My girlfriend and I came to The Lunch Lady of Saigon on Ossington for our anniversary, excited to support this new, elevated take on Vietnamese cuisine. The service was truly amazing, especially from our server, Nicole. She was warm, knowledgeable, and genuinely curious about the food. She mentioned she’s still new to Vietnamese cuisine but is learning a lot, and even shared an interesting fact about how MSG was unfairly villainized in the West due to racial stigma, something we really appreciated as it showed care and cultural awareness.
The space itself is beautiful, modern and stylish, very much what you’d expect from a trendy Ossington spot. The beef carpaccio was a delicious Vietnamese twist on the classic dish and started the meal on a high note. We both ordered the house special wagyu pho, which included beef cheeks, oxtail, and bone marrow. While the wagyu and marrow were rich and tasty, the broth lacked the depth and punch we’re used to from more traditional pho spots. The noodles felt oddly short, and some of the meats were so tough they were nearly inedible.
Still, I’m glad a place like this exists. It feels like a good entry point for people who might be new to Vietnamese food, and I hope it inspires more folks to explore the cuisine further. I’d come back for the ambiance, drinks, and to show friends a cool spot, but probably not just for the pho.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 3
Service: 5
Tuba Tunç
I recently tried The Lunch Lady of Saigon, a new spot on Ossington, and as a lover of Vietnamese food, I couldn’t resist checking it out. The interior is cozy and inviting, and being able to watch the kitchen in action while dining adds a special touch to the experience.
I had the wagyu beef noodles, which were absolutely spot-on—rich, flavorful, and satisfying. I also highly recommend the duck salad; it was fresh, well-balanced, and delicious.
The service was warm and welcoming. A special thanks to Oz, who went out of his way to make our visit memorable.
Overall, this is a great place to hang out and enjoy delicious Vietnamese cuisine. I’ll definitely be back!
G G
The service was great, from the moment we arrived and were greeted by the hostess to when the meal ended. We ordered the cafe martini, beef carpaccio, grilled octopus skewers, pork tomahawk, garlic noodles with crab, and coconut curry clams.
The carpaccio wasn’t as good as I expected—probably because I was hoping it would be similar to the marinated butter beef from Phnom Penh in Vancouver. We also didn’t like the peanuts on top. The octopus skewers were delicious—I’d go back just for those. We liked the pork tomahawk as well; it was like an elevated lemongrass pork dish with pineapples. The flavors worked well, though the piece we got was a bit too fatty.
The garlic noodles were okay; they paired nicely with the extra crab. The weakest dish was the coconut curry clams—they were bland, and I didn’t care for the sauce. Maybe we should’ve ordered the tamarind version instead.
The place has a nice vibe. I’d go back to try other dishes—and definitely order the octopus again.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 3
Service: 5
Foodie Family
Walked by and decided to try. No reservations so we sat at the bar. Service was friendly and attentive. Food was excellent!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
J P
Came here twice now and both times left feeling satisfied with my visit. Service and food and are point. Also tried the desert this time around and really enjoyed it. Will definitely be coming back.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Rosa Nguyen
We went to Lunch Lady for a dinner date and had the best time of our life. This place makes me so proud to be Vietnamese as the food is fusion but still keeps the authenticity, which brings a new experience but don’t make you disappointed!
The servers are extremely well-trained and professional. They are very knowledgeable and explained everything to you. Khang was our server and she was so sweet. She made us feel welcomed and comfortable. Highly recommended this place! 💕
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Nguyen
I really appreciate what they’re trying to do by giving Vietnamese food a new perspective but it’s just severely overhyped and underwhelming. Front of the house staff were really nice but that’s about it. First off the bartenders being on their phone when people are trying to get their attention for help, unprofessional, especially in front of customers during service.
Ordered the Wagyu Pho, Duck Salad, Octopus skewer, and Bo Luc Lac (Steak). The pho, a staple in Vietnamese cuisine, was extremely underwhelming. Broth was lukewarm, the bone marrow was cold, portion wasn’t adequate enough (meat and noodles were sparse and bone marrow took up 80% of the dish) while the broth lacked spice and depth, basically bland. Waygu was good though. For the price of $36 I expected better.
