Simply Viet Restaurant

Simply Viet Closed on November ⁷⁄₂₀₁₄

We have found a new favourite. Had the vegetarian sweet and sour soup –yum. Husband had deluxe vermicelli bowl — every thing was fresh and tasty. We shall return.

Good food, nice décor, the contest to eat 5lbs of phở noodles in one sitting was great fun, especially the walls of shame (countless people) and fame (two!) and the huge bowls they use are on display.
The portions are large and I could not finish my meal. But it was great and the tables around us seemed to having a blast as well.
On the hotness scale I picked a 3 and tasted no heat at all. So if you like spicy pick a higher number for sure.
The staff was a little in attentive but, the trick is when your done just get up and pay. They don’t bring checks to the table. We didn’t know that so we ended up waiting needlessly. We’re from out of town and the staff was friendly and interested in hearing our story.

This review may be a little biased as I was starving but this place is great.
Awesome service, it was close to empty but I was greeted politely and seated right away. Got some ice water and a menu right away. Menu isn’t huge, roughly 20 – 30 things on it. I had simple chicken. The menu said it had Chinese mushrooms and snow peas in it, but I pleased to see a mound of veggies fried up with it. There was celery, carrots and onions as well. Took about 10 minutes or so. $ 10 for the meal after tax (without tip).
I got hot sauce and added that to spice it up (the item I chose wasn’t hot by default, but you can get spicy ones if you like) and didn’t even have to ask for water refill.
You ought to check it out, beats fast food any day!

Finally a Viet restaurant that uses fresh ingredients (IMO) and not overwhelmingly greasy.
I was very pleased with the quality of the dishes. Every dish we ordered seemed as though a little love was put into it.
The phở wasn’t oil at all. My Hot & Sour soup was different than others but very yummy.
The service staff was attentive and super friendly. This is one place I would go out of my way to drive for a FRESH bite to eat.
The restaurant atmosphere was very zen-​like and peaceful. The cleanliness of the place was up to par.
5 Stars!

We have only been to Simply Viet once, but our experience was 5 star. It is a family-​run restaurant, and they were so attentive to our needs (my husband is celiac), quick to offer suggestions and willing even to make special spring rolls for him if he wanted that. (I should note that we were there at a time when the restaurant was empty.) They checked all ingredients carefully for us, and then made our meal. My phở was as good as any I’ve had elsewhere, and hubby loved his curry dish. We will definitely go back.
Added note to the wall of fame vs wall of shame. See previous review. They now have 1 wall-​of-​famer: a rather petite-​looking woman. She finished the 5 lb of noodles and beef in less than 20 minutes! The wall of shamers is filled with guys.

I’m always happy and a little leery whenever I see a new Vietnamese restaurant pop up outside of the typical downtown core. I’m excited because it’s more convenient for me but a little worried that it might be less authentic. Anyhow, I’m happy to say that this place is pretty good! I mean they have some things to work on but considering that the owners seem pretty young and that they’ve only been opened since early Dec 2011 — it’s a pretty good effort. This place is on Pembina just south of St. Maurice school in a strip mall that were home to two previous Asian restaurants.
As for décor, it’s a nice set up, more modern and less no-​frills. There are two dining sections with ample seating, though there are a lot more large tables to accommodate groups compared to other places.
Menu isn’t ridiculously massive like it is at many others but they have all the requisite items. The price is moderate as the phở and bun (vermacelli bowls) are all under $ 10 with a choice of medium or large. I tried the bun xeo (Vietnamese crêpe) which was something like $ 8.95, it came with one big crêpe and lots of veggies. The crêpe was a bit disappointing as it was quite bland and the interior felt a bit undercooked even though the exterior was nice and crispy. I’ve also had the phở tai (rare beef phở) a few times now, it’s about $ 8 or so for a medium. The medium is generous portion, a large is massive but only $ 1 or so more than the medium. The broth was well flavoured and tasty. I love phở so I can be easily disappointed but I liked this one a lot. The noodles are the thinner rice noodles and there were a good amount of thinly sliced beef. I was impressed with the veggies that came with my phở — lots of fresh bean sprouts, thai basil, lime and chili peppers. You have to ask for the satay chili sauce and hot sauce as it’s not sitting on the side table like at other places but they’ll bring it out to you in these cute sauce bowls. Ice coffee was good but I prefer a stronger brew.
The place has a good amount of traffic and food service is okay (not super fast but not as slow as Phuong Nam can be at times). Service is really warm and genuine.
Oh and if you like food challenges… check out their Phở Challenge! They have a wall of fame and a wall of shame for those who try the phở challenge. So far no one has landed on the wall of fame. It’s $ 30 for the biggest friggin bowl I have ever seen… it could fit a baby. It’s 5 lbs of noodles and beef and you have 1 hour to finish the bowl. Rules: no sharing, you can’t leave the table but you don’t have to finish the broth (thank goodness). It’s a pretty cute idea as I don’t think there are many Winnipeg restaurants that do these type of food challenges.
There’s some parking in the back and on Pembina in front of the restaurant.