Pho Bat Trang — Restaurant in St. Catharines

A group of us came in to try this place as it had lots of good reviews. Upon arrival, it took several minutes to have someone take our order. He did not seem to like us at all and seemed bothered while serving us. After ordering, we were dissatisfied when they did not have most of the meat options (3, to be exact) on their menu and service was very slow despite only a few people in the restaurant, who had already been eating at that point. Two people ordered the same appetizer, and 10 minutes later our server came back out and said he only had one serving. When they tried to order a replacement of the missing appetizer, the waiter abruptly cut him off and said he needed to go “digest this” and came back 20 minutes later with a single order of squid that they had to split. It took 40 minutes to receive an iced coffee, which had finally arrived after everyone had finished eating, and it was almost completely ice. Someone else dining with us was waiting for fish sauce for the same amount of time. Many of the photos on the menu were deceiving and didn’t reflect the actual portion sizes or even resemble the food at all. for this level of customer service and overall sub-par soup quality (greasy, slimy, flavorless) I was really not expecting the price to be so high, but it was. We also overheard the waiter tell another table that they would have to wait at least an hour before he would even consider taking their order as it was so busy. they weren’t allowed to leave and come back when it was less busy either. (for reference, the party I was with and the other 2 tables were finished eating at this point). I usually don’t like writing negative reviews, but it wasn’t really an enjoyable experience. I’d love to come again when they like, know what they’re doing.

If you’d like to support a local Pho restaurant, Pho Ngon on St. Paul never...

We showed up here after one of the excursions tour at Niagara Falls. I had a very tired and hungry 8 yr old and a 6 yr old that needed to use the bathroom desperately. We were greeted by the owner since they just opened for the day and it was most laidback fun experience from then on. Our friends joined us a few minutes later with their two kids so now we were a party of 8.

The owner was warm, friendly, inviting. He made everyone feel comfortable and it felt like we have been there numerous times and we’re regulars. He was super accommodating, my kids are still not good at chopsticks and they actually like their noodle soups cut and they just use a spoon. He had food scissors available and was so nice with all the weird requests. His lovely wife was also the sweetest lady ever and came out to say bye to us as we were leaving.

I can’t say enough about the food though. The beef broth was scratch made. It’s a rich and full bodied broth that you know has been simmering for hours. It reminded me so much of my mom’s soup broth. The papaya salad was great. It was a perfect balance of the umami and the heat from the chili peppers. Everything was made without shortcuts and it was more like comfort home cooking.

Portions are huge. I got the Pho Dac Biet and it was full of the different cut of meats. The wonton soup was superb and it’s served also with the same hearty broth.

The restaurant is one of the cleanest establishments we have been to. He takes the utmost care to make sure everything is clean to the highest degree for his patrons. I’m sad that we’re heading back to Massachusetts and we can’t take Pho Bat Trang with us. Hands down this is my favorite pho place. I’ll just have to wait for our next Ontario trip to...

This looked like a newly renovated restaurant. I'll drop all negatives at the beginning and then pound on the positives! It was my first time going there. Went in around 1pm on a Sat. We were the only table at the time. There was a table for 6 before us that all guests already left but for some reason the restaurant owner decided to not clean up that table. It's definitely weird to sit besides a table full of dirty dishes 😅. We also had to wait about 20-30min for a vermicelli and a noodle soup which was longer than usual. Just while I was worried that I'd regret going there, I got the food. The noodles in vermicelli looked and tasted freshly made! Not the boiled dry rice noodle stuff! It came with not grilled but pan fried pork and extra fresh spring rolls. I could tell it was made with seriously good effort. The pork was seasoned with a good balance of savory and sweet tastes, fused with intense flavor from fried shallot I believe (or onion). The spring rolls were tofu skin rolls not rice wrapper rolls. The fried tofu skin wasn't hard to chew but crispy and it left a very buttery after taste. It was generously portioned loaded with pork and fresh veggies. Note the veggies were not plain cucumber slices but lemon grass leaves! That was a first for me! It was absolutely delicious! The pho noodle soup was equally generously portioned and the noodles were fresh, too! Soup was rich and full of flavors (not salty water like some cheap places who treats pho as fast food). Very surprised and pleased with our find today. Will 100% go back. Just hope the owner can keep using fresh herbs and noodles and more diners start to recognize how amazing this place is so they can afford to...