Lemongrass West restaurant — Restaurant in Calgary

There are severe problems with this restaurant.

The entire service is self-oriented by customers. The customers have to get their own chopsticks, spoons, and their meals when the bell provided to you rings.

There is an option for tipping in the machines. Although on the paying machine there's the option to press 'No Tip' the very fact that there are other options, especially as the first option, the dollar or percentage based tips when everything is self oriented is not ethical.

The taste is not great. The broth has the scent of a cheap broth powder you can get from any Chinese supermarket.

The volume of food is so low for the price. You can go to another pho nearby and for the same price you can get a lot more.

The bowls and plates that the food comes in are single use plastic containers you get when you order delivery.

The water is not free. I asked for a cup of water, they give me a bottled nestle purelife water and charges me without telling me that it will cost money. They charge you about $1.80 per bottle.

Overall: there are so many other pho restaurants that can provide better food in non-plastic bowls/plates, at a cheaper or similar pricing. When I brought this up to the owners, the only argument that they gave was that they could barely survive from only takeout service for the last 2 years. And that they don't even have cups for water anymore. If the restaurant can't even afford to provide normal bowls at a restaurant, I don't think the business should have even opened for in-person service in the first place. This is the same quality you would see in a school cafeteria, and if that was the goal, you have...

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I order from Lemongrass regularly. They have the BEST spring rolls in Calgary. But that's not why I'm reviewing. This past Saturday night, when they were insanely busy I dropped in with my 18 month old to place a takeout order. They said it would take about 30 minutes because they were so busy - which I was fine with. We went over to the Halloween store to burn some time and then came back to pick up the food. All good, paid my bill and drove on my merry way home. Got home only to realize that they forgot the noodles for my satay beef pho so all I had was broth. At 37 weeks pregnant with a toddler and bronchitis the last thing I wanted to do was take the 25-30 minutes to drive back to the restaurant and get my noodles and beef. So I called them, and they had who I think was the owner drive the missing noodles and beef over to me. It made my night, and that soup was exactly what my body needed to fight this bronchitis! Thanks so much...