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Pho Bac 97
Category: Restaurants Vietnamese Vietnamese [Edit]
1016 Saint Laurent BoulevardMontréal, QC H2Z 1J3
(514) 393-8116
- Price Range:
-
$$
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- No
- Attire:
- Casual
- Good for Groups:
- Yes
- Good for Kids:
- Yes
- Takes Reservations:
- No
- Take Away:
- Yes
- Waiter Service:
- Yes
- Good For:
- Lunch, Dinner
- Alcohol:
- No
- Noise Level:
- Average
- Wheelchair Accessible:
- Yes
11 reviews for Pho Bac 97
11 reviews in English
-
Review from Cheryl Y.
Montréal, QC
5/12/2012
When it comes to Pho, I'd like to think I'm an expert. Sure I might not be Vietnamese, and I'm still not sure whether Pho is pronounced Ph-oh or Ph-uh, but I've been slurping up these delicious noodles since I was 8 years old, and so me and Pho are well acquainted.
Pho Bac is the BEST Pho you're going to get in Chinatown - wait no, scratch that. Pho Bac is the best Pho you're going to get in the whole of downtown, and it's not just good sometimes like some of these other Pho places - it's good ALL THE TIME - like they've mastered the art of making Vietnamese broth. The waiters are really nice and friendly, and in the 6-7 years I've been going there, they have never once skimped out on the portions, not even during the recession.
Make sure you go a little bit before or a little bit after prime meal times, or you'll be waiting in line for hours.
That's how good it is. -
Review from Huntting B.
11/29/2011
Not bad. Just a little less impressive than Pho Bang for the area. Less busy place too, so if you want a more calm meal that is nearly as good, this is a great option. Very enjoyable. You won't find a lot of white people here, and that's a good thing.
Comfortable in French, English or Vietnamese.
If you can only go to one place, go to Pho Bang. if You can go to two, this is number 2 =) -
Review from Ifoma S.
Waterloo, ON
11/3/2011 1 Check-in Here
Hands down the best pho I've had. Period. Full stop. I feel bad even writing about this place because it's hard enough to get seated during the lunch and dinner rush.
*tip* have the pho tai w/ a side of extra beef. The meat isn't your usual frozen inside round cut - it's fresh, tasty and mouth watering. Thank me later. -
Review from Amy C.
7/5/2011 1 photo
Good for a warm meal on an awful day.
Service was quick and my meal was hot and yummy!
One downside about this place is that the least popular dishes/soups come out a bit lukewarm. I would recommend ordering something that is popular that way it comes out HOT!
I'm surprised that the staff speaks four different languages! FOUR! French, English, Cantonese and Vietnamese! Amazing!
In a tourist area this place was fast and cheap! I would come again if I were around the area! -
Review from Mister O.
Montréal, QC
12/5/2010 1 photo
Utterly working-class eating house. Was briskly greeted and presented with a pot of tea and a menu. Menu is tiny. Went with plain beef pho with extra veg.
Soup arrived quickly. The flavor was *brilliant*. The noodles in it had the best texture of any Asian soup noodles I've ever eaten. Only complaint about the soup was the scarcity of beef.
Choice of four sauces/condiments on the table, along with a rack of chopsticks and spoons, and an old school napkin-dispenser (wish more places would think of that), caused that I lacked for nothing logistics-wise. Pleasant meal.
Restroom was a bit dirty, but fully-functional. Points for that. You're lucky to get a door that locks, in a lot of Chinatown's places.
This is a great place to quickly fuel up your gut with hot food that tastes wonderful. Leave the Kiton blazer at home and just go in 501s and yesterday's grey hoodie. And bring CASH. That's all they'll take. -
Review from Jocelyn C.
1/5/2009
Best pho of my life... and in the middle of Montreal, of all places. Who knew?
We walked in on a cold afternoon to warm up and nurse some pretty bitchin' hangovers. The menu was the same as any other pho restaurant, order by number. They brought out the typical plate of basil, lime and bean sprouts as we sat there shivering and sweating simultaneously.
I don't know what kind of liquid crack they put in their pho, but it was seriously, deliriously tasty and full of flavor! We licked those large bowls clean and wanted to beg for more, had we not already been so stuffed and satisfied.
My boyfriend and I have had a lot of pho in our lifetimes, from many different places, but this place trumps them all. From the outside, this place looks a bit run down and beaten up. Don't let this fool you. Their pho just might save your life.Listed in: Montreal, done right.
