Old Man Pho Waurn Ponds - Vietnamese Restaurant — Restaurant in Victoria

I was really excited to eat here - I know it's just a mall chain food restaurant but I was really craving an Asian soup dish and this place had good reviews and was conveniently located.

I can only give one star due to the terrible food quality BUT I would like to say thanks to the staff who served me - they were really lovely. Also, the Vietnamese coffee was very tasty.

Unfortunately though the food was horrible... Really bad... Definitely no Vietnamese flavour to be found. I ordered the spicy beef noodles (Bun Bo) and took a seat outside (nothing special about the dining area but had everything I needed and was a sunny day so nice to have an outside dining option). While waiting I looked at their menu and was thinking if this meal was good I'd definitely be back to try the bao buns and the pho. Whether or not they would have been better options to order I will never know, as after my first experience there I won't go back again.

After a short wait my food was served, from outward appearances it was ok, but didn't look like it had the depth of flavour I was expecting (had no deep colour, aromas or oil). It was also served with a side dish of watery mung beans (not fresh), lemon slice (lime would be my preference) and lettuce (🤔 bit confused about lettuce for my soup, basil or other herbs such as shallots or coriander would have been far more suitable).

Had a spoonful of soup and felt myself grimace, it was very flat - the soup base flavour was not nice! It was basically a watered down beef stock with sugar and an odd background spice note that I will attribute to aniseed. It tasted like they had run out of spices and stock base and simply added sugar and water to bulk it out. I added the sides hoping they would add something to the dish but they just made it more jarring and watery.

I then tasted the meat which I was hoping would at least pull the meal together - spoiler alert - it didn't 🤮. It had a really unsettling flavour profile, an off sweet taste and something else I can't quite explain, almost the flavour of decay. All together it was a bowl of old meat floating in a sugar lemon water bath with a flavourless crunch of old sprouts and the weird texture of softening lettuce. It was inedible (and possibly not even good for human consumption), after a bite or two I gave up and used my (thankfully) delicious Vietnamese coffee as a palate cleanser.

Thanks for the lovely service and genuine smiles but I definitely left disappointed and sadly -...

Very Very disappointing. My friend and I were really looking forward eating their at the Waurn Ponds location. Unfortunately the food was terrible. Was not even average. The staff mention as we were deciding what to order that the food is pre made and it showed in the quality of the food when it was served. It was oily and have no aroma and the cutlery that was on the table looked dirty and unclean and felt that the hygiene was very poor as when we sat down there where items yet to be cleaned so we sat at another table and was not any better. The flooring was oily and slippery when I was walking through to sit at a table and there was food on the floor as well. Felt very unhygienic. After I ordered the combination bowl and my friend got something different to what I had. There was no taste nor texture in the food that was served. I’m more than sure if I was actually in Vietnam the quality would be a lot higher and it wouldn’t cost $41. I couldn’t be bothered to ask for a refund as I barely ate my food and my friend was feeling the same. Sad to see this and I’m more than sure that the staff would have known that the food we paid for was still on the table barely touched. This is not an attack on the staff as they were friendly but I can’t be bothered at the time as I’ve been working flat out the last couple of months and wanted to enjoy my dinner with my friend. Don’t want my money back nor any results from this just want to let people know that it’s not worth it. Vietnamese...

Worst experience ever! I would give 0 stars if I could. We ordered crispy pork and the lady said it would take 10 minutes and we said that’s all good. Waited 35 minutes before the meal finally came… and it was bbq pork instead. We specifically waited for crispy pork. When we POLITELY mentioned that we ordered crispy pork to the lady she began to scream at us. She was yelling at us that we ordered bbq pork and then brought the receipt out and held it in my face while yelling. We all witnessed that we ordered roast pork so the receipt proves nothing to us. She wouldn’t stop screaming at us, not letting us even talk, to the point it was creating a scene and others were staring at us. I’ve never felt so abused at a restaurant. She then said we can go into the kitchen and check the cameras back. We said don’t worry about it and she proceeded to scream about from the kitchen for the entire time we were eating. We couldn’t even eat in peace after her screaming at us for getting our order wrong because she kept screaming from the kitchen. I’m horrified! Would...