Phở Japolo — Restaurant in Burnaby

The short of it - Food was below average with a salty pho broth devoid of any depth. Service was lacking and portion sizes were small for the price.

Full review - I ordered a small beef pho but the broth was unfortunately just salty and lacked any depth or proper flavor from the herbs/spices that's traditionally used in Pho. The noodles were overcooked and the meat was just average in quality. Price-wise, at $15+, the portion size was the smallest I've ever seen for a bowl of pho in Vancouver. You can get MUCH better for a lesser price just 2 blocks away in the Lougheed area. Try Pho 99 or Pho Capital.

Service-wise, there were 2 staff I interacted with - a girl in her 20s that managed the place and a middle-aged man who's supposedly the cook. Upon seeing me walk in, she didn't bother greeting or even looking at me but grabbed a menu and nonchalantly asked me to sit anywhere. From ordering to payment, it was almost as if she didn't want to be there and/or was standing in for someone else, with almost 0 regard to customer service. The cook brought me my food, and did so without even a word or a greeting; one could fairly assume he's mute.

I don't know where the other reviews are getting this excellent service, delicious food or big portions they speak of, but clearly my experience today was lacking. Ignoring all else, even for just the food, I'd say just avoid this place altogether and go 2 blocks south for a MUCH...

A lot of people say most Pho restaurants taste the same. Thisss was an exception, but for the worse. The first complaint is the pricing. I'm pretty used to Pho being maybe a little over $10 at most. This place was $12.xx which was confusing since online it says they're $11. The Pho itself was pretty okay. I found that it was saltier than I'm used to and made me down my tea. I usually don't even need tea or water with my pho, but the salt really got to me. I am used to eating more bland foods but this was pretty bad. Maybe the meat was heavily seasoned before being put in the soup? There also wasn't that much noodles. Normally I leave a pho place feeling full, toasty and sleepy. Here I felt satisfied and fine to take on the rest of my day. Not awful, but it's not really the experience I want from a pho place.

The main thing I'm upset about was the salt. As mentioned, its pretty rough if you're not into salty foods. I'm also the type of person that finds food from Denny's or McDonald's hash browns way too salty to give some reference.

Probably one of the worse pho places I've tried. Can't comment on the...

I needed to head Burquitlam area via North Burnaby and saw this Pho place on the whim. Didn’t even notice the Japanese fusion until I walked inside and saw the decor. Kind of threw me off. In my head I was like damn, this is going to suck. Rule of thumb is never eat in a place that has different styles of cuisines mixed together. ( Especially when it says Chinese and Canadian food ! ). I was comforted when Bossman spoke Vietnamese to his chef. The chicken was grilled to perfection and had a good char and lemongrass flavor. Meat pie was still hot and tasted homemade. Rice was loose. I’ve already given up on complaining about the prices in Vancouver. $20 all in for a meat platter is what you get nowadays back home. Living in Vietnam for 4 months last year has been me bitter about paying for Vietnamese restaurant. Guess it’s time to up my...