The three other dishes were alright but didn’t stand out in any way flavour wise to justify the price. Best dish was the steak.
What confuses me when looking at the menu is that nothing really pays homage to the Lunch Lady in Vietnam. None of her popular or best dishes were on the menu and if they are it’s only on certain days which is fine but what’s consistently on the menu doesn’t really live up to the Vietnamese standard imo. The restaurant and menu feels like it caters more towards the western taste palate. The Lunch Lady in Vietnam is known for affordable, delicious street food, but the one here doesn’t seem to have a cultural connection and lacks authenticity trying a new take on Vietnamese food.
Overall it’s mid westernized/fusion Vietnamese food that’s overpriced. A good comparison would be Pho Ngoc Yen but trying to be more boujee.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 1
Service: 2
Melissa Nguyen
Finally visited the Lunch Lady and got the tasting menu for 2 people to try their unique dishes.
It starts off with crispy taro chips with a green chilli aioli. This was sooooo addicting, the chips are thin and crunchy, slightly sweet and seasoned with chicken bouillon powder! The aioli was so good, creamy and fresh with dill, I could eat that sauce with everything!!😋
Next was the beef carpaccio which was thin slices of rare beef topped with crispy shallots, peanuts, and various herbs. It was fresh and light, but this dish is not really my cup of tea, thought it was okay.
The octopus skewer🐙 was probably my least favourite dish in this tasting menu. It was a bit too charred for me, so the burnt taste lingered in my mouth, and it wasn’t anything special. I kinda found it random on this menu since Vietnamese cusine doesn’t commonly have octopus… more squid usually🤷🏻♀️
The steak lúc lắc was a nice twist on the classic bò lúc lắc🥩. The ribeye they used was quite fatty and thick, and it took me a WHILE to chew each piece. I would’ve preferred a less fatty meat. The peppercorn sauce was great though, it tasted like phở seasoning. It was served with cassava fries which were fine, more crisp on the outside than substance on the inside. It also had a watercress salad on the side, which was not a salad because there was no dressing on it. It was fine but it didn’t really add anything to the dish.
The garlic fried noodles were pretty good! The egg noodles were coated in that nice garlic butter. The noodles were just slight bit undercooked and I would’ve liked if it was al dente.
Finally we ordered the three layered dessert, chè ba màu. It’s definitely a different twist on the og dessert. This one had a pandan sticky rice cake, basically a bánh bò nướng, topped with strawberry red bean puree (mostly tasted like strawberry), mung bean streusel, and coconut ice cream (creamy and refreshing!) It was good but not what I expected. Also it was a kind of heavy dessert to have after the tasting menu.
The restaurant is nicely decorated with a nice combination of modern and fancy with a street vibe. Overall my experience here was decent, would give it about a 7-7.5/10. Some of the dishes can definitely be tweaked, as i felt like some of the elements were just there, lacking that WOW factor.
Our waiter was very attentive and nice, and the service was decently quick, the courses are timed well.
I’m excited to see Vietnamese cuisine get more hype and recognition, but I definitely had higher hopes for this place.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 3
Service: 5
Tiana Crosbie
Came here for a birthday lunch with friends and our server Nicole made it an extra special celebration. So attentive, friendly, and down to earth!!! Lemongrass chicken was perfectly cooked, fried tofu was made with a well balanced flavourful sauce and beef carpaccio was very fresh and yummy! Thanks for the great experience:)
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Rajeev Sharma
I was fortunate to visit the original Lunch Lady in Vancouver about 4 years ago and to this date it's still my favorite meal in Vancouver. Toronto, not so much. The menu is completely different. Not to say our dinning experience was bad, but didn't leave the same impression. The soft shell crab and tofu of they starter menu were delicious! Got the Wagyu pho, it was good. The meat was phenomenal, but the broth was lacking the flavour that you get with Pho. Got the steak dish was solid. Overall it was a great meal, just not the same as in BC.
Overhyped. DO NOT DO TASTING MENU DO THE A LA CARTE.
2 star to the tasting menu but the pho would be a full 5 stars.
