Where is all the meat! That was something I kept thinking throughout my meal at VIP.
I came here recently for dinner with a friend on a weeknight. The restaurant was fairly quiet. VIP is located in the First Markham Place plaza among the stiff competition of many other Asian restaurants. I ordered a large rare beef and tripe pho; my friend and I also decided to share an order of Vietnamese spring rolls. The spring rolls were not great, the filling was barely identifiable and lacked any flavour; their only redeeming quality was that they were crispy and not oily. My large pho was modest in size; this soup would be a medium in most other places. My soup was seriously lacking meat and consisted mostly of tripe and lots of noodles. The beef was not rare enough and was mostly cooked through by the time it reached my table. The flavour of the soup wasn't spectacular, far from the best pho I have had. I also managed to snag one of my friends fried shrimp on sugar cane, the breading on the shrimp was not crispy at all, overall just meh.
The restaurant itself is pretty run down, and cleanliness does not seem to be a top priority. I usually don't mind a run down place as long as the food is good; however that is not the case with this establishment. The service was non-existent, our order was taken and food was brought to us in a timely manner; nothing more and nothing less. Overall I do not think I will return to VIP any time soon.
*They do have a lobster tank, but the only lobster in there did not look especially alive.