Pho Tau Bay

Not even in the top ten best phở in edmonton. lots of good phở in edmonton. the smallest portions I’ve ever seen for vietnamese

Absolutely delicios Phở. Flavorful, light and yummy. It isn’t fast food, but you get your meal so fast it is incredible. Very affordable. They only sccept cash.

Fast, delicious phở! Ordering is made super easy with a tiny menu that you just mark your order off on to. Service is swift. Tea is brought to your table within a couple of minutes, your menu is taken almost as soon as you are done filling it out, and phở arrives, steaming hot, to your table in less than 5 minutes. Perfect for when you need your phở fix asap.
The broth is incredibly good. Very light, yet still flavourful. You barely even need to add in sauces, it’s that good. Portioning is great. Lots of meat. A medium is the perfect size to fill me up. I can finish the entire bowl and feel just the right amount of full.
The only con to this place is that it’s cash only, so be sure to hit up an ATM before stopping in.

As far as Edmonton goes, this is where Phở lives. Expect Vietnamese style everything from service (or lack there of) to taste. Soup is generous portions, cash only. They will point you in a direction at a table when you arrive and may even sit others at the other end of your table if unused. Tea is complimentary, though they do have a selection of other drinks. Service is incredibly fast and the garnishes are always fresh and crisp. I eat here regularly and have never left dissappointed. Well, aside from the one time a server spilt an entire pot of hot tea on me. My meal was comped and she was very apologetic. It happens. Go, bring cash, don’t expect butler treatment, expect delicious soup in large quantity and fast.

Although I am very happy with the product, the customer service is lacking. Today I went to pay and they would not accept my $ 20 bill. They claimed this is an old $ 20 bill and customers will not take it. I said well take it to the bank and give the customer a different one. She says: «I will not accept». I said well you don’t allow any other payment rather than cash and now you are to be picky about the option of payment. This is a red flag and makes me wonder if they are laundering the money.

Wow. I have had phở at many a restaurant but I have never found a place so consistent in flavour, presentation and speed of service. Go and experience it for yourself. You will be back. I think the key to their success is their focus on one thing and one thing only: soup. Simple menu, cash only, soup comes out in seconds. The broth is so flavourful, low in salt and very little if any fat/​oil. Friendly staff, very clean facility. Love it. It is my new go-​to lunch.

As a phở addicted person, tau bay is the best phở house in Edmonton! Please share this hidden gem to your family members only… I don’t want to be lining up outside :)

The place is clean, tidy and busy, but we still got our food quickly. The 3 bean drink is yummy. We both ordered the steak, flank and brisket phở for lunch and it was tasty!

We’ve been lots of Vienamese noodle soup places but so far this is the most local noodle soup we’ve ever tried. Very fast service, fresh soup, low price, and it feels like you are in Vietnam.
This place is full of people since early morning (I’ve been Vietnam and people eat phở for breakfast). They don’t serve anything other than soup. There’s nothing fancy but you will like this place.
BTW and there is another Vietnamese bread shop very close to it. I just love their green been balls! The Sub normally sells $ 9 in other shops but they sell at $ 4.5, half price but even better than others!

Tau bay is the best phở in edmonton. Very quick service and they are so friendly.

Easily the best phở place in town. And it makes sense because thats the only thing they do. They dont do vermicelli bowls, spring rolls or anything else.
I come here every week and order their extra large special #1 (steak, well-​done brisket, flank, tendon and tripe). Even during busy lunch hour they whip out your order in 5 min or less. It is a perfect combination of strong, sweet yet light broth, peefect noodles, fresh meat (including actually tender tendon), and plenty of garnish. Customer service is attentive and polite.
The only criticisms are:
–they close early (6.15pm on Monday-​Thursday)
–hours of operation are not posted and it is sometimes closed on certain days with no notice.
— no debit/​credit payment, lack of certain tableside condiments like fish sauce and hot chili oil, and slightly dated décor (some may argue it adds to the charm of the place as no frills authentic phở place.)
A definite recommend for those seeking good phở, which is hard to find even in Chinatown.
Post-​script: Havent had their coffee but I’ve been told it is good.

Finally got in to Tau Bay to check out their famed Phở and I can say, believe the hype!
Super good bowl or phở. The broth is what sets is apart from many other delicious phở’s in this city. Its fragrant and lush to the nose and mouth. Its not oily, it’s got a wonderful clean taste. The noodles are nice and dense, they have a good bite to them and easily scoop up with chopsticks. The meat was also superb. Tender and flavourful and not a hint of gristle. Chopped green onion, white onion and cilantro are options that add the extra edge to Tau Bay being a phở heavyweight.
As others have said, be prepared as they serve phở and only phở. Don’t go looking for any fancy green onion cakes or salad rolls. They do the one thing and they do it like champions.
Cash only, modest but clean décor, parking out front. But who cares about these things when the the phở is this good.

This place has the best broth for phở in Edmonton, as far as I know. I can always count on a consistently delicious bowl of soup here. That’s pretty much all they offer, but they do it extremely well.
Edit (May 7, 2015) Someone recently sent me a note saying that the broth here is ‘average’, and that I should keep looking because it gets better. I did write this some time ago, but I believed what I wrote at the time. We all have our opinions. I have been to dozens of phở places in Canada, but I certainly haven’t been to them all. I don’t go here exclusively, but I like it. I’m going to go there now, just for the hell of it.

