Anh Dao Restaurant

I’ve been here a few times years back, seem to recall that their phở is ok but nothing else really stands out. Came here for quick bite on a cloudy Sunday. Had deep fried spring roll as appetizer and phở tai nam for the lunch. It’s a small, family run business so one can tell they are under staff and service tends to be slow in comparison to other Vietnamese restaurants. Spring roll comes with bean sprout and lettuce, it was perfectly fried with good flavour, but skin tends to be wrong. Onto the phở itself, I’d say the broth is clean and subtle, obviously not the best I’ve had but one of the better choice around Chinatown. They use ho fan instead of dry vermicelli like many use, which is good. But all phở comes with one standard size and they do skimp on the meat tho.
As for the service, it’s of minimum as they just bring you food and tea and disappear, they won’t try to spend any effort to be friendly or make you feel welcome. It’s a passable choice for quick phở Chinatown, but I may suggest ordering extra noodle or extra meat of one wants to get full.

This is a small family run Vietnamese restaurant. I came here for lunch and ordered the Phở house special noodle soup and shrimp rolls. It was good, but nothing spectacular. It is what you expect from a Phở restaurant. Service was passable. They just bring the food to your table with no effort to be friendly or make you feel welcome. This is a place you can get a cheap, quick meal. Just don’t expect great décor and atmosphere.

Amazing Authentic Vietnamese food! I love their rolls. The chao Tom (shrimp wrapped on sugar cane) is especially delicious. What adds to the experience is the exceptional customer service. They were very attentive to all of my needs and accommodating to my child.
I would definitely recommend this restaurant to anyone looking for Vietnamese comfort food.

Hands down one of the best Vietnamese restaurants in Toronto! I’ve been coming here for years now and the food has always remained consistent. Mainly known for their nem nuong (pork sausage rolls) which never seem to disappoint, the rest of the menu is equally as good. Set in their traditional ways and never falling into fads and trends, this place has never ceased to amaze me with their food. Would highly recommend to anyone and everyone!

Ordered a dry phở with soup on the side, stir fry noodle and Vietnamese coffee. The food portions were a generous amount which was a bonus. The food was average, nothing spectacular. However the Vietnamese coffee was so delicious! It brought back memories when I was in Vietnam for a week. Their coffee was strong and addictive. The coffee takes its sweet ass time to drip but it’s worth the wait!

I’ve been coming here for years as a recommendation from Vietnamese friends, I don’t think I can go wrong… when the locals recommend it…
When you come here, you’re not looking for décor and/​or atmosphere. you’re simply coming for the food. no expectations for seating and décor.
I usually order the beef phở here and I’m never disappointed in the bold soup base, spring rolls work well as a side dish. when I come here with more people, it is good to share the rice paper rolls where you do it yourself… its somewhat interesting as I don’t see this as often in other Vietnamese restaurants.
You can never go wrong with the Phở here as it’s as good as it gets… pricing is reasonable for the size and quality that you get…

Ordered phở, papaya salad, and fresh rolls. The rolls are freshly made. Phở is decent although they are skimpy on meat and noodles hence the $ 1 for extra noodles. Salad looks beautiful and tasted fresh and delicious.
Service as noted in other reviews is indeed curt, indifferent, and he don’t really give a rats arse. Someone should try to make funny faces at him and see if he cracks a smile. I think a career change is in order for him.

The phở was good and the soup broth was delicious. However as others have said the service sucks. Our server didn’t seem to care when one of our friends told him that her noodles were too spicy. He then said rudely that we can only have extra noodles if we paid for them. Also I too heard the microwave being run just like Jennifer K when I ordered the spring rolls. I won’t be back.

I’ve been coming here since I was a little girl… Mainly for pork sausage rolls. It’s super delish here! Im assuming they recently renovated their restaurant because it looks quite different than from the last time I came which was a little while ago. I highly recommend this place if you wanna try some special rolls :) there are other meats but i forget what they’re called

I was told by a Vietnamese friend that this is the Viet restaurant in Toronto — Phở Hung paled in comparison. So I knew that I had to try it.
Upon first stepping inside, I had my doubts. The place had a mysterious and unpleasant smell when I walked in. The menu was limited, but the server was really nice and accommodating, so I kept my judgments at bay. I ordered a curry beef satay vermicelli — OK and imperial rolls — not even close to my top 5 Viet spring rolls. My dining partner had the phở special with tripe, beef balls, etc. — whatever. Not a memorable phở.
I went for dinner last night at 7 pm. Right now at 3:45 pm the next day, I’m still in an MSG haze. I don’t know what they put in which sauce, but I didn’t pay for this type of high.
Needless to say, I wouldn’t go back.

