Pho Boi A Taste of Vietnam

Reviews

• ★ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆
  I must be spoiled after living in Vancouver.. I have never been served such atrocious food.. the vegetables were old and soggy.. the rice paper was tough and pretty much uneatable.. the rice noodles were stale and tasteless.. the sauces were thick and tasteless.. I give it that the presentation was fair.. the young lady that served us was very nice and polite.. but I would not go back again..
  By Rebecca Melquist, March 12, 2017
• ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆
  Minus a star for spotty wait times - otherwise, good bang for your buck
  By Amanda Silvey, February 02, 2017
• ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
  Compared to other restaurants around Nanaimo, I find Pho Boi is the most affordable and is a great value for what you get, even after they raised their prices, compared to other restaurants in Nanaimo. And a plus.. real cha gio which seems to be a freaking commodity at most Vietnamese restaurants in Nanaimo. And at an affordable price too. Yay. They serve what I believe to be the best Pho in Nanaimo, and I've tried almost all the restaurants, and am willing to change this if I find one that surpasses Pho Boi. The broth is clear and full of flavour, just as it should be in authentic Vietnamese cuisine. Most restaurants in town have not served pho with the right kind of broth, being too dark, salty, and/or cloudy to be considered propper pho. They also have a lot of other delicious soups to choose from and I recommend anyone who goes for pho to give their other soups a chance as well. Jasmine green tea is served without charge, just like all authentic Vietnamese restaurants do, as it is a tradition in their culture to honour guests with tea. Their fried rolls (Cha Gio) are some of the best in Nanaimo, and I've only found 3 restaurants in town that serve them. Their cha gio are freaking heavenly crispy fried goodness that leaves your tastebuds in a state of bliss. A lot of other Vietnamese restaurants in town just fry up those disgusting generic frozen spring rolls that you can buy at a grocery store. So the fact this place serves actual cha gio is a relief in itself. Bun is a pretty popular noodle dish with grilled meat, noodles, salad, and a fried roll. The pork and shrimp (bun tom thit nuong) and chicken (bun ga nuong) don't come with fried rolls by default for whatever reason​​ so if you want them you must order them seperately. There is a vegetarian dish (bun chay) that has mixed vegetables with lemongrass sauce, and is served with fried tofu and a sweet vegetarian brown dipping sauce as a substitute for nuoc mam cham. Their rice dishes are similar to bun with lemon grass marinated grilled meat/a protein, a salad of pickled carrots, soybean sprouts and lettuce, and nuoc mam cham, but also offer a cup of soup on the side. There is also a vegetarian option which includes the special brown sauce as a substitute for nuoc mam cham. Aheads up: as with the bun dishes, if any of the rice dishes come with a fried roll, it will have Cha Gio beside the Vietnamese name. One issue: Their nuoc mam cham doesn't contain chilis anymore and you have to add them with the chili sauce on the table or ask them to add it, especially if you get take out and don't have a type of chili sauce at home. I guess they stopped adding chilis to nuoc mam cham and serving the spicy chilis because some people who eat there often due to location (north Nanaimo suburbia ahem) lose their freaking minds to the mere thought of something having a barely palatable hint of anything spicy and just had to ruin it for everyone else. Thus, the capsicum horrors reign no more.
  By Chelsey Bateson, January 06, 2017
• ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆
  Decent vietnamese food joint in the area. Friendly staffs.
  By John Park, December 08, 2016

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