Author: Francisco43

After seeing a lot of social media buzz on this place (revolving around the story of the Lunch Lady in Saigon), we decided to give it a try for a weekday lunch. I was worried about long lines, but fortunately, it was only a 30...min wait, and they call you when your table is being prepared, so that gave us the chance to do a little local shopping before sitting down and eating. We tried the following: - Banh Tom Chien (Crispy Prawn Fritter) - Very good. Crispy, good flavor, even my kids liked them. - Bun Rieu - Good. Was expecting more flavour from the tomato crab broth, but still good. - Bo Ne - Very good. I've never had a sizzling skillet to fill a banh mi before, so this was a nice surprise. The tender beef filet and the pate are the stars of this dish. The fries seemed to be unnecessary, as they were soggy, so they added bulk and not much else, but regardless, the rest of the dish is great. - Pho Bo - Good. The soup is very clear, but still good amount of flavour. Not sure it's much better than a lot of other pho places in Vancouver, but it's simple and it's good. It's interesting to note they include cut morning glory with the dish, in addition to the standard side of bean sprouts and basil. Service was good. There was always a server nearby to ask how everything else and to make suggestions on how to eat the food (if you're unfamiliar with Vietnamese food). As far as precautionary measures for COVID are concerned, they use plexiglass shields between tables (instead of spacing out the minimum 2m), looked to be cleaning all surfaces thoroughly between table changes and following all other provincial guidelines. I usually feel that parking on Commercial a little bit of a challenge, but going for midweek lunch wasn't bad at all. Overall, a nice meal. Maybe I didn't find it as "outstanding" as I expected it to be based on online buzz, but still a very good meal. I would definitely go back to try more.