Anh Dao — my go-​to for phở near campus.
Given the huge selection of Viet restaurants around these parts, too many are surprisingly sub-​par. I have always preferred Anh Dao over the others, but up until this year they lacked sizing options completely! One size does not fit all when it comes to food, never did and never will. In years past, it forced me over to Phở Hung where MSG overdose sometimes made me feel very jittery (I’m not usually sensitive to MSG, btw). But I digress, and it shall be made clear that sizes still do not exist. Rather, one can add $ 1 for extra noodles or $ 4 for extra meat. The former option is fine with me.
The owners of this family business are very nice. The noodles are slightly chewy, and the meat as expected. The broth is flavourful and always boiling hot. Undercooked bean sprouts are my pet peeve, but that’s never a problem at Anh Dao. The food is not exceptional, but beating out the competition is all it takes when I’m trapped in the vacuum of good food known as UofT St. George. Anh Dao manages this handily.

This place is owned and is family run. I’ve been here a few times already and I would only recommend the banh hoi here. Everything else is mediocre and washrooms are terrible.

Came here on Sunday for lunch. They don’t open until 12 pm so we were waiting briefly outside until they opened. We were the first I the restaurant and sat in the dark for a few minutes as they were getting things set up.
Ordered rare beef phở and shrimp/​pork spring roll. Phở was great, broth was rich in flavour, noodles were al dente and there were fresh red onions, green onions and cilantro as garnish.
Spring roll had fresh ingredients, quite enjoyed the freshness.
My husband got the vermicelli with grilled pork sausage. Sausage was tasty, the rest were pretty standard.
Service wise it was a bit slow. There was one server and one chef for the restaurant. We got our entrees and finished it before we got our appetizer spring roll.
Aside from the service, the food was good, you get what you pay for in terms of quality (was a little on the expensive side compared to other phở places). I’d come back though.

Really good prices, very filling, Had pork chop rice. and satay vermencellie beef. Both were great quality and left satisfied. Place was empty so food prepared quick.
Place was rated one of the best Vietnamese restaurants in Toronto. It’s hard for me to say this was much better then others I’ve tried but worth a visit.

Fantastic vietnamese res. The phở taste like home made goodness that is 10 times better than phở hung’s watered down broth. Their rolls are delicious and fresh.
Everything on the menu is of quality and made from wholesome ingredients.
Definitely worth the visit.
It is run by one viet couple, the wife cooks, and the husband handles the front.
They are closed on wednesday.

This is a great little unassuming restaurant in the heart of Chinatown.
I came here when a Vietnamese craving couldn’t wait anymore, and I needed something close to work! The Unilocal reviews are pretty meh (and they are warranted) but it was worth the risk.
The menu is actually pretty large, and has many items I haven’t seen at other Vietnamese places in the city, HOWEVER, the craving was for a hot bowl of noodles with BBQ meat, and so I stuck with my usual Vietnamese order.
The food came pretty quickly and was hot and delicious.
So why the 3 star review? Two things made me think twice about returning to Anh Dao:
1. WHERE WAS MY SERVER???
I got seated and a menu right away, and even ordered pretty quickly — then the food came, and he was GONE! All I wanted was some hot sauce and hoisin, but it was like pulling teeth to get it. And when we wanted the bill? Forget it! He was no where to be found and we waited for about 15 minutes before being able to get his attention
2. SOOOO. QUIET.
Near the end of our visit, music finally came on which was a godsend. It was like a library in there! Even though there were other groups it was so eerily quiet that I felt like we couldn’t talk at all. Awkward.
Overall, if the craving strikes again and I’m in a desperate situation, I wouldn’t write off Anh Dao, but I certainly won’t be looking to get back there any time too soon.

