Pho Le — Restaurant in Collingwood

My recent experience at this restaurant confirms the accuracy of its 3.2-star rating. We visited after a camping trip on our way back to Barrie, hoping for a good bowl of pho. Unfortunately, the experience fell short.

Upon arrival, we were quickly handed menus by an older woman, and we immediately placed our order for three large bowls of pho. The food arrived within eight minutes, but we were surprised to find there were no basil or bean sprouts, staples in traditional Vietnamese pho. When we asked, the woman informed us that they don’t offer them, which felt odd for a restaurant presenting itself as authentic Vietnamese.

As we started eating, my kids noted that the noodles were overly salty. We also realized that no one had offered us water or drinks, and despite the “large” size, the portions were quite small. We waited a while, hoping someone would come by to check on us, but no one did. Deciding to finish quickly, we planned to grab drinks elsewhere.

When it was time to pay, we had to go up to the counter; no one brought the bill to our table. I was handed the card machine and asked to tap without being shown the total, only to see a preset 15% tip added to the bill. This felt presumptuous, and it was an overall disappointing experience. This was by far the most bizarre dining experience I’ve had in Collingwood. I used to work in serving industry and understand how important tips are to servers. I didn’t have a plan to not leave a tip but the way I was forced to, it was quite disappointed. There was virtually no service.

We won’t be...

I was refer to this place by a friend and my experience here was beyond disappointing. The service was very inattentive and extremely slow even though the restaurant was not filled with customers. I noticed one of the tables next to us required attention from the servers. The table waited for more than 10 minutes just to receive service. We requested to have one of our stir fry dishes to have no beef at all. And we emphasized this to the server. However, when the dish came the dish was full of beef. The pho portion was extremely small and the taste was bland. No flavours at all. I was left feeling hungry and unhappy. Furthermore, my table wanted to add an order and asked the server for a menu. The menu never came. We also ordered a shrimp spring roll with meat in it but the meat tasted horrible and “old”. The tea that we ordered took more than 15 minutes to come. The kitchen was extremely loud, I could barley hear the conversations exchanged at my table. The environment was not the best and the restaurant was not clean. As someone who grew up living in a heavily populated asian community with a surrounding of Vietnamese restaurants, this is the worst Vietnamese restaurant I have ever visited. The food and service definitely did not meet my standards. Prices were overpriced compared to many restaurants. I am also someone who dislikes writing low-rated reviews but I truly hope the restaurant owners read these low-rated reviews and improve on their quality and services. There’s always room for improvement but I definitely won’t be...

I was really disappointed with this meal. The pho lacked flavor.. the broth was underwhelming, and the beef portion was so small. I was surprised to get bok choy instead of the usual herbs, but I didn’t mind that. However, there was no mint, no bean sprouts—none of the fresh elements that typically enhance pho. For $17.99, the portion was the smallest I ever got in any Pho restaurant.

The fried pork spring rolls were just as disappointing. They had no flavor at all—I couldn’t even taste the pork or veggies inside. It tasted like it they fried a generic, store bought frozen rolls whose only flavor was fried wrapping.... Then there was the mango sticky rice, which was by far the worst part of the meal. The mango was so overripe that it was slimy and had an off taste, like a fruit that had fallen from a tree and sat there for days. The sticky rice itself was really tough to eat. If only I had a picture of what they served the mango served was brownish already! I really should have sent it back..

The only positive was that they accommodated our group 30 minutes before closing after we called ahead to check. However, in hindsight, I wish they had just been honest and told us no, rather than serving us such low quality food.

Another couple in our group got just as disappointed with their pho and eggs in their rice dish and another couple ordered pad thai and barely ate anything from...