When we booked the tasting menu was $65 - also on our reso. It changed to $70/ea on the menu we recieved.... Interesting...
I was so excited to try this place. The atmosphere was gorgeous, and the kitchen staff worked extremely hard to pump out endless orders of dishes.
Our server Liam was great.
They had 3 people at the entrance, but when you call, it is hard for them to pick up the phone.
Their fried food was really greasy - an oil temp problem or something?
I get their street food concept, but the garlic noodles in the fixed price menu was terrible. They should have had something like pho or springrolls or vermicelli.
Pho was fantastic but there were some eggshells in the booth.
It would be a safer choice to pick your own items. -- they have some really amazing items on the menu (not the tasting menu- in my personal opinion, not worth the $70/ person)
I would be back for pho if I am to return. Hopefully without the crunchy bits this time.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 2
Service: 5
Ana María Gutiérrez
Everything was amazing! The food was delicious and the atmosphere was great. Oz gave us excellent service, super friendly and attentive. We’ll definitely be coming back!
Nasigil
I have mixed feelings about the experience here today, I want to write a detailed review because there are some really nice stuff here, but the overall experience was brought down by a few easily fixable things.
We ordered the Wagyu pho and Mi Vit Tiem (duck breast noodle soup). The portion is great - the Wagyu pho comes with a gigantic beef bone full of marrow, and the Mi Vit Tiem comes with a very solid plate of well made duck breast. Everything looks nice until you start actually eating.
The pho broth is... okay. Not bad by any means, but definitely below Pho Tien Tham and Golden Turtle on the same street just a few minutes away. Good balance of saltiness, but you can barely taste the beef flavor in the broth. The bone marrows are so fatty and barely seasoned, you just feel like you are eating fat. I just don't think they work well with pho, they are much more suitable to be eaten while mixing with rice. The choice of barely poached egg with totally liquid yolk is also strange, since again, it would work much better with rice instead of noodles. With noodle, the yolk just instantly leak out and got lost in the broth, making the broth cloudy and you don't get anything in return. I think a ramen style poached egg, or just a simple fried egg would be much better.
The Mi Vit Tiem is basically a regular noodle soup with duck breast on the side. The breast itself is very good, nothing to complain here, but it feels very unrelated to the noodle itself, like a careless add-on. The noodle soup is pretty bad here, I am gonna be honest- not sure if that's how it is or the chef just had a bad day, but the soup is very salty which killed most of other flavors it might have, and the noodle itself is overcooked and mushy. My wife couldn't finish the noodles because she can't handle all the salt in there, and it just doesn't taste good. It also comes with the barely cooked almost raw egg in it, which I have coitized before.
My advice to the kitchen would be - probably add more beef and bones in your broth making process, change the egg to be something more suitable for noodle soups, have better flavor and cook time control in Mi Vit Tiem, and maybe season the bone marrow better with more salt and spices. I may come back in a few months to try a few other things on the menu, hopefully the next experience is better.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 3
Service: 5
Pamela Z.
I had really high hopes for The Lunch Lady of Saigon given all the buzz and the fact that friends had raved about the original location in Vietnam. I even made a lunch reservation a week in advance to bring a friend visiting from out of town. When we arrived, the restaurant was completely packed, a great first sign. Unfortunately, that was the only highlight of the day.
Our server took a very long time to put in our orders, and the food arrived much later than expected. If a customer asks for recommendations, I don't think I would imagine the answer to be“I dont know your taste preferences since it differs for everyone” lol.
We ordered three dishes:
Beef Carpaccio (one of their most talked-about items): It was alright. It didn’t really stand out.
Lemongrass Chicken: Pretty basic. For the price point, I could have gone to a more traditional Vietnamese restaurant like Golden Turtle just down the street and had a better meal.
Pho: Hugely disappointing. The broth lacked depth and flavor, and the noodles were soggy and not what you’d expect, especially given the price.
Overall, the experience did not live up to the hype. With the prices they charge, I was expecting something memorable, but instead, it felt underwhelming and not worth the cost.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 2
Service: 1
Harrison Pike
Excellent! The staff and service was excellent and the food was outstanding. Highlights were the shrimp and carpaccio.
