Hanoi 3 Seasons — Restaurant in Toronto

Westernized Vietnamese food catering to the demographic of the area. I don't recommend eating here unless your palette is atune to only bland food. Will not be coming back.

Overall, the food was lack luster and unauthentic which took us by surprise since the decor of the space leans very proud of the Vietnamese culture (minus some odd paintings).

We ordered

The Jackfruit Smoothie. The colour of the smoothie was completely white indicating the jackfruit used is frozen and young. That attributes to the bland taste. I don't recommend this drink. The Vietnamese Iced Coffee. A generous portion of coffee and condensed milk! Too much for one sitting. I'd recommend getting it to go. Number 23 Ga Nuong Xa Sua Dua (Chicken with Lemongrass and Coconut Milk) with Vermincelli. Large portion of chicken, veggies and noodles. Chicken thighs used were quite fatty. The dish came with a side of fish sauce, which tasted like water. I don't recommend this dish. A side of pho broth. Again, a VERY generous portion. I'm unsure what the vision is for their pho broth. It tasted over boiled, no beef flavour, and flat. I noticed pieces of floating ginger, shrimp shell and dill. I don't recommend this. Number 8 Bun Canh Tom Hanoi (Spicy Shrimp with Lemongrass and Tamarind). It tastes like they used the same broth as the side of pho broth ordered except with MUCH MORE dill. The mussels were not cleaned properly aka SANDY! The shrimp was overcooked. I don't recommend this dish.

When paying, I noticed the cook microwaving spring rolls and then putting them on a plate. I doubt they were freshly made.

Service: We sat ourselves and it took the one server 5 minutes to notice we sat down and bring menus. There was 1 other table and someone waiting for a pick up order - not busy. The server was nice while taking our order. We did notice she told another table that the food is Westernized and to brace themselves. I'm sure that table was expecting more authentic flavours like us.

Atmosphere: The space was decorated nicely. The bathroom was clean and not wet like other basement bathrooms.

Price $60 for 2 people including tax and tip....

I'll start by saying I recognize this restaurant overall has good reviews but this review reflects my experience. I came with my family on a Sunday evening for dinner. The restaurant wasn't too busy and the decor is comfortable. We have a one year old and unfortunately didn't have our high chair. Unfortunately, this restaurant didn't have a high chair either. That does not promote a family friendly environment. There were 3 adults and we each ordered a noodle soup dish. On top of that, we wanted to try their calamari patty with Dill. However, it seems they have the appetizer, which is what we wanted, and a full meal option with noodle and soup. It seems we accidentally ordered the noodle and soup option. Admitted, it was our first time here so we ordered incorrectly but given there were 3 of us, the waitress should have clued in and asked if we knew we were ordering 4 main dishes. When it came and we showed our confusion, we were simply told that is what we ordered. We were stuck with it. Now, if this was a cheap eats, that would be a different story. However, this is premium priced Pho, like almost twice as much as other really good Pho places. So rather than giving us what we wanted, we were stuck with a dish we didn't want and had to pay for it. I ordered the rare beef but the beef came submerged in the hot soup so was obviously fully cooked by the time it got to me. The rice noodle is actually pretty good, better than other Pho places. But does this alone warrant a price tag almost double of other places, not really. I don't plan on coming here again but by all means, you should give it a try. Like I said, this review is a reflection of my one experience, which unfortunately was not great. But I can't say if this is a regular experience as I don't plan on coming back. There are just far too many other good Pho options for me that I can't justify...

I let my Vietnamese friend do all the ordering. We started with the Nom Ngo Sen (fresh shrimps and lotus root salad) $9.75. It was so fresh and tasty. Then came the Cha Gio Cha Muc (spring roll and calamari patties) $10.75. The rolls were massive and the patties savory. We just ate enough to taste so we wouldn’t be full for our main course.

We shared the Cha Ca (Hanoi style grouper with dill and shrimp paste served with vermicelli and salad) $19. The fish was tender with the dill and salad adding freshness and more layers of flavor.

The one criticism we had was the dipping sauce for the spring rolls, calamari patties and grouper. No matter how much we added or dipped we could not taste it. It was almost like water. We ended up dipping in the leftover dressing from our salad. At the end our server explained the dipping sauce was only vinegar and water with no fish sauce for the non Vietnamese customers. She told us we could have requested it. I wish she had told us before we ate all our food! Despite that we really enjoyed the food.

We came here on a weekday for an early dinner. We were the only ones dining inside and sat by the window catching glimpses of life passing by on Queen Street. We rode our bikes but there is street...