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Pho My Duyen
Category: Restaurants Vietnamese Vietnamese [Edit]
1208 Bloor St WToronto, ON M4W 1A7
Neighbourhoods: Brockton Village, Bloordale Village, Wallace Emerson
(416) 850-4993
- Price Range:
-
$
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Parking:
- Street
- Attire:
- Casual
- Good for Groups:
- Yes
- Good for Kids:
- Yes
- Takes Reservations:
- Yes
- Delivery:
- No
- Take Away:
- Yes
- Waiter Service:
- Yes
- Outdoor Seating:
- No
- Wi-Fi:
- No
- Alcohol:
- Full Bar
- Noise Level:
- Average
- Has TV:
- Yes
- Caters:
- No
13 reviews for Pho My Duyen
13 reviews in English
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Review from Jeremy R.
Toronto, ON
2/1/2012
I've been here a few times as it's in my neighborhood and always left a happy customer. The beef and chicken vermicelli dishes were my favorite especially the beef with lemon grass. The service is fast pleasant and non intrusive. The place is big enough so you can hear what your friends are saying. Also it's quite affordable, albeit not the most stylish but generally it's not trying to be that....
A point to note, order before the kitchen closes at 9 30 pm. Thankfully the services staff are willing to bend the rules. I will definitely be returning. -
Review from Angela L.
1/22/2012
Over the last few months, Pho My Duyen has become my solo lunch spot of choice. The food is quick, delicious, and consistent. The space is large and spotless. The young servers are always friendly and efficient.
The first time I ventured into the bright, mostly empty place was on a lazy weekday afternoon back in the summer time. I remember sitting there, starring into my humongous bowl, wondering whether the rings of vibrations rippling through my soup were projections of my own hangover when I was saved by one of my neighbours who piped up and asked for the extremely loud hip hop playing overhead to be turned down.
She explained to me that she has been a dedicated regular for over six years and that although the restaurant just changed hands, that the sous chef was the same. Tasting the soup for myself, I found out that the friendly stranger was right. My pho featuring rare beef and buttery tendon was fantastic. I thanked her for saying something about the loud music and have been thankful every time since. The elevator music they now play makes great background noise for reading a paper or talking to meal dates.
I recently brought someone here for her first pho experience and was glad that she found it to be really nice and pleasant. No, not all pho places are MSG-laden and dirty! -
Review from Ada T.
Toronto, ON
10/24/2011
Great decor, very clean, one of the best looking pho places in town!
The food was decent. The broth was good, but the noodle was obviously just dried noodle and not fresh ones. The toppings were quite good, especially the tendon. Curry noodles broth was good, but the lamb coudl be more tender. The avocado shake was good, but also not fresh. Great service. Would come back if I was looking for something quick, decent and closeby!Listed in: Bloordale / Bloorcourt
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Review from Val A.
Wallace Emerson, Toronto, ON
12/2/2011 1 Check-in Here
dont be fooled by the decor..as per a previous review it has gone downhill recently probably due to new management.
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Review from Toronto L.
Toronto, ON
7/9/2011
the Toronto Lover system:
5 stars = Must visit!
4 stars = Really good. I take my friends here.
3 stars = Somewhat worth it... if you have nowhere better to go.
2 stars = Below average. Attend only when necessary.
1 star = Do not visit!
Fantastic pho. Lovely large seating area. Friendly, efficient service. Unbeatable prices: (standard pho = $7, spring rolls = $4, noodle soup = $7.)
I really love this place. I recommend any of the spicy dishes, particularly the curry goat noodle soup, or the curry chicken noodle soup. They come with delicious potatoes, fresh tasting ingredients, and a remarkable pho broth that is just salty enough as it is sumptuous.
This is a great place, and I find myself wishing it doesn't get too popular. But they deserve the success!
4 stars -
Review from susan c.
2/4/2010
Pho-bruary continues! I had pho here tonight and I felt like someone beat me up--this time, I mean this in a bad way. I went up against a large bowl of the noodle soup and I could not finish it. I felt defeated.