My girlfriend and I came to The Lunch Lady of Saigon on Ossington for our anniversary, excited to support this new, elevated take on Vietnamese cuisine. The service was truly amazing, especially from our server, Nicole. She was warm, knowledgeable, and genuinely curious about the food. She mentioned she’s still new to Vietnamese cuisine but is learning a lot, and even shared an interesting fact about how MSG was unfairly villainized in the West due to racial stigma, something we really appreciated as it showed care and cultural awareness.
The space itself is beautiful, modern and stylish, very much what you’d expect from a trendy Ossington spot. The beef carpaccio was a delicious Vietnamese twist on the classic dish and started the meal on a high note. We both ordered the house special wagyu pho, which included beef cheeks, oxtail, and bone marrow. While the wagyu and marrow were rich and tasty, the broth lacked the depth and punch we’re used to from more traditional pho spots. The noodles felt oddly short, and some of the meats were so tough they were nearly inedible.
Still, I’m glad a place like this exists. It feels like a good entry point for people who might be new to Vietnamese food, and I hope it inspires more folks to explore the cuisine further. I’d come back for the ambiance, drinks, and to show friends a cool spot, but probably not just for the pho.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 3
Service: 5
I recently tried The Lunch Lady of Saigon, a new spot on Ossington, and as a lover of Vietnamese food, I couldn’t resist checking it out. The interior is cozy and inviting, and being able to watch the kitchen in action while dining adds a special touch to the experience.
I had the wagyu beef noodles, which were absolutely spot-on—rich, flavorful, and satisfying. I also highly recommend the duck salad; it was fresh, well-balanced, and delicious.
The service was warm and welcoming. A special thanks to Oz, who went out of his way to make our visit memorable.
Overall, this is a great place to hang out and enjoy delicious Vietnamese cuisine. I’ll definitely be back!
The service was great, from the moment we arrived and were greeted by the hostess to when the meal ended. We ordered the cafe martini, beef carpaccio, grilled octopus skewers, pork tomahawk, garlic noodles with crab, and coconut curry clams.
The carpaccio wasn’t as good as I expected—probably because I was hoping it would be similar to the marinated butter beef from Phnom Penh in Vancouver. We also didn’t like the peanuts on top. The octopus skewers were delicious—I’d go back just for those. We liked the pork tomahawk as well; it was like an elevated lemongrass pork dish with pineapples. The flavors worked well, though the piece we got was a bit too fatty.
The garlic noodles were okay; they paired nicely with the extra crab. The weakest dish was the coconut curry clams—they were bland, and I didn’t care for the sauce. Maybe we should’ve ordered the tamarind version instead.
The place has a nice vibe. I’d go back to try other dishes—and definitely order the octopus again.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 3
Service: 5
Walked by and decided to try. No reservations so we sat at the bar. Service was friendly and attentive. Food was excellent!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Came here twice now and both times left feeling satisfied with my visit. Service and food and are point. Also tried the desert this time around and really enjoyed it. Will definitely be coming back.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
We went to Lunch Lady for a dinner date and had the best time of our life. This place makes me so proud to be Vietnamese as the food is fusion but still keeps the authenticity, which brings a new experience but don’t make you disappointed!
The servers are extremely well-trained and professional. They are very knowledgeable and explained everything to you. Khang was our server and she was so sweet. She made us feel welcomed and comfortable. Highly recommended this place! 💕
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
I really appreciate what they’re trying to do by giving Vietnamese food a new perspective but it’s just severely overhyped and underwhelming. Front of the house staff were really nice but that’s about it. First off the bartenders being on their phone when people are trying to get their attention for help, unprofessional, especially in front of customers during service.
Ordered the Wagyu Pho, Duck Salad, Octopus skewer, and Bo Luc Lac (Steak). The pho, a staple in Vietnamese cuisine, was extremely underwhelming. Broth was lukewarm, the bone marrow was cold, portion wasn’t adequate enough (meat and noodles were sparse and bone marrow took up 80% of the dish) while the broth lacked spice and depth, basically bland. Waygu was good though. For the price of $36 I expected better.
