Pho Anh Vu Waterloo — Restaurant in Waterloo

CASH OR DEBIT ONLY!!

We went on a weekday for lunch. It was a little difficult to find a parking spot in the huge lot but managed to find one empty spot. The restaurant wasn’t super busy but still had a steady stream of customers that filled one section. We were seated quickly and ordered our food from a server. You can also order food using the QR code at the table. The restaurant was clean, bright and the decor was cute with the fake cherry blossom trees inside.

We ordered the spring rolls, bun cha ca hai phong (fish noodle soup hai phong style), pho dac biet (special beef noodle soup) and a Vietnamese iced coffee. The spring rolls came out last after our bowls; we would’ve preferred them to come out first. They were hot and super crispy. Good on their own but the dipping sauce was nice and light and added the right amount of flavour. I read that they use new oil to fry each batch of spring rolls; not sure if that’s still true but I’ve never had a crispier spring roll. The bun cha ca was so good!! The fish cakes were perfect. There were also battered and fried white fish in the soup as well in addition to the fish cakes. The pho was also good but didn’t taste infinitely better than other phos we have had. They use beef tenderloin for their pho. The Viet coffee was too sweet and too small. If they put it in a bigger cup and water it down a bit/added more ice, it would’ve been perfect.

They have cutlery and condiments at the table so you can season your food how you like. I was impressed with their selection of condiments: hoisin, sriracha, fish sauce, sliced hot peppers, Pickled garlic, chili garlic and chili oil. They serve you complimentary and refillable iced jasmine tea; it was so refreshing. All the servers help out and there’s always a bunch around if you need something. No one checked up on us to see how we were liking the food but we didn’t mind. We were so full we had to take two spring rolls home. The portions are smaller than other viet restaurants but they do add more meat.

Overall, we had a good experience. The service was quick. The food came out piping hot and you can tell it’s higher quality than other pho restaurants. The herbs were fresh, the cuts of meat were more high end and generous. However, it was pricey. Our bill was $88 after tax and tip for 2 people. If we are looking to fix our pho craving quickly, we’d probably go to another pho restaurant since the pho wasn’t sooo much better that we can justify the price difference but we’d go here when we feel like treating ourselves (or if we had a hankering for the northern style dishes; haven’t seen a Vietnamese restaurant in the area with these dishes...

I've been recently exploring for the best Vietnamese restaurants across the Kitchener-Waterloo Region, and the food here looked awesome, but unfortunately what I had basically made me sick. Let me explain.

The menu did NOT let me know, the fish in my soup would be breaded and fried. Guys, I don't eat that kind of food, fried and battered food. It is extremely important I avoid that kind of stuff, because of my health situation. My body reacts negativity when I eat fried food, and the menu should have indicated that my fish would be battered and fried because I would have explored something else.

The atmosphere looked vibrant, and some of the dishes I saw looked awesome, but unfortunately, I don't eat beef (red meat). I was hoping to enjoy a soup, as I mentioned, I am exploring for the best Vietnamese restaurant, and growing up in this region, my family loves a great healthy Vietnamese soup.

I've been interested in emailing this restaurant on what happened to me after eating their the food, and there's no options. I hope you can reply to my review, with a contact option, so I can tell you my situation. It was bad, your deep fried fish in my soup made my night feel like I was going to...

Went to Grand Opening. A little bit of waiting was expected because of the line up. Everyone was excited to try out this new Gem Overall Appetizers were a bit expensive for small portions $16 up ( current economy sucks ) Wouldn’t recommend Fresh Roll but Spring Roll and Mango Salad were 💯💯💯 But for Phở, Bún Bò Huế,… any other Soup Based Food were so delicious, generous with meat portion and their sizing (Starting with $16 up depending on S, L, XL ) 9.5/10 ⭐️ Rice dishes definitely needed more time to marinated, it was lack of savory flavor and not really kicking yet. 👈🏻👈🏻 7.9/10⭐️ My fam couldn’t finish their food. We ended up packing up the rest and saved for another round later LOL Yes it is more pricey than other Vietnamese restaurants but their food is remarkable, authentic and close to our hometown 🇻🇳 Even the Việt elderly approved ( As I grew up in VN ). Good atmosphere, great and speedy service. I like how they keep their menu simplified with clear highlight and pictures of each food without overwhelming whole extended list like others restaurants. Worth the money spent for the food and experiences!! Definitely my...