This place seems popular. This place is tucked in an arcade and I walk past this place everyday after yoga and it's usually brimming with people at rush hour. Some are regular customers too so the place can't be too bad right? Well it's not too bad, but it's not too great either.
I decided to have lunch at this place today as I was having a late lunch and I wanted something simple. Since it was my first time there I wasn't familiar with their ordering or seating protocol. Ended up mistaking a customer for a staff - sorry'! Anyway, customers seat themselves at a table and order and pay at the counter. It's a little rough in that there's a lot of DIY help-yourself here. You have to get up to order and get your own utensil and sauce from the utensil station. This didn't bother me, but just something to know especially if you haven't been here before. I suppose they offer free tea as I saw other customers with tea cups but I didn't notice this when I got my utensils.
The menu had a decent selection to order from. I ended up ordering glass noodle soup with grilled pork for about $15. I didn't expect too much from the place in terms of taste since there was no aroma from the restaurant. Usually, a good pho place smells good even when you walk past it, but this restaurant didn't have any of that so I was prepared for a toned down Vietnamese meal.
There weren't many customers there so my meal arrived in about 5 mins. The meal looked nice and the lettuce looked fresh. Again, no aroma from the grilled pork or noodle soup. I stirred my noodles - they were a little too soft but still manageable to be picked up by chopsticks. I took a bite into my noodle and something tasted off, a little funky. It reminded me of wet rags or mold...not quite sure what it was I took another bite into the noodle and a spoonful of soup. The soup didn't have much flavor and the noodle was too soft. A good glass noodle should have a chewy texture when you bite into it, this one was mushy. OK, not great.... so I tried the grilled pork instead. The meat was tender, grilled to a crisp and the taste was ok, not fantastic but still edible so I ate it. I decided to try the noodle again, thinking perhaps my tastebuds was a bit off, but no! That funky taste was still there! I can't describe the taste, all I can say is the soup or the noodle wasn't fresh and dare I say, tasted a bit off. I didn't eat the noodle soup and just ate the pork.
My bad food experience aside, would I go back there again? Probably not. It looks like an cosy pho joint like the ones at your local suburbs but the taste is not up to par. And maybe I had bad luck with the off-tasting noodle, but given that experience, it already tells me about the quality there. For the price, I would rather go elsewhere. There's nothing terribly bad about this restaurant, but I don't like funky tasting noodles and just didn't enjoy the food here.
Pros
+ fast service
+ simple food
+ casual dining
+ large portion/serving
Cons
- taste read more