Watercress Express

Thanks for ruining every other Vietnamese restaurant in the city for me… sigh.

I had a sub, chicken wrap, and pork spring rolls for take out. The staff is friendly and helpful, my order arrived fast and was tasteful.

Just because «To err is to be human» does not mean nothing is perfect. Well, Watercress Express is as near to perfect that I can imagine. A routine Saturday lunch turned into a fabulous meal at Watercress. Friendly staff, simple menu, fair prices, and speedy service are readily apparent. The food is colorful, wonderfully spiced, and well presented. We had the Sate Phở and Wok Beef Salad. Rich flavors and crunchy, fresh ingredients. The Sate Phở was bursting with umami beef broth flavors and chili spice. Just, might I say, perfect! Décor of Watercress is inviting. (Even the water closet was perfectly kept) So, do yourself a favor: Enjoy the (near) perfection soon at Watercress, even if you are just a human like me.

I was here a few days ago and would say this place is pretty darn tasty. I just tried the beef and spring rolls on vermicelli. It wasn’t anything more special than any other Vietnamese restaurant, it was just as good. Other than the bowls are shaped differently lol.
It’s not a huge place, it has about a dozen or so tables. It’s relatively clean inside, and the menu board consists of three television screens ?
I wanted to try the Kimchee rice I had seen pics for from other reviews, but didn’t see it on the menu.
I’ll definitely come back again, and try something different.
Service was just an okay experience. The guy who took my order wasn’t overly friendly imo.

it has been awhile since my last visit to Watercress Express. Way too long… Some changes and all are good.
new items on the menu… Fresh Wraps… Bahn MI (vietnamese subs)…Salads and Crispy Crunchy…
New items we tried today… Shrimp papaya salad… OUTSTANDING…Lemon Grass Chicken Wrap… OUTSTANDING…deep fried won tons stuffed with taro root… UNBELIEVABLE…not on the menu yet… but should be and a TERRIFIC version of deep fried banana as a desert… also not on the menu yet… just GREAT
Why settle for run of the mill vietnamese when you can eat at WATERCRESS EXPRESS… every single order is made to order. FRESH. and you can taste the difference.

Tried this place after reading tons and tons of raving reviews online. I would rate the place a 3.5 if half stars were available.
Just so everyone is aware, there is new management at this restaurant. I’ve never visited prior to this change so I can’t comment on what’s different. I believe there are a few menu changes (we read about a kimchi fried rice online and could not find on the new menu).
It’s a small place located on a busy part of 17^th. It’s a restaurant but kind of not. You pay for your food and take a number and they bring it out to you. There are a couple of tables and chairs for people who want to eat there. I saw many people coming in for take out while dining there.
We tried the shrimp salad roll, chicken and shrimp fried rice and the satay phở.
Shrimp salad roll was good, presented very nicely on a plate with fish sauce and peanut sauce on the side. We could tell the roll was made fresh because the shrimp was just grilled and still warm in the roll.
Fried rice was also made fresh. Came out steaming hot. It was good but the chicken tasted a bit dry.
Satay phở was not what I expected — it tasted more closer to a bunbohue with a tangy taste rather than the spicy satay I was expecting.
Oh, also tried the Vietnamese iced coffee here and they were great. Really strong and full of flavour.
The service was great and they checked with us if the food was ok.
Overall it was good but not sure if worth the price — I kind of felt like the restaurant was almost a food court style the way you pay for your food first and they bring it out. The food tasted good but not mind blowing amazing as the reviews portrayed for me. Perhaps due to change in ownership? I might be back for the salad rolls but it’s pretty hard to justify the price. If you’re looking for «fancy» Vietnamese food, I think Taste of Saigon does it better and it’s an actual restaurant at the same (if not cheaper) price point.

I ordered a tofu stir fry. It’s pretty quick if you’re looking for take out. The serving was big, and the prices were good for everything. I wouldn’t mind going there and eating inside either. Definitely check it out.

Took my tough judging Vietnamese Mom here and even she was impressed. You get to see another side of Vietnamese flavors here. Decorated with a fancy twist and all at the price as other subpar vietnamese restaurants in the city.
It is not strictly vietnamese though as they borrow flavors like kimchi and chinese steamed buns which are fried to be used as a burger bun.
Highly recommend the nouc cham fried chicken wings
Great food, great service, great lunch spot.

Vietnamese. My fave food of all time.
We went there the other day for take out and I got salad rolls and the gentleman friend got deep fried wontons. He is OBSESSED with them now and talks about them daily.
I will say, the vegetarian options weren’t great which made me sad. However, the salad rolls (even though they were quite expensive) were delicious. (I had the tofu ones)
This is a good place for appetizers but if you’re a vegetarian, not fantastic for meals.
That said, I didn’t ask if they could make any of the meals veggie, which now, as I am writing this I am realizing I probably should have and I will next time I go back.
All in all, good food, clean place. Quick service! I recommend it!

Cafeteria style Vietnamese cuisine but with a creative and even fine dining flare. Ordered the Kim chi fried rice which was delicious. Will order again. Shared with friends the lime chicken rolls, tamarind beef and shrimp rolls, all very good. Will definitely go back to try other things on the menu.

Kind of in love with this place. Everything is super flavourful and the subs are some of the best viet subs I’ve ever had. Love the curly skinny onion «fries» they serve with the lemongrass chicken sub –that’s my go to but their pork and spring roll vermecelli is pretty damn tasty too. Great addition to 17^th!