The three other dishes were alright but didn’t stand out in any way flavour wise to justify the price. Best dish was the steak.
What confuses me when looking at the menu is that nothing really pays homage to the Lunch Lady in Vietnam. None of her popular or best dishes were on the menu and if they are it’s only on certain days which is fine but what’s consistently on the menu doesn’t really live up to the Vietnamese standard imo. The restaurant and menu feels like it caters more towards the western taste palate. The Lunch Lady in Vietnam is known for affordable, delicious street food, but the one here doesn’t seem to have a cultural connection and lacks authenticity trying a new take on Vietnamese food.
Overall it’s mid westernized/fusion Vietnamese food that’s overpriced. A good comparison would be Pho Ngoc Yen but trying to be more boujee.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 1
Service: 2
Finally visited the Lunch Lady and got the tasting menu for 2 people to try their unique dishes.
It starts off with crispy taro chips with a green chilli aioli. This was sooooo addicting, the chips are thin and crunchy, slightly sweet and seasoned with chicken bouillon powder! The aioli was so good, creamy and fresh with dill, I could eat that sauce with everything!!😋
Next was the beef carpaccio which was thin slices of rare beef topped with crispy shallots, peanuts, and various herbs. It was fresh and light, but this dish is not really my cup of tea, thought it was okay.
The octopus skewer🐙 was probably my least favourite dish in this tasting menu. It was a bit too charred for me, so the burnt taste lingered in my mouth, and it wasn’t anything special. I kinda found it random on this menu since Vietnamese cusine doesn’t commonly have octopus… more squid usually🤷🏻♀️
The steak lúc lắc was a nice twist on the classic bò lúc lắc🥩. The ribeye they used was quite fatty and thick, and it took me a WHILE to chew each piece. I would’ve preferred a less fatty meat. The peppercorn sauce was great though, it tasted like phở seasoning. It was served with cassava fries which were fine, more crisp on the outside than substance on the inside. It also had a watercress salad on the side, which was not a salad because there was no dressing on it. It was fine but it didn’t really add anything to the dish.
The garlic fried noodles were pretty good! The egg noodles were coated in that nice garlic butter. The noodles were just slight bit undercooked and I would’ve liked if it was al dente.
Finally we ordered the three layered dessert, chè ba màu. It’s definitely a different twist on the og dessert. This one had a pandan sticky rice cake, basically a bánh bò nướng, topped with strawberry red bean puree (mostly tasted like strawberry), mung bean streusel, and coconut ice cream (creamy and refreshing!) It was good but not what I expected. Also it was a kind of heavy dessert to have after the tasting menu.
The restaurant is nicely decorated with a nice combination of modern and fancy with a street vibe. Overall my experience here was decent, would give it about a 7-7.5/10. Some of the dishes can definitely be tweaked, as i felt like some of the elements were just there, lacking that WOW factor.
Our waiter was very attentive and nice, and the service was decently quick, the courses are timed well.
I’m excited to see Vietnamese cuisine get more hype and recognition, but I definitely had higher hopes for this place.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 3
Service: 5
Came here for a birthday lunch with friends and our server Nicole made it an extra special celebration. So attentive, friendly, and down to earth!!! Lemongrass chicken was perfectly cooked, fried tofu was made with a well balanced flavourful sauce and beef carpaccio was very fresh and yummy! Thanks for the great experience:)
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
I was fortunate to visit the original Lunch Lady in Vancouver about 4 years ago and to this date it's still my favorite meal in Vancouver. Toronto, not so much. The menu is completely different. Not to say our dinning experience was bad, but didn't leave the same impression. The soft shell crab and tofu of they starter menu were delicious! Got the Wagyu pho, it was good. The meat was phenomenal, but the broth was lacking the flavour that you get with Pho. Got the steak dish was solid. Overall it was a great meal, just not the same as in BC.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 4
Service: 5
Restaurantji Recommends
Overhyped.
DO NOT DO TASTING MENU
DO THE A LA CARTE.
2 star to the tasting menu but the pho would be a full 5 stars.
