Pho 54 — Restaurant in Courtenay

Was craving Vietnamese food for lunch . Not from Courtney so Google where to go. This place showed up. Very small but I don't care about how the place looks. I'm there for the food . Prices were average. Ordered salad rolls and Bun Cha. First of all. Salad rolls came out right away. Obviously pre-made. Given what was in them , I can see why . Worst salad rolls EVER. They had one very tiny bit of lettuce, along with vermicelli noodles and the prawns. THAT IS ALL. No carrot, cucumber, herbs .The peanut sauce that accompanied the rolls had absolutely No flavor. It's didn't even taste of peanut. Peanut sauce from a package, cause it wasn't made from scratch. Now onto the Bun Cha. This is one of my favorite Vietnamese dishes. These people managed to ruin it. Where to start?? . The noodles were all broken. It's was like Lipton Chicken noodle in the box. Not one slurpable noodle. It also had lettuce in it. NO. carrot and cucumber. 2 spring rolls, which were no where near being Vietnamese. The skins were Chinese egg roll skins, instead of rice paper. And they tasted of old oil. The grilled pork was Not grilled pork. It was a frozen patty of pork. ( I know because I've bought them ). The Nuoc Cham was very good. So the dish lacked almost everything that makes it a wonderful Vietnamese dish. The grilled pork was non-existent, no fresh herbs, no bean sprouts, no lime , no slurpable noodles. Crappie spring rolls. I've been to Vietnam and also love to cook Vietnamese food. So when I pay for this DISSAPPOINTING food, it makes me wonder who is in the kitchen thinking that this is acceptable to serve. If you need lessons, please reach out. The server was ok. When I asked for a coke he just brought me the can , no glass. I had to ask for that. I felt bad that I didn't tip but not tipping for...

Honest review from a guy that eats a lot, and I mean a lot of Viet food. On the island for two nights and still managed to have Viet food twice! And it wasn’t planned!

Ok, so the restaurants that we have on the Mainland are pretty top notch and in no way was I expecting similar here. I understand we are in a smaller town and it’s just not going to be the same. The food is average and that’s not anything against Pho 54. They could be the best Viet restaurant in town.

The prices I will say are quite reasonable with bowls of pho at $14 for medium and $16 for large. It’s not the best I’ve ever had but also not the worst. It’s average, if you’re just looking for something to satisfy your craving for a hot bowl of noodle soup this will do it.

My wife did say she enjoyed her bowl of vermicelli with nem (pork patty).

Additional info: Lots of parking around the restaurant. Credit...

I just had a refreshing experience at Pho 54 in Courtenay BC. I was having a senior blur vision day and tried to pay with the credit card machine. I typed in the wrong amount and ended up giving a very large tip. I would not have noticed it and left. They lovely young lady asked if I was sure if I wanted to leave such a tip? We sorted it all out and I told her I was proud of her honesty. So nice to see good honest people in this day. I will go there again next time I...