Q Vietnamese Cafe

This Vietnamese phở shop is a hole in a wall with two tables and a few bar Stools on the right side of Abbott street walking up from Rogers Arena. Unless you go to one of the dozen sushi shops in the area; Subway, Tim Hortons and the two competing pizza slice joints; there is nothing else on this street to try — so I decided to venture in.
The family running the shop is super friendly. The portion of broth is good but the quality of the protein and quantity is tiny and leaves little to be desired; Way overpriced at $ 8.25 for what you get. The shrimp Salad rolls were good ($ 6.25) but nothing special. A decent alternative to the many sushi snd greasy pizza shops on the street (or big fast food chains like Subway and Tim Hortons).

Tiny little restaurant/​café that’s a relative newcomer to the area as can be seen by other reviews. It’s a very modern looking and contemporary Vietnamese restaurant, with hardwood flooring, some seating set up at bar-​level height, and a flat panel tv. The spot lighting is dimly lit to add to its aura of black countertops and most of it’s furniture. Overall, I like the look/​feel of this place.
I have a habit of trying/​supporting local small business eateries, and my experience here was decent and pleasant. Similar to a cafeteria, you place your order and pay at the counter, sit yourself down, and the food comes out. I ordered the Lemongrass Chicken and Shredded Pork on White Rice, and it was brought out to me within minutes. The dish itself is pretty good, and in my Vietnamese dining experiences, this is one of the places I’ve been to that serves a boneless chicken which is one of the things I enjoy. Just about all other places I’ve been to serve it bone-​in, so I’ll definitely be back — at least for this dish, that’s for sure.

I was really excited to try this place. The first time I tried to grab a bahn mi last year, they were out of bread until «next week». I was a little surprised they would be out of one of their staples for so long. I brushed it off as a learning curve for new management/​restaurant owners and not knowing how much product they would need to order.
The second time I got a chance to drop by, the service was initially good. the girl was friendly and was helpful with the menu and making suggestions based on what she thought was good. Unfortunately my order of the cold cut viet sub and beef spring roll took some time to receive, and I was the only one in there.
The sub itself was okay. A little on the dry side for my liking and I felt a bit disappointed by the bread to filling ratio. It was like I was eating a loaf with some bites of cold cut. Like others have mentioned, the salad roll was nothing special either. I’ve had and I’ve made much much much better.
Take the 10 – 15 minute walk over to DD Mau in Yaletown or Viet Sub on Robson. I prefer either of these establishments next to Q.

A small shop with relatively slow service. The sandwiches here have the normal ingredients — pickled veges and cilantro along with marinated beef or chicken are the usual suspects in a Viet sub — and that distinctive banh mi flavour comes standard. I can’t speak for the vermicelli bowls, but skip the salad rolls unless they’re your thing — salad rolls are boring by default, and these ones don’t surprise.
All in all the food here is adequate, but I’ve had better. If you have the time, give DD Mau in Yaletown a shot instead.

Great banh mi!
I was surprised to see that the only two reviews that Q had were both negative. I just moved into the neighbourhood and have been to Q twice. The first time I had the beef banh mi (vietnamese sub) and it was absolutely delicious. Being only $ 6 also sweetened the deal. Second time was today, I went with my gf and we shared the beef banh mi, the meatball banh mi, and a salad roll. The beef was excellent again, the meatball was pretty good (I prefer the beef), and the salad roll was pretty tasty as well.
The ladies were super nice both times and the food was quick. Definitely worth a try! Maybe don’t get the noodle bowls though and stick with the banh mi :)

It’s a very small shop. The vietnamese subs are good. Similar to DD Mau in quality.
Skip the phở noodle soups. They’re cheap, but the soup doesn’t taste quite like the phở that we typically get in Vancouver. The recipe seems different. For better phở, try the food court in Tinseltown or head a few blocks over to Chinatown. Didn’t try the vermicelli.
The Thai ice tea was pretty good, but the portion size is relatively small quantity of tea with too much ice.
The salad rolls are pretty good, but a little small. I like the crackling roll that they put in. It gives the salad roll an unusual crunch and crispiness.
I’m not really sure if I would come back here. I feel like they don’t really know what direction they want to go with their shop. The kitchen area and menu seem well designed and put together, yet the dining area is so spare. I feel like they want to be a vietnamese style Subway, but they couldn’t quite shake off the traditional elements of vietnamese cuisine like phở, which they aren’t quite as passionate about.
The staff are very nice, but seem to still be learning how to run a restaurant. I start to appreciate how efficiently run traditional vietnamese restaurants are in the city. I swear sometimes, my order arrives at the table in less than a minute in other restaurants, while here, they’re still scrambling to figure out how to set the table. They must have a hard time with homeless and street people stealing their stuff and causing trouble.
Like Allison H, I want to like this place, and I’m hoping that they can iron out the kinks and make this place awesome. I think there is definitely a market in this area for a quick eats option with Viet cuisine.

I was really hoping to love this place, as there aren’t many options around me to stuff my face for lunch. Sadly there was no love from me to Q.
The girl taking orders was nice enough and the place was crazy busy (even after the typical lunch rush) but it was slow going for such low quality food. I ordered the lemongrass chicken bowl with vermicelli and it was extremely disappointing. The amount of dry, flavorless chicken given was pathetic as was the amount of veggies. I ordered my food to go and only opened the container once I got back to the office and it was too late to say anything. The sauce was flavorless and just really plain — nothing spoke to me or even whispered «I could be Vietnamese!» in my ear…
The salad rolls and sandwhiches going out to hungry dine in people looked relatively ok, but I am not sure I want to go back and spend the kind of coin I did on a noodle bowl just to be let down again. Contrary to the other reviw, I found my bowl and bottle of water to be a little on the pricey side! Won’t be back, at least not for the lemongrass chicken.

Basic basic basic. Just nothing to say other than that really. My vermicelli lemongrass chicken bowl was pitiful and unflavourful. The service was blah. However, it was cheap and I was starving thus I scarfed it down real fast.