PHỞ BIG BOWL — Restaurant in Mississauga

Oh, Pho Big Bowl! The name alone speaks of a culinary ambition so grand, it’s practically a thesis statement on stomach expansion.

The Back-Pocket Quest Continues My relentless, almost Sisyphean quest for the "Back-Pocket Pho"—that perfect bowl you can deploy in any emotional or meteorological emergency—is still in full swing. My standards, you see, are less "reasonable person" and more "overly dramatic food critic with a tiny notebook."

I’m ashamed to admit I'd driven past the old location in Mississauga so many times, I’m convinced the restaurant had a restraining order against my car. There was some kind of ancient, karmic force field—a "Portal Prevention Spell"—that simply would not let me cross the threshold. Perhaps the universe knew that a man who'd already eaten pho three times by the 7th of the month (a feat of dedication I plan to submit to the Guinness Book of Records) simply needed a brief, two-year time-out.

Thankfully, the new place is a modern, stylish beacon of hope. It looks so sharp and well-designed, I actually checked to make sure I wasn't accidentally walking into a high-end minimalist dentist's office. The new aesthetic clearly broke the curse, the portal swung open, and I marched in, ready for destiny.

I ordered the Pho with beef (because my body is now 80% broth and needs a constant top-up).

The service was so fast and well-managed, it was practically a pit crew operation. I swear, I hadn't even finished reading the specials board when my bowl arrived. It was impressive.

Now, for the bowl itself. It was… decent. It’s like the bowl was a talented 19-year-old actor: all the pieces are there, but the broth needs a few more years in drama school. It was aromatic, yes, but light—like a gorgeous bouquet of flowers you forgot to water for a week. The flavour hadn't truly built its permanent residency yet. It was a tourist, just passing through. I suspect my batch was too fresh, a culinary fetus yanked from the womb of the pot before its time. It needed to be left alone on the stove for another three hours, whispering sweet nothings to the star anise and ginger until it achieved true enlightenment.

And the beef! Bless its heart. The slices were thin, but perhaps the cow was trying to be "carb-conscious." They were so fatty, I could have used them as a substitute for butter on toast. I’m pretty sure one of the slices tried to sell me a timeshare.

But the noodles and vegetables? Perfection. A beautiful, vibrant, and perfectly balanced foundation.

Pho Big Bowl is like a high-end sports car with a slightly underpowered engine. It's got the looks, the killer service, and the perfect tires (noodles), but the broth needs to pull over and think about its life choices for a few hours. I appreciate the new establishment for finally cracking my personal anti-pho force field. Now that I’ve broken the seal, I will return. Next time, I’m bringing a small tent and a folding chair and demanding a bowl that has been simmered since the invention of fire. The quest is not...

After 2 decades of great quality and consistency, it is officially one most inconsistent places to eat the last several years. I used to visit 2x week, which turned into monthly, and this last order has been about a year since.

Non Pho dishes are different on a weekly basis, randomly switching ingredients. Bell peppers sometime show up, maybe you get cabbage, maybe broccoli, maybe beansprouts, sometimes you get none of them.

The food goes from under to over cooked every order, with the rare well done dish. More often than not, everything is overcooked. Noodles that can't even be picked up, shrimp that's tougher than calamari, chicken so dry you don't know why you keep ordering it. Sauce and flavoring that goes from a teaspoon to a ladel's worth in the same dish. I gave up on beef dishes, so I'm not sure what they're like recently.

It was a personal loss when the original family sold Big Bowl. I'll miss Min, her Mother and Father. They made fantastic dishes. Her mom made the best and most consistent Pad Thai you could find outside of Toronto. Her dad was great at the beef dishes, always getting that perfect tenderness out of it.

Today is the last day I'll ever visit them again.

Ordered Pad Thai.

Noodles: Overcooked to the point I couldn't pick them out from the rest. It only came out in small clumps, instantly sheering. Bad texture.

Chicken: Dry, but not the worst they have done. Wouldn't be a problem if the rest of the dish was done better.

Shrimp: The worst it has ever been. Not succulent in the slightest. Tough, dry, difficult to separate from tail.

Sauce: They have been consistently bad with this. Today was the teaspoons worth. The noodles had very little coverage, which killed the flavor and spice it used to have. This makes up probably 80% of Pad Thai. Too be consistently bad at this, you should honestly just remove the dish from menu.

Additional ingredients: I was happy at first to see they had mostly everything Pad Thai has had for the last 2 decades. White onion, green onion, bell pepper, egg, beansprouts. But this is the first time I've ever seen them put cabbage in Pad Thai. I did not agree with it as it really ruined the taste, but that might because the whole dish was bad, so don't take my opinion on the added cabbage. Was just a surprise which I ended up picking out of the dish.

Staff have always been great from the first day I stepped into the place. As of recent, I guess they have had trouble with finding good chefs?

I'm conflicted on posting this since it seems many others are not getting the same results, but none the less, this has been my experience for the last 3-4 years. I rarely feel like I get $20 worth of food from here anymore. Other restaurants I frequent have had issues too, but nowhere near the inconsistency...

Pretty average food at this place and if I could give 2.5 stars I probably would given the cost is a tad more than other similar restaurants. The portion of the XL pho is quite big, however and that's probably the most redeeming thing here.

The way business is run is dishonest and the reason why I'm not returning. It's also a warning for future customers.

To keep it short, this restaurant charges a mandatory 15% service charge for "5+" people (I'm unsure if that means 5 and above, or 6 and above). Our party was four adults and three children (so 7 people). Aside from the fact that I've never seen a Pho restaurant (where you write your order on a piece of paper) charge this, what is dishonest to me was how payment was taken.

I went up to the counter to pay and told the staff that I'd be paying by card. They didn't offer me a digital nor printed bill and presented me only with a POS system that was already on the tip screen. In this case, the staff also did not mention that a service charge was already applied. So not knowing that, I added another 15% tip to the bill as that was the default option on the terminal and paid.

I only found out afterward when I thought the overall amount seemed too much that they had already charged a service charge but was too far and the money wasn't worth going back to argue for. This is a very dishonest way to do business. There's nothing wrong, per se, with charging a mandatory service charge for any group size but it's certainly dishonest to present a tip screen to a customer without any indication that there is already service applied.

Update: Clarifications based on the owner’s update: My party was just two families where one member of each family paid their bill (there was no third party). Each family ordered on their own sheet. Neither of us were informed of the service charge as we both went up to pay together and I was the first to pay. I waited beside the other party’s paying member to finish before we returned to our table. Again neither of us knew were informed of the service charge by staff and we were both presented with a...