Hanoi Bistro

Don’t bother, not authentic Vietnamese food. While not bad when hungry the price for a bowl of ‘phở’ is not worth it. Service could use some work as well, plenty of other restaurants along the strip!

On a weekend evening we were the only couple there. The tv was playing foreign news channel, which is terrible in my opinion. Should at least turn off the tv and turn on some foreign music would have been 10x better and welcomed!
We were not served tea! Terrible, we had to order tea separately.
The soup in the phở tasted good but I had too many noodles and not enough meat. Overall it was the wrong balance of soup, noodles and meat, wrong ratio.
Spring rolls were okay, nothing spectacular.
Later the tea came, green tea I ordered but got a tea bag. It had no taste, very obvious it was old and expired tea bag. All flavour was gone. I notified the waitress and she was kind and friendly and was nice enough to bring me another cup and new tea bag, but that was probably from the same expired box, no flavour. I didn’t bother asking again.
We will not go back.

Service was terrible! Only three people in the restaurant and still bad. Server/​cook/​host/​owner (perhaps) was very abrupt when we asked the meat to be changed to beef instead of pork. It’s not a fine dining establishment by any means so we didn’t think a simple switch of the type of meat would be an issue. Also, considering the place was empty on Friday night! We ordered the vermicelli with pork, spring rolls which is supposed to be served, as it is in any other Vietnamese restaurant I’ve been to, with shredded lettuce, beam sprouts in a bowl. Meal came on a plate so the flavours did not come together as they should. Also, the price at 12.99 is much higher than places like Phở Hung for not as good quality or flavour. Never going again!

The young waiter sent our entrees to the wrong table. Then after we ate them, he served us two dishes that were meant for another table. I started eating mine and then realized it was completely the wrong dish and told them to take it back. My friend noted that it looked like the re-​plated the dish and brought it out again to the right table. When he finally did serve me my main (some kind of brown coconut curry beef on vermicelli), it tasted bitter — inedible. I had to pour fish sauce over the curry to cancel the bitter flavour. I paid for it later with indigestion. My friend couldn’t eat his phở either. I am amazed. How do you ruin phở? We asked the girl at the cash if the waiter was new and she sighed and said no — I wish. Stay far away. There are plenty of good Viet places in Toronto. This isn’t one of them.

Nice service, gave complimentary taro dessert in the end. It’s northern Vietnamese food (The owners are also). Tried out the Bun Bo Hue, which is not a speciality in the northern parts, so perhaps the other items might fare better. The flavours fell flat, not much depth and the ratio of noodles to soup was about 2:5. I still felt hungry even with a full stomach.

This is a tip to Toronto Police: I seriously suspect his restaurant is involved in some kind of money laundry.
Why? How else does a restaurant stay in business with such poor tasting food and service, while being on the second floor?
We were the only table served during the hour we were there 6~7pm Friday. There was another couple sat down but left after not being left along for 20 minutes.
You think phở somewhat fast food and can’t really go wrong, right? Not here, it’s probably the worst tasting phở I’ve ever had.
Btw, the price is even higher and portions are smaller than your average phở places too.

This restaurant has really inefficient service. They don’t work fast enough to even bring the bill to your table. Furthermore, they don’t even spit the bill for a small group of people — ridiculous. Finally, they take the liberty of giving themselves 20% gratuity.
I understand that its not easy running a restaurant, but this place is substandard.
The food is just OK, but does not deserve the amount of business that the restaurant currently attracts.
The place is only good because of its convenient location and space. I will not be planning group lunches to be hosted there again.

