Went there a while back. The owner is a sweet old man. Had an amazing time dining in. The man has stories to tell. I have never seen so many statues of Buddha (& friends) in a restaurant before and somehow it gives great vibes. You’d forget you’re in Toronto.
Bahn Mi is too good for how cheap it is. The bread, the pickle, the viet ham, the veggies and the sauce are simply perfect. 10/10.
p.s. oh one more thing, it’s northern Vietnamese food so you might find the noodle soup, I had Bun Reiu, to be ‘foreign’ compared to what you usually have but what a nice surprise. Basic but in the best way.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Kimberly Proctor
Great service and incredible menu! Lots of veggie options!
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 4
Service: 5
Karl Janisse
Called and placed an order. They told me 15mins. Came in 40mins later. Told me they didn’t make it. I left.
Service: 1
Lindsay Sailor
Food was good. The service was non-existent, but the prices are lower than average which offset.
The reason for my one star is that they over charge at the til without explanation. My total didn't make sense to me and when I asked why they said there was gratuity added automatically without any prompt. When I asked to take it off they argued and wouldn't. It's illegal to force service charges or tips on customers without prior notice.
Atmosphere: 2
Food: 4
Service: 1
Kasha Huk
The Bahn Mi are so good, and the owner is such an amazing guy. Love this spot.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Laurence Chabot
Best Banh Mi in the city
Catherine Brodeur
Booh! Worst Vietnamese coffee ever; made from a instant pack, I could have made that at home in 30 seconds.
Also, I ordered a rice bowl with shredded pork and I got a bowl with sliced pork skin. When I told the person this is not what I ordered he said yes, showing me the menu. The menu says shredded pork. Obviously there's some translation problems in their menu and they don't want to acknowledge it.
When it was time to paid he included the tip without asking me how much I wanted to give. Not cool...
Atmosphere: 2
Food: 1
Service: 1
Roxy W
I've frequented Vietnamese restaurants all my life (am Asian) and have eaten in Vietnam. This was by far the worst Viet restaurant - nay, the worst restaurant ever if you can even call it that. Banh Mi should not have regular grocery store deli meat. Pho was disgusting with THICK slabs of half-overcooked half-raw meat (should be sliced thin and raw to let the soup cook it). The place looked so untidy and hoarder-like that I was wary of how much care they took of food safety. Service was abhorrent as they scowled at every simple request and refused to give the customers at the next table over back their change. Insane why anyone would give them a good review. Everything was inedible, bland or too salty, overcooked with old grease, that I wouldn't even eat it if it was free. Are all the other reviews fake or just from people that have never had Vietnamese? Also forces a 15% tip which is criminal.
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 1
Service: 1
Tammy W
We’ve passed this little hidden place several times and finally walked in for the time this month. It’s quite conspicuous from the outside as the glass is all barred up with metal and besides a board sign that sits outside the door, you don’t really get a sense it’s a restaurant. It appears more like a pawn shop from the outside.
Walking into the restaurant, you are welcomed, first, by a strong scent of incense.
The owner/chef is sitting on his gaming chair (a very comfy one at that) with a large flat-screen blasting the local Vietnamese news. He pours himself a cup of tea from a traditional mini clay tea pot and in an instant, you are transported back to perhaps an extended relatives’ home in VN. Over 35% of the interior is made up of statues of buddhas and structures for traditional offerings. The restaurant doubles as a manufacturing facility for their Vietnamese rice cake business - offering banana/pandan flavoured cakes, mung bean cakes, and the like, which are packed and packaged for delivery on site. If you peer into the restaurant from the outer window, you will see the cakes for purchase on display.
The toilet is in the back near the kitchen, where you navigate boxes of cakes being packed, a mini toaster oven on a trolley (used for making their bahn mi (Vietnamese subs), and past the cash register and a large deep freezer to arrive at your destination. Inside, the bathroom doubles as a furnace room and storage room of boxes - old cat litter boxes and grocery boxes (emptied)
The service is welcoming and you get what you need. But don’t expect anyone asking you how your food was. We saw 3 different men come into the store. 2 of which never smile, while the other definitely does more of the servicing. One of them grunted at me when I began my journey/scavenger hunt to find the toilet and almost went to the basement — to signal I was starting on the wrong path.
Food is made to order and comes out on plastic plates and bowls with traditional East Asian patterns. The mint is likely homegrown - the leaves are huge! Food is homemade and something out of the kitchen of a home cook rather than a chef. Don’t expect fancy but you will get all the traditional ingredients one might expect from a Vietnamese meal! Water is served in plastic milkshake cups and are starting to brown. Likely due to the longevity of them being at the store/restaurant.
The walls are decked in paintings (wherever it fits) and handmade signs for product offerings written in Vietnamese. It’s everywhere so you’ll have to play some Where is Waldo with your Google Translate app if you can’t read VN.
