The Nguyen's Vietnamese Family Restaurant — Restaurant in Guelph

I don’t normally leave reviews, especially not in response to others, but after seeing the one below from Fdo SK, I felt the need to speak up as someone who was actually there and witnessed the whole thing.

Nguyen’s has been a go-to spot for me and my family for years. The food is consistently great, and the staff—even when busy—have always done their best to be friendly and accommodating. So let’s normalize telling the full story, not just the dramatic version.

On Easter Sunday, during a late lunch rush, the restaurant was packed. Multiple large groups came in all at once, and you could tell the staff were hustling. Fdo SK’s group of 6 adults and 2 kids sat directly in front of us. I clearly heard the server politely inform them—before taking any orders—that an automatic 15% gratuity would be applied due to the group size. That’s standard practice at many restaurants. She wasn’t rude, and she wasn’t “asking each person for confirmation” like it was some kind of group vote. She was simply doing her job.

Their group questioned the auto-grat and then got up and left shortly after. Two men from their table went up to the front and complained, and while the complaint may have sounded like it was about the tone, let’s be honest—it felt more like they just didn’t want to pay the service charge. And that’s fine, but let’s call it what it is!

The second server handled it professionally, and the rest of the large groups in the restaurant—some even bigger—had no issue with the policy.

So yes, let’s absolutely talk about service when it’s poor. But let’s also be real when it isn’t. Blaming staff for “ruining the image of the restaurant” when they’re calmly communicating standard policy during a holiday rush is a stretch. Especially when you didn’t even stay long enough to taste the food.

Moral of the story? Be kind to your servers. And if you're not comfortable with a service charge, no problem—just don’t dine and dash with a bad review pretending...

I am a pho connoisseur, and my all-time favourite pho restaurant was in Hamilton, which had consecutively won awards by the city. I have tried pho all over and I must say, this place tops my favourite Hamilton location.

I visited the place in the spur of the moment after reading one review that noted they would come to Guelph just for their pho and I can say, I agree.

Their broth is well seasoned but I appreciate that it did not seem MSG heavy; I was not heavily dry-mouthed after. The broth had a depth of flavour that saturated the noodles well. The meat seemed like quality options than cheap/tough. The combination of the dish with their house-made chilli oil was what made this place stand apart. I highly recommend any food connoisseur to have a visit.

My only qualm was that the waitress’ finger had dipped into my soup as she was serving two dishes at the same time and the soup swayed. I am aware she was also handling the cash register so this was off-putting for me. She is, however, evidently a student and it wasn’t going to kill me.

Ambiance was great. Lovely, small-town restaurant feel. You can hear the murmuring chatter of families and couples who stopped by as soon as this placed opened, as I did.

Price is definitely higher than your typical pho, but the dish is worth the comparative price boost.

Edit: I ended up getting food poisoning on my next visit here. Mixed with the act of poor sanitation I noticed previously (touching money then getting fingers into my broth while serving), which I had overlooked, I ended up getting very sick after this meal (as my sole meal). The server that day also came in and did not sanitize or anything, and went straight to serving (food). This was a red flag I should not have dismissed. It is unfortunate and I hope they revise...

I used to come to Nguyen's quite often for eat in and take out over the years. This restaurant was great when they opened, ...it seemed like they tried! Guess they gave up? I cant imagine how they keep getting good reviews! (lots of friends?) Last year when I was there it was the service that was not good. This time it was more the food that was subpar. Today, one girl had to do the dining room and the cash! The restaurant was busy when we got there with everyone leaving. After they left, the waitress could keep up. At least she seemed to try her best! Food was not great! Ordered the B2 Grilled Pork / Sausage and Spring roll. Grilled pork was very fatty and in too big of chunks to eat with chopsticks! Of course there was no knife! None of the food was very flavourful either. So for $18.99 you get a bit of fatty pork, 2 small pcs of ham, ...a spring roll, and too many noodles (most got thrown away!) Way over priced for what you get, and the poor quality of food! I noticed sign saying that they are opening another restaurant in Cambridge. This way they can disappoint twice as many people! I would not recommend this restaurant to anyone and I will...