Bolsa Restaurant — Restaurant in Calgary

I love Bolsa's food, I've been many times over the years. I've never really paid much attention to the surroundings, because, well, it's kind of grimey. On this visit though, we happened to be sitting next next to a table that was just leaving. I overheard a comment, so i paid attention to what happened after they left. Again - I LOVE THE FOOD HERE. As soon as the table was vacant, the only server in the place (wearing gloves and a mask) came over, gathered up the dishes, took the tea pot and poured the left overs of it on to the table. I thought, ok, his hands are full and he did it by accident. Nope, he took the dishes back to the kitchen and then came out with the nastiest looking rag, wiped the table down, shuffling any food droppings onto the seats, placed the menus and cutlery and immediately sat a new customer at the table who slid into the booth and right though the last customers remnants. Ick. After we finished eating, we had some left overs so asked for a togo box. The server, in those same gross gloves that touched that same gross rag insisted on filling the box for us - i got a good look at the gloves at that point. He'd probably been wearing the same pair for weeks, they were filthy and holey. I'd rather bare hands. We left the to go box there. As we were at the door, i looked back, he had just poured our left over cold waters on the table and was wiping the table down with our used napkins. We won't be back for eat in again - and if this is what happens out in the open, i am scared of what the kitchen is like - so probably not going to even do take out again. It's a shame, because the food is amazing - but certain things...

After a long and eventful day, coming to Bolsa for dinner to end the day off was a great experience. The waitress did a great job of coming by to check up on how we are doing or if our beverages needed to be refilled.

As we were looking through our menus, I hear this loud sizzling sound coming from the kitchen and looking over to see what it is. It's a dish that involves a hot skillet and that dish was popping, literally and figuratively. I was thinking of getting those hot plate dishes but I was really craving pho. So knowing me, I would go online and look at the pictures of the dishes and there was this one red pho bowl. I knew it was going to be spicy but the red colour kept drawing my eyes.

I posted a picture of what I got, #10 Satay Medium Rare Beef (spicy). The waitress told me that it had multiple spicy levels from mild to spicy and I told her "give me the maximum spice level". I kid you not but when I tried the soup, the spice instantly hit the back of my throat and I was quietly coughing up a storm. I didn't want anyone to think I had covid or something so I was trying to hold in my coughs as much as I could. After a couple bites, the spice subsided and it was really manageable. The dish was good, tasty and makes you feel warm inside.

The female owner came by and was just a great presence to have. We chatted and laughed. Overall this place was a good vibe. I'd definitely come back again to try more dishes on the menu, maybe one of those hot...

Nice small dining environment with booths and colorful fishes. Short waiting time after ordering at a non-busy hour. The servers are nice and make me feel very welcoming.

Ordered one rare beef pho and one Bún bò Huế. The broth was great and would be one of the top for pho restaurants I have ever had so far. The pho noodles are perfectly soaked in the soup. The extra pho came in an extra bowl, and still tasted flavorful after soaking in the soup for a few seconds. Meat is tender, and the pork sausage is much more tasty compared to other pho places. The owner is expecting customers to finish the soup because they cooked them overnight. So regular size is very enough for a small stomach, extra large is enough for normal stomach, extra large with extra pho is enough for large stomach.

However, personally rating for 3 stars because of the same reason that has been mentioned in other reviews -- they didn't update the price on the menus, and none of the servers would tell you if you don't ask. The actual price is $1+ more for each item on the menu (including all extra orders for meat, soup and pho etc.).

Overall, the price with the portion is a little bit high compared to other pho places in Calgary, but for the food quality, personally would still visit again. Just make sure to ask for the bill and check the price...