No doubt there are many different delicious Pho restaurants in Toronto to choose from. However, if you are ever in the Markham area, The Pho Restaurant is one spot you don’t want to miss. By the way, that’s one heck of a name you can’t forget. I mean, how simple and straightforward is that?
This family-owned and operated restaurant takes pride in serving authentic Vietnamese cuisine made with the freshest ingredients. Their menu features a wide variety of pho noodle soup options as well as other popular Vietnamese dishes such as their signature “Picked for you” items, custom-made bowls under their “Just PHO You” menu, spring rolls, rice vermicelli bowls, rice plates, and many more.
The Pho Restaurant in Markham is conveniently located at:
Address: 3150 Hwy 7 UNIT #1, Markham, ON L6G 0A4
Telephone: (905) 415-7686
The Pho Restaurant Markham Review
Today, we were in the Markham area, so we decided to finally try out this restaurant that we have been hearing so much about. We were not disappointed! Okay, well, my husband, Rui, wasn’t disappointed. I was on the fence based on my review below.
The service was good and the food was comparable to the top pho restaurants in Toronto and ones in Mississauga like I Love Pho Restaurant. I have to admit I did like I Love Pho better!
In general, the pho soup at The Pho Restaurant was flavourful and hearty, and the vermicelli rice rolls were soft and easy to chew on – even though we much prefer mom’s irresistible homemade version more because of the tasty and healthy fish sauce recipe!
If you are ever in the area, be sure to check out The Pho Restaurant.
Here is a list of items we ordered for lunch today.
1. Just PHO You Customized Bowl
As mentioned, The Pho Restaurant offers “Just PHO You” Customized Bowls on their menu and Rui decided to go with that.
He ordered a large bowl and asked for regular noodles, thin slices of rare beef, beef balls, tripe, and some green onions.
The beef slices and balls were good. Just like any other good ol’ pho place! It was lacking tripe, but it’s expected since not many Pho restaurants give a lot of tripe. I believe he had only 3-5 tiny pieces at most.
As for the broth, Rui must have been lucky because we think he got a different soup base compared to mine. The beef broth he got looked “cleaner” and lighter. It was still packed with great flavour, which he joyfully gulped down to its last sip.
My Pho Tai Bac, on the other hand…
2. Pho Tai Bac
So, yeah, I ordered the regular Pho Tai Bac which is just noodles with rare beef, fresh onion, and shredded ginger.
My bowl wasn’t as pleasant as Rui’s because my broth was much oiler compared to his as you can see in our picture here. From this image, it’s obvious that his bowl has a lighter-coloured soup base compared to my order. You can probably tell that my bowl has a more intense beef and “MSG flavour”, but it’s not really my personal preference.
And if you saw this in real life, you would see a ton of oil on the surface. You just can’t see it as much in this image!
We suspect that I had the remaining leftover soup from an older pot whereas Rui’s bowl was filled with a brand new batch of soup.
We tried each other’s and could instantly taste the difference. Although mine was fully packed with flavour (sort of like leftover broths you leave overnight), it was more greasy and oily. Rui doesn’t mind as much, but I wasn’t impressed with that.
I’d much prefer Rui’s soup-base more. His was actually really good and I wish I could have traded with him – haha! But again, I guess you have to be lucky to catch a newer batch.
Despite the grease and oil, it wasn’t terrible. The Pho Tai Bac was still packed with authentic pho flavour. If you enjoy loads of flavour, you’d probably like this more than the clearer, non-greasy, and oily soup base.
3. Hand-Wrapped Vietnamese Spring Rolls
Lastly, we decided to order an appetizer because we enjoy variety. Plus, we don’t really get full from a bowl of noodles each time we go to Pho restaurants. Hence making this add-on a great finishing touch to our meals.
Our spring roll wasn’t fried. Instead, we ordered the hand-wrapped rice roll with shrimp, vermicelli noodles, lettuce, and fresh mint. To our surprise, we saw thin slices of pork inside our rolls, which we were not expecting. We don’t generally eat a lot of pork, but we didn’t mind since it already came with it.
It also came with a bowl of peanut sauce topped with crushed peanuts for us to dip.
This wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t amazing like mom’s recipe! My main complaint is that the rolls weren’t tightly wrapped, so the food inside was falling apart easily. The center wasn’t packed with food inside, making the warp slightly thinner than usual.
Rui and I always feel “ripped off” and not fully satisfied ordering any type of Vietnamese spring or rice roll. Mainly because the homemade version always tastes so much better. It’s fresher and you can always control the ingredients and what you want to put inside. I also personally like swapping the vermicelli with buckwheat or some sort of whole-grain noodle – that’s just me!
We usually order this as a filler at the restaurant and it is what it is.
What’s my final word about these wrapped rice rolls? If you don’t generally make these at home, then you may love it, especially the peanut sauce. It’s nice and saucy! But if your mom is a pro at making these, you may think they’re mediocre like most Vietnamese restaurants.
Food: 3.5/5
The only things that disappointed me were the rice rolls (but that’s almost all Vietnamese restaurants in my personal opinion), and my Pho Tai Bac noodle soup due to the grease and oil. However, Rui’s bowl was really delicious and easy to eat! He had the perfect bowl with the right amount of flavour, which I give 4.1/5! I give my Pho Tai Bac bowl a 3/5 for today.
Service: 3.5/5
The service was a little slower when we first arrived. I think it’s because we were sitting at some hidden dark corner where servers can easily miss us. But the servers were still nice and were able to come out with our dishes at a fast rate after we put in our order.
Ambiance: 4/5
The place is very clean and modern. The Pho Restaurant feels more comfortable to dine in compared to most popular traditional “hole-in-the-wall” types of pho restaurants.
Price: $$
The price is comparable, or may even be just slightly cheaper. They also give meat lovers the option to add meat for an extra $2.00.
The Pho Restaurant Markham Rating: 3.6/5
We give this place a rating of 3.6 out of 5 because the food was still good and edible at a reasonable price.
Overall, The Pho Restaurant in Markham is a great place to go for a bowl of pho! The beef slices and balls were good, and the broth was packed with flavour minus my “bad luck” batch of soup that was a little more oily and greasy.
The hand-wrapped Vietnamese spring rolls were also a great add-on to the meal as a stuffer. The only downside was that the spring rolls were not tightly wrapped, and the center wasn’t packed with food inside. Overall, the Pho Restaurant in Markham is a great place to go for a bowl of pho – and possibly other rice plates, noodles, and special dishes too! We’d have to come back and try those items to let you know our experience.
Have you been to the Pho Restaurant in Markham? What did you think? Let us know in the comments below!
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