The Pho-ndamentals
Pho Tai Gan (rare beef and beef tendon); large = $7.25 (no medium size on the menu but the portion is the same as the "medium" at Pho Pasteur)
Broth: Hearty, laced with rich flecks of oil BUT the smell and lingering aftertaste of the spices (star anise?) was bitter, almost medicinal--the way chai gets when it's over brewed. It totally ruined the broth for me the way too much bad cologne can make you lose your appetite for a good-looking guy.
Beef: Completely submerged in the broth so the slices were overcooked and dry by the time my bowl arrived at the table; a travesty.
Tendon: chunky globs that were a little too firm in the middle for my taste
Noodles: dried, i.e., not fresh noodles; unfortunately, the noodles were so skinny they got overcooked in the hot broth towards the end. I prefer wider noodles for this reason.
Garnishes: the basil and saw leaf were blackened around the edges
Condiments: I'm pretty sure that the sriracha in the squeeze bottle was not my beloved green-capped "Rooster" sauce but some inferior hot sauce. This is akin to foregoing Heinz for some lesser brand of ketchup. Outrageous.
Service: The place is run by a young, possibly teenaged girl and her MILF mother. Both are silent but efficient.
Other: Much nicer decor than the usual pho joints; they were playing 80s new wave music and "Deal or No Deal" on their 54-inch flat-screen TV. I never understood the appeal of this show; it rewards people for taking chances based on nothing but blind luck? Well, I took a chance on Pho My Duyen and I'm sorry to say, "No deal."
2 starsListed in: My Time in 'Nam, My Pho-bruary
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Review from Deanna W.
9/19/2009
Pho My Duyen is far for me but it was worth the trek: the pho here is pho-nomenal. The broth has a definite star anise overtone to it and it's hot, soothing and rich and comes dressed with slivers of green and red onion. Beef slices are thin, tender and lean unless you request the brisket cuts. Noodles are not fresh (boo) but are thin and soft. Also worth noting as usual is the accompanying herb plate: the usual suspects of basil and sprouts and yes! saw leaf. I've also tried the chicken wings- plump and juicy pieces fried in a spicy, crispy batter.
Pho My Duyen is really one of the if not the swankiest pho joint in town. It's gotta a real upscale feeling to it with the granite table tops, plush booths and the bright lighting. And for an atmosphere boost, they play creepy "soft rock classics" muzak non stop. Despite the decor, prices are comparable with other vietnamese places in town. I'll back when the weather turns colder-that broth is the perfect fix to warm my bones.Listed in: Fie Fi Pho Fum!
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Review from Aurora L.
Toronto, ON
11/3/2011
Since Pho My Duyen opened a few years ago, my family have been fans of it and love to support it...when you don't want to cook on the weekend and it's less than a 10 mins. walk away, how can you say no? The decor is very classy...very unlike a typical Vietnamese Pho restaurant. But ever since the change in ownership about a year ago, everything has been doing downhill. You'll notice that a lot of items on the original menus are crossed out as they no longer offer it and that many prices have new white stickies over it with higher prices. Unfortunately, the higher prices are for dishes with smaller portions and poorer taste. Somehow the new chefs (and there have been several since the ownership change) just don't get it. My family's favourite 4 dishes are no longer our favourites because the quality is definitely worse. Of course we'll still patronize this restaurant from time to time just because it's the only choice in our neighbourhood but don't expect us to enjoy our time here. Too bad. They had a good thing going...
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Review from Ramanan S.
Toronto, ON
8/22/2008 1 Check-in Here
I've been to lots of Pho places in the city: this is the best one. Seriously Pho My Duyen is bright and clean. Granite tables and funky chairs seem a bit out of place at a pho restaurant. The food is cheap, but very tasty. The pho is excellent, and the various accompaniment for those dishes -- basil, sprouts, lime, etc -- are always fresh. If Pho isn't your thing, the vermicelli dishes are also great.
