When it comes to Viet restaurants you have basically (3) types:
A. The Dive that serves good to great food, but likely won't last 2 restaurant inspections.
B. The Mediocre Joint that tries to be nice, but cannot afford to hire an interior decorator or such, but relies on owners who only know shiny, brass fittings, laminated marble, and lots of mirrors. Oh, and the food is very average and often decontented due to the tough challenge that is profiting with a restaurant. It's also watered down to attract western pallette or incorporates generic, Chinese dishes.
C. The Balanced (not glamorous mind you) Joints that some how manage to walk a good line with everything.
Em Oi is restuarant C... and BTW we are Vietnamese.
We are not locals, but rather found it while passing through taking our daughter to college in NY (i.e. We're from Michigan.). There are certainly good Viet restaurants all around the greater Toronto, Hamilton area, but having gotten to know the owner, we've made it a point to stop by and enjoy the good.
We've had the Bun Bo Hue, which is one of my favorite dishes so I eat it every time I try a new Viet place. I score it an 9/10. The pho is a 9/10. The bun dishes also a 9/10. The balance of carb, near, and veggie is perfect. I'm especially impressed when the bun dish arrives with warm noodles instead of the usual cold, refrigerated noodles that every other place has! The content of each dish is there. No skimping out and that is hard for a restaurant. Let's hope they can maintain that, because it is not easy to operate an authentic Viet place.
One thing we are impressed about is the balance of flavors. They're not overly salty or sweet for the western palette, which we hate. It's just right. If you're into tofu try the deep fried tofu with spicy sweet sauce and cucumber.
Oh... and finally... anybody who is familiar with Viet restaurants will know that most all of them have terrible service. It's not like they even mean to be bad, but rather... they just don't know better to teach good service. Em Oi has excellent service.
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