Very fresh and delicious! Crispy tofu rolls were really nice and flavorful with a hint of mint inside. The Saté phở sub tofu for beef was unbelievably flavorful. The broth was full of red chilies and lemongrass. The location is a cozy little space with friendly staff.

This place is absolutely awesome! My family and I go as often as we can. Excellent value for money based on the flavours, presentation and preparation. I have to say that this is such an awesome and totally unexpected experience. This is not your typical Vietnamese restaurant and the counter ordering makes it feel like a fast food restaurant but the food is so, so much better than any fast food restaurant I’ve ever seen!

Visited Watercrest for a quick bite. You order and pay at the front, then the food is brought to your table.
I ordered the kimchi fried rice and out comes this gigantic plate of perfectly seasoned rice with home made kimchi and a fried egg on top.
It was simple, delicious and very filling for $ 10.
This would make a great side between two or three people if you wanted to order other items on the menu.

Not very express. Took 20 mins to get a sub. Good flavors but long wait and a bit pricey. Think I’ll stick with going to Chinatown or Thai Thai if I want a viet sub.

After reading the great Unilocal reviews, my boyfriend and I had to try Watercress. The salad rolls were fresh as were the rice vermicelli dishes we both ordered. Fast and friendly service. Definitely a place we will come to again!

I love Watercress! We tried an assortment of dishes so this is my take on the food. Food reminds me of Raw Bar.
Appetizers — you can’t go wrong with anything. Note that portions are smallish, so if you share an appy, get two. Shrimp salad rolls, pork spring rolls and chai su won tons were delicious.
My favourite dish, surprisingly, was the shrimp and chicken fried rice. I’m not a fan of fried rice, but this version was refreshing and so tasty. Beef sate was rich in flavour and heavy on the beef.
Any of the bao or subs are fantastic. I’ve tried the lemon chicken and beef short rib. I love the flavours of the marinated meats, herbs and unique condiments.
The food is top notch and the prices are great considering the quality of the food. A main plus an appy will set you back anywhere from $ 12 – 18 bucks. I left happy and full.

A great new Vietnamese place on 17^th Ave, and conveniently right near work for me! A friend at work mentioned it (I tuned out for a while wondering why he was so excited about the vegetable, watercress) and eventually realised he was talking about Vietnamese food.
I ordered by phone to takeaway and the girl on the other end was super friendly, and then I picked it up 10 minutes later. I ordered the vegetarian spring rolls ($ 6), which came as two large crispy spring rolls in a foam container with a small air hole to keep them crispy and a sweet chilli style dipping sauce (for which they checked to see if I was vegetarian to offer me a vegetarian sauce if needed — I didn’t, but it was very sweet that they checked). The spring rolls were still crispy even after I walked home and reheated them slightly, and packed full of veggies which was nice. I also had the Sweet Chilli Lime Chicken Wrap (aka rice paper rolls, $ 7.75), which came sliced up like sushi on a bed of sweet chilli sauce — around 10 pieces. It was nice and light (and sort of balanced out my spring rolls!) with pieces of fresh herbs, crispy spring roll chips and vermicelli in there.
The place was pretty quiet when I picked up my order with only two people dining in, but it was around 8:30pm on a Wednesday night. It was pretty big, clean and modern — looked like a great place to stop in for a quick and fairly healthy and cheap bite to eat.

We’ve been keeping our eye on the space for weeks as they get ready to launch a new «Modern Vietnamese» restaurant on 17^th ave, and when we went in for lunch today we were more than pleased with the results. The menu has some of your standard favourite Vietnamese dishes, vermicelli and rice bowls, salad wraps, subs etc, but they also have some interesting Korean and other influences. Most of the dishes are meat but there are things for veggies to enjoy as well.
I started with the tamarind beef wrap which was beautifully presented in pieces like you would a sushi roll, together with a little radish slaw and some spicy hoisin sauce. They tasted every bit as good as they looked, with a freshness that was quite unexpected and totally delightful.
The hillight of lunch was the braised pork cheek bon which was served with some grilled pineapple, apple slaw and wasabi mayonnaise on the most amazingly light and crunchy bun. This was a revelation — a perfect balance of salty & sweet and the cheek was braised beautifully and was crazy rich tasting (in the best way possible). Everything was hot, well seasoned and fresh tasting.
The service is quick and friendly, the portion size and the prices are just right, and I can’t wait to go back and try some more.

Opening day, blown away. I got an order of the crispy char siu wontons and the Korean kalbi bao… both of the names of these items should tell you that this is not standard Viet noodle house fare and has other Asian influences; the closest thing we have in Calgary would be Eats of Asia and that’s very, very good company. As to the food– it was magnificent. The bao is made with a deep fried round bread called a milk mantou, served with a beautifully spicy-​savoury-​sweet gochujang sauce and the beef is melt-​in-​your-​mouth– actually that applies to the whole sandwich; it’s small in diameter but packed with richness. The wontons are stuffed with sous vide pork shoulder and are bathing in a sauce that’s more of that sweet savoury spicy combo that makes you want more. The meal was spectacularly delicious but very reasonably priced (50% off for opening day, but even with regular prices it’d be around $ 16 which is incredible for this level of quality), with order-​at-​the-​counter convenience but for in-​house dining everything comes out on beautiful porcelain. Service is fast, friendly, energetic.
A gem, an absolute gem.