Pure Saigonese Kitchen — Restaurant in Calgary

Utterly disappointed. We frequented Pure in it's original location often with friends. We were beyond excited to eat here when we heard they re-opened in Marda Loop. Unfortunately, we were left feeling underwhelmed and disappointed. The menu is limited to appies, pho, fried rice, or fried noodles. The wing portion is confusing. It says Wednesday only, however we noticed others have said they offer wings every night.

We ordered the pot au pho and another pho to try. I asked for spicy peanut sate (my favorite to compare amongst other vietmanese restaurants in Calgary). The server said they didn't have it. I instead ordered the spicy sate. We asked how spicy the pho was and were assured it was not too spicy. I am a bit of a spice fanatic but said let's just do mild, as my wife wanted to try it as well. The pho that arrived was inedible. I tried the broth and no word of a lie, had me gagging. It was like swallowing an acid reflux burp. It burnt my lips. The manager walked by and asked how it was, i told him it's too spicy and he just confirmed what I said by saying "oh yes he makes it very spicy." ??? Ok cool, I'll just continue burning a hole in my stomach for an overpriced soup that was not enjoyable. The server walked by to also check on us, at that point I actually was choking on the spice. The manager nor the server made offer of broth or any of that sort to dilute the spice. Like a wild escape room adventure, guess I signed up for the spiciest soup in Calgary challenge and this was for entertainment. I had to portion the 1cm,yes 1 cm of chili oil off the top of the broth into a small bowl already on the table to make this soup edible. The staff watched me do this and still nothing. The oil actually coagulated in this bowl, it was so thick. I will never recommend this dish to anyone. The worst bowl of pho I have ever eaten. The size phrased as "pot au pho" should actually say "jar au pho," the portion is equal to other restaurants small bowl of pho.

My wife had hu tieu pho. Hers was ok however, this is not traditional vietmanese/ saigonese. They place the sprouts and basil in your soup for you. Both of us had to dip our fingers to tear the basil of the stem. Pretty sure you don't usually eat the stem (my wife is vietmanese btw). Secondly, they put the sprouts in her soup. My wife is 21 weeks pregnant and is not supposed to eat sprouts, a courtesy "is it OK if we add this to your soup" would have been nice. If you don't do well with MSG, I don't recommend going here.

We wasted a date night at Pure. Overpriced food court pho in disguise for elegant fine dining. You'll pay a premium eating mediocre pho Unfortunately. Our waitress was non attentive, only showed up to apologize for how long the kitchen was taking. I obviously didn't want to leave a good tip, and really any tip at all seeing how my 2 bowls of shitty soup now cost me $50 however I left her a fair tip only to get a glare. Not even a thanks for coming or anything when we left. On our way home, I had to stop and get milk for the ulcer burnt in my stomach from the pot au pho.

We will probably never return to Pure or its sister restaurant ever again. Pure sold out and is not the same nostalgic restaurant it once was. We no longer have to look at your social media pages drooling at the pictures because we know it's just for the gram, the taste just...

Based of my wife’s and mine opinion.

AMAZING AMAZING AMAZING!!!!

Thank you to Mat who help serve us this evening and made our first visit at this restaurant a great experience.

Looking at the menu it was simple and easy to choose from which reminded us of pure viet at first street market in downtown Calgary. After chatting with Mat they are run by the same owner who expanded here in Mardaloop. Let me tell you if you want a bowl of Pho order the Pot Au Pho the best hands down Pho in Calgary by far, not just my families word but everyone I take there!

My wife was craving some wings, not just any wings Asian inspired wings. She googled Asian style wings near me saw this location which was about 20 mins away from us. Being in Mardaloop I’ve heard it’s a up in coming part of Calgary that had great vibes so we definitely need to head down! Let me tell you this restaurant did not disappoint.

My wife and I ordered their papaya and mango salad which we typically get if they offer it at the restaurants to share and my wife craving some wings we had to try them here as they looked amazing from pictures as for a drink my wife loves milk tea so she decided to try their green tea flavour. The milk tea came out first and when my wife tried it her eyes lite up and she was surprised how well balanced the flavour was. She said it had to be one of the best ones she has ever had and coming from her she orders milk tea every chance she gets when we are out. This one by far she said had to be one of the best ones she ever had! Next our papaya mango salad came out! All we can say was WOW! The papaya and mango was cut into thin slices which whenever we order this they are cut thick and just seems like you are eating the mango and papaya individually if that makes any sense. This was balanced with thinly cut and fish sauce was not over powering with some restaurants we have been to. Now for the chicken wings we just ordered the chilli lime nuoc cham flavor as it was a traditional style marinated sauce that they created. Amazingly tasty delicious and well balanced with flavour juiciness and crispness! I probably would have ordered 2 more flavours if it wasn’t for a late work meet outing. Mat was kind enough to give us a try of their other popular flavour which was chilli tamarind peanut. Wow! must try flavour, thank you Mat for that.

Overall Pot Au Pho is definitely a must!!! Yes chickens wings is a must and they have a special right now all you can eat wings for $29.99 on Wednesdays so craving for that go there and the record right now is 70 wings and let me tell you these are pretty decent size chicken wings. And if you love milk tea it’s a must as well! I’m sure if these were amazingly delicious everything in their menu is delicious.

Thank you to the owners chefs servers and the rest of the staff! Amazing food and amazing friendly people. Again if you want some good pho try it, by far worth every penny! Definitely made with love! The broth is amazing hands down a must try! I love Vietnamese food and I can say we have been to a lot and not just myself l, everyone I take and recommend always agrees especially if they have the taste of authentic pho!

1000% recommend for you to try this place and if your by downtown and near first street try it and I’m sure you will not be disappointed! My family and I will be...

Pure kitchen used to be open downtown and was great, so I wanted to try their new location. It’s an evening pop up in the diner deluxe in Marda Loop.

I went for the AYCE wings Wednesday special ($25 for a pop + all your can eat wings with an option to upgrade to any non-alcoholic drink for $3). The chili lime nuoc cham and chili tamarind peanut wings were the best and parmesan truffle oil gets an honourable mention. The other flavours we tried (char siu, honey garlic, and house teriyaki*) were just alright. The honey garlic also didn’t come out sauced fully which was a little disappointing. *We ordered the spicy teriyaki which came out as house teriyaki which was unfortunate. Our server was very nice and got us a side of their spicy teriyaki/the spicy sauce that goes in the teriyaki, which was really yummy and I preferred over the house.

We also tried two drinks, the honeydew ya-ua (a yogurt drink kind of like flavoured yakult) and lemongrass peach oj fruit tea. They were both good, I’m just not really a drinks person so would have been good with anything. Don’t play with your cup though LOL it’s plastic and might crack and leak (definitely not speaking from experience or anything).

Service was pretty quick and the wings came out fast.

There were a few tables when we got in around 6 but it quickly became quite full. It was more or less packed when we left. They don’t take resos on Wednesdays but will any other day. You can get half off wings (I think one order?) with the purchase of a...