Ugh. I’ve been here quite a few times as it‘s a regular lunch meeting spot for myself and a friend, and we were both left über disappointed this time. The food has always been really tasty and enjoyable, but my feelings of this visit were feelings of being more than underwhelmed and me questioning if I would ever go back. I would have always defended this spot in the past as the dishes are really tasty (well, the one dish I’ve had that I’ve kept gravitating to), even though there is a lack of ambiance and a very rude owner who makes you feel quite unwelcome at times — from the moment you walk in, you almost feel as if you are intruding in her space (she’s barked at me multiple times when I’ve come in. not the most hospitable greeting), oftentimes she is busy yelling at either the wait or kitchen staff (I prefer a bit of a more… civilized dining space then listening to domestics in the back), or tied up talking on the phone to friends to even acknowledge you when you go to pay your bill (I have never once been brought the bill to the table). With such a lack of service, it makes me reluctant to even leave a worth tip for shoddy service, or lack thereof. So sub-​par «service», bad ambiance (the place is lacking atmosphere and is pretty tacky on the interior), and this time terrible service and really disappointing food. so here we go.
We ordered our old faithful go-​to dish: spicy stir fried beef with vermicelli noodles (instead of rice). Usually comes with a nice portion of vermicelli and beef, in a super tasty spicy curried sauce, with a spring roll and sauce on the side. The place was dead inside (we were the first there and another table got there a few minutes following us). The food came out very quickly, which was great as we were both hungry, but we were brought rice instead of the noodles. We mentioned it to the waiter, so he took our plates, started walking towards the kitchen, then came back and said he would bring us vermicelli on the side. My friend said he was there a few weeks back and the same thing had happened, so he was a bit frustrated, especially given that the restaurant was so empty. I can understand confusion when the kitchen is busy and overloaded, but not in a restaurant with only 2 tables of 2, with only one table having put an order in to the kitchen.
Our waiter brought us a very small portion of vermicelli (hi — we’d both ordered with the noodles and neither of us wanted the rice…) which was just dry, cooked vermicelli: YUM! (Sense the sarcasm???).The whole love affair with this dish is the spicy sauce from the beef mixed in with the vermicelli (not a dry plate of noodle). The sauce was already absorbed into the rice, so it’s not like we could mix it (and frankly, I really didn’t want the rice). I asked our server if we could have some sauce with the noodles (again, it was half a portion of a regular serving of noodle), and he said no, as they would have to make another serving, and that would be an additional order. Hi. NOT good customer service, especially considering it was their fault and were completely reluctant to do anything to correct it, other than offer a half portion of vermicelli. One of my pet peeves is life is cheap people and chintzing out on the least expensive things in life: rice. vermicelli. potatoes. I mean, come onnnn… how much would it have cost them to offer vermicelli for us both (trust me, I cook vermicelli at home, and a bag of it is CHEAP!!! We’re talking $ 2 bag that would feed 10 – 12 in Hanoi Bistro-​sized portions), as we had ordered… so yeah, that just didn’t sit well with either of us. Happy customer (on your screw up) or disappointed customer that may be an avid Unilocaler. .?! I dunno. I guess your call… ;)
So we both did end up eating the rice (there was no way that vermicelli was filling us up), which was burnt, crunchy and stuck into big burnt lumps. Nice. Realized it after my first bite when it got completely stuck in my molars (sorry — had to share that tibit lol).I’m someone who tends to steam a lot of rice at home and know when it’s been burnt into the bottom of the steamer; this was definitely burnt and scraped off the bottom of the pan onto my plate. I am actually really surprised they would serve that…
So all in all, I’m just left very disappointed this time. In retrospect, I’m sure our waiter never took our dishes to the kitchen as he more than likely feared being berated by the owner (which actually wouldn’t surprise me). Granted, I guess I would rather pass on a domestic and eat my meal in peace. However, I am left feeling like we paid a lot for a substandard meal that we didn’t want, with really awful service… I was reluctant to leave a decent tip but I guess no matter how much I’d love to do that [or leave a penny for my thoughts :)], I just can’t be that person.

Went on a Saturday afternoon for an early dinner. The lady, who I am assuming to be the owner, was very nice and friendly. For an appetizer, we had mussels and split a corona. To be honest, I’ve never had mussels before and enjoyed them very much. There was a ton of ginger and the broth containing the mussels was delicious. The phở was okay. I had a veggie tofu phở and asked for it extra spicy. The noodles tasted store bought but my broth was very good. We had a new server towards the end of the meal and he was really friendly and attentive. Overall, it was just okay. A little expensive for phở. I live in the neighbourhood and might go back when I’m feeling sick for the spice. Although I’m definitely going to venture elsewhere first for some comparison…

This place is pure garbage. In my mind, bad service can be pardoned if the food is good. There was nothing to excuse the bad service here. A slow and rude waitress awaits you here. She doesn’t seem to want to take your food to you even though it’s sitting on the counter and you’re the only customer here. Ask her a question and she rolls her eyes.
Onto the food. mediocre and not filling. If there was a contest to use as little meat as possible in a rare beef phở bowl, this restaurant has won it. Not only that, it’s pricier than other nearby phở restaurants in the city!

WORST PHO EVER.
No flavour whatsoever. In fact soup tastes kinda weird. I was seriously wondering if it was actually phở. As another reviewer said, the soup was not even hot, it was lukewarm. Seriously? YIKES!!! Even the meat wasn’t good. Pretty expensive even if the food was good, not to mention that it was horrendous.