Best phở place in town!
See here for the complete review:

Ah, Tau Bay, this visit is long overdue. It must be over two years since I’ve had a taste of your glorious phở. So much has changed since then and by so much, I mean that the
website no longer exists (RIP buddy). I don’t know a better way to have a cult following then to have a website dedicated solely to that! Someone please rekindle the magic? I’ve tried to go a few days and they always seem to be closed randomly. Plus, they have the most bizarre hours — we went on a Tuesday for dinner and they close at 6:30pm. WHAT? Even then, there were people piling in for last call. I guess when you’re that popular and the price is right ($ 9.05 for an XL, $ 8.20 for a medium), you can do whatever you want.
If you’ve never been before, shame on you. It’s a staple in Edmonton for a reason. The place is bare Vietnamese minimalism but let’s be serious, you’re only there for one thing and one thing only. Just make sure to bring cash and you’re golden. Service is friendly and fast, your bowl comes out in 5 minutes tops.
— Dac biet (#1) ($ 9.05 extra large) — special combo with steak, flank, well-​done tendon and tripe. Essentially, you’re smörgåsbord of meat — you get a bit of everything. Let’s talk about the broth — fragrant, aromatic, and not oily, greasy or over salted. Just divine. It also has the perfect balance of sweetness to it that just puts the broth into over-​the-​top goodness. Dinomite.
— Tai, nam, gau (#9) ($ 9.05 extra large) — my buddy had the steak, well-​done tendon and brisket phở. Essentially the same but with slightly different types of meat in it. It was his first time trying Tau Bay’s phở and he’s a big fan.
Great spot to grab a hot, tasty bowl of phở for an extremely reasonable price. You seriously can’t go wrong, other than coming on a day/​evening when they are closed. Roll the dice and hope you get lucky (or you could use that thing called a telephone to check beforehand).

When I’ve got a hankering for a bowl of Vietnamese noodle soup Tau Bay is the spot that I head to first. My first visit was back in my junior high days when a girlfriend of mine introduced me to it, and memories of that meal still come back to me each time I visit. When you walk into the restaurant the first thing that hits you is the smell of the fragrant broth used in each bowl of their noodle soup. Tau Bay Restaurant serves only variations of phở noodle soup (and drinks) and nothing else — they’ve focused on their one specialty and execute it well every time.
The phở here comes in twenty different variations, all different depending on combinations of meat in the bowl. Each bowl comes in a medium ($ 7.50) or large ($ 8.50) size garnished with cilantro, green onion and onion slices, served with a plate of bean sprouts, lime wedges, Thai basil and Thai red chilies. It’s the standard fixins you get with your phở, and the pricing is on par with other Vietnamese restaurants in Chinatown.
What I find sets Tau Bay apart from the rest is the broth. The broth is fragrant, has a meaty depth to it and has just the right amount of fat that makes it smooth but not overly oily. There is a delicate sweetness to the broth that I really enjoy and the combination of herbs they use just suits my palate. The rice noodles are cooked to a nice al dente consistency and every bite is great down to the very last drop of soup. The staff are friendly, and like many other restaurants, you don’t get much service. But for a restaurant where I just want to stop by to warm up quick with a bowl of noodle soup, Tau Bay Restaurant fits the bill.

Very delicious phở. Nice clear meaty broth, very flavourful. Excellent service. They only serve soup so don’t arrive expecting to order more. Very filling, satisfying and made me happy. Yum.

I rarely venture outside my comfort zone when it comes to Chinatown — I’m a Taipan guy — but friends swore by this place so we met up with them there on the weekend. I can honestly say I got one of the best bowls of soup I have ever had there. I didn’t bother to look at the menu — my friends told me what they suggested and being the pros, that was good enough for me — so I can’t comment on what else they have there. But the soup was sooooo good. And price-​wise, it was right on par with what you’d expect.

The need for good phở brought me back to Tau Bay. As mentioned before, they serve phở and nothing else. It was 4pm in the afternoon and the place was nearly full, a true sign of a good phở joint.
Décor wise, the artificial fish tank was still there, the rusted windows frames were still there, the holes on the wall were still there; exactly what you would expect from a phở joint in Chinatown. The place is a little dirtier than I remembered, even though it was 4pm, it looked like the lunch rush was just finished and the crew hadnt had time to clean up yet.
Service wise, it is faster than ordering at McDonalds, the phở is at my table within 3 minutes of me ordering. You really cannot complain about the speed at all.
Ordered a large #1 special phở,“special” is code word for a little bit of everything in the phở.
Broth wise, nice light amber colour, clear, flavourful, a perfect balance between beef flavour and spices; imho, the best in the city still.
Topping wise, it is almost over generous, I ran out of phở but there were still lots of meat/​broth left.
Condiments, all of the usual suspects were there, sprouts, fresh red chili, hoisin, saracha, basil and Sate. There is something about the Sate Tau Bay use, it is unusually flavourful, spicy with tons of shallot/​garlic flavors, I like it.
Would I bring a date here on a first date… absolutely not; I probably wouldn’t even bring my germaphobic coworker here. But for hardcore phở lovers, this is a must visit place. As long as I ignore the décor, I can continue rate it 5 stars; probably have to downgrade them to a 3 or a 4 if I take cleaniness and décor into consideration as well.

Good phở. Hot. Fast. No frills.
This place was once the best in the city but lots of rivals popped since tau bay dominated the phở in downtown for years.
At lunch its busy, jam packed but this place serves phở faster than it takes to line up at mcdonalds. Good broth. Awesome satay oil. Decent portion sizes. Used to be dirt cheap but prices went up lately. $ 8 for medium size and $ 9 for a large. Still a hotspot in downtown for a reliable good phở. But I wont drive here from northside now that the price is similar to phở hoan pasteur.
Ps they close for a month before chinese new year. So if its january-​february expect it to be closed as this place is so busy they dont care about solid hours. Many regulars frequent here so business is booming. And they remember you when u come back too.
Closes early at 630pm. Cash only.