Phở Đô thị — Restaurant in Montreal

I came in to this restaurant a Sunday around 5pm with a friend. Since I have been ordering there for years, I was confident my guest would like it. Why would I give "1" star? Keep reading. The restaurant was 3/4 empty. I ask the waitress for a table for two. She gives me the options of either the first table at the entrance, essentially the worst table on the dining floor. And then she gives me the second and only other option, the table adjacent the entrance to the kitchen; second worst table (or the worst for some people). A little puzzled, I ask if I could sit elsewhere. The waitress tell me that everything else is reserved. Remember, the restaurant is 3/4 empty, and I'm not asking for a table for 10 people. Just 2. Still refused to help. I thank her and ask to see the owner, a nice but somewhat "in your face" small Vietnamese lady. The waitress rushes to the back before I could talk to her, yells out something in Vietnamese and then the owner lady comes out. I've known her for 7 years. Never had a problem. And now, out of nowhere, refuses to hear me, tells me that my choices are the same two (worst) tables in the restaurant and then finishes by saying if I'm not happy, I could just leave (with a takeout). At this point, I was boiling inside. I have never been treated like a second-class client before. Before showing the extent of my anger and disappointment, i told my guess that I apologize, but we are not very welcome here. Worst reception. And I loved this restaurant. Not anymore. I would've given "zero" stars out of 5 if that was possible. Respect...

Came in for a quick lunch. Historically , pho has hit that mark quite well, so we were optimistic.

We were first greeted with the ambient smell of, I want to say, stale mop water? Not a great start. But this was quickly set aside by the fact that service was super nice, efficient, and pleasant to deal with. First up were the spring rolls with peanut doping sauce. The rolls were nice and fresh, with a decent amount of shrimp in them. Sadly, the lacked the fragrant punch I have grown accustomed to with vientamese cuisine. The dipping sauce failed to save this falter, as it lacked the citrus brightness that a peanut sauce ought to bring.

Then the pho comes. One spicey beef, and one veggie. The spicy beef is on point. Beef is succulent, the broth brings depth, and the chilli oil a nice heat that rounds it all out.

The veggie pho fell down quite badly however, the broth wasn't nearly as flavourful, no matter how much hoisin we added. To add insult to this injury, the veggies it came with were quite conventional cauliflower carrots and brocolli which were anemic enough to suggest that they came from the freezer rather recently. The veggies that did seem to be fresh were equally ethnically inappropriate zucchini and green pepper. It's like a lazy white bachelor tried, and badly failed, to emulate what he thought pho was...

From the looks of it, I expect authentic and expertly done simple Vietnamese food, found in many similar restaurants across north America in cities with substantial Vietnamese population. The overall experience was disappointing. The spring roll, a staple in such restaurants, was clumsily made, fell apart when eaten, and was served with a seriously unpleasant sauce. The spicy pho version was decent, but the broth lacked the depth that is the hallmark of good pho, and honestly gave the impression of being made from a bouillon cube. Service was kind and efficient. What seriously marred my experience was the noise level in the restaurant, that was so high that I couldn't hear what was the waiter saying. Not all of it can be blamed on the restaurant, but people behave in a place in the norms that are acceptable in it. This level of yelling and screaming while eating should not be acceptable anywhere where other customers are trying to also eat and...