Pho 26

Phở 26 is phở-​gettable. Seriously, this place is so underwhelming, I almost forgot to write this review.
Phở 26 is a typical Vietnamese restaurant on International Avenue with a typical menu and typical underwhelming service.
The restaurant is big and can easily fit large groups. It also looked clean. It was my first time there and I got phở as per usual. Fun fact about me: I always get phở when I try new Vietnamese places. A good phở broth is the foundation of how good a Vietnamese restaurant is. Verdict: it was… meh. The broth lacked deep flavors you’d normally taste from quality spices and beef. They were also stingy on the portions; I was unimpressed with their skinny witch fingers spring rolls which cost $ 6.50! The jackfruit shake we ordered was watered down.
Their only redeeming quality is the food came out fast.
Come here only if you don’t care for quality food or for being full. Thank goodness there’s a McDonald’s down the street.

We love Vietnamese Food… We Love PHO! I am pretty sure the love of PHO was developed from spending copious amounts of time with Star Wars fans back in my University days. Try to explain that one.
If there is any type of restaurant in Calgary that is in abundance it is Vietnamese restaurants and that is both awesome and challenging. Frankly, it is hard to know which is good and which are not.
Many locations choose to close early in comparison to other types of restaurants so we ended up at Phở 26 simply because… it was open.
From the outside, you would not realize that the nondescript mini-​mall location next to Forest Laundry (ha ha — nice one guys) had much to it. But once inside it turned out to be a bigger and nicer place than we expected. In addition, there was a separate Vietnamese Sub Bar.
The staff were very VERY welcoming and there was a vibrant room full of happy smiley yacky diners — always a great sign.
We ordered 7 items from the main menu and 2 subs from the sub menu to give the place the good olé try. Sure it was purely for indulgence this time but the variety gave us an idea on what Phở 26 has to offer and we had leftovers for the next day.
Overall, the main menu food was fairly close in taste/​quality to most Vietnamese Restaurants we have visited (which is many) but it certainly was not within our favourites list. I want to give more stars but I have to be honest — the main menu food does not stand out in taste and freshness like certain other establishments.
The «SUBS» THOUGH… were delish-​e-​ocious. Finally, a place who get’s subs right. I would give more stars if this were just a sub place.
The service was fast & enthusiastic, the pricing was a good value, and everything was neat, tidy and clean.
We are going to give PHO 26 another try — just to make sure. It’s hard to judge PHO with just one visit.
Thanks PHO 26!
Sincerely,
Shane

For the people that eat something dishes other than the Phở, I’m not surprised they gave a bad review. The place is called“PHO” 26 meaning you should eat PHO. Of course there is no excuses for subpar food but eat the Phở. There are other places you can go to eat «dry» food. Try Noodle World, I highly recommend that place for rice dishes and other «dry» dishes. Anyways, the phở isn’t the best I’ve had but pretty damn good. The owners of this place use to run another place and decided to open this restaurant, they treated us very and that’s why support them when we eat phở.

I ended up at this place because another restaurant that I had originally planned to visit for the first time looked a bit sketchy. It was my first time here. I ordered the Beef Sate Phở, but the phở I got had no sate in it. However, the noodles were cooked perfectly and not overcooked like a lot of the places in town. Overall it was an ok experience. If they had provided the dish as ordered, it would get a four star rating.

I’ve had better. but I’ve also had worse. I ordered the vegetables & tofu on crispy noodle, and while the service was friendly, the price was great, and the food came out super quick, it was really bland. My friend ordered a soup, and said the same thing.
we both had to pile on the hot sauce & hoisin sauce to get some flavor.
The restaurant is bright & clean, so that’s good!

This is my «safe place» to go to for phở. I haven’t tried their other main meals but I’m not fond of their appetizers. Drinks are good. And obviously, I love the phở.
Service is good for an Asian restaurant. They don’t ignore you like Sun BBQ on Centre St. but they also don’t check up on you so you have to wave them down.

