Pho Ha & Hoa — Restaurant in Lake District

Update. The restaurant has changed. John, the front of house, is no longer working and the same level of openness is different. The bun bo hue is no longer as good as it used to be. It taste like every other one in the city. It still taste good but it is not the same not as good :(. I had to change the rating as the quality now has dropped. —----------------------------------------------- This is a new place. It used to be called rice paper or rice pad. A favorite among the military community. The new owner is very professional and courteous but warm and welcoming as well. The inside layout is about the same but cleaner and light. If you are coming here, you need to have the bun bo hue. It is very different compared to the rest of the city. The broth is spicy but very savory. Just enough salt to bring out the richness of this delicious soup. The Vietnamese meats on the inside of the soup is superb. The sausage is very different. Much spongier which just soaks in the delicious broth even more. This is by far the best bun bo hue place in the city. Don't even get me started on the price, the competition next door for the exact same meal, with an average tip, comes to 31 to 32 bucks. 26 is what it came out to with a generous tip. Great food, great service and great price point. You have to eat here. I am definitly coming back seeing as how Edmonton's 3784 months of winter is starting, this is the perfect meal to bring me in...

I have been eating here regularly since they opened, because it's close to home and work. I always leave satisfied. They give you great tasting, fresh food and generous portion sizes for a very fair price. They always bring you a water, you don't even need to ask them. Occasionally I've asked for a special request, such as adding cilantro to a soup, and they never have a problem with it.

The meat skewers are so good. Spring rolls are nice and crispy. The new satay soups have great sweet/sour/spicy flavour. The tomatoes are a nice touch! The Bun Bo Hue soup is one of my favourites. The various rice dishes give you a good ratio between rice and veg/meat. They have some Chinese-style dishes for variety, which is perfect. I'm a big fan of stir-fry. You don't want a menu that's too small or too big, and I think theirs is about right.

It isn't always lightning quick, but I know it is because they care about the food they prepare. I'd rather wait a little longer so they can make the dish the way they intended to. The owners are there every day in the kitchen, and I think they do a great job. They stand out in the fast food-heavy Namao Centre. Restaurants fizzle out all the time, especially competing against well known chains. Word-of-mouth/online reviews are essential, so I'm writing this up...

I only noticed it was a different restaurant after I sat down for lunch on a Sunday... It was mostly empty. The pho was actually very good, only skimping on the bean sprouts. The anise flavor was pronounced, the flavor was not as complex as others'. It came steaming hot with a generous amount of beef balls for the kids. The kids approved. I mean I've had better, but I've also had far worse.

My vermicelli was odd. The noodles were unusually cold and the generous pork on 2 skewers were lacking a grilled flavor and also seemed just warmed up. The overall affect that it had been sitting out a while... It wasn't exactly appetizing appearing and I wish I had ordered a soup.

Service was EXCELLENT actually, he listened carefully and brought exactly what I requested when we sat down. He even came back to check after we started -no where else do they do that for us in Vietnamese restaurants. Definitely made our experience very nice.

The prices for our plates were on par with other places but higher for some things like appetizers. The restaurant is nice and clean. But the booths are under an air conditioner where the draft was pretty cold.

We have our favorite places so not sure we would be back this way or to visit this...