Banh Mi Bar/Pho Bar

Enjoyed the phở and the atmosphere was welcoming. What I didn’t like we’re the amount of flying insects. They were like fruit flies but bigger. The bathroom had them – so much so that I had to pick two of them out of my hair before returning to the table – and that was as soon as I got there. They were in the restaurant too and I had to keep swatting through dinner. If they could get the bugs under control I would have had a much better experience.

*Though they had an extensive menu with different toppings for phở and Banh Mi, what piqued my interest was their Northern style specialty dishes.
*our server for that night was terrible. She didn’t bother to fill up our water and when asked, she even forgot. C asked for hot water but the server said they only serve hot tea, not hot water. How do you make HOT tea without HOT water then?!
–Vietnamese Crab & Tomatoes soup (Bun Rieu Cua) — $ 10.99
Traditionally this soup is made with whole blue crabs and it’s not possible to find the fresh ones in Canada. This is also one of those rare Vietnamese dish that is extremely time consuming to make from scratch, so I was quite intrigued when I saw it on Banh Mi Bar’s menu. Unfortunately when the hot noodle soup arrived at our table, I couldn’t smell the pungent shrimp paste that is normally found in the broth. Both C and I can tell that they used canned crab meat and there was also a mixture of pork in the soup, which is completely fine. However such ingredient was not mentioned on the menu, so for people who don’t eat meat this can be quite unexpected. Since there was no shrimp paste, the broth was bland and honestly it tasted like a tomato soup…
–Duck & Bamboo noodle soup (Bun Mang Vit) — $ 10.99
The duck & bamboo noodle soup at Banh Mi Bar reminded me of my mom’s bun mang vit, and that says a lot! The broth was flavorful and fragrant with the juicy duck meat and bamboo shoots. If I remember correctly fresh bamboo is not required for this dish, and my mom usually use the dried ones as they are much easier to store. The bamboo was soft while still had some crunch when you bite into it. The duck meat was tender and not too fatty, but –1 for them to not serve a ginger fish sauce for dipping!

I order through just eat with them. I got really sick after eating their food. I had the vermicelli with pork & spring roll. I had 5 days of diarrhea and vomiting for 3 days. I was so sick, I couldn’t even get out of bed and I couldn’t go to work for a week. Everything I puked out was the vermicelli and it smelled like garbage. I went to the doctor and he confirmed with me that there’s a virus in my stomach from something I ate. My doctor reported two restaurants to public health and this was one of them. The investigators went to both restaurants and they only got back to me on this one. I was told that they had MULTIPLE issues with handling food that can cause me sick. The one thing they emphasize on was how they handled cooked meet. They were lay on the counter overnight not in the fridge. I don’t want to be mean but I have to say something just in case if someone else get sick.

Been there with a couple of friends and I must say this place the Phở is fantastic. Will for sure coming back there again.

Checked this place out today for the first time. Banh Mi Bar just opened a couple weeks ago. The place looks great and the food is fantastic. I’ll definitely come back again. Happy to see another great restaurant in the neighborhood.