“I’ve gotta get the people in here to get the business going before I can do any of that,” Mohler said. “But yeah, we really enjoy it. We like it. We think it looks really good. Pretty much everything turned out the way I wanted. There’s a couple little things that didn’t, but I’m getting over it.”

There are other small improvements she hopes to complete inside the building as well, but all in all, Mohler is simply happy to be back open and serving the community once again.

“We love it. It’s really nice,” she said. “We still have a few things here and there that we’ve got to to do, but it’s basically what it’s gonna be.”

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Contact Robert Maharry at 641-753-6611 ext. 255 or rmaharry@timesrepublican.com.