Came here with a few other Unilocalers and for me it was pretty good but nothing amazing.
The food was good and pretty good value and I manage to stuff myself for under $ 20 which was not the best idea as I missed out on the food at the following event.
It is not a flash place but then again not many of the good joints on Spadina are.
The guy who was serving us was quick and welcoming.
Although the menu had a great variety of food for such a small place they really need to make them easier to handle. The flip board was kind of annoying.
We were the first group here by 6pm and by 7pm nearlly all the other tables were taken so its definitely a popular amongst the Asian crowd.

How have I never noticed this place before?
I came here for a quick dinner with a fellow Unilocaler Avitania since I was craving phở and wanted an inexpensive dinner. We ordered a bowl of phở and the nem nuong, since a few people have reviewed it very well. I’d never had nem nuong before and I really enjoyed it. To be fair, if you pour enough nuoc cham on a phone book, I’d probably eat it. The food was delicious and came out quickly. It was a little more expensive than most Vietnamese places, but the quality seemed to make up for it.
The service was very good and the whole place looked and smelled like an old Asian person’s house. Asian spices, mothballs and incense with a whiff of air freshener. It transported me right back to being 7 and eating lunch at my friend’s mom’s house.

***½ stars
Was looking for a place to eat prior to the Unilocal Elite Pimp Your Profile Pic at Lomography. We arrived around 5:30PM to a relatively empty restaurant. It really is a hole-​in-​the-​wall restaurant with attempts of décor such as the paneled art on the walls (typical of a Vietnamese restaurant). The kitchen is towards the rear of the restaurant and makes you not want to know how your food is prepared.
In terms of service, it is totally non-​existent except for when they bring you the menus and pot of tea. You will have to do cartwheels and somersaults to get service at this restaurant.
Food-​wise, I am torn. We ordered the Nem Nuong as other Unilocalers recommended, in addition to Phở Dac Biet (Special Phở) and a rice dish that came with steamed egg, shredded pork skin and grilled pork.
It should be noted that all of their Phở dishes come in one size at a price of $ 6.25. You do get a decent portion. The beef was not the best, but the noodles and soup base were amazing.
The Nem Nuong that gives Anh Dao its reputation was a disappointment as I found the pork to be dry. The mystery fruit that showed up on our plate were mandolin-​ed plaintains. I think that they should use larger sized rice papers as there is no way you can properly make a roll without it falling apart. Either that, or provide a 2:1 ratio of rice paper to fixings so that we can half the Nem Nuong to make a neater looking roll. The bean sprouts were showing bits of brown, which was kind of a turn off and I avoided using these in my wrap altogether. We were also shorted on the rice paper as we had 6 sausages but only 5 sheets of rice paper.
The «com» (rice dish) was made with a short-​grain rice and topped with scallion oil. Compared to other Vietnamese restaurants I would say that this is probably one of the poorer rice dishes I’ve sampled. I wasn’t a fan of the short grain rice as it gets progressively harder to get off the plate — even with a spoon. The grilled pork was overcooked, tough and dry. The steamed egg was nothing exciting.
Verdict:
Horrible service, but pretty decent food. I would advise that you stick to the Phở options on the menu as everything else isn’t really that great. I also wanted to try out the Grilled Shrimp on Sugar Cane (#14) but was informed they were out. The damage at the end of the day was around $ 29 before tip. Cash only.

I have been wanting to come and try Anh Dao Restaurant, but every time I came they were closed until last week!
Timing is everything… but when the restaurant is empty and passed the prime lunch and dinner hours. my showing up was not the most exciting thing that can happen to the staffs… when all they want is having their afternoon nap… zzzzzzzz
Spring Roll and BBQ Beef Bun ($ 5.95)
— I heard a lot of microwave beeping in the kitchen when my food was being prepared… not really a good sign, so now my food is being heated up instead of cooking?
— Beef is a little cold… maybe they should have be put in the microwave for another 10 sec?
— Spring Roll was freshly deep fried. since it cannot be that crispy if it was just heat up in the microwave
— I do love the mix of lettuce, basil and coriander in the noodle, giving it a more complex flavour
I did not find Anh Dao Restaurant really Amazing but is A-​OK for the price. Maybe i need to try the House Speciality Nem Nuong next time!