Loi's The joy of PHO — Restaurant in Newmarket

WARNING 🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩

York Region Public Health inspectors charged a Newmarket restaurant over food safety violations during a pair of recent inspections.

The eatery was the lone business in the region cited for various Health Protection and Promotion Act violations during the week of June 2 to 8.

The Joy of Pho, located at 16640 Yonge St., was inspected on June 2 and again on June 3.

According to York Region, the following compliance infractions were observed on June 2:

Failure to properly store all food in a manner that prevents contamination or adulteration, including separating raw from ready-to-eat foods — corrected during inspection Failure to protect food from contamination or adulteration — corrected during inspection Failure to sanitize utensils using a chemical solution at the minimum concentration Failure to maintain dishwasher wash water between 60 C and 71 C Failure to maintain ventilation system clean Failure to ensure ceilings are kept clean/in good repair Failure to ensure floors are kept clean/in good repair

The business fixed several issues by the time of its reinspection the next day, but a few were still outstanding, according to York Region. Infractions cited on June 3 were:

Failure to maintain ventilation system clean Failure to ensure ceilings are kept clean/in good repair Failure to ensure floors are kept...

This was my first time going to this restaurant, I had a few errands, so I went in, ordered to take out, did some shopping in the mall, then came back.

The restaurant is very tastefully decorated, it was clean, relatively large, and they have a patio for warmer weather dinning. The staff were very friendly and helpful.

Those were the good points, now on to why I won't be going back.

The prices are brutally expensive, remember, I ordered takeout. I ordered the vegetarian Pad Thai and an order of deep-fried spring rolls; without tip, it was just short of $30.00!!! Are you kidding me? Just the spring rolls alone were close to $9.00, I was expecting the usual, large ones for that price, these were small and seemed to be the frozen kind; not what I expect from a Thai/Vietnamese restaurant.

The Pad Thai was ok, the portion was large enough, but I really was not a fan of the sauce, I know restaurants try and stand out, but the overwhelming flavour, of what tasted like fennel, just did not do it for me. As a side note, I had heartburn for the rest of the evening.

Overall, the atmosphere and staff, I give high marks, the food and especially the prices, not so much, I will not be back, there are far too many of these types of restaurants in the area, with better food, and much...

First time here and a little disappointed. Not sure how they have such a high rating. Doesn’t compare to Scarborough/ Markham. We ordered the house special pho small size, beef pad thai and prawn paste on sugar cane. Total $41 before tax and tip. The prawn paste on sugar cane was good. Pho was served lukewarm so didn’t cook the rare beef (see pic of beef still pink) and after putting the bean sprouts in, the soup was cold. The pho noodles were stuck together at the bottom of my bowl meaning the noodles weren’t heated before serving. Flavour of soup was good but lacked enough soup. Portion of meat was decent. The beef pad thai was not an authentic pad thai, it’s more like a sweet chili thai sauce with stir fried noodles, bell peppers and mushrooms. My husband thought it was still tasty but it was very oily and the noodles were clumped together making it hard to eat. At one point he just gave up. Service was minimal, was never asked how our food was or else I would have let them know the pho wasn’t hot. Atmosphere inside is cute but...