Basil Ultimate Pho and Fine Vietnamese Cuisine

Hands down the worst phở I’ve had in Calgary so far, chicken with bones left in my soup… had spring rolls too they were meh! Wouldn’t come here again, was trying to make the healthier choice over smash burger next door but I made the wrong choice today.

The last time I went to this restaurant I ordered the Phở dac biet. I will never go back. We received our food but they failed to tell us there were no bean sprouts and other condiments. The Phở came and nothing else. The food should sell itself you don’t need to put «Ultimate» in the name of the restaurant. The Phở was decent I probably would have gone back again but the last time left a bad taste in my mouth. I usually give a restaurant one chance to impress me, they did not even try to persuade us to come back.

I ordered the grilled pork and spring roll vermicelli. The springs rolls were delicious and the sauce was really good too. The issue was with the pork. It was sooooo salty and they didn’t use good cuts of meat because several of the chunks had so much fat on them it was unappetizing so I wound up discarding several pieces. Also the carrots tasted like regular carrots they didn’t pickle them at all from what I could tell.
The place itself is clean and they were fast with my order and also very friendly. I would go back and maybe get salad rolls. I wouldn’t go out of my way and wasn’t super impressed based on the reviews I read. There are much better in the city.

My daughter and I love the Beef Phở !

Horrible. I was seated at my table by some guy sitting in the dining area eating his lunch. Food and drinks came super fast which was awesome but after 2 bites of trying my meal I decided it was like eating a stick of incense and pushed it off to the side. The host came by to fill my water and took my plate away. Not a question on weather or not it was good or why I did not eat any of it or even if I wanted to go. Then the bill came and I got charged full price for a meal I didn’t eat. The server argued with me but eventually didn’t charge me for it. Will never go back.

A friend and I were in the mood for Vietnamese and a Unilocal search offered quite a few options in the neighborhood. We chose this one because of some consistent reviews.
Overall, our meal wasn’t bad. The service here is good and quick, if that’s what you are looking for. We were seated immediately and always checked on. It’s also a bit more upscale in atmosphere for Vietnamese, although not fancy by any means.
The food was only OK in my opinion. We had salad rolls, which I found extreme slimy and not really that good (1 of the 3 went uneaten). My pork with rice wasn’t too bad but not overly flavorful. My friend had a vermicelli soup that looked pretty good and was a good portion.
Overall, while I wouldn’t say there was anything wrong with our meal, I was not enthusiastic about it either. I would probably check out a few of the other places in the area next time.

Definitely at the top of my list for Phở. We’ll priced, served fast for your lunch break and very filling. You have to try their Phở. I’ve never tried anything else because the Phở is that good.

I dosnt like the service there.
Expectantly the lady owner who just stand at the till look pretty and do nothing .
No greeting when we walked even no Thank you when we pay .
Such a terrible service

My husband picked this place. He wanted to eat ‘healthy’ and try something new. He checked out menu and saw the salad rolls. And the subs. So off we went thinking salad rolls and subs but we got there and the aromas on this humid, rainy overcast cool summer day were so enticing, he had us opting for Phở instead. He had the regular seafood phở and I had the spicy one. I was impressed that the Fresh Basil, lime and bean sprouts came on a side plate to add to our soup. The chunks of shrimp, scallop and squid were generous and there were faux-​phở crab sea legs, but hey, it’s still seafood!
I loved the cilantro/​lime/​basil tastes in my Phở and it was spicy. Nose runny spicy in some spoonfuls, but it was so good, I just kept eating.
The portion was large enough I brought some home for my daughter to try. Hah, once she gets a mouthful of that lovely broth, guess who else will be a Basil-​fan!
Those salad rolls are the best I’ve had, ever! I will go there again for those alone, because it’s so rare you find a salad roll with such flavour combinations and fresh, fresh wraps! Seriously they were so fresh they were still sticky. Some people might find that annoying, I find that an indicator the wraps didn’t come out of the fridge to sit on a counter for hours!
I can hardly wait to try what those other people were having! Vermicelli with some other types of accompaniment.
Oh, and the service? Excellent. From the quick seating and table clean up and service and promptness of the food service, I love this place for service. Even though it was pretty busy we had our choice of tables in one area.
My Unilocal is a Unilocal of joy today. I found Phở in my neighbourhood that is equally as fresh as the first Phở I had that was made by a friend’s mother back in Vancouver before Phở was a found food!

This is probably as good as it gets here in Calgary for phở. It’s clean, it’s delicious and prices are very reasonable. My girlfriend is a bit of a phở aficionado and this place has her stamp of approval. And we’ve been to a lot of places.
We’ve been here many times already and it’s consistent. The broth of the phở hits the spot. Portions are large. Will be back.

Went for lunch. The place was about ¹⁄₃ full. We were going to sit at a large table but some DB rudely said «you can’t sit there»…whatevs DB… he jammed us at a small table against the wall. DB move!!!
They made up for it with the food!!! It was awesome!!!
All four of us guys enjoyed it. I would recommend the seafood curry with rice. It’s a home run!!! Everyone else had the vermicilli.
Not sure if I will go back or not though. The rudeness of the DB put a bad taste in my mouth for the overall experience.

