Crazy Pho You — Restaurant in Ottawa

On the positive side, the restaurant was clean and organized and the servers were nice. Unfortunately the food was very disappointing.

The server recommended the vegetarian pho to me, but sadly, this was the worst vegetarian pho I have ever had. The vegetarian "broth" was essentially just the hot water they cooked the bok choi in. The noodles were overcooked. The main ingredients were a few pieces of bok choi and a few fried tofu puffs. There was no flavor at all. I couldn't eat it, it was just a big pile of soft mushy noodles in hot water, no taste at all. I hate wasting food though, so I took the noodles home (I left the "broth"), made my own broth, and added more ingredients to make it palatable. But this was a very expensive ball of plain noodles.

The tofu summer rolls were ok, but the proportions were off, it was improperly wrapped (way too loose), and the ingredients and taste were very basic. There was way too much vermicelli compared to the other ingredients and because it was poorly wrapped the ingredients were flopping out after the first bite. The tofu was flavorless as well. I would recommend they marinate it at least. They have a marinated meat option for summer rolls, they could easily marinate some tofu while they're at it. I've had some amazing tofu summer rolls at other places, and they're quite easy to make at home too, there's really no reason they can't make a decent one here.

They theoretically have other vegetarian options. I haven't tried them, but I would definitely say avoid the vegetarian pho. I don't have high hopes for the rest of their vegetarian menu though, since the vegetarian offerings seem like afterthoughts cobbled together from whatever they have on hand with minimal effort or interest. They could make some simple tweaks and have some great options, I'm actually a bit puzzled why these were what they ended up with, since I've seen such good reviews for their meat options.

I've had a lot of vegetarian pho and vegetarian summer rolls over the years, I am sad to say these were the most disappointing ones...

Been here a few times both for take away and delivery. Had some good and some less than good experiences. I my opinion, they have the best pho broth and beef I’ve had in the city and keep coming back for this. We got the baby pho which is the perfect size if you want to try some other items as well, but strangely enough it didn’t come with any herbs or bean sprouts, which maybe isn’t include with the baby version, but honestly seems like such a small addition that would make a huge difference in experience. I’m really not sure why they would even consider not including this. As well, the hoisin and sriracha was mixed in one sauce container- why?? Again, seems like such a small thing to have them separate, which could really affect someone’s experience. We’ve gotten the fresh rolls and the spring rolls a number of times. Spring rolls are good, nothing super special but solid, and the fresh rolls are massive but sometimes lacking in some flavour- not many herbs or veggies. We’ve gotten the combination meat vermicelli bowl a few times and it’s been quite good, we’ve enjoyed it. We got the pad Thai this time, and it confirmed our suspicions that you shouldn’t order Thai from a Vietnamese restaurant. My honest opinion is they should remove it from the menu- it was that bad. The worst I’ve had in some time. We got beef (no chicken option) and it was noodles in a small amount of extremely bland sauce with big chucks of broccoli and some bbq beef on top. No peanuts, no bean sprouts, no other veg. Agin, not sure what’s up with not including any of the expected extras, but yeah, don’t get the pad Thai and it shouldn’t even be offered, it’s a disservice to the restaurant. We’ve had the bahn mi a while back but haven’t been able to get it recently as every time we go to order for delivery it’s sold out. Maybe they are only offering them during certain hours now, not sure. So can’t make much of a comment, which is too bad. All in all, Ill come back for the pho but there’s definitely some small tweaks that could make a big difference in ensuring...

I have been to Crazy Pho You twice in the past week for dine in service, both times excellent. Having finally determined I had found a perfect local Vietnamese, last nights' dinner was take away due to time constraints. Two noodle dishes were ordered: shrimp pad thai and the Vietnamese chow mien. Having ordered the identical chow mien on the previous visit, it featured perfectly cooked lustrous bok choi. On this outing it was ordered mild as opposed to spicy to savour the aromatic subtlety of the dish even more. The pad thai was ordered solely because another diner near us had ordered the dish the last time we ate in and it looked sumptuous with an interesting green hue which I assumed was about that Vietnamese character I had heard of in their interpretation of the dish.

The dishes were unpacked and immediately it was obvious the pad thai was a disaster. Typical ketchup red base with out of a jar flavour, but worst of all OVERCOOKED noodles that were just lumps of paste. NO restaurant who charges what they do for a NOODLE dish should ever send this out. DON'T serve it. MAKE IT OVER. The shrimp was nicely done it is to be said. Brutal. The chow mien was even more disgusting. Forget about the tiny portion of chicken, that was expected...it was about the flavour for me when ordered. There was NO bok choi.. replaced with under cooked broccoli. BUT it was the FISH flavour that permeated the entire dish which ruined everything. Anyone who frequents Oriental dining establishments have run across dishes cooked in an unclean wok which had previously been used for fish dishes. It completely overwhelms any dish from pot stickers to chow mien, wrecking them with that unwanted, old, fishy flavour.

Both dishes were thrown out unfinished. Good bye $47. Yes $47 for two noodle dishes. Which I could not care less about if the work is superlative. This was insulting. Full stop.

I won't be back as I am not longer...