When we booked the tasting menu was $65 - also on our reso. It changed to $70/ea on the menu we recieved.... Interesting...
I was so excited to try this place. The atmosphere was gorgeous, and the kitchen staff worked extremely hard to pump out endless orders of dishes.
Our server Liam was great.
They had 3 people at the entrance, but when you call, it is hard for them to pick up the phone.
Their fried food was really greasy - an oil temp problem or something?
I get their street food concept, but the garlic noodles in the fixed price menu was terrible. They should have had something like pho or springrolls or vermicelli.
Pho was fantastic but there were some eggshells in the booth.
It would be a safer choice to pick your own items. -- they have some really amazing items on the menu (not the tasting menu- in my personal opinion, not worth the $70/ person)
I would be back for pho if I am to return. Hopefully without the crunchy bits this time.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 2
Service: 5
Everything was amazing! The food was delicious and the atmosphere was great. Oz gave us excellent service, super friendly and attentive. We’ll definitely be coming back!
I have mixed feelings about the experience here today, I want to write a detailed review because there are some really nice stuff here, but the overall experience was brought down by a few easily fixable things.
We ordered the Wagyu pho and Mi Vit Tiem (duck breast noodle soup). The portion is great - the Wagyu pho comes with a gigantic beef bone full of marrow, and the Mi Vit Tiem comes with a very solid plate of well made duck breast. Everything looks nice until you start actually eating.
The pho broth is... okay. Not bad by any means, but definitely below Pho Tien Tham and Golden Turtle on the same street just a few minutes away. Good balance of saltiness, but you can barely taste the beef flavor in the broth. The bone marrows are so fatty and barely seasoned, you just feel like you are eating fat. I just don't think they work well with pho, they are much more suitable to be eaten while mixing with rice. The choice of barely poached egg with totally liquid yolk is also strange, since again, it would work much better with rice instead of noodles. With noodle, the yolk just instantly leak out and got lost in the broth, making the broth cloudy and you don't get anything in return. I think a ramen style poached egg, or just a simple fried egg would be much better.
The Mi Vit Tiem is basically a regular noodle soup with duck breast on the side. The breast itself is very good, nothing to complain here, but it feels very unrelated to the noodle itself, like a careless add-on. The noodle soup is pretty bad here, I am gonna be honest- not sure if that's how it is or the chef just had a bad day, but the soup is very salty which killed most of other flavors it might have, and the noodle itself is overcooked and mushy. My wife couldn't finish the noodles because she can't handle all the salt in there, and it just doesn't taste good. It also comes with the barely cooked almost raw egg in it, which I have coitized before.
My advice to the kitchen would be - probably add more beef and bones in your broth making process, change the egg to be something more suitable for noodle soups, have better flavor and cook time control in Mi Vit Tiem, and maybe season the bone marrow better with more salt and spices. I may come back in a few months to try a few other things on the menu, hopefully the next experience is better.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 3
Service: 5
I had really high hopes for The Lunch Lady of Saigon given all the buzz and the fact that friends had raved about the original location in Vietnam. I even made a lunch reservation a week in advance to bring a friend visiting from out of town. When we arrived, the restaurant was completely packed, a great first sign. Unfortunately, that was the only highlight of the day.
Our server took a very long time to put in our orders, and the food arrived much later than expected. If a customer asks for recommendations, I don't think I would imagine the answer to be“I dont know your taste preferences since it differs for everyone” lol.
We ordered three dishes:
Beef Carpaccio (one of their most talked-about items): It was alright. It didn’t really stand out.
Lemongrass Chicken: Pretty basic. For the price point, I could have gone to a more traditional Vietnamese restaurant like Golden Turtle just down the street and had a better meal.
Pho: Hugely disappointing. The broth lacked depth and flavor, and the noodles were soggy and not what you’d expect, especially given the price.
Overall, the experience did not live up to the hype. With the prices they charge, I was expecting something memorable, but instead, it felt underwhelming and not worth the cost.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 2
Service: 1
Excellent! The staff and service was excellent and the food was outstanding. Highlights were the shrimp and carpaccio.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
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