This place deserves 1 star for the following reasons:
1) Their menu consists of about 330 items -- that is NEVER a good sign of being a great Vietnamese restaurant
2) My bowl of pho consisted of Chinese wide rice noodles, not the thinner rice noodles used for pho
3) Even with over 300 items on their menu, they said they were out of bun rieu (minced pork and crab in a tomato-based soup) -- I wonder what else they were out of...
4) They use "lai fun" (thick Chinese-style vermicelli) in their fresh spring rolls, instead of the thin vermicelli we are accustomed to seeing
5) My cousin ordered a simple coconut juice drink (probably out of a can), which didn't arrive at our table until halfway through our meal
If this doesn't scream bad Vietnamese restaurant, I don't know what does. What's sad is that Xe Lua has five other restaurants all over the Toronto area. Coming to Xe Lua helped solidify the fact that Vietnamese cuisine in the Bay Area cannot be beat!