Pho Ben Thanh Restaurant

The food was pretty much the same as other Vietnamese places, but it felt like the servers weren't trained as you'd expect to see in other restaurants.

Had an experience of a lifetime. Just not a pleasant one!
Their coconut soup has massive pieces of tomatoes, like a quarter of a very large tomato. These were very difficult to eat. The vegetable chow mein was completely flavorless and the yellow Vietnamese curry had large raw onions that had not even been chopped. Plus the flavor was not good.
Every mistake that could be possibly made while cooking these recipes was made. The only saving grace was that the spring rolls were edible.

According to our waitress, their entire menu, including those listed “vegetables and tofu” are non-vegetarian. So either the waitress lied or their website is wildly inaccurate and misleading! We only found this out after driving all the eay there and being seated.

It's been years since the last time I was at Ben Thanh and I was very excited.
Prior to being seated, my family was informed we would need to pay an additional 15% charge because we have a party of 6.
I can completely understand this charge for large groups or parties but why for a family of 6? We did not eat there and I'm floored this happened today. Thanks for nothing Ben

Good mango salad, fine curry, but the steamed rice is extremely bad.
Thanks for the waiters serve our table,
However, the lady at cashier, is rude.

Ever have service so good that you resolve to become a regular? Kudos to our server Pene for being diligent with our table of 8, adults and kids, all with different drink orders and food. He checked in on us to make sure everyone had everything numerous times.

Everyone enjoyed their food. I had a Thai Tea (50), Vietnamese Spring Rolls (best I've had in town) and a chef's special Beef Rib pho.

I have never been overwhelmed with the sheer amount of meat in a pho dish before, but this was a massive beef rib in the middle of my bowl! Wow! There was also beautifully tender beef tongue. The broth, meat, noodles were all delicious. My daughter had pho for the first time as well and enjoyed it.

The meat lovers and spring lovers meals were also ordered at the table, and not only were the meat and toppings amply provided, but when we couldn't finish our server gave us fresh wraps and take out containers of the sauce to take home.

What a great experience, I will think about this restaurant first the next time my family wants to eat out.

Went today with a small party for lunch. We had not been to this location before.

The staff provided good service although were not at all communicative.

The food was very mediocre. We had 7 different dishes at the table and the sauces for the three of them were heavy and gelatinous: cashew chicken, asparagus chicken, and a third. The Pad Thai was very light on the included meat. The curry chicken was nicely done.

However, we will not return due to the state of the washrooms. Cobwebs.including in the stalls, filthy door and dirt on walls.

Pho soup was pretty good! But portion was a little bit small, and green papaya salad was a bit hard and not crunchy.

The portion of the food is getting significantly less comparing to before. We ordered drinks with the food but the drink arrives after we are almost finished with the food. I really love this restaurant and the owner, and I hope these constructive criticism can make this restaurant better!

Always a great experience. Food is never anything but great. Service is insanely quick. Prices are very reasonable.

VERY DISAPPOINTED/ Stick with the soup only!

When you ask your server "Dave" to not bring the spicy sauce for your appetizer plate and he still does = SHOULD HAVE BEEN MY WARNING SIGN!

I asked to get something that had no spice but there were no substitutions in the lunch plates so I decided on beef with onions and broccoli and some green beans instead of peppers that was a dinner plate
.
I get my plate laced with hot pepper flakes!
Question: what did he not understand from no spice and no peppers?

And I get a pile of rice noodles delivered with my husband's soup 10 mins afterwards that got all stuck as one big blob.
They redo my plate only to get uncooked broccoli and green beans, no onions and piece of eggshell.

To top it all off I had to walk up to the bar to get myself a refill because "Dave" dropped the plate. So I ask him where my onions are and he never came back until we were ready to leave. So I got a to got box from another server. Our server sees this and oh now you want to help us because you will get paid! TOO LATE I understand if I asked for something off menu but this was simple, no spice. And I need to drink with my meal due to health reasons.

Please Note:
The smell of javex everytime they wash the tabletops is very offputting. So that just added to my unsatisfying meal.

After years of coming here, I AM DISAPPOINTED and I should have listened to my Husband and stick to the soup only!

Please Note #2:
Spoke with the lady at front who seemed to run the place and she told me twice to tell the server. I replied I did. And I wrote a review so you could read my experience tonight.

I've been coming here every year for my birthday for the last few years. We got the meat lover, mango salad, and cashew chicken. Great food and great service!

The manger wouldn’t allow us, a group bigger than six, to dine at one table or even two tables in one section (not necessarily adjacent), unless 18% tips is guaranteed, according to their “policy”. Never experienced such low standard of customer service, already felt sick before eating. We left and will never come back. Promised the manager a bad review and he said “please” with a smile.

It is a very bad restaurant. We came for 9 persons, manager insist to separate us to 2 tables to 2 different sections - he said it is company policy, which fair to their waiters for tips - mandatory 18%. Not friendly conversation, they simply don’t care the business and customers. The worst restaurant and manager I have ever experienced. No. 1 of scam restaurant in GTA, suggest to try if you want to test your EQ

Couldn't believe what happened to us there. The manager on duty insisted on charging us (9 in total) 18% on tips as a group although he wasn't willing to provide us with anything even close to the so called "group service". He first said he wouldn't combine 2 tables, although there were 2 empty tables right beside each other in front of us. He then moved on to declare that he would only sit us on 2 separate tables in 2 opposite sections yet still charge us as a "group", despite that we probably couldn't even see each other while eating. We felt that he was just trying to disgust us for fun. It was indeed very disgusting and ridiculous experience there. Of course we left, and won't ever go back. Not sure what the restaurant owner would think, but this manager definitely didn't care to care his customers.

A couple of months ago I found a piece of plastic bag in my tom yum soup at this place (it was appropriately comped). And last night we went again (invited by a large group) and ordered ~8 different dishes each more disappointing than the last. My child is home sick from school today and I suspect the cause was the pad siew which looked as if it had been sitting out for some time.

Ordered two chicken pad thai, both orders were just a huge glop of stuck together noodles covered in some type of hot sauce - no flavour, no peanuts, all tofu with next to no chicken. Very disappointed, will go elsewhere for pad thai next time

Full discloser I did not eat in the dining room. Take out only. The restaurant business is based on details and how well the restaurant can achieve them. Pho Ben Thanh knows the details - little things like house made pickled vegetable garnishes (delicious) for the spring roll appetizers, or expanding the "roll" category to include BBQ pork. On that note the BBQ pork comes on fresh rice paper, which sticks to everything and to other rolls, unless you know the details and use a small piece of plastic wrap to keep them separate until you get home. Such a simple solution - never see that before. We also had the Pad Thai and this is a great version - Tofu slices and chicken - mild and hot - and a very good sized portion at a very good price. My family lives well outside of Waterloo and we have been looking for a place to go and get good food. This is it. I look forward to eating my way through the menu in the coming months. Cheers Pho Ben Thanh!

First time tried it. If customer satisfied always going back. Not pleased with the dish I got plain nuddle and meat. No sauce no vegetables. No salad. Very small portion.

Good service and good food. I got the 101 Pho noodle and my friend got the 125 beef stew noodle. The food was delicious, fresh, and tasted just like how I expected it to. Will be coming back.

I ordered Singapore Noodles with Chicken for take out and it came with raw chicken as shown in the pictures. This was disgusting!