Super awesome phở!
I think by now I am a conesiuer of the phở, this place didn’t disappoint.
Found it on Unilocal.Great reviews. This place was jammed for lunch. Was super fast tho! Lottery took 60 seconds for our salad rolls which were very fresh. Crispy lettuce fresh!
The slips came out in about 3 minutes! Awesome phở, and my gf had the spicy beef satay ph1&ph6. Both were massive and tasty for only $ 10.
Definitely one of the best. Great service and super clean as well. Basil is a gem.

How can a place be in business when it’s kitchen closes at 5.30 pm ??? And this is a Saturday night ??? Great reviews too bad I wasn’t able to check it out :(had to move on to another restaurant for my Vietnamese fix …

Get yourself to forest lawn for some real vietnamese food.
Basil was ok. Really not impressed with the curry, it had dark greasy chicken meat in it and the sauce tasted like a powdered wal mart yellow curry I bought and made at home. It was gross. Veggies in it was just overcooked carrots.
Bubble tea was all powdered not fresh fruit.
Beef sate phở was good, huge bowl, nice fresh rare beef, tasty, broth not quite hot enough. Spicy but lacking on the ginger and cilantro.
The hot sauce wasn’t sriracha at the table it was some kind of sweet chili.
The staff were really nice and attentive and refilled our waters really fast and were polite.
But the food just wasn’t good enough. I might have the phở again but nothing else.

Another one of my fav phở spots. I usually go for the phở sate ga and believe me the portions are hugeeee but flavourful. Every phở place has a slightly different soup and I really enjoy this one. I recently tried their passion fruit bubble tea and it was so yummy. You have to try it.
The place is spacious with comfortable seating. Most of the staff is really friendly and patient and we always feel welcome. We did get some annoyed looks from one the ladies once don’t know why (the owner. I’m guessing) and we thought she was just tired or something but it happened the second time as well. However, with such amazing food and other friendly staff we will continue coming :)

Service 4 Unilocal
Phở soup 4 Unilocal soup could have been temperature hotter.
Salad Rolls 4 Unilocal
Curry beef on rice 4 Unilocal
Sure I would go back.

Second stop on my phở quest, upon recommendation from my sister (who also happened to join me) This place is brought about by the same folks from Phở Dau Bo, so I was looking to see if they would measure up.
Arriving a little earlier than the usual dinner rush, the place was understandably empty and we were greeted and seated right away. I let my sister take the reins — she ordered us spring rolls to share and a bowl of phở sate each (beef for me and seafood for her). Waiting for our piping hot spring rolls to cool, our soups were out no more than 10 mins after we ordered. I prepped my phở with the bean sprouts, fresh herbs and lime and wished I had mentally prepared myself for what I was about to embark. The broth was so AH-​MAZING, the added coconut milk brought the flavors to another level! Although the sate was a bit spicier than I’m comfortable with, I powered thru the runny nose and slightly numb lips because it was THAT good.
I’m rarely in the NE, so I haven’t had a chance to go back to Basil. But when I do, I’ll make sure to get my sate ½ spicy to I can enjoy my phở that much more.

Ugh, Beef Satay to make you scream «Hey Hey HEYYY»
So freaking delicious, and such amazingly huge portion sizes! If you’re a lover of PHO, come to BASIL in the NE, you won’t regret it. The service was fast, the restaurant is nice, clean, and the beef in the soup is perfection. No gristle, my nizzle. That’s what Snoop Dogg would say. Wait, isn’t he SNOOP LION now? But I digress. I can’t WAIT to get my arse back to BASIL. I actually saved my leftovers last time and brought them home for next day lunch. Weee

Should have written this a while back but I was in Calgary for a short period of time and craved some phở. There was one type of phở there that was different from everything else I’ve had. It had some peanut sauce and was semi spicy. Insanely good. Being that it’s been so long I forgot what it was called (just read through some reviews, it’s satay phở). Definitely worth a try.
Super friendly service for all us foreigners too. They were about to close and we had a party of about 30 come in at the last minute. Very friendly folks

Let me just start by saying that I love Vietnamese food. I could eat this cuisine every day and never bore of it. Another thing I love? Trying new places to eat! There hasn’t been one Vietnamese restaurant I have been to that tasted the exact same as another.
So, with that in mind I am on a mission to find my all-​time favorite place to eat this fine food and Basil was on the «to try» list!
I found the location to be a bit out of the way from where I live but on arrival I was excited. The décor was nice, it looked clean and I liked the art that was on the walls.
I found the service to be very fast but not very personable. We ordered a B10 with a side of spring roll, an order of rocket rolls and an order of salad rolls. I enjoyed the bowl and salad rolls. I thought the rocket rolls were just ok. One of the things I thought was really neat was that the Vietnamese iced coffees were served in a «to go» cups which work great for me because I drink really slow and never usually finish before my meal is done.
What I did not like however and I found this to be a huge deal for me personally was the hot sauce they had on the tables was not Sriracha hot sauce or any type of Asian hot sauce at all… It was super runny and actually tasted like franks red hot… and I normally put on so much Sriracha, that I was just thinking to myself «What is this? Where is the good stuff?»
The bathroom is quite tiny and I found it weird that the handicap stall was also used as a storage space for all the cleaning supplies (including a storage cabinet) and the thought that crossed my mind was «What if someone had to get in there with a wheel chair?» there would be no way that it would fit.
And with that, the search continues for the ultimate Vietnamese restaurant in Calgary…