If you’re looking for a zero frills experience and just want to fill your tummy with some sustenance while being transported back in time, check it out and dine in. If you just want some flavourful food, maybe do take out. (Note: the quality of the rice noodles I had were ok. It was boiled but overcooked so almost mushy and the rice starch was not washed out.)
Payment: while not advertised, an automatic 15% is added to your bill. I believe this applies to takeout orders too, but I’m unclear.
Wheelchair accessibility: They use a trolley for their delivery so it’s decent. The entry way is flat from what I remember. But the toilet is not accessible. You would not be able to go to the toilet unless the restaurant did some clearing of the path to the toilet.
Most Vietnamese places in the West are Southern (Saigon/HCMC) based. This is a rare Northern Vietnamese variety and thus has specialties you won't find elsewhere.
The front of the store is all locked up with grilled bars and messages like "Keep Out !!!" and then when you enter, it feels like some hoarder's bedroom with hundreds of shrines, incense sticks, cardboard boxes etc. You feel like running away immediately, but resist that urge.
The food here tastes EXACTLY the same as street-food in Hanoi. Don't order Pho or Banh Mi. Order regional specialties of the North - like Bun Cha (grilled meat with green papaya), Bun Reiu (Crab Roe noodles) or Cha Ca (Grilled Fish with herbs). I also got some green-rice sweets to-go.
This is the REAL DEAL. I don't know what's going on with the restaurant, but please support their business. I would hate to see authentic places like these close down and be replaced with generic corporate-pho places.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 5
Service: 3
trung nguyen
my most favourite vietnamese restaurant in toronto. really vietnam vibe. lovely northern cuisine & lovely owner aka the chef. highly recommend fried rice (cơm chiên dương châu) and steamed rolled rice pancake (bánh cuốn)
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Sandy Sun
The Banh Mi was soooo delicious! The one staffer who took my order was so kind. I'm not from the area but I'll definitely go back!
Food: 5
Service: 5
Anh Phạm
Extremely filling topping with a filling bowl of pho, this is a restaurant with an extremely filling amount of food compared to the price. I paid $14+ tax for a bowl of special pho and felt like this was the cheapest and most valuable bowl of pho I've ever eaten. However, the salty broth will taste better if the saltiness is reduced by 20%. It has a Southern pho flavor but the broth lacks sweetness and lightness so it is not harmonious, and if there is basil it will taste much better. Hopefully the owner will fix it to make it even more delicious. Will come back to try other dishes. Plus points: Cheap, lots of meat Minus point: Salty
Nice cat
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 4
Service: 4
Went there a while back. The owner is a sweet old man. Had an amazing time dining in. The man has stories to tell. I have never seen so many statues of Buddha (& friends) in a restaurant before and somehow it gives great vibes. You’d forget you’re in Toronto.
Bahn Mi is too good for how cheap it is. The bread, the pickle, the viet ham, the veggies and the sauce are simply perfect. 10/10.
p.s. oh one more thing, it’s northern Vietnamese food so you might find the noodle soup, I had Bun Reiu, to be ‘foreign’ compared to what you usually have but what a nice surprise. Basic but in the best way.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Great service and incredible menu! Lots of veggie options!
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 4
Service: 5
Called and placed an order. They told me 15mins. Came in 40mins later. Told me they didn’t make it. I left.
Service: 1
Food was good. The service was non-existent, but the prices are lower than average which offset.
The reason for my one star is that they over charge at the til without explanation. My total didn't make sense to me and when I asked why they said there was gratuity added automatically without any prompt. When I asked to take it off they argued and wouldn't. It's illegal to force service charges or tips on customers without prior notice.
Atmosphere: 2
Food: 4
Service: 1
The Bahn Mi are so good, and the owner is such an amazing guy. Love this spot.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Best Banh Mi in the city
Booh! Worst Vietnamese coffee ever; made from a instant pack, I could have made that at home in 30 seconds.
Also, I ordered a rice bowl with shredded pork and I got a bowl with sliced pork skin. When I told the person this is not what I ordered he said yes, showing me the menu. The menu says shredded pork. Obviously there's some translation problems in their menu and they don't want to acknowledge it.
When it was time to paid he included the tip without asking me how much I wanted to give. Not cool...
Atmosphere: 2
Food: 1
Service: 1
I've frequented Vietnamese restaurants all my life (am Asian) and have eaten in Vietnam. This was by far the worst Viet restaurant - nay, the worst restaurant ever if you can even call it that. Banh Mi should not have regular grocery store deli meat. Pho was disgusting with THICK slabs of half-overcooked half-raw meat (should be sliced thin and raw to let the soup cook it). The place looked so untidy and hoarder-like that I was wary of how much care they took of food safety. Service was abhorrent as they scowled at every simple request and refused to give the customers at the next table over back their change. Insane why anyone would give them a good review. Everything was inedible, bland or too salty, overcooked with old grease, that I wouldn't even eat it if it was free. Are all the other reviews fake or just from people that have never had Vietnamese? Also forces a 15% tip which is criminal.
