Pho Binh Vietamese Noodle House

This is my first time back in many years. It hasn’t changed that much, the atmosphere and cleanliness have improved but are still questionable, and that’s why I can’t give it a better review.
Service is okay. She’s not very friendly, but we never lacked for anything. Plus I think she’s the only one there.
But the food is a five out of five. It really hits the spot! We had salad rolls and both of us had the vermicelli bowls. Soooo good. My shrimp and pork were charred to perfection.
Okay, okay… I’ll give it a four, because I’m going to be back. Soon. Especially for the price. Under $ 30 to stuff two half-​starved people.

After a couple of weeks off, my quest for better phở resumed. Today, I found this hole-​in-​the-​wall place in the west end called Phở Binh; no pun intended, there really were holes on the wall inside the restaurant. The outside of the restaurant, with the shiny metallic signs, looks much better than the inside. The first impression was not good. Arrived for an early dinner, only the second table for the night, lots of time for the staffs to clean up after the lunch rush, half the tables were dirty. Only one person working, she was cleaning, cooking, taking orders and talking to her friends on the phone all at the same time. Not the greatest scene.
Holes in the wall… the wall decorations have seen better days, most of the paintings/​pictures were hung crooked and the wooden wall décor by my booth had fallen off, leaning on the table, leaving multiple holes on the wall.
The lighting was dim, almost unpleasantly so. For someone who had eaten at the street markets and food carts throughout Asia, I have strong tolerance towards mediocre hygiene at Asian restaurants, yet, I hesitated looking at the utensil containers and condiment containers. I do not believe that they ever refrigerate their condiments. Looking inside the chili oil container, the chili oil looked like it has been sitting unattended for weeks, the chili had dried up and had stuck to the side of the container; even with an iron stomach, I chose not to touch the chili. The utensils were haphazardly thrown into the containers, the bottom of the container looked questionable. I chose to clean my chopsticks with tea before eating, a seldom occurrence for me.
As I had mentioned, this is a one person operation, the lady was talking to her friends on the phone the entire time (only stopping to take a couple of take out orders), it took a while for my food to arrive, by phở standards anyway. I ordered #44, Phở with fatty flanks, brisket and tendons. For $ 11, the large bowl looked huge, filled with aromatic soup. First taste was good, it was good soup, hot and fresh. There is nothing spectacular about it, not quite the depth of flavour that a superior phở restaurant’s soup would provide but definitely in the top quartile of the Edmonton Phở scale.
An abundance of sprouts, basil and lime pieces were provided, but wait… where is my beloved fresh thai chili, sob, no thai chili. In the meat department, there were a lot of meat provided but may be not what I ordered. I was expecting tendons (yes, I found two pieces), I was expecting fatty flanks (ve don?, didn’t find any), I was expecting briskets (yes that nice layered fatty marbled meat, none were found). Instead, I found loads of lean dry slices of cooked beef. If those were fatty flank slices, that was one LEAN cow, lol.
Oh wait, I have a full bowl of soup, a huge pile of meat, but where is the noodle? Ah, at the bottom was a small clump of noodles, suitable for a child size bowl of phở but definitely not for a large bowl. The proportion of soup to meat to noodle is definitely off.
Overall, I would compare eating at Phở Binh to eating at a street cart in Asia. The food is simple and reasonable; as long as you don’t expect good service or good hygiene, you are good to go. Having said that, paying $ 11 at a Canadian sit-​down restaurant, surrounded by dirty tables and broken decors, having a hostess/​chef/​server who talked on the phone with her friends full time (instead of doing the much needed cleaning of the restaurant); I cannot give the restaurant a high rating with a clear conscience. ²⁄₅.

Noon on a weekday and we were the only ones in the restaurant, hmmmm … is this a sign? Am glad about 7 more orders (take out and sit in) came during our hour in the restaurant.
There are booths on the one side of the restaurant and other had table and chairs. Seems to be a popular spot for solo diners. Booths hard to sit but not too uncomfortable.
Menu has the usual vermicelli, rice, and soup sections. My friend and I both order vermicelli bowls. Hers was the special for just over $ 12 and came with a spring roll, and just about all the meat and few shrimp. Mine was grilled pork and a spring roll. The small is $ 9.50 and large $ 10.40 so I opted for large. I asked what was the difference in size and the server said it was a little bit more.
When the food arrived, I thought mine had more meat than my friend’s bowl. The big bowl was about ²⁄₃ filled and I would have preferred more lettuce, carrots, and cucumbers.
We were attended to and brought waters promptly. After our food came out, the server came to check on us once and refill the water. There was no rush to leave and when we were ready to pay, we went to the counter.
The restaurant could use a little work. It wasn’t overly dirty but the container storing the chopsticks and forks may not have been the cleanest to look at the utensil before using as I noticed one had food on it. The washroom was ok, but again a few things cleaned up could really make a difference.
Decent restaurant but not the best Vietnamese restaurant.

Long time no phở! And a cold sunny Edmonton «fall» brought out the need for something hot. So I hopped inside here and checked it out.
This place is in desperate need of a paint job or was it ever finished? Noticed they serve bubble tea as well, but then again who doesn’t these days.
Medium sized place that has 16 tables, 4 of which can seat 7.
Got the 33 steak, flank, fatty flank. The veggies that accompanied 33 looked all fresh. There was only one dark splotch on the entire branch. Is that even the correct terminology?
All the condiments were there, even the right hot sauce. Probably my favourite thing about these places is that the tea is free. No different here. $ 9.40 total for a regular size. A little small, but it was fine. A fan, but please finish the paint job on walls :)