Ganh Vietnamese Kitchen — Restaurant in Vancouver

From Ganh to GONE in 60 seconds…

Ever since this place first opened and I reviewed it, I have been back here numerous times and recommended to many friends. It has expanded its menu extensively. However, lately in the last 2-3 visits, I have experienced a decline in its service and food quality level.

Decided to give this place another go on a rainy day since had a hard time finding parking at a couple of my favourite places. Walked in, requested a booth seat since I saw no one seated on them and there were only 3 other tables occupied (the restaurant was pretty empty). Was told they are “reserved” (Got seated at a tiny table close to the back entrance and bathroom instead (lovely!! Love genius minds and indescribable logic).

Usually I order quite a few dishes but since I have a lovely table the size to fit 2 bowls, that was exactly what i ordered;

Vietnamese mixed rice paper rolls. Either the mango wasn’t fresh or been sitting around for a while, it’s missing that nice fresh taste. House special pho. The soup was hot, the meats were a bit on the tougher side, and the cook was too generous by added a little too much MSG and salt (could feel my mouth dry). Bone marrow lover pho. Don’t let the picture fool you lol it’s actually half of a bone barrow then cut in twos and have them sitting on top of the noodles and beef to give the illusion that you are getting a lot of bone marrow but in reality it’s not much. Honestly for $2 less, you get more bone marrow and everything else with the house special pho. So technically this bone marrow lover pho is a $24.95 failed.

Overall, the food quality is certainly declining, possibly expanding the menu too fast? Should stay focus on quality rather than quantity (trying to have every dishes all the Viet restaurants have combined is a bit ambitious and perhaps a bit too greedy?) .

The restaurant still maintain that casual atmosphere where everyone is welcome. The main complaint I have since day one are the chairs having that inside out backrest (it’s almost like vacationing in Thailand and feeling something is always trying to poke you from behind).

As for the service, slowly from warm and welcoming to becoming extinct like the dinosaurs. What happened?!? (It seriously went from me love you long time to me just want your money bye!). Serving customers are now just at the employees convenience? (Btw… please don’t put up reserved signs on tables and tell customers that when they are not, only stupid minded businesses do this dummy practice). And seating customers closest to the washroom when the restaurant is almost literally empty is as smart as a beansprout, really!

Anyways, a total disappointing experience especially when I normally order a lot here and tipping over 25% every visit here. This time around, a big thank you 8% tip. Too many similar and better places around, will be a long time if I ever come back and not a recommendation by me.

P.S. we all rallied behind you when you were bullied by your employees awhile back, don’t mistreat...

Disappointing Dining Experience at Ganh

Service: we sat by the entrance, there was only a small table left by the time we arrived. This is not a problem, but throughout the meal, the service remained somewhat inattentive, finished plates were left on the table, making a space even smaller.

Food Quality: The most crucial aspect of any restaurant is, of course, the food. Regrettably, the dishes at left much to be desired. The flavors lacked authenticity and depth, making it clear that shortcuts were taken in the kitchen. The Vietnamese beef capaccio, for this price the portion was very small, though if the dish was great I would have to complain about it. Dish was brought out kinda frozen. Beef slices had some ice on top, and stuck together, the flavor was not too bad, but not very impressive either. The very popular salt and pepper chicken wings are sooooo small, not sure what meat suppliers they use, but this looks like some very cheap quality chicken wings... The deep fry frog legs give me no surprises in flavors, overly oily. The number one disappointed dish was the beef short ribs... It's a main course, I supposed the beef short ribs to be hot when served, but it was warm, and not after 5 minutes, that dish turned cold, and of course no surprise in flavors, nor does it has an expected texture of beef short ribs( they are somewhat stiff)

Portions and Pricing: The portion sizes were disappointingly small for the price. We left the restaurant feeling unsatisfied and felt that we did not get value for our money. The cost did not align with the quality and quantity of the food. I understand that portion and prices don't always align, and we would not bring this up if the food is really good. But small portion of very common food, plus poor quality definitely don't deserve such pricing.

Ambiance: The restaurant's ambiance was pretty remarkable. You can tell they have spent some money on design and decor. Color theme of the interior is quite nice. But the seating was uncomfortable, chairs got nice design but too small to sit on, and no handle or anything to hold your belongings (sometimes I just hang my purse and jacket on the chair but these ones are uncapable).

In conclusion, our experience was subpar in every aspect. I had high expectations for this restaurant because of its hype.... I would not recommend dining here, as there are far better options in the city that offer better Vietnamese cuisine and a more enjoyable...

They really dropped the ball on this one!

We were seated and it took about 15-20 minutes for our server to come and take our order - I know this used to be a korean restaurant and we DID use the buzzer as well as wave down the servers to get their attention. The food took forever to come and they completely messed up our order - our food was served luke-warm - a no-no for pho.

FOOD We ordered 2 of the same bowls of bun bo hue with special beef rib and 1 iced vietnamese coffee in a to-go cup. We asked if he needed to write it down because he kept on repeating the wrong things. We even commented that it was a great idea to add on a beef rib to the soup. Order was then "confirmed" (He ordered the bun bo hue with beef rib and i literally said to the server; "I'll have the exact same thing".) One of the bun bo hue with special beef rib came first but the other bowl was just a plain bun bo hue - without the beef rib.

I told the waiter that we ordered 2 of the same bowls and he took one back - his response was just a simple "oh". It took a while (more than 5 minutes) and he brought out the correct item; it was luke-warm at best. I get it, it's not a huge mess up and all they need to do is to "add the beef rib on top", but at least re-heat it before serving please - nuke it in the microwave for all i care; i'm not THAT picky.

I flagged the same waiter down when he walked by and asked him to re-heat it. He took it to the back and i think he forgot about it so i had to wait for him to serve some other people and flag him down again. The "reheated" bowl came back even cooler than before! They obviously didn't reheat it and it must've cooled down while we were waiting for it. I didn't want to wait any longer and just sucked it up and ate it. The add-in sprouts stayed super crunchy in the soup and didn't cook at all but at least we didn't have rare beef in our dishes.

DRINK Another server then brought out 2 iced coffees in for-here cups. I kindly told her that we ordered one iced coffee but in a to-go cup. She took them back and brought the correct item. Coffee didn't seem as dark roasted as some of the other places and seems a bit too watered down.

We went to pay and they comically charged us for the extra coffee. It was rectified and the charge was omitted but i was already fed up at this point.

I've never had cold pho (bun noodle soup) before this, it's definitely much better...