In short: overpriced, bad proportions, bland taste, and awkward ambiance.
I came here at the recommendation of two members of our 10-​person party, looking for a place close to the U of T campus. We were seated immediately, and no wonder; it was around 6:30pm and the restaurant was entirely empty.
The reason for its emptiness became apparent as I looked at the menu. Phở: $ 8.50. Spring rolls with vermicelli: $ 11.50. I can get these in Chinatown for less than ³⁄₅ of the Hanoi Bistro price, and for much better quality.
I ordered phở with beef and beef balls. What I received was 5 paper-​thin slices of beef and 5 beef balls, barely covering a gigantic, tangled mass of rice noodles. I wound up finishing the meat quickly and eating the bland rice noodles on their own.
The flavour of the soup was lacking as well. It in no way resembled the rich beef broth at other restaurants. The beef broth is supposed to be simmered with beef bones, chunks of beef, spices, onions, etc. Instead, I got some sort of MSG + water concoction. I paid the price soon after my meal, as my throat was parched from MSG.
I will not return to this place, and will advise others not to come here either.

the phở here was only warm, not hot. the broth was not flavorful. the noodles were from a package. the meat portion was ok so no complaints there. the prices here are high for a phở resto that’s above a laundromat. $ 5.50 for 2 spring rolls? $ 8.75-$ 11 for phở? $ 12 for bun? service was meh. will make the 5 min trek to Spadina for phở next time a craving comes along.

In my experience, Hanoi Bistro is touch and go. It’s inconsistency makes me avoid it, especially considering how many other Vietnamese places are in the area!
I usually get a vermicelli noodle bowl with meat skewers. Sometimes, it’s delicious — sometimes, it’s kind of «meh». Though I’ve never had the phở there, I’ve heard it’s pretty good — so maybe that’s how they’re keeping their business alive, because I don’t know I’ve ever been here when there has been more than one other customer. I’m not really sure how they’re staying afloat…
The other downside to this place is the ambiance. I always feel awkward going in, like I’m interrupting the server who is either a) talking on the phone, b) watching tv, or c) both. Usually we are the only customers in there, and then i feel doubly awkward, like I’m listening in to her conversations, which she is yelling in a language I don’t understand, which somehow makes me more uncomfortable.
So in summary, you can do better. If you want good (and non-​awkward) Vietnamese, just walk yourself over to Spadina.

My lemon drink was more like a regular lemon soda. It wasn’t salty and sweet as most Vietnamese lemonades are: no sour plum, no salt.
My friend and I asked about vegetarian options before we ordered, and the server said she could make anything vegetarian. That always makes me suspicious, but I didn’t think much of it. We ordered 2 different tofu vermicelli dishes, but when they came out they were EXACTLY the same, even though the server insisted on pointing out that one had coconut milk, when clearly it did not.
It took a long time to settle our bill, as the server was having an argument on the phone with someone the whole time. That was really annoying. I would not go back to this place or recommend it to anyone.

I’ve visited Hanoi Bistro whenever I get a craving for Phở or the need for a real meal while studying and Subway just wouldn’t cut it. It’s another Baldwin VIllage favourite of mine. I’m a big fan of Vietnamese cuisine in general and from the few Vietnamese places I’ve been to, this is my favourite. I’ve actually dined alone here for ²⁄₃ time I’ve been and really enjoyed that aspect too since it’s a very quiet slow going spot.
It’s located on top of the laundromat so it might not be easy to spot unless you look above street level. It’s never been crowded whenever I’ve been there. I enjoy the interior, it’s all one space and gives off a very spacious vibe.
The «mayor» on foursquare mentions that Hanoi Bistro’s alternative to traditional phở (a seafood alternative) is the best she’s ever had. I stick to their «special hanoi phở» (pictured above). For me, it tastes healthier than a phở I usually get from Phở Hung. What I think I mean is that it tastes fresher, and the edible pieces of beef actually taste something I wouldn’t mind trying were it as a stand alone dish even. Very moist and yummy! I do realise the soup base does not adhere to my «healthy» take on the dish, but whatever right? Prices were pretty cheap with most of the menu items being below $ 10 (mine amounting to $ 9).
Whenever I get phở I order an accompanying tropical fruit juice/​shake to go with it (typically durian or mango), Hanoi Bistro has a good selection of drinks as well, maybe not as much options as some places you might find down Chinatown though. But I thoroughly enjoyed my mango shake!
I would like to think that the place is run by a husband and wife combo since every time I’ve been there it’s been the same lady that’s served me, and the last time I happened to glance into the kitchen it was just an old man doing the cooking, and their interaction seemed to suggest they were together. And she gives off a friendly and genuinely appreciative vibe towards her customers. Stuff that made me appreciate the venue more. This place just gives off a very home-​y feel to it, and I definitely noticed it. I guess the lack of business made it seem even more so though.
It’s my first choice for Vietnamese cuisine, although the typical phở taste might be missing, I attribute that to this place being a tad bit healthier than most cheap Vietnamese places :) And I would recommend it to anyone next time they are on Baldwin looking to try something new or on the hunt for phở!
It’s another Baldwin location I hope continues to flourish and stick around!