-
Review from Tina C.
9/4/2009
After a weary long day of travel and walking between New York State and crossing the Canadian border, our tour bus of thirty five Americans worked up an appeitie for dinner. We came here after having a very bad taste of McDonald's for lunch. Vietnamese Pho is good comfort food as I enjoy noodle soup. The staff is somewhat attentive to our table but were mistakening give our table one combined check. My Mom and I were sitting with our tour bus group along with our guide which the waiter automatically assume we would get one combined bill. Not!
When we were finished with our meal I requested the check in Canto which the waiter instructed to go to the cashier (without any ticket or paper bill). Luckily the staff speaks Cantonese, Mandarin, English and of course French. Multi-lingual opens doors indeed!
Cash only as Pho Bac 97 does not accept credit cards in any format. They do accept American dollars with change in Canadian. -
Review from Annie P.
1/5/2009
Although I 100% trust Joke's tastebuds ..if you've had Prince Street, Flushing Pho Bac or Pho Bang in Emhurst.. Pho Bac 97 isn't as good in flavors or clean. Not to be a snotty brat but it only made sense that when us three Queens girls treck it over here to Montreal's Chinatown but only from St. Denis (no biggie) to try this place (all over the tour books) we weren't too impressed.
I believe the Sriracha and Fish sauce were in containers too... so no squirt bottle action.
The decor made me feel like I was in a sad hardworking Alaskan family's restaurant. I can't imagine it in the Summer.
None of us got the vermicelli or rice plates but the only way I could explain it is that if those other spots I mentioned boiled their broth for 5+ hours then this place only did 2...
So if you're far from this location .. I'm pretty sure any other Vietnamese place around town will be the same.
The servers were all friendly gangster men and one of the main guys even gave us his card in case we wanted to go to any "asian parties".. I believe his name was Chino or something close. -
Review from Wilson K.
9/14/2010
I feel two ways about the place: the pho is good and cheap, but not excellent. The decor is drab, but the people who work there and the regulars are wonderful.
Try the vermicelli and braised pork salad for a change, and the tapioca drinks are always fun (who would think to put beens in a drink -- but it works). -
Review from Andrew C.
3/11/2010
This place was blah. This is the problem when you don't do any advanced research on restaurants before you go to a destination. Plus, when you ask people on the street for pho and they aren't Asian, they automatically send you to the local Chinatown. Oh well, lesson learnt.
I looked up this place on the Yelp app on the crackberry. It came up and it looked okay. I actually was intrigued by Annie P.'s review on this place about the Asian party. We were hoping that the Asian gangster would give us four Asian brethren ideas on where the fun places were to go. But that didn't happen. Obviously the kind of party they were offering Annie P. isn't the kind of party we're invited to.
The place is like any other standard Pho place. All of them have the standard white lacquer table and dinner chairs with the plasticy chopsticks and spoons sitting at the table.
Ordered the Pho Dac Biet; the usual I get at any pho restaurant. The food came fast...standard.
The soup was frickin hot, but unfortunately I can't say that the flavor was anything worthwhile. Was a little disappointed. We were craving some good pho after a few days of the gnarly rubbish the locals called food. We were hoping for an Asian saving grace in some local pho, but no joy.
Well, it was filling and standard in price like $6 USD. It is in the heart of Chinatown (given that their Chinatown is like 2 square blocks). And of course China and Vietnam are the same.... right.....
There were a couple places across the street that looked to be more popular by number of people in them, but they were all Caucasian with a couple Asians, so not sure if they were any good.
My suggestion is to just find the one with the most or best looking Asian people and eat there. That way you'll at least get the pleasure of being with others with a similar taste profile and can maybe get that hookup to a nice Asian party in the area. -
Review from serena l.
6/1/2011
on the second day of our visit over memorial day weekend, it was rainy. though it wasn't cold, it was the perfect day for a bowl of pho!
the place was somewhat small but it accommodated the weekend lunchtime crowd.
service was friendly and fast. i've never had a bad bowl of pho and this place didn't disappoint. the broth was perfect and the ratio of meat to noodles was appropriate. the eggrolls were good too!
i suppose that the true test of a restaurant is whether natives eat there and after seeing the number of vietnamese people patronizing this place, it's safe to say that pho bac is pretty good.
