Cliff Cafe & Pho (Pho HoHoHo) — Restaurant in Sydney

Visited on two separate occasions, and you need to order at the counter as I dont think it's table service. You pay at the end as if there is table service.

POSITIVE

I quite liked the pho and thought it worth returning for. However,

NEGATIVE

when i returned, I got combination vermicelli, which looked very visually appealing but unlike anything I had ever had before. Immediately, you notice fried won ton, which is crspy and tasty, but then you are left with a little pork with not much flavour and small spring roll cut into even smaller pieces.

This has obligatory dipping sauce and salad, but it's mostly iceberg lettuce no vietnamese herbs in sight.

This is where it all comes unstuck a bit of mint, and perilla chopped up with pickled carrot would help significantly. A bit more kick to the sauce and better marinated pork that tasted like it had seen a live flame, and you would have a line...

The food ranges from average to good and the service ranges from indifferent to attentive. I visited twice in two days and ordered wantan prawns, rice paper rolls and the beef and brisket pho. I recommend a visit between 11am to 2pm, when the staff are still bright and perky (i.e. actually interested in serving customers). That which is most amusing is that they affect a simpering smile when a white man pokes his head through the door but behave somewhat blasé with persons of the Asian variety (and we are far more likely to stay). The prawn rolls are a handy takeaway snack, the prawns plump and fresh. The soup for the beef pho lacks a little bit of flavour. However, the portion is fair for the price. And I was pleased that it was...

I really wanted to like this place—the owner was friendly, and I was excited for a good bowl of pho. But what happened next was beyond disappointing.

The first bowl had a fly in it. Okay, mistakes happen. The owner replaced it with a fresh one. But then, in the second bowl, I found both a mosquito and another fly! I was really just trying to enjoy a meal, but three insects in two bowls? That’s not just bad luck—that’s a serious hygiene issue.

I usually don’t leave negative reviews, but this was just too much. As much as I appreciate good service, food safety is non-negotiable. I won’t be coming back, and I’d strongly advise others to...