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 1
Service: 1
We’ve passed this little hidden place several times and finally walked in for the time this month. It’s quite conspicuous from the outside as the glass is all barred up with metal and besides a board sign that sits outside the door, you don’t really get a sense it’s a restaurant. It appears more like a pawn shop from the outside.
Walking into the restaurant, you are welcomed, first, by a strong scent of incense.
The owner/chef is sitting on his gaming chair (a very comfy one at that) with a large flat-screen blasting the local Vietnamese news. He pours himself a cup of tea from a traditional mini clay tea pot and in an instant, you are transported back to perhaps an extended relatives’ home in VN. Over 35% of the interior is made up of statues of buddhas and structures for traditional offerings. The restaurant doubles as a manufacturing facility for their Vietnamese rice cake business - offering banana/pandan flavoured cakes, mung bean cakes, and the like, which are packed and packaged for delivery on site. If you peer into the restaurant from the outer window, you will see the cakes for purchase on display.
The toilet is in the back near the kitchen, where you navigate boxes of cakes being packed, a mini toaster oven on a trolley (used for making their bahn mi (Vietnamese subs), and past the cash register and a large deep freezer to arrive at your destination. Inside, the bathroom doubles as a furnace room and storage room of boxes - old cat litter boxes and grocery boxes (emptied)
The service is welcoming and you get what you need. But don’t expect anyone asking you how your food was. We saw 3 different men come into the store. 2 of which never smile, while the other definitely does more of the servicing. One of them grunted at me when I began my journey/scavenger hunt to find the toilet and almost went to the basement — to signal I was starting on the wrong path.
Food is made to order and comes out on plastic plates and bowls with traditional East Asian patterns. The mint is likely homegrown - the leaves are huge! Food is homemade and something out of the kitchen of a home cook rather than a chef. Don’t expect fancy but you will get all the traditional ingredients one might expect from a Vietnamese meal! Water is served in plastic milkshake cups and are starting to brown. Likely due to the longevity of them being at the store/restaurant.
The walls are decked in paintings (wherever it fits) and handmade signs for product offerings written in Vietnamese. It’s everywhere so you’ll have to play some Where is Waldo with your Google Translate app if you can’t read VN.
If you’re looking for a zero frills experience and just want to fill your tummy with some sustenance while being transported back in time, check it out and dine in. If you just want some flavourful food, maybe do take out. (Note: the quality of the rice noodles I had were ok. It was boiled but overcooked so almost mushy and the rice starch was not washed out.)
Payment: while not advertised, an automatic 15% is added to your bill. I believe this applies to takeout orders too, but I’m unclear.
Wheelchair accessibility: They use a trolley for their delivery so it’s decent. The entry way is flat from what I remember. But the toilet is not accessible. You would not be able to go to the toilet unless the restaurant did some clearing of the path to the toilet.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 3
Service: 4
Restaurantji Recommends
Most Vietnamese places in the West are Southern (Saigon/HCMC) based. This is a rare Northern Vietnamese variety and thus has specialties you won't find elsewhere.
The front of the store is all locked up with grilled bars and messages like "Keep Out !!!" and then when you enter, it feels like some hoarder's bedroom with hundreds of shrines, incense sticks, cardboard boxes etc. You feel like running away immediately, but resist that urge.
The food here tastes EXACTLY the same as street-food in Hanoi. Don't order Pho or Banh Mi. Order regional specialties of the North - like Bun Cha (grilled meat with green papaya), Bun Reiu (Crab Roe noodles) or Cha Ca (Grilled Fish with herbs). I also got some green-rice sweets to-go.
This is the REAL DEAL. I don't know what's going on with the restaurant, but please support their business. I would hate to see authentic places like these close down and be replaced with generic corporate-pho places.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 5
Service: 3
my most favourite vietnamese restaurant in toronto. really vietnam vibe. lovely northern cuisine & lovely owner aka the chef. highly recommend fried rice (cơm chiên dương châu) and steamed rolled rice pancake (bánh cuốn)
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
The Banh Mi was soooo delicious!
The one staffer who took my order was so kind.
I'm not from the area but I'll definitely go back!
Food: 5
Service: 5
Extremely filling topping with a filling bowl of pho, this is a restaurant with an extremely filling amount of food compared to the price. I paid $14+ tax for a bowl of special pho and felt like this was the cheapest and most valuable bowl of pho I've ever eaten. However, the salty broth will taste better if the saltiness is reduced by 20%. It has a Southern pho flavor but the broth lacks sweetness and lightness so it is not harmonious, and if there is basil it will taste much better. Hopefully the owner will fix it to make it even more delicious. Will come back to try other dishes.
Plus points: Cheap, lots of meat
Minus point: Salty
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Might just be the best Banh Mi I’ve had in
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
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