Basil Garden Restaurant — Restaurant in Vancouver

What an amazing place! And service! Seriously!

It was our first time here and it certainly won't be our last. After arriving and being greeted by friendly staff, I quickly browsed the menu and ordered the #8 House Special (pho dac biet) like I would at any Pho restaurant for the first time.

When the order came, I eagerly tasted the broth to see what else to add to my preference. Once I got to top off my bowl with a mountain of bean sprouts, basil and jalapeño, and 20-ounces of sriracha (just kidding, but seriously I like it super spicy) I started stirring the noodles and broth, and IMMEDIATELY knew something was wrong. What happened, you ask?

Well, when you leave the pho noodles long enough to cool off and pour on scorching hot soup onto it, it causes the noodle to crack and break. So when you're trying to use chopsticks in the noodles, you're more or less attempting to use them to pick up broken rice in soup. More "more" than less.

This was the first time this has ever happened at all Pho restaurant, and I'm sure it was an accident. But not only did the super friendly staff quickly attended the issue AND make another bowl quickly for me, the chef himself came out with the new bowl from the kitchen and immediately apologized for the incident!

This was completely unnecessary, I thought, but it's nice to know they value their customer's experience and enjoyment.

I quickly devoured my entire bowl of pho. Yes, it was that GOOD! Probably tasted even better with the kind courtesy, but just when I finished the chef came out and kindly asked me about the food again and if I needed anything else...

Super awesome!

Not only was the food amazing, but the service and friendly generosity was above my expectations. I'll certainly be back for more visits.

If you haven't tried Basil Garden, you're definitely missing out! GO THERE! (Seriously).

P.S. - I had the garlic butter chicken wings too and they were DA BOMB!

P.P.S. - Although a Vietnamese restaurant, it's a super modern establishment with clean, bright walls, and super-clean-clutter-free-without-storage-unit-and-other-crap-you'd-find-filling-up-and-stored-in-the washroom. They're just CLEAN EMPTY...

Bright clean place that looks suspiciously like a Freshii outlet. Decent-to-good food at a rather good price for mains. Price for portion is actually rather good and they aren't skimpy with ingredients like the chicken in my chicken curry.

Basil Garden Chicken Curry (with choice of Vermicelli or Rice; $12) -This was a pretty big bowl for what you get. Obviously the curry soup is a part of what you get but they weren't skimpy with the chicken. -Sweet potato made this a bit more interesting and gave the soup a slight sweetness. Not especially hot-spicy. -Chicken pieces looked dry, unfortunately, but of course there's curry soup all around. Otherwise pretty decent bad and the price for portion is rather good.

Garlic Butter Chicken Wings ($12.50 - about $1.60 per wing) Came piping hot, juicy, crispy on the outside. But it was also the last item of our order to come, despite being an appetizer. Overall pretty decent. I think I would have liked the butter and/or garlic flavours to be more pronounced however.

I felt service was so-so... Order of dishes, amount of napkins they gave (not really enough), didn't clear dishes from our table. And the dilapidated menus really could be refreshed. But price for portion is...

First of all, the place is empty—a warning sign right there. Then you’ve got staff who can’t be bothered to provide basic service. Twice for menus? Twice for tea? That’s not service; it’s a treasure hunt!

And what is the waitress doing with AirPods in? Is she taking calls or pretending she’s on The Voice? Unacceptable. When you’re serving customers, you leave the gadgets at home and focus on them.

No 'thank yous,' no 'you’re welcomes,' not even a fake smile? Come on, it’s hospitality 101!

And Mandarin music? In a Vietnamese restaurant? Are we in the wrong place, or do they just not care? It’s like walking into an Italian joint and hearing mariachi. Know your identity.

The final insult: having to go up to pay like it’s some dodgy takeaway joint. No offer of a receipt and no tip-worthy service? Rightfully so.

This isn’t a restaurant; it’s a shambles. They should take the sign down and call it a self-service café, except even that would be...