rev:text
| - It's like a hot bowl of soup on a cold winter's day... Wait. That's exactly what it is. One of my favorite pho restaurants in the GTA, Pho Dau Bo is fast food without any of the drawbacks of typical fast food.
If you're expecting fine dining, this noodle house isn't the best establishment to walk into, but adequate service, good, wholesome Vietnamese cuisine and affordable prices make it a must for any pho soup fan.
The atmosphere is outstanding, and not in a fine dining restaurant or cheesey family restaurant way. There's a certain sense of community one can only find in Vietnamese noodle houses, and Pho Dau Bo has it in spades, no matter which location you choose. It feels like you were invited over for the holidays by your Vietnamese college roommate and his family is pulling all the stops to feed you. It's laid back enough that it doesn't feel like a crime to put your elbows on the table and slurp up your noodles.
The food is typically good fare... for the price. Don't expect the latest Viet/Thai/Morrocan/Burmese/Mars fusion cuisine created by the next Jamie Oliver wannabe. This is wholesome Vietnamese home cooking at its finest, and for a twenty you'll get a plate of rice, barbecued pork chop, a bowl of the famous Vietnamese beef noodle soup the size of your head and a three colored shake for dessert. All of it satisfying, tasty and healthy.
One of the greatest institutions that Canadian culture has ever adopted is exemplified in this chain of restaurants. Those new to the Vietnamese dining experience, keep in mind; ordering food is a completely self serve process. You're seated at any available seat, given a menu and a slip of paper. You simply jot down the number of the item that you want on the slip and when the wait staff returns, return the menu and paper with your order and they'll return with all of your food. It sounds strange at first, but you soon start to prefer this method over typical Western fast food ordering where we stand in line like cattle.
Bottom Line: Always the answer to the question , "Where do you guys want to eat?"
|