Pho Ha Noi — Restaurant in Mississauga

update 01/2025:

i came here during the holidays, and it was a bit of a disaster. this is an updated review, and i wanted to give them another chance because the response to my last review was nice and humble. that truly made all the difference and showed that they care about their customers. this visit was much better, and i can see more of how they really operate on a regular day. there were a few cutbacks, but overall, it was a much improved experience.

the wait time for food was a huge improvement. we got our dishes within 15-20 minutes, which is fantastic and how it should be. however, while the service was much faster than during the holiday rush, it was still a bit difficult to get the staff’s attention. we had to go up to the front to ask for things a couple of times, which wasn’t a big issue, but something to note.

the pho broth was much better this time around. it had good depth of flavor on its own, and when i added lime and the usual extras, it was perfect. the only small letdown was the amount of beef—it was a bit less than what i’m used to. not a huge issue, but definitely noticeable.

the chicken/beef and rice dish was pretty much the same as before. they did cut down on the amount of rice, but the chicken portion remained the same. the beef, however, was smaller than expected. i thought it would be the same size as the chicken or even a bit thicker, but despite that, it still tasted great, so i don’t have too much to complain about.

the dipping sauce tasted the same, which was a plus.

based on this visit alone, i would come back. while there were a few small changes, the overall experience was much better, and the effort they put into improving things really showed.

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12/2024

pho ha noi had a lot of good reviews on google, especially for late night eats (they open until 4 am), so it was perfect for us looking for something to eat at around midnight. it has a lot of buzz around it, so we decided to give it a try. visiting during the holidays meant it was especially busy—our wait time was around 25-30 minutes, which seemed to be the norm for most people waiting for a table. unfortunately, there isn’t much of a waiting area, and standing near the entrance in the cold winter air wasn’t ideal.

the restaurant is located in a somewhat rundown plaza, and the area feels a bit unsafe and sketchy, especially at night. parking was also a bit tricky; the lot is small and navigating it can be a challenge.

once seated, we were given complimentary ice-cold tap water, but there were no utensils on the table, so we had to ask for those. we ordered pho, grilled chicken, and hot tea. sadly, the timing of everything was quite off—the pho came about 1 hour after ordering, the grilled chicken another 18-20 minutes after that (only after we reminded them), and the tea arrived after three reminders, just as i was finishing my chicken. it didn’t help that another table seated much later than us got their food well before we did.

the pho itself was a bit of a letdown. the broth lacked depth, so we added what we thought was hoisin sauce to enhance it, but the sauce seemed stale, which ruined the flavor. unfortunately, we couldn’t finish it. the grilled chicken was decent, though it felt like the plate leaned heavily on the rice portion rather than the protein. overall, the meal felt unbalanced and unsatisfying, especially since my partner had already finished eating well before my food even arrived.

it’s worth noting that the staff were clearly overwhelmed—there were only three people working, including the cashier, in a very packed restaurant. it made getting their attention quite difficult.

while we understand how busy the holidays can be, the overall experience left us feeling a bit disappointed. we spent almost two hours including waiting around, for sub par food. maybe it was just an off night for them, but we likely won’t be back...

So, it was a typical quiet, cold Saturday evening in late October. My wife and I were getting a bit hungry, but also didn't feel like cooking.

"I have a great idea", said I. "Why don't we go out to one of the local restaurants, and avoid the whole cooking and eating in front of the tv bit?"

"Brilliant" said my wife, who truly believes that any strategy which avoids cooking at home deserves to be properly acknowledged.

We're very fortunate to live in an area of Mississauga that has literally hundreds of restaurants withing a 10 km radius of just about any residential spot.

So, I did a Google search for a Vietnamese spot (one of our top ten food choices), and near the top of the list was a place called "Pho Ha Noi".

AND it was like a 5 minute drive from our home.

"How can we go wrong?" I asked my wife. "It's close, it has tons of 5 star reviews, and best of all, it's Vietnamese!".

So, we bundle up (remember, this is late October, with evening temperatures.quite chilly), grab the car keys, and in 10 minutes, we're there!

Out first clue that perhaps reality and the Google ratings I saw were a bit of a mismatch: at 630 PM, the place was empty.

We went in anyways.

No others customers were there, and we had to call several times before anyone came out to greet us.

We sat down at one of the booths, and then had to ask a few times for a menu and some hot tea.

Then, after perusing the menu for a few minutes (by the way, the descriptions of the food items and the accompanying photos looked great), we ordered two dishes- General Tsao chicken, and the 'house special pho", and one bubble tea.

The food came quickly enough, but when I say the best of our order was the bubble tea, you'll have a good idea of where I'm going with this review.

The soup dish was barely enough for two decent servings, and the broth flavour was mediocre at best - watery, with almost no beef flavour.

The General Tsao chicken tasted as if it had been sitting for a while, and then microwaved to heat it up before being served to us.

If we hadn't been quite hungry, I would have been tempted to simply leave the dishes on the table, pay our bill and go to the Popeye's restaurant next door for something tastier and more edible.

So, there's my saga.

Fortunately, my wife and I have been to enough GOOD Vietnamese restaurants to view our experience with this one as just an unfortunate bad choice.

And next time we go to a restaurant at the peak dinner hour, and it's empty, we'll heed...

Been to this spot 5-6 times and I do like the food. Food is well cooked and have lots of flavour. Portions definitely need to be increased. Ordered the large pho soup on 2 different occassions and there was barely any contents. I had to complain the 2nd visit because they charge $19.95 on a large soup and just drinking mostly broth. This is not right. The place is busy and enough tables. The servers can be more helpful though. There is a short bald man with an attitude and is not very friendly. I had to ask him to clean our table second time as there was still chili oil smears on the table. He didn’t look too happy. The younger ones are more pleasant despite some language barriers. This place do fill up however, with a lot more of the younger crowd but a good place to drop in if craving some good pho. Prices are common but portions should match price. Parking is very tight as it is shared with other businesses but not well thought out. Cars are too close to each other and hard to get in/out of a spot. I do like that they are open late which is a plus. I do recommend chili beef stir fry, and the spicy lemongrass chicken - both laid out on a bed of white rice. Very good dishes aside from the soup. Hopefully this place improve their service and portioning so I can...