Ôngbà Vietnamese Eatery — Restaurant in Vancouver

I went out for lunch with my husband and our daughter at Ongba Eatery on Denman St. It's a whimsical little restaurant that's full of charm both in the decor and in the menu. Their menu is so different from any other Vietnamese restaurant I've ever been to. I love that they offer tater tots with a lot of their dishes. Tater tots are not a traditional Vietnamese food item but that really doesn't matter to us. All three of us love tater tots and found them to be a wonderful addition to our lunch that day!

Aside from tater tots we ordered Special Beef Pho, Meatless Platter on Skillet, and Avocado Banh Mi.

Special Beef Pho: The soup was flavourful and there were different types of meat in the bowl. The thin slices of meat were overcooked (which is what tends to happen when thin slices of meat are immersed in hot broth). There were also thicker slices of meat which came with bone and these slices of meat were fall off the bone tender. Overall, my husband was very happy with this dish.

Meatless Platter on Skillet: Skillet is not a word that I expect to see on a Vietnamese menu; much less a meatless one. This wasn't a Vegan dish but it did include a Vegan pate. This was my first time trying a Vegan pate and I have no idea what they used to make it but whatever it was, it was tasty. Included was a basket with several pieces of baguette for me to spread the Vegan pate onto. The baguette was toasted and wonderfully crisp when I sunk my teeth into it. I loved every part of my Meatless platter and would happily order it again!

Avocado Banh Mi: This was our daughter's first time eating a Banh Mi sandwich and it was a marvelous introduction to Banh Mi for her. Avocado Banh Mi is such a brilliant idea. I always see things like Lemongrass Tofu Banh Mi or "Vegetarian" meat Banh Mi on other restaurant menus. Avocado isn't exactly an exotic ingredient so I don't understand why such a simple combination of ingredients hasn't become a more common Vegetarian offering on Vietnamese Banh Mi sandwich menus. This Avocado Banh Mi was fantastic. The Baguette was perfectly crisped just like the ones I had for my Vegan pate. Avocado slices were well portioned which made it easier for our daughter to eat it together with the pickled veggies. Not being accustomed to pickled veggies she might have complained about having to eat them if the avocado had been too sparse, but she loved this Avocado Banh Mi and very happily devoured it!

Service: Good Parking: Paid parking on the streets or in a paid parking lot. Location: On Denman St. @...

Came here since it was close by. This restaurant is small but have very great aesthetics. I’ve heard from the owners that they were opened for four years and have just renovated and reopened.

I tend to be picky with my food and if I don’t hate a food I would rate it as not bad or just okay. It takes a lot for me to be really impressed!

Additionally, I usually doubtful when the restaurant is aesthetic. Usually restaurant doesn’t have both criteria’s. Either it’s nice looking restaurant but food taste horrible or it’s a hole in a wall and food is delicious. This restaurant is both aesthetically pleasing and food was delicious.

The service is also superb! I’ve been to many Vietnamese restaurants and service is usually just basic. Order, get your food and that’s all. Ongba goes above and beyond. The staff were very pleasant and nice to talk to. They also made sure everything was well throughout dinner.

The food is fantabulous! And I’m not exaggerating. This spot is the best Vietnamese restaurant in Vancouver in my opinion.

For appetizers, I’ve ordered the deep fried mushrooms and the BÁNH GỐI.

There were enoki and oyster mushrooms deep fried and served with spicy mayo. This was pretty good and crispy. My neighbouring table also ordered this as well.

Next appetizer is Banh Goi, which is kind of like a deep fried dumpling with pork, shitake mushroom and quail egg. This was also served with fish sauce. This was not bad, it felts like more of a snack.

We also got to try the soft boiled egg. As per the server recommendation, you scoop the egg from the soup and put it in your mouth and eat it in one go. This is pretty creamy!

For the mains we got BÒ NÉ and PHỞ SƯỜN BÒ.

BÒ NÉ is a skillet with sizzling beef, egg, corn, radish, pate and Banh mi bread. We took the banh mi bread and scoop some pâté and meat from the skillet and ate it together. I think it’s a perfect match and very memorable since the flavours and the sauce is outstanding.

For our next meal, we got PHỞ SƯỜN BÒ which is the fall off the bone beef rib pho. No words are needed to explain what this is. The ribs literally just fall off the bone. This is very hearty

Finally for dessert we had the Vietnamese coffee flan. This was so amazing! I’ve had flan from Japan before, but this is so good. I love Vietnamese coffee and I can totally taste it in the sauce. The pudding also had a really nice texture to it.

Overall, I recommend going to this location if you are passing buy and...

We’ve come here many times and always enjoyed it — but we had a rough night at Ongba. I came with my partner and daughter hoping for a nice dinner together, but the experience was disappointing from start to finish.

First, we had to send the tea back because it was cold. Not a big deal. Then my daughter’s salad rolls arrived without vermicelli — again, not huge, but still disappointing. After waiting a solid amount of time, my daughter’s and partner’s meals finally came. I assumed mine was right behind — but it never showed up. I sat there watching my family eat and eventually finish while my plate never arrived.

Another waiter had dropped off the first dishes, and we didn’t see a server in the outside dinning space for over 20 minutes. I finally went inside, but they ignored me, assuming I was asking for the bill. When our waitress came outside to serve other tables, I had to go up to her to get her attention and explain my food hadn’t arrived. She was genuinely surprised, apologized, and said “sorry, it’s busy tonight.”

For what it’s worth, the waitress was nice, but being busy isn’t an excuse for forgetting an order completely or serving incomplete dishes. To make matters worse, their “solution” was offering a measly 15% off the bill. That ended up being a measly ~$4 off. An insulting discount on top of a ruined night.

Mistakes happen, but how a restaurant handles them matters. We’ve been loyal patrons, but after this, it’s probably time to try one of the many other Vietnamese places...