I am not a fan of their food, simply because the food sucks. I am not sure how the Phở is, as I ordered the rice dishes. I gave them 2 changes to wow me, and they came up short. First of all they are too cheap with the rice — they chop up the rice and serve it to you. How could they do such a thing? I understand a business has to save on expenses, but rice is so cheap anyways why do you need to chop it up. I paid $ 9.50 for each meal I ordered and I wasn’t impressed with the portion of rice.
The meat was dry, as if it were sitting there for a bit of time.
I will never go back again.

I dedicate this review to my mama… cause she told me to come eat here with her.
This restaurant was formally made over by another owner I forget the name of the previous restaurant but like I always tell people; there is a difference in Phở. People can tell these differences and if you have a nice establishment but crappy Phở the people are not going to show up to eat.
Fast Forward to Phở 26.
The very first thing I like about this place is the fact that it’s on 17^th Avenue SE. Like I’ve said previously, 17^th Avenue SE is the PHO AVENUE. We all know I love going to Binh Minh for my Phở and what do you know? Two of the people who formally worked there have taken over this restaurant! That means I get the same great service I used to get at Binh Minh… at Phở 26 — BAZINGA!
From the outside of Phở 26, looking at the surrounding neighbourhood, it looks kind of dirty BUT I guarentee if you step inside you will LOVE the décor. They have hanging lanterns, huge posters of herbs and food on the wall, the chairs and tables are nice, the layout and set up is awesome — THIS PLACE IS HUGE. The original owners were trying to set up the restaurant to cater to Weddings as well (what were they thinking!!!).
OK. Now back to the food. what we ordered:
— Cha Gio (2pcs) aka Spring Rolls
Honestly, I hate to be bias about Spring Rolls but these skinny long rolls that don’t have that much meat, too much carrots and not enough this or that kills me. Why can’t a restaurant just make REAL spring rolls?! People love em, you make a killing off of them so just do it properly!
— Phở Tai Bo Vien (My controlled substance dish for taste testing) aka Beef with Beef Ball Noodle Soup.
Not too shabby my Unilocalers, not too shabby at all. I don’t mind the broth here at all because it wasn’t too rich or too bland. It was ALMOST in the middle where I love the balance of the flavour in my bowl. Like usual I don’t like my beef scrunched up, flat and wide slices and the beef balls were good too. I’ve been back 3 – 4 times already to have my weekend fix.
— Mi Dit Tiem aka BBQ Duck Egg Noodle Soup
Took a few sips of my Mama’s broth and I was delighted to taste that the broth wasn’t salty at all. I usually find eating this at other restaurants and even at home sometimes that the broth can get really salty, maybe from the BBQ Duck. The Duck itself was delicious, BBQ’d just the right amount, lots of meat and not much fat or bones.
— Café Sua Da (My controlled substance drink for taste testing) Vietnamese Iced Condense Milk Coffee
Very much reminds me of the same tasting coffee I usually get at Binh Minh — go figure. I can’t complain about their coffee at all it tastes good!

Saw a sign that says that it was Grand Opening as of October so I decided to try it out. I’m a big Phở fan so I’m sucker for new places. That’s when you know that they won’t have any short cuts on their food.
The exterior looked kind of small and old but don’t be fooled, it’s humongous inside and fully renovated. The prices were good. I got a XL Phở Sate for $ 7! The soup was good. It’s a bit sweeter than most other places because they use red onions which is kind of a nice touch. The Sate sauce is your typical add on hot chilli sauce so it wasn’t as good as a Phở Dau Bo or Basil but still, it’s decent especially how it isn’t as salty as some of the other places. The vegetables that came with it was fresh and washed. I also ordered the Vietnamese Ice coffee. They put crushed ice on top which a lot of other restaurant fail to do so that was a really nice touch. The spring rolls were weak though so skip those.
Overall, I give it 3 stars. It lacks the «holy crap, I need to come back here» factor. It’s just… decent. I’ll have to try some of the other food on the menu to see if they deserve the 4^th star.
Very clean and presentable — 1 star
Food was decent — 1 star
Would I come back? Sure… — 1 star