The Viet Noodle Guy — Restaurant in Burnaby

Everyone has their own favourite spot for pho. In the past, this usually meant some hole-in-the-wall noodle joint that’s seen better days. The Viet Noodle Guy kicks that trend and seems to be doing quite well at it.

The interior of this Vietnamese restaurant is very bright and airy owing to the large windows that fronts onto Rosser Avenue and the high ceilings. My first encounter with this restaurant was actually for take-out as we noticed the restaurant while we were dining across the street. Intrigued, we decided to get some Chicken Wings ($6.50) with a lemon pepper sauce to-go. The chicken wings were okay but nothing very memorable besides the coating being a bit too thick for my liking.

I came back in early December to try their pho and stuck with a classic… the Pho Dac Biet or Viet Noodle Special ($10.45 for a small bowl). There was nothing small about this bowl, however, as it had plenty of meat and noodles. Specifically, thin slices of rare beef (perfect for dunking into the piping hot broth), beef brisket, beef balls, tripe, tender chunks of tendon, onions, green onions, cilantro, and the requisite basil, bean sprouts, lime, and jalepeño slices. The bowl also contained an ample amount of thin, flat, rice noodles which was filling for a small bowl.

A week later, my sweetie and I returned during the weekend for lunch and were lucky to grab a table given how busy they get. The Bun Dac Biet or Special Vermicelli Bowl ($12.95) is a pork lover’s dream with lemongrass, grilled pork, pork patty, and shredded pork combined with the crispy spring roll.

I picked the Com Bo Luc Lac or Shaken Beef Cubes with Rice ($14.95). Served with a fried egg, this is a complete meal which will really satisfy your hunger. Unlike the famous Beef Luc Lac at Phnom Penh, the shaken beef here is served in cubes but is just a tender.

While they have a separate area upstairs dedicated to banh mi (Vietnamese subs), you can order them in the restaurant. We picked the Banh Mi Dac Biet ($6.25). They do make a very good version here with a nice crusty bun. This one comes with ham, pork roll, fried pork roll, Vietnamese ham, pate and accompanied with the requisite pickled veggies, cilantro, hot peppers, cucumber, soy sauce, and mayo.

On a return visit, I decided to try their Bun Bo Hue ($11.55 for large) which comes with thick, round, slippery rice noodles, beef slices, chicken balls, ham, onions, and green onions in a piping hot broth that has a nice spice level.

Located diagonally across from a large cherry blossom garden, I’m sure this would make a great spot for cherry blossom viewing during the spring. It gets super busy here during the lunch hour but food comes out pretty quick.

Update: Mar 2024... Been about 4 years since we were last here. I had forgotten how large their dishes are.

Ordered the bun dac biet - special vermicelli with lemongrass chicken, grilled pork, pork patty, spring roll, and shredded pork and picked daikon. Loved the crispy spring roll in this dish.

The pho dac biet pho with rare beef, beef brisket, tripe, cilantro and green onions is so comforting! Nice broth that you just want to slurp up all day long.

Akso got an order of canh ga (chicken wings) with lemon pepper sauce. The dipping sauce really...

AVOID if you're looking for a quick bowl of pho or decent service. TLDR: The owner's attitude is so bad and the wait was so long (~40 min) I would never go back even though the food was decent.

I went on a Thursday night with 5 other friends just before 6 PM. There was a short wait for a table (10 minutes). The restaurant was quite busy and just looking at the front counter I could tell they were doing a LOT of take-out orders (there were probably 20 plastic bags ready to go).

We received tea and utensils right away, as well as the usual plate of bean sprouts and condiments after we ordered. My friend asked for her bean sprouts to be steamed, which it was. We waited for an additional 20-30 minutes and watched two other 3-person tables who arrived after us receive their food and LEAVE. Our tea was never refilled while we were waiting. We were wondering if our waitress had forgotten to put our order in, so waved down one of the workers to ask on the status of our order and how much longer it would be. The owner(?) came by and said "You haven't been waiting that long. It's only been 25 minutes. You have a big table. The kitchen is working on it." and walked away. (I assume he's the owner because if it was an employee with such a bad attitude he probably would have been fired).

We waited an additional 5-10 minutes and I tried to ask our server if she knew how much longer it would be. The owner rushed over to interrupt and asked "What's the problem? I already said the kitchen is working on it. You have a big table. Have you been here before?". I'm not sure why that mattered - I guess he was implying that it's always this slow and that big tables are served last once everyone else has left?!

We repeated that we just wanted to know how much longer it would be because other tables have come and left we were going to leave. He claimed "the other table ordered 15 minutes before you" and finally said "5 minutes but you can leave if you want to" and went to the kitchen. Our food then arrived within 2-3 minutes. My friend ordered a dry vermicelli bowl and didn't get his sauce but didn't want to bother asking at this point. My other friend barely touched her food (probably too annoyed to eat) and her steamed bean sprouts was cold and wilted by this point.

I don't mind waiting for good food in a busy restaurant but the owner's attitude ruined our night. The kitchen should not prioritize smaller tables and takeout orders so they also need to work on that. The portion was big but the price was also higher than other Vietnamese restaurants so overall it was not worth it and we will NOT be...

Really tried hard to like this place since it's close by. Several visits as well as several deliveries later, I give it 1 star.

In resto dining: long waits with no explanation or apologies as the delivery order pile grows and grows, "standard vietnamese food" flavors with ridiculous high prices that don't reflect quality and care of food served. Inconsistent portioning of food ie: when it's very busy, the contents of the sandwiches seem lighter than usual. Noticeable residual flavor on noodles as though the blanching water is not changed often enough giving noodles a distinct ricey flavour and slightly slimy residue causing starch bubbles in the soup. Poor training in customer service and attitude. It can all be SO good if a little more care is taken in execution.

Pick up and delivery: Poorly packaged sauces that were spilled in bag on several occasions. Cold food/drink sitting on hot items (most places pack drinks in a second bag to avoid this). Smaller portion of sauces. Mods not done correctly ie: asked to please exclude meat in salad roll and just make with prawn (had to throw it out as no one could eat it), incorrect order given to delivery driver so we received the wrong items. Asked to exclude an allergy item and even called ahead to ask about the possibility of cross contamination (we were happily prepared to order elsewhere for the one person if there was a possibility our request was too much) but allergic person had a negative reaction even though we were assured of the strictest food handling (thankfully the allergy wasn't anaphylactic).

You know, the flavours are all right, but after all these easily avoidable challenges, I'm now too nervous to order because it calls into question whether or not all the food is handled in a safe...