I Love Pho Mississauga Review

Today I am going to be doing a review on a Vietnamese restaurant called “I Love Pho” located in Mississauga.

I am actually a little late on this review since Rui and I visited this Pho restaurant a couple of months back in mid December.

At first, when we came across this Vietnamese Pho restaurant, we thought the name just sounded too good to be true. It made us a little hesitant to even try this place.

I was dropping off a Christmas gift — these cute little holiday macarons from DaanGo — for one of my doctors in Mississauga and since we were in the hood, we were looking for a good pho noodle restaurant nearby.

Too bad it was getting really late, so we didn’t have time to cook a nice healthy meal at home. Looks like we’re sneaking in another cheat day to eat out…

We ended up finding this little guy in the area purely by chance (yes, we ended up liking it). We didn’t expect much at first, but to our surprise we enjoyed the pho here!

It also deserves a spot in our list of the best pho in Toronto because we can see this restaurant is a little underrated based on the reviews online – at least that’s in our opinion.

 

I Love Pho Mississauga Review

Rui ordered a large Pho dac biet (AKA special) where as I ordered the pho with rare beef and beef balls.

By the time we finish it was about 9:00 to 9:30 PM, so we were hesitating to order another side dish. Since we were still hungry, we decided to just order a vermicelli wrap with shrimp to fill our tummies.

Here is the menu along with our review on I Love Pho.

Address: 848 Burnhamthorpe Rd W, Mississauga, ON L5C 2S3

We will probably come back here to try their other plates and dishes whenever we drop by the area.

With any Pho place, it’s always nice to enjoy a bowl of pipping hot noodle soup during the cold weather. 🙂

 

I Love Pho Menu

Here are a few snapshots of their menu.

 

Appetizers and Beef Noodle Soup (Pho)

 

Vermicelli (Bun)

 

Steamed Dishes (Com Tam) and Fried Rice (Com Chien)

 

I Love Pho Beverages (Giai Khat)

 

Pho Dac Biet

This large bowl was served with lots of rice noodles, beef tendon, rare beef, tripe, and everything in between. Just like any other Vietnamese pho restaurant, their sizes are comparable.

Rui really enjoyed his beef noodles a lot! Whether it’s Chinese noodles with shrimp dumplings or Japanese beef ramen, his favourite order will always be noodles.

We both agreed that the broth in this bowl of pho was not too salty nor oily. You may notice that there are a lot of Vietnamese restaurants that serve greasy soup noodles that’s packed with sodium. Those generally dehydrate you and make you feel thirsty throughout the night. However, the beef noodle soup at I Love Pho did not feel that way. It was actually quite light!

The noodle was also easy to bite on. Not too hard. Not too soggy. It was just right!

 

Pho With Rare Beef and Beef Balls

I ordered the medium pho with rare beef and beef balls.

This was pretty much the same order as Rui’s except I don’t get the beef tendon, tripe and all those different beef parts, which I prefer anyway. I like it simple.

The good thing is if you you go with this order, they will give you more rare beef compared to the Pho Dac Biet.

I have to admit that I did not feel full after eating this bowl. I probably needed a large, however for health reasons, I always try to reduce eating too much carby foods such as noodles, rice, bread etc.

Overall, this bowl was a delightful experience and I enjoyed it very much! I was a happy camper for the night! 🙂

 

Vietnamese Spring Roll

Before the restaurant was closing, we decided to order an appetizer in the last minute because we were both not that full. We asked for the vermicelli wrap with boiled shrimp and vegetables inside.

By the way, we didn’t bother taking pictures of this item because it was getting late and I was tired.

To my disappointment, the server gave us the wrong order! I believe there was a misunderstanding and he thought we were asking for “spring roll” when we asked for shrimp vermicelli roll. It could be that he didn’t understand English fully, so he didn’t interpret what we were saying correctly.

As a result, we ended up with some deep fried crispy Vietnamese spring roll like this:

I was not pleased, and I did not want to eat it. However, because I was still hungry, I took a few bites and decided to just head home and munch on some other light snack like raw almonds.

I have to admit the fried spring roll was really good, especially when you’re still hungry and want to eat more, but I let Rui finish the appetizer.

He agreed that the spring roll was crispy, crunchy and pleasant to munch on. It is a little pricey for an appetizer but that’s just how it is no matter which Vietnamese restaurant you go to.

He actually said to me that my mom makes it better with her fresh ingredients (I totally agree, haha), so he doesn’t feel it was worth paying for despite it tasting delightful during that moment.

 

Food: 4.3/5

At the time of writing this, we see that I Love Pho gets an average of 3.5 stars out of 5 based on Yelp reviews.

We really believe this restaurant is underrated and their pho deserves a 4.3 out of 5. It wasn’t heavy or greasy like a lot of downtown pho restaurants, so that was a bonus for us.

 

Service: 3/5

Despite getting the wrong order, the service wasn’t terrible. Just like most Asian establishments, you won’t generally get “friendly” chit chat services from the servers. They will just take your order and bring out your food quickly. They are fast and efficient.

 

Ambiance: 3/5

The restaurant isn’t super modern, fancy or anything like that. It’s your typical Vietnamese Pho restaurant where you come in to dine and dash, so the décor isn’t spectacular. However, you can still dine comfortably here. Also, the tables are spaced out so you won’t feel close to other people. There’s tons of space which is important especially during COVID times.

 

Price: $$

The price of their plates and dishes are comparable to other Pho restaurants.

However, we always find that appetizers are not really worth it because of how simple it is to make them at home. Plus, it always tastes better when you choose the ingredients and make them yourself. But, I guess that goes with almost any dish including homemade Vietnamese nuoc mam fish sauce. I’m just sayin’…

 

I Love Pho Mississauga Rating: 4/5

They serve good pho that doesn’t leave you dehydrated or feeling sick to the stomach. The taste is pleasant and quite mouthwatering when you’re mindful of what you’re eating and make every bite a meditation.

Spring rolls were still good despite the wrong order.

Overall, we give this Vietnamese restaurant in Mississauga a 4 out of 5 stars.