Pho Phu Quoc — Restaurant in District of Canberra Central

This is my favorite Vietnamese place to go in Canberra, while I've never been to Vietnam, there are always Vietnamese families eating here which indicates to me the food is both good and authentic. The service is quick and friendly, the servings are generous and it's very reasonably priced. If you are looking for cosy romantic, this is not the place, it's noisy and usually very busy. But if you want a quick and tasty meal before venturing into the city, this is the place. Parking directly across the road, plus street parking at the door if you are lucky. They are always willing to change ingredients to suit your palate, I'm not a lover of chilli and they'll happily remove it, my daughter who I go there with doesn't like mushrooms and they never have an issue removing them from her favourite vegetable curry and adding different veggies to it. I'm not a huge fan of Pho but I'm told by my daughter and other friends who I have dined there with say it's to die for. I love the rice noodle seafood soup, the spring rolls with fish sauce are the best I've had anywhere as are the shredded pork rice paper rolls, while I sometimes try something new from their huge menu selection, i usually have the caramel pork and prawns, beef with lemongrass and chilli (light on the chilli) or the rice vermicilli rice noodle salad. While I have tried other Vietnamese restaurants in canberra, I always come back to this one. I live south side but will happily drive here to eat. Well worth it, it's great for groups and families, if you haven't tried it and love Vietnamese food, make the effort to try it. You won't be...

The good:

BYO Friendly Decent portions Affordable Small Often lively Eftpos (Over $10 only I think) Take away and delivery Staff remembered us after a few visits Family friendly (Saw a few familys w/ and w/o kids) Feels homely (If you've traveled in South East Asia you'll get it) Good opening hours Super nice about asking for gluten free, if soy sauce was in meals, and customizing meals, like no tomato, ect.

The not so good: A little loud, but, people are having fun Seems low key, if you want fine dining, then not your place Sometimes limited parking Tables are a little small, but if you order enough food, they'll put two together English is so,so, but look, it's more authentic haha, and I've never had a problem expressing particular things.

Overall:

I love going here for a casual night. Or with some mates to power down some great food and the byo. Sometimes we'll get take away because we want tasty good. I've taken people here to impress them too, first they were taken aback, but even people from Sydney CBD liked the atmosphere, and most of all the food. If you've got that Michelin Star attitude, you might have a bad time, but if otherwise, everyone should love this place. Hope it...

We used to eat here back in 2021, was our regular. Moved to Melbourne for a little over a year and moved back to Canberra in March 2023. We live southside now in Greenway and had no real reason to go northside, but remembered Pho Phu Quoc did great food. Admittedly, the food is still good. However, since coming back we've been there once recently and more than likely won't be going back there again. Our evening meal was good - so I am not criticizing the taste or serving of food at all. Driving across town, to suddenly find out the price for each dish has increased by $2-$3 dollars is one thing, but the menu no longer holds any of our favorite dishes we loved to get time and time again from Pho Phu Quoc when we lived in Canberra. Gone are the rice paper rolls, beef in betel leaves, pork balls, and a fair few other dishes we loved. It is almost impossible to find most of these dishes (plus a few I didn't mention that were mains) in Canberra and this was our last hope, but since they've been eradicated from the menu now, there's no reason for us to drive across town to dine here anymore. Still well made food and tasty, but it no longer has any of the dishes we...