Listed in: I live in BLANSDOWNE!, Top Restaurants
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Review from Tony F.
3/26/2010 1 photo
My schedule changed at bit, and I needed some dinner before the Official So You Think You Can Curl event. Randomly drove by Pho My Duyen and thought it was a sign. It was either this, or the House of Lancaster a block away, and I figured, broth was better. And the honestly the thought of order food in a house of sin, albeit intriguing, I didn't want to risk it as my tetanus shots are probably not quite up to date.
What Pho My Duyen (no go Pho Your Duyen) provides is a classic family run Pho Join minus the dank. Especially compared to the Pho places along St. Clair West, this is a place I'd bring the uninitiated to. It was clean and it won't scare off the rookies. The décor was a little odd as it had a feel of some rich uncle's basement (which I have none of). A couple of big screen TVs and lots of faux marble around. But what I really loved were the details. The spoons had little ends that prevents it from falling into the soup bowl, which happens at least once per session. The sauce bottles that they brought over were obviously cleaned and lack the sauce crustation that builds up at the dank places that obviously tells you it's never been cleaned. The chopsticks weren't your typical low-end pieces of toothpicks, but decent dollar store versions. And most importantly, the bathroom was clean. For an Asian place, that's a miracle.
I had the only dish I'm allowed to have when I first enter a Pho place, the Large Pho Special for under $8, meaning throw in all the meaty goodness that you can. The broth was nice, but maybe slightly under seasoned, but that was easily made up with plenty of meet!! Large chunks of tendon and tripe was swimming around in my super sized bowl. The only thing that bugged me a little was the lack of brisket. I love me my brisket long time. I had to make do with a few extra meat balls than most other places.
If this place was out in the east, I'd probably make it a regular stop for the Pho. Not because it's the most mind blowing Pho I've ever had, but from the looks of it, it's seems unlikely I'm going to suffer a bathroom run in the middle of night because of it.
I'm going to have to go back and try out the other stuff.Listed in: Omnomeriffic Yum! (TM), Pho-U
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Review from Lara S.
Toronto, ON
1/9/2011
This is my favourite pho joint in the city. I've been a regular here since it opened, and though I don't live around the corner anymore, I'm thankfully still close enough to come once a week. For me, it all comes down to the pho broth, and their broth is the most flavourful I've ever tasted. I always feel great after a big bowl of Pho My Duyen pho...which tells me they don't use MSG. I have a sensitivity to it and would be able to feel it right away (headachy,bloated feeling etc). My other favourite dish here is the beef lemongrass verimicelli. Run by a pleasant family, service is always good here. Though the decor is much fancier than most pho restos, the prices are the same - cheap and cheerful!!
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Review from Cameron M.
Toronto, ON
9/27/2009
I lived across the street from this place for a month and I went at least twice a week. Not expensive, and delicious. Service was always great (although it was usually empty). Despite the kind of strange ambiance (big screen TV playing MTVesque shows), granite tables, glass everywhere it's a nice place to eat.
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Review from Tina N.
Toronto, ON
11/18/2009
maybe it would have been smart for me to order the pho instead of rice since the restaurant basically plastered the word pho as it's name.....silly me.
anyways i'll just talk about my rice experience here which was not so great. i was feeling simple that day so i ordered the spring roll appetizer and rice with grilled chicken and a fried egg on top as my main. biting into the springroll... i literally felt oil gush out.. thats how bad and greasy it was. i sorta tasted the oil which i believe they had used for more than a couple of times since there was a funky taste to it. i only tried one piece of the springroll and DID NOT touch the rest. my rice on the other hand was just meeeh, i think i could have had a better experience for my moneys worth. a very thin and SMALL slice of chicken meat that was a bit overcooked and tasteless. the rest of the dish was rice which was quite alot for such a small portion of meat. well now i know... rice it definetly not this place's forte.
seeing the good reviews about the pho